In the last game, Heaps had 5 of the players he acquired minus Sene. Lozzano and Moreno were complete wastes. The team is not playing together well, even though we all agree that they are all decent players. This is a head coach problem. We can start getting into the "did Heaps ask for player X, and the Revs wouldn't sign him" scenarios - but right now, Heaps has not shown much in the way of transition to coach. Constantly changing captains, new line-ups (when injuries didn't factor), new formations, subs and timings - all in effort to "shake" things up as has been quoted. That is more schoolboy than professional. And I wonder if the players sense it too - at least that is how it seems to me they are playing. Not sure I personally buy he is on the fast track and learning to mature into his role...
More Devil's advocate...For all the talk around here about spending how much more do SKC or San Jose spend than we do? Can't be that much... can it?
Jay Heaps "MIGHT" have been a good assistant coach under Nicol...but, I would have much rather have had Steve Ralston. This Ownership..allowed SNicol to basically lose PMariner and not put a real successor in his place! The amount of foresight given to this was about as equal to every other problem the Krafts have dealt with, with the Revs! Heaps is a failed experiment! Having to buy season tickets and merchandise, so we can watch some former so-so defender "learn" the ropes is horrible and actually Par for the Course with these guys! I'm not saying Kraft should have put a bid in for The Special One or Sir Alex...but, considering the "success" that the Revs had in finding a few players in the college ranks, ::GULP::: I'll say it...what was wrong with them going after a Porter or other seasoned college coach?? We all know the answer to that question... But, seriously, Heaps needs to go..I'd say fire him now, TODAY...and Get Ralston from Houston or a Local guy coaching some U-8...because, They probably would fare no worse! ps. I'm so glad I hated this appointment the moment it was made. I wear brown shaded sunglasses. So I can tell when idiots are spewing shit!
I think this is a valid question. I actually have no idea if they spend more, but outside of both team's SSSs, one could argue that these are also poorly run franchises in an upswing due to draft pick accumulations and some international signing success. Then again, both of them clearly have adept coaching staffs & have made more good choices than bad ones recently.
Paging Khano Smith the the white courtesy phone.... Mark my words, Chris Tierney will be the head man here one day.
re--Heaps on a fast learning curve: Reasonable question Monty I have nothing objective except my sense that Heaps is a smarter than average individual who will learn from his many mistakes/failings and won't be ashamed to seek out answers. Maybe he shouldn't been hired in the first place (I wanted Ralston) but he was and he's had a baptism of fire. Some people are not wired to respond well to adversity, I think Heaps is. I hope I'm right.
According to the last Player Salary publication from the Player's Union, the REVs were outspending KC and SJ: NE: $3.26M SJ: $3.21M KC: $3.12M Of course, since then, the REVs dumped Boggs, Joseph, Lozano, Moreno, Runstrom, and White to the tune of $1.11M, all numbers from the max compensation column. They added the unknown salaries of Imbongo and Bengston. Even those numbers are vague since there seems to be so much "funny money" in MLS (allocations, etc. that can't be counted as they aren't published AFAIK) and we don't know what salaries they ate and what ones they dumped. And then we'd never know how much is spent on coaches, training staff, facilities, etc.
My candidate at the time was John Kerr Jr. He meets the key qualification of actually having worked for the Krafts during the inaugural season.
I agree that Burns must be replaced but I don't see evidence that Heaps is fast tracking in his role? Do you just want that to be the case of is there something he is doing that makes you think he is fast-tracking?
I appreciate your research, but I'm assuming the numbers are just cap-related spending, correct? and since the league pays the salaries, I don't count that as spending. Unless I misunderstood the original post, I was counting spending as transfer fees, DP money, etc.
Obviously the reality is no one knows if he will ever evolve to being a man who wants to coach and/or has the skills to be a good coach. Bryan's statement indicated he was sure Tierney would be the coach of the Revs some day and the tone of his comment suggested that would be a bad thing. My question is why do you think that? Was it just angst based on his assessment of Tierney's playing skills or does he have some deeper insight? The only thing I know about Tierney other than what he's shown on the field is that he's reported to be a very positive influence in the locker room. I've never rad anything to indicate he has any long term interest in being a coach
Fair question. I don't know that it would be. My take is that the club places a high premium on loyalty and being an"organization man", at the expense of finding the right guy, or bringing in challenging points of view. If Tierney has future coaching ambitions, I hope he 1) gets his coaching license , and 2) follows Ralston and Twellman's lead and gets some experience and mentoring outside the organization.
I totally agree with you... Wanted Ralston but we got "Heaps?" - and even in the beginning when I didn't like it..thought, oh well, hope it works? But, now, I'm actually wishing for Nicol and his horseshoe. At the very least SN played in a World Cup for Sir Alex. Was a star defender. Won a European Cup...etc. Does it make him a shoe in for being a good coach? Certainly not. But, he paid dues and got the job. No matter what luck he had in taking over some players brought in by Clavijo and building on some great reads in the draft. He and possibly the great talent that was Paul Mariner got us to 4 finals a couple of cups, one being a pretty substantial one in the USOC...! Yea, he did a lot of things that made us shake our heads...and bunker ball wasn't pretty. But, once those great players clicked..it was very awesome to watch!! Heaps may be a proven leader with great technical acumen, etc..but, he's certainly failed to motivate "his" guys to wins...and I don't mean 10 out of 34 if we so happen to end that way!
I think the most likely change is that Burns goes. He got his chance with the reorganized management structure and the results in acquisitions aren't "better enough". I don't know about Billelo - I think that depends on who they would think of bringing in. I don't think there's a chance in a million that Heaps quits. He's a fiesty s.o.b., no way he's giving up. As for another assistant, I think that depends on how they feel Jay Miller has filled that role (of tactical expert). Perhaps he was all they could find with a late start and with a full off-season+, they can get someone better for that role (and reassign or supplement Miller).
3 words. BLOW IT UP! No point in reshuffling or attempting find a good fit with current organization structure. Get 'em out and get new blood in with a can do attitude and new ideas. That goes for on pitch and in the FO.
The problem with Heaps is that he has not been able to adjust onthe fly to either in-game situations (i.e., your original gameplan isn't working so you need to adjust, either by instructing your players mid-game or by substitutions) and he has not been able to make adjustments throughout the course of the season. The first half of the year was decent--the team won a few games and was generally playing attractive soccer and could compete. Things were looking good for a while, and I think a lot of us had hope. Maybe not playoffs this year, but if things continued on that pace, we could certainly expect that next year. But they hit a wall and went winless in 10 straight, looking clueless and blowing leads, making stupid mistakes and losing a lot of points in the process. A rookie coach who is learning may make the mistakes early on, but a good one will figure out how to avoid the same things from happening again and again. He also needs to use his resources to their utmost, and despite the Burns criticisms, I would say the whole, right now, is less than the sum of its parts. This team should be doing better. If Heaps doesn't have the tactical knowledge and is not willing and able to adjust on the fly, he will continue to struggle no matter what the situation.
A certain level of criticism is fair, but as he was missing just about all of his best offensive-minded midfielders, it really shows how limited the pool is in quality players. We've seen this at other positions at other times, this time the injuries/absences piled up in offensive/two-way midfielders.
We're going off-topic, but Iwasn't thrilled to see him play Dempsey for 90 considering he wasn't really in game shape. And that was obvious in the second half.