An MLS Great, familiar with the league’s many intricacies. An attacking-minded, possession-oriented manager. An MLS Cup Champion.
“Jason Kreis checks all the boxes,” Orlando City President and Founder Phil Rawlins said.
The Club’s search for a new manager came to a close today with the formal announcement that Jason Kreis has been hired as the team’s new head coach.
Fans may know him as expansion rival NYCFC’s former coach. But Kreis has a history that extends far beyond Orlando City’s 2015 inception.
His MLS career began when MLS’ career began – at the 1996 MLS Inaugural Draft. Kreis was selected 43rd overall by the Dallas Burn, known today as FC Dallas, and quickly became one of the league’s foremost players.
He scored Dallas’ first goal – and later Real Salt Lake’s first, too – and became the first American-born MLS MVP in 1999. In 2004 he became MLS’ all-time leading scorer, setting and extending a mark that would last for more than three years.
To this day, he still holds Dallas’ all-time records for games played, games started, goals and assists. He is sixth on MLS’ all-time scoring list with 108 goals.
But Kreis’ MLS pedigree is more than setting a few league firsts on the pitch.
In May 2007, Kreis announced the end of his storied 12-year career. And began a new career as coach.
Watch: Welcome, Jason Kreis
RSL immediately hired Kreis to be their head coach and within two years were crowned MLS Cup Champions. Kreis led RSL to the playoffs every year from 2008 to 2013 and fell agonizingly short of a second title in a penalty kick shootout in 2013.
Kreis’ 2009 RSL team lacked many high profile names and barely squeaked into the playoffs, edging out the Colorado Rapids on the Number of Wins tiebreaker. But under Kreis’ leadership, RSL defeated the Supporters’ Shield-winning Columbus Crew 4-2 on aggregate, Eastern Conference runner up Chicago Fire and Western Conference champion LA Galaxy in the MLS Cup Final.
They showed that all you have to do is make the dance in MLS. Then, it’s anyone’s game.
Which is why this hire is so great for Orlando City. We’ve seen in years past the wheeling and dealing that coaches intimately familiar with MLS’ rules have pulled off to bring top players to their teams, and Kreis is as familiar with MLS as they come. He fits the Club’s playing philosophy to a T and is a proven winner.
Simply put, he checks all the boxes.
