The Portland Timbers wanted Caleb Porter, and the second-year MLS club has reportedly gotten the coach they set out to hire as their permanent replacement for John Spencer.
Portland radio station KPAM 860 reported on Tuesday night that Portland would announce Porter as the team's new head coach on Wednesday. There are no details yet on when Porter would take over as Timbers head coach, but there is a possibility Porter will be allowed to finish out the current 2012 NCAA season as head coach of Akron, the current No. 1 team in the SBI College Soccer rankings.
Sources have told SBI that Portland considered some other veteran options, such as Preki, Mike Lapper, and some other familiar names such as Claudio Reyna and Richie Williams, but ultimately settled on Porter. Sources say Timbers owner Merritt Paulson was the driving force behind the selection of Porter over more experienced options.
What do you think of the hire? See Porter succeeding with the Timbers? Who would you have hired if you were making the decision?
Share your thoughts below.
This is the bum that had players like Boyd, Okugo and Williams on the bench while players like Bunbury and SArkodie were getting run over. He was a joke.
Was Porter really pulling down 300K per annum at Akron?
Agree with your point. But the question was more along the lines of “why would Porter take that job?”
So is Toronto, but nobody’s been up to that task
don’t be stupid Porter just fu*ked up with olympic qualification that’s a fact.
He needs this to grow as a coach, we will see if he is more than a recruiter or if the worst Olympic qualifying campaign we’ve ever had was down to him and his tactics.
A. Scotland doesn’t have a decent talent pool and B. SAF stepped in when the manager died before the 86 World Cup.
why you thinks so?
reality
He can do much worse my friend.
who cares about stupid Akron.If he wants to be a coach in MLS he has to star now.Forget about college soccer.Poulson wants hem now.
There is a big difference between college soccer and professional soccer even if you talking about weak MLS.
Spencer also had supportive GM and owner.The question is haw long does he last in Portland?No wins no Porter.
who said he was good
You know that we play 90 minutes in college right? Also, while you’re right that college rules do allow more than three subs in a match (including players being allowed to come back into the game during the second half) I believe both Porter himself and former players have stated that he rarely goes beyond three subs. Porter has stated in the past that he tries to run Akron as close to a professional envrionment as possible and that inlcudes his subbing patterns as well.
This was all Klinsmann not Porter. That Olympic team did not look like a Porter coached team. And then Klinsmann blames on the kids -what a royal a$$h*!@
And what is this based on?
From what I have seen Porter values the supporters culture more than anything. He did his best to make Akron an intimidating home fortress. That is why he took the gig. Portland fans should pat themselves on the back because they are the reason he is coming to their fair city. We may be witnessing the beginning of a dynasty. And I expect to see grass installed a Jen Weld (or whatever the name is)
Porter did a ton for Akron and can walk away feeling incredibly proud. He took that program, and that university as far as he could take them. And he was still getting paid less than the guy who coaches their crappy basketball team.
self confidence, ambition and xy chromosome
I’m surprised by this but we will see
No disrespect to Akron, but if you are a good coach do you really think you should stay at a college program? No, you want to see how high a level you can coach. But you also realize no one is handing a young college coach the job of a EPL team or what have you, so a jump to MLS is obviously the next step, especially for an American.
I am very interested to see how he does, but I’m not so sure he’ll kock it out of the park like some do.
Dustin, I respectfully disagree. Akron went on a tour of Spain about two years ago and played the U-20 teams of many of the Spanish powerhouses and lost only one match if my memory serves me right.
With that being said, you’re right….Porter will need to prove himself. I think he’s a good coach and taking himself to the next level will be a challenge for him tactically.
Porter is undeniably talented but it was his poor management that cost the U23’s their chance at the Olympics.
His strict adherance to the 4-3-3 during the qualification phase was a shortcoming as he needed to adjust the gameplan throughout the games.
His favoritism of certain players prevented the US from fielding its strongest lineup.
I do like him but he still has a lot to learn from what we’ve all seen from him.
I don’t think there’s anything to say he’s undeniably talented. He’s a good NCAA coach, but that’s hardly a high level. Youth teams from other more serious Footballing countries would destroy any NCAA team. So he still has to prove himself in a different arena. I think this is a good challenge.
the players didn’t perform. Horrendous goalkeeping.
Alex Ferguson failed as Scotland manager early in his career.
You don’t always have success the first time.
I can understand some of the criticism due to his shortcomings with the U-23 team but I think all U.S fans should be pulling for him. He is very young and undeniably talented, and developing reputable coaches is to the benefit of our entire program
laughing at you by the way.
lol the Porter haters.
If he’s so good why couldn’t he get our Olympic team out of a group with El Salvador, Cuba, and Canada.
brilliant choice
Porter is the best young coach the U.S has. Has more football knowledge in his pinky than most current MLS managers.
Gavin Wilkinson is Portlands own Wally Walker
Seriously timbers, i expected Orlando city or cosmos or even him leaving to europe for some experience since he is young and ambitious. I would have gone for rapids excoach or even a European coach. In reality who would not coach the timbers? I would have gone gone for javier aguirre, the Mexican coach who has no job due because he wants to coach in England or Spain but he gets poor offers. He has connections and the brains, from world cup to champions and he knows English. Timbers would have love him
Paulson did it to appease the TA.. so they would still show up to matches this year
FAIL
It’s sad to see the once proud Timbers (lol), stoop to this loser. Not even they deserve this
How can Wilkinson stay on at general manager? He’s been nothing but a disaster.
Quotes out today at Timbers training show that Porter well come on in December but the author didn’t know that bit.
Porter is good at getting his players playing an attractive game, his problems is he has no idea what 90 minute and only 3 subs mean and that maybe another player he doesn’t already know may be better for a given position on the field. Wish him the best.
You took the words right out of my mouth – this is a great situation for Porter. The situation in Portland is bad but they have a rabid fanbase that is just waiting for someone to come in and be their hero.
Did anyone ever make a gif of the Porter sad face after the U-23s crashed out of qualifying? That was a priceless look.
Very smart analysis.
Why would you leave a 300K 10 year contract to go to sack happy MLS?
Only way Porter is successful, at least in the next 2 seasons, is if they get rid of GW and install someone experienced as GM.
He can’t do worse than he did with the U-23 team. -_-
I was initially surprised too, but he will have a supportive GM, an owner that wants to win and is willing to go out and get players to do it, while coaching and living in a pretty decent city with a rabid fanbase, all in a beautiful part of the world. And he inherits a core group of quality young players, another high draft pick, and reasonable expectations for next year (I would hope). With the right digits on the paycheck, that’s not a bad working environment.
Great hire but now I have to root for Portland
I like it!
I like it if he finishes the season at Akron. Kind of d*ck*sh if he leaves now.
Little bit surprised that Porter would take this gig, he had it made at Akron and I am sure another MLS gig would come along in no time for him. Portland is going nowhere fast at the moment.
Somewhere Jurgen is smiling . He wanted this for Porter bad
Excited to see how he develops Mwanga and Nagbe.