ORLANDO, Fla. – If there was one quality Orlando City SC was looking for most in their new head coaching hire, it wasn’t winning at the MLS level alone.
Instead, when it came to Jason Kreis being hired as the successor to Adrian Heath, it was another of his achievements that most made the Lions’ management sit up and take notice – the first American coach to reach a CONCACAF Champions League final.
Much has already – and rightly – been made of Kreis’ MLS successes with Real Salt Lake, and they were certainly integral to him being one of the seven candidates interviewed for the position in the past 10 days.
But Orlando City founding owner and president Phil Rawlins revealed that Salt Lake’s progress to a CCL final showdown with Liga MX side Monterrey in 2011 really caught the board’s eye.
“It is very much something we shouldn’t forget,” Rawlins confirmed. “Obviously there has been a lot of focus on the MLS finals Jason achieved with Salt Lake, but he was the first coach to take an American team to the final of the Champions League, and the fact he is a proven winner in Champions League play was very attractive to us."
Winning at CONCACAF level is very much the long-term jewel in the crown for the City ownership, and it is that level of forward thinking that was ultimately behind the club committing itself to Kreis.
“We feel like we have got absolutely the right man,” Rawlins added. “He is a young, ambitious coach who fits our M.O. extremely well. He came very quickly to the top of our short list, and, once we had interviewed him, we knew he was the man we wanted and we feel we have a real coup in bringing a top class coach here.”
Kreis admitted he needed to take a few months off after being replaced as head coach of fellow expansion franchise New York City FC after just one season, and that Orlando’s timing was perfect to catch his full attention.
“Clearly when I left the job in New York, there was going to be some time, some months in fact, to have some retrospective thought about that situation,” he admitted “I really had look at it and learn some things about myself.
“There were some clubs that were interested [in the first few months] but I don’t think I was ready. The earliest I could see myself getting involved again was this summer.”
With the Central Florida outfit parting company with Heath on July 6, it quickly became apparent that there was an intriguing potential match ready to be made, but Kreis still had some reservations.
“Orlando City was particularly interesting for me,” he explained. “I kept looking at the club through last season and thinking, ‘You know, they have some really, really exciting young players, they have an incredible fan base, and they have this amazing new stadium coming on board.’ But the one piece that was always out there was, I didn’t know what the management and the ownership looked like.
“And, as I did my research and looked more into it, the club has literally ticked every box for me about what I wanted in the next club. They are the ideal Major League Soccer club scenario on literally every front [for me]."
‘Ticking the boxes’ was very much the phrase of the day at the club’s unveiling of Kreis, as it featured prominently in Rawlins’ evaluation of his new head coach. Kreis revealed he had also been flown to Portugal to meet with majority owner Flavio Augusto da Silva.
“It has been a whirlwind process since we first visited 10 days ago,” Kreis confirmed.
“When I came for the first MLS game here [last season], I could easily see that this team and this city was going to be something special. There are some extremely exciting young players with huge potential for growth. Perhaps most importantly, the club has terrific, second-to-none fan support and an incredibly high relevancy in the community here.”
The new man is certainly not writing off the 2016 season, with the team currently a point off a playoff spot, but he also doesn’t want fans thinking he can wave a magic wand and have the team ready to be MLS Cup winners immediately.
“The most immediate priority for me is an off the pitch issue,” Kreis confirmed. “I need to get with the team and dictate to them and try to spell out clearly our vision for the club going forward, what it is going to mean to be an OCSC member, and ask the players if that’s what they want. If you want to be here it requires a certain amount of commitment and sacrifice, and, if you do not want to be here, we need to learn that quickly and move you on."
He set out a two-stage agenda for success that is predicated on getting to know his squad as soon as possible, and he insisted everything is still on the table.
“Front one is how do we adjust what’s here already and what’s working and what gives us the best chance of reaching the playoffs?” he insisted. “I do not think that coming in, blowing everything up and changing it just because that’s the way I want it [is the way to go]. I don’t see that as being successful.
“The second front is to have a longer-term vision of who are the most important players on this team, what is the core of the group from a leadership perspective, and how do we build around that core to gain long-term success? And we will let the qualities of that core dictate the tactics.”
Kreis will get his first chance to meet with the squad at training on Thursday morning, but then he needs to return to New York to tie up his personal business there before moving back down to Orlando full-time over the weekend.
Bobby Murphy and Anthony Pulis will remain as interim coaches for Saturday’s game at Columbus Crew SC (7:30 pm ET, MLS LIVE), and then Kreis will take the reins from Monday onwards, including for the club’s friendly with Premier League Stoke City next Wednesday.
