SANDY, Utah - Major League Soccer announced its 2013 Coach of the Year results on Monday morning, with Real Salt Lake Head Coach Jason Kreis finishing third behind Portland’s Caleb Porter and New York’s Mike Petke.
Kreis had a remarkable year in charge of the Claret-and-Cobalt, keeping the team near the top of the table all season despite losing three All-Stars in the offseason. Kreis led RSL as it became the first team in MLS history to reach the 15-win, 50-point plateaus in four-straight seasons and turned the Claret-and-Cobalt into one of the deepest sides in all of MLS, playing 27 players in league action. The intense manager also transformed RSL into an offensive juggernaut, helping the squad set a new club record for regular season goals with 57 and diversifying an attack that saw 18 different players score in all competitions and six different players tally at least five regular season goals.
Of course, Kreis’s biggest challenge of 2013 is still to come on Saturday, when he’ll manage RSL in MLS Cup 2013 at Sporting Kansas City. Should RSL win on Saturday, Kreis would become just the fifth manager in league history with multiple MLS Cup titles.
Kreis finished with a weighted total of 26.58, collecting 12.25 percent of the club votes, 3.9 percent of the media votes and 10.43 percent of the player votes.
