I'll admit I kinda like it. One of the things I've wanted to see for a while is for the Revs do a better job with building a pathway from the Academy to the Senior Team. I feel like Mitrovic is someone that will give kids a chance. If you can build that pathway and sustain it, in theory, the 2nd Ranked Academy should then be able to get you players that can play at this level for cheap, and then you can go outside to find the positions you need help at. We'll see though.
Appreciate all your points and agree. I just can't stop but think of our history with Managers with no prior first team experience.
It piques my interest more than the other MLS retreads that were rumored (except curtain). Mikey Varas has at least shown the YTN to MLS pipeline can be viable
I agree. Strangely (or not?), the Revs have been in the same position that the Pats have been in in recent years - a roster that is too thin/lacking high-end talent, forcing them to overpay to bring in players from outside. This is what development failure looks like - Tajon Buchanon was a player you could win a championship with, the players brought in to replace him are far from that.
Yes, I see this as a better option than bringing in some guy who's bounces around with 2-3 different MLS clubs and a mixed bag of success. Curtin would have been nice, but he took himself out of the running pretty early on. Tata Martino was another interesting choice, but he re-upped with Atlanta. I say give the guy a chance and see what he does, Then again, that's what I thought with Porter :-(
I'm not getting any younger and I'm tiring of being the team that has to settle on "giving a guy a chance". Alas, we are not a big club. We are the Plastics, playing on a plastic pitch, in an NFL BINGO Barn, in the middle of a Foxborough forest, hard by the Rhody border.
Do we have a common definition of "First Team Experience"? Your comment is interesting and I agree. On the other hand, how are you feeling about coaches we hired WITH prior first team experience? Here are the ones I think might qualify (definition dependent) as having prior first team experience and my short thoughts: 1. Frank Stapleton - Massive fail but had 3 years at Bradford City prior to REVs 2. Thomas Rongen - Massive fail but had been ast TB Mutiny 3. Steve Nicol - Everyone loves him here. Was it the year at Notts County, the Boston Bulldogs gig or the interim Revolutions gig that gets him listed here? Hence my question about a definition of first team experience. 4. Clavijo - mixed bag, short stay. He had prior experience at arguably lower levels than MLS. But I guess they were first teams? Another reason to wonder about the definition 5. Bruce Arena - Pretty good until it wasn't 6. Caleb Porter - Massive fail. Depending on how you define the prior first team experience, Steve Nicol might not be on this list. So, Bruce Arena is the only positive experience with coaches that had "prior first team experience???" Hmmmm, massive fail seems to fit just about all of them (prior experience or not) except BA and SN.... Some might throw Heaps a bone. Jermaine Jones took him to MLS Cup IIRC?
I'll always go to bat for Jay's tenure to a certain extent. Even if you attribute the MLS Cup appearance all to Jermaine, Jay still got the Revs into playoffs the year before Jermaine arrived, and gave eventual champs SKC their toughest fight. The Revs under Heaps also still managed another playoffs appearance in 2015 when seemingly every key player got hurt for an extended period of time, and a US Open Cup Final appearance in 2016. Unlike some other failures here, I remember Heaps also made a couple of solid tactical changes to that bettered results when things weren't working. He had definitely run his course and was let go at the right time, but I'd still call him the 3rd-best manager in Revs history behind Nicol and Arena.
I think I might have to agree with your ranking. I sincerely mean no insult to Jay Heaps who gave it his all but it feels like him being 3rd behind BA and SN is sort of a damning commentary on REV ownership and front office(s) over the years.
"I'm in the right place" | Mitrović meets the media at introductory press conference revolutionsoccer.net Wednesday, Nov 12, 2025 Video (29:06 length)
One in the plus column for Mitrovic: All four of the teams remaining in the MLS Cup playoffs have a manager in his first year as an MLS head coach.
Report: Tacoma Defiance Assistant Coach Reuniting With Marko Mitrovic A new face has reportedly joined the New England Revolution coaching staff Sam Lattof Nov 25, 2025 theblazingmusket.com