Jason Kreis led Real Salt Lake to 4 conference finals, and 2 MLS Cup finals, and one CONCACAF Champions League final winning one MLS Cup in the process between 2007 and 2013. Could he be the man to lead Houston?
DENNISPORT, MA — The Owen Coyle era in Houston has ended. The Dynamo announced late on Wednesday night that the club and Coyle had come to a mutual decision to part-ways, citing the Scottish-born coach expressing a desire to be nearer to his family in England.
Coyle said of his decision “I asked Chris (Canetti) if I could speak with him today and I explained to him the challenge of being away from my family and how we all want the best for Houston Dynamo.” Coyle added “I want to wish all members of the staff, from owner Gabriel Brener to president Chris Canetti to general manager Matt Jordan, everyone has been such a source of support, along with the players and the technical staff. I’d like to thank the Dynamo supporters, who have been outstanding. We have a brilliant club, and I have no doubt success is just around the corner.”
Coyle’s tenure in Houston ended on a drab note, with an uninspiring 14-21-11 record over 46 games with the Dynamo. In truth it was always going to be a tough ask for a coach with little-to-no knowledge of the idiosyncrasies involved with Major League Soccer to take the squad left to him by Dom Kinnear and make the Dynamo into a perennial playoff contender once again.
In a conference call with media today general manager Matt Jordan was full of praise for his departing coach. “Owen is a good man and a good coach. He did everything he could to move the team forward,” said Jordan. “I was here at training facility with Owen talking about the team until 10.30, we talked about the team, his family…the way we saw the players talk about him and how they all were shaking his hand, he had a connection with the players.”
In truth as much as Coyle may not have been so popular with the Dynamo fans, he was extremely popular in the dressing room with players, the outpouring of well wishes on twitter from Houston Dynamo players included booth senior players such as Oscar Boniek Garcia, and young and up-coming players like Rob Lovejoy. Despite results on the field the general reaction from within the organization is one of shock — this wasn’t something that anybody seems to have seen coming — regardless of media speculation.
Matt Jordan was asked numerous times about the Dynamo plans going forward and replied very stoically that the Dynamo’s “main focus” in the upcoming days was focusing on the game with the Vancouver Whitecaps this weekend. Several names were bandied about while on the conference call, most prominently Wilmer Cabera of Rio Grande Valley Toros — the Dynamo’s USL affiliate — and Jason Kreis. When quizzed about whom the identity of the new coach might be all Matt Jordan would admit was that the club were most likely looking at a candidate with North American soccer experience. Chris Canetti, meanwhile, has told Corey Roepken of the Houston Chronicle that an interim manager would have the chance to secure the full-time position.
So where do the Dynamo go from here? Though Wilmer Cabrera is a viable candidate, it’s doubtful that he has the experience that the Dynamo front-office require to take this team and turn it into the perennial playoff contenders that Dynamo teams of the recent past had been. The MLS playoffs in years passed, after all, have orange paint all over them.
Jason Kreis is a name that Prost-Amerika asked about on the conference call, and here’s what Matt Jordan responded to us with: “It’s normal that Jason Kries’ name comes up in these discussions. He’s been a successful coach, and a successful coach in this league. But right now we are focussed on preparing for our game vs Vancouver this weekend— That being said… we’re also in the process of evaluating the best possible candidates for the job [in Houston].”
Jason Kreis was given a raw deal in New York. A team funded by Manchester City’s Sheikh’s millions, NYCFC’s hierarchy was just waiting for the right high profile coach to bring into the fold to give the team a more global appeal. Kreis could’ve made the playoffs for NYCFC in their first season as an expansion team and he’d have still been fired. Look past NYCFC, though, and you just have to look at the magic he worked with Real Salt Lake as coach to see how special he could be in Houston.
Kreis’ time in Salt Lake City, Utah, was a success regardless of his win percentage. Between 2007 and 2013 Kreis took a team in one of the US’s smallest markets, and averaged a 3rd place finish, going to four Western Conference finals, winning a MLS Cup championship, finishing runner up in another, and came within one game of bringing home the CONCACAF Champions League to Rio Tinto Stadium after a 3-2 aggregate loss to Monterrey in 2010/11.
If Kreis is even remotely interested the Dynamo front-office should be ready to pounce on the free agent manager, and task him with guiding the storied Houston Dynamo franchise back to MLS Cup glory. This Houston Dynamo team is a very talented one, and with the right guidance from here on out — they could still be contenders. That will all depend on how swiftly Matt Jordan and Chris Canetti move to replace the disappointing Owen Coyle.
Follow on Twitter: @scottnicholls
