Jay Heaps after 5 years: still the right guy for the job?

New blood would be good. But I doubt it's going to happen. By definition it means someone you haven't worked with before.

 

Who we want is irrelevant.

Make a list of all the available coaches.
Then cross off the names of the ones that won't work for what the Revs are currently paying Heaps.
The one name left on the list, that is your next HC of the NER.

 

Someone on Twitter suggested Ian McIntyre, Syracuse men's head soccer coach, who turned that program around.
I'd be happy with Savarese.
Sigi Schmid and Bob Bradley would be steals, but I doubt either of them is interested. Bradley will hold out for Europe, and if Schmid wanted to coach in MLS at the moment, he'd be coaching right now.
I'd also be happy if they brought in a foreign coach as long as they retain an assistant coach familiar with MLS.

However, the NEW GM should be the one hiring the new coach...

 

I know some have mentioned Ralston. I think that he would be an excellent choice. He has been away long enough and gotten enough experience as an assistant that I think he would actually be the best choice. He would also not cost as much as other candidates since it would be his first head position and I would think still has the desire to coach the club he played for. He has always been a leader and definitely knows the game and how the league is changing. Given the circumstances of San Jose, this might be the ideal time to make the move.

 

Actually, I was thinking that Gio Savarese might be worth a shot. It's been a long time since he had anything to do with our organizaton, and he's done a good job with the Cosmos, another masively disfunctional level.

The problem is that we can't go the Atlanta route because of cheapness and blithering doltishness of Burns, and no experienced MLS coach would take the job. Maybe a collge coach looking to move up, but OTOH, why woudl a successful college coach leave the security and big-fish-ness of his small pond to risk it all on a gig with a slim upside and a huge downside?

 

I think Ralston could happen. But Llamosa is probably the most likely.

One thing, I can't see any rational argument for keeping Heaps at this point.

 

I don't even see the argument for not firing Heaps now. I mean, if the Krafts have to pay him through the end of the season anyway, might as well improve the team by canning him now. There's nothing to be gained by keeping him in charge until the fall. That'd be like saying, "well, this poison dirt is terrible for me and tastes awful, but I've got enough to last me until November so I might as well keep eating it...."

 

Would you rather have Llamosa or Ralston? Or both? Keep Llamosa as Ralston's asst.

 

Keeping Heaps
vs.
Firing Heaps and hiring a new coach

equals

Less Money
vs.
More Money

>> Most likely a consideration for KSG.


---------------------------------
Otherwise, I agree that what you say makes sense and would be a logical path for ownership to follow.

 

Yeah, but we don't even need to hire someone. Soehn or Llamosa can interim it. Poison dirt.

 

Thinking about Llamosa vs Heaps, you have to consider their backgrounds and their primary influences they bring as a coach. From what I can tell, Heaps' pedigree is the "typical" white middle class soccer kid, came through the system, played in a good college program, had a decent pro career before getting into coaching. Nothing necessarily wrong with that--lots of good coaches have similar backgrounds. Heaps' coaches were Steve Nicol and Ivo Wortmann, a man who couldn't figure out how to use Carlos Valderrama, perhaps the most creative attacking player in MLS history.

Llamosa, on the other hand, grew up in Colombia, probably played in the streets every day, immigrated to the US as a young man, worked hard at non-soccer jobs and played in a weekend league before being discovered by DC United. Played under Bruce Arena, played in the World Cup, and played with a wide variety of exceptional players over his career. He's seen a few things in his day.

Which of these guys do you think has a more developed "soccer brain," and is able to think and adjust on the fy? A Heaps-like coach may have been a better fit in the late-90s MLS, but that era has gone, and more should be expected from any coach in the league today.

Then again, the Krafts still are partying like it's 1994, so why should we expect any more from them?

 

Ralston gets my vote.

 

I have a hard time believing that anyone like Ralston who played for the Revs and then has been assistant coaching at an MLS 2.0 team (or the MNT if you want to add Noonan to the mix) would consider coming to the Revs. Between the Krafts 1994 mentality and Burns as chief flak responsible for explaining why he didn't get players this has got to be seen as a disastrous landing place for a coach. Promoting an assistant coach on an interim basis is a bit more viable. They're already stuck here. Might as well get a raise and put "head coach" on the résumé.

 

I know it is a pipe dream but I'd take Bob Bradley or Sigi Schmid

 

Yes and Yes
I'

 

I'm with you, but it only works if you put them in charge of the overall soccer operation and dump both Biello and Burns. Otherwise, there's no reason for them to come and no way Krafts would pay their wages. IMNHO, the sign that the Krafts are going to take their soccer team seriously is when they make a move like this. It might happen in the post-Belichick, post-Brady era when the Pats fall to Earth and the Krafts are looking for a cost-effective way to have a contender again.

 

Unfortunately, I see the opposite. If the Krafts aren't willing to treat the Revs as a serious entity while the Pats are on top, once they fall back to earth with a couple of non-playoff seasons in the post-B-B era, no way the Rvs get more than the paltry bit of attention they get now....

 

Team has enough talent to at least be a playoff team, but consistently under performs. That's 100% on Heaps. They're just not playing hard enough for him and its blatantly obvious. If there were any kind of pressure at all on this team to perform he'd have been gone a month ago.

 

As time goes by the more I am convinced that the Revs players genuinely feared the wrath and unpredictability of Jermaine, on the training ground as well as through his proclivity for off-the-cuff tweets. They wanted desperately to avoid him getting in their face in training, and more so in-game, and similarly avoid the risk of being called out, exposed, or ripped on national/global social media by a globally-visible presence like JJ. The "Wrath of JJ" threat loomed everywhere in RevsLand back then. (I would hazard a guess that Jay felt it too....)

To that end, the players ratcheted up their focus and concentration to reduce lazy mental mistakes - allowing them to better employ the skill sets they already possessed. And that in turn generated on-field results. (Jay may have been sharper back then as well.)

Right now, they still have approximately the same collective skillset, but the contrast is that there is currently nothing akin to a compelling force that challenges them to bring their maximum focus and concentration. IMHO, JJ was truly an exceptional force when it came to this. He brought other imperfections for sure (injuries, age, etc.), but on this aspect he is at the top of the list.

I am not saying that "fear" is the answer, but the lack of "pressure" (whatever that means), (of which fear is one variety), is clearly lacking in the current environment. Again, I am repeating prior posters on this specific idea - not a new theme.

This lack of pressure is just one variable in the overall miasma of mediocrity. There are other/more moving parts involved in this mess.

 

Players see all, the are not oblivious nor impervious. They take their cues from the top of the org on down. Without the "pressure", the only requirement is to be "Good Enough" to keep your job - at all levels in the org.

At some point even one's reserves of self respect and of pride are diminished or even depleted. Emotionally that can be exhausting. When that happens, it becomes ever more difficult to summon a personal best on the pitch, when the same commitment level isn't apparent up the chain.

Same story, different year:

It starts at the top, #NERevs. Only be (spend) #GoodEnough 2 get 2 playoffs. Provides anothr yr of #AirCover and #StandPat. Players see all

— A Casual Fan (@A_Casual_Fan) October 4, 2015

 

Jay Heaps: I'm coaching for my job every game...https://t.co/oitgCf3Ri6 #NERevs

— Brian O'Connell (@BrianOConnell21) July 23, 2017

 

I think even with a new coach the current roster has ton of pieces to be more consistently competitive in the east. A new coach wouldn't mean a rebuild.

 

"From the coaching staff, we feel we prepare the guys, but if there’s something we’re missing, then we need to get better at it."

The gaffer said he’s seen strong starts go to waste due to poor form in the waning moments, and vice versa.

“If we need to get more players to support the group we have, then we need to get more players,”

Interesting:

• Heaps feels they are doing there job but then questions himself if they are missing something
  
• But then points that to strong starts that fizzle or slow starts - when he is the one who dictates the starting lineups and then subbing patterns
  
• And then asks a hypothetical of "If we need to get more players" - well, do you need them or not Jay?

These types of quotes, IMO, do not instill confidence and that Jay has a plan executing on it - makes him look wishy-washy....which may trickle over into how the players view him and how must they trust him and believe in him.

 

"IF" he says. IF we need to get more players. Jay, you have what, seven open roster spots? IF? IF?

In his comments after the LA game, Kamara says diplomatic things like how he might not be right for the Revs "system." How about the "system" devised by Heaps is so inflexible that he can't figure out a way to make the most ofta 20+ goal scorer?

Time to go, Jay!