Top Stories

Report: Mike Petke interviews for Fire head coach position

Photo by Stew Milne/USA TODAY Sports
Photo by Stew Milne/USA TODAY Sports

Mike Petke’s career as an MLS head coach may not be over just yet.

The former New York Red Bulls player and coach reportedly had an interview with the Chicago Fire last week to discuss the vacant head coaching job with the team, according to the Metro.

Following a three-game losing streak in September, Frank Yallop was let go by the Fire as part of a major shakeup, which saw assistant coaches Marc Bircham and Clint Mathis also relieved of their duties. Technical director Brian Bliss has served as the team’s interim head coach since then, while Logan Pause has been the team’s interim assistant coach.

Petke led the Red Bulls to a Supporters’ Shield title in his first year in charge during the 2013 season. The following year, he lead the Red Bulls to the Eastern Conference final, where they lost to the New England Revolution. During the 2015 MLS season, Petke has worked as an on-air analyst for ONE World Sports and has also appeared as an analyst on ESPN broadcasts.

The Fire finished the 2015 season with only 30 points and eight wins, the fewest out of any MLS team this year.

What do you think of this development? Think Petke would do well with the Fire?

Share your thoughts below.

Comments

  1. If Mike Petke gets the job, I hope he does well and wish him the best.

    I’d just like it if he loses to RB. At least for the first few games; he can get a win here and there after that. 🙂

    Reply
  2. I’d love to see Petke get another chance in MLS, and would love the story of a New Yorker trying to take Chi-town to success. Personally, I’d prefer the early rumor of Miguel Herrera, but this would do quite nicely

    Reply
  3. if nycfc are silly enough to fire jason kreis he would be a good fire or usmnt coach. i would also love petke’s passion in chicago

    Reply
  4. Wish him well, he deserves a chance to coach again. However, why did it have to be the Fire?? Ugh.. Would like to see him anywhere except Chicago, DC, or Man City Jr.

    Reply
  5. I am so excited to hear this news I feel he is just what the Fire need. He seems like a coach who can motivate the team to play 90inutes

    Reply
  6. Would love to see Petke back in league. Tremendous passion and good playing background. Has a lot to learn but plenty of time to do it. I think down the road he is legitimate USMNT coach candidate.

    Reply
  7. During the RBNY/Chicago match Sunday, Shep Messing went through a long list of coaching moves he’d like to see happen and it included Petke to Chicago. Maybe he knows something. I’m hoping so because he also said Bruce Arena should take over the USMNT job. Sounds good to me, although having anyone other than JK in that job sounds good to me at this point!

    Anyway, best of luck to Mike and I hope he gets the job.

    Reply
    • Shep did say that pretty matter of fact that he’d like to see it – given how random it was, and now this, where there’s smoke… K Dyer also generally has legitimate info. I’d be all for Petke getting the gig.

      Reply
    • No thanks on Petke to Fire and triple no thanks to Srena back to the USMNT. There’s a reason no other foreign team has considered him. If we want to resign ourselves to the fact that the US will never get much better that where we at as a soccer nation a limited technical team with no imagination that relies on solely the counterstrike and kick and run soccer then Arena is our man

      Reply
      • Ohhh man. Thinking of bringing in retreads makes me feel a road-weary USMNT fan but I have to say… for a stop-gap mid cycle hire- we could do much worse than Arena. I mean, we can all throw out dream hires like Bielsa but…. the first requirement in hiring someone is that they accept the offer. A guy like him or his caliber is a hard get and… even harder into a program in turmoil, mid-cycle where you have to hit the ground running. Top of next cycle… well…

Leave a Reply to sholata Cancel reply