On Friday, Jason Kreis parted ways with Orlando City SC, the second time in three years his run at a Major League Soccer club ended sooner than he expected.
Struggles with Orlando and New York City FC came on the heels of resounding success in his first coaching gig with Real Salt Lake, where he became the youngest coach to win an MLS Cup in 2009.
Kreis, an accomplished forward for FC Dallas and Real Salt Lake, retired as a player on May 3, 2007 to coach RSL, where he become the youngest MLS coach at 34 years, 127 days old.
The team went 6-13-7 the rest of that first season and finished last in the Western Conference with a minus-6 goal differential after he took over.
But resounding success was just around the corner. In each of his six full seasons at RSL, the club made the playoffs and they had a positive goal differential, capped by a plus-25 season in 2010, when they went 15-4-11.
Kreis also brought hardware to RSL. They won MLS Cup 2009, while losing to Sporting Kansas City on penalties in the 2013 final. They also became the first MLS team to reach the Concacaf Champions League final, where they lost to Monterrey in 2011.
After declining a contract extension, Kreis left RSL to become the first coach at expansion club NYCFC. But success didn’t follow him from Utah. The club went 10-17-7 with a minus-9 goal differential and Kreis was jettisoned after finishing eighth in the East and 17th out of 20 MLS teams.
Kreis was brought in midway through the 2016 season after Orlando parted ways with Adrian Heath, with the Lions going 5-6-4 that year after the change, with a minus-2 goal differential.
A year ago, Orlando was 10-15-9 and conceded as many goals (58) as the NYCFC expansion side did. Before he was let go on Friday, the Lions again had a negative goal differential (-7).
Kreis was 90-71-58 in the regular season at RSL, with a plus-63 goal differential and six consecutive playoff appearances.
In stints with NYC and Orlando, Kreis produced a combined 31-46-21 regular-season line (-35 GD). Neither club made the postseason under his charge.
