"Where's the Revolution!?" An Off-Season Review

By John Prance

Putting it mildly, the New England Revolution’s last season was simply not good enough. The Revs managed victory in five games, worst in Major League Soccer. After such a dismal season, it was not a surprise to see major changes. Head coach Steve Nicol, who had been in charge of the team for ten years, was fired in October. In came new head coach, Jay Heaps, and talk of very different strategies on and off the field. 

On the surface, making changes to a team that was atrocious seems like a good thing. Unfortunately, there is one major problem: they made all the wrong changes. The Revolution is just like an unfaithful significant other. They act like they are sorry, apologize, and swear they will change their ways.  Then, as soon as you want to believe them, they go ahead and do the same dumb things, coming home reeking of booze and cheap perfume, forgetting your birthday, failing to acquire a decent striker. Sure, they brought in a new head coach. However, Jay Heaps is the epitome of inexperience, not being able to put a single iota of professional coaching experience (Assitant or Head Coaching) on his résumé. Last season he was the color commentator for The Revolution. It is the equivalent of Tommy Heinsohn becoming the next Celtics coach, or Gil Santos succeeding Bill Belichick.

Revolution first round pick, Kelyn Rowe

 January 12^th was the day of the MLS Draft, one of Jay Heap’s first chances to leave a stamp on the squad. Holding the third pick in the draft they picked very promising young midfielder Kelyn Rowe out of UCLA. Rowe shows great ability to get forward and could possibly become a great attacking midfielder in this league. Unfortunately the Revs already have plenty of strength in central midfield, boasting seven time all-star Shalrie Joseph, US Men’s National Team player Benny Feilhaber, and ex DC United player Clyde Simms (received through MLS Re-Entry Draft). It is unlikely that Rowe will be able to develop without seeing significant playing time. With the third pick in the second round they were able to help provide depth with getting Tyler Polak, a left back, out of Creighton. The Revs had been lacking naturally left footed players the past few seasons, but Polak will not be a quick fix. The adjustment that Polak will have to make between the speed of play in NCAA and MLS will be far too much for the rookie to accomplish this season.

Although changes were made to the coaching staff, the key players in the front office have stayed the same. Mike Burns was previously Vice-President of player personnel, which makes him equally responsible for putting together last year’s dismal squad. Mike Burns got promoted to General Manager. I envy his ability to get promoted after failing so miserably. Now he will have the opportunity to not only cause decay in the Revolution’s roster, but also their coaching staff, youth squad and team operations. While Burns roster decisions were questionable at best when he was Vice-President, his ability to embarrass the team since his promotion has been immeasurable.

On February 2^nd Burns announced signing fairly unknown forward Jose Moreno. Moreno is a typical Revolution signing; he is old, did not have a good goal scoring record, and has been jumping from team to team for the majority of his career. It was truly a boring and typical player acquisition until all hell broke loose.

The Revs had the fewest wins in MLS in 2011.

Moreno was then quoted on both a local Columbian newspaper and on his current team’s (Once Caldas) website stating that he was staying in Columbia and had turned down the offer from MLS.  The Revolution front office didn’t respond for two days, and when they did it reeked of incompetence. “The biggest reason for the lack of a resolution or response on this issue has been our desire to speak to Jose directly about the reports. In the last day-and-a-half, we have not been able to connect with Jose, and right now that is our highest priority.” Moreno then played in Once Caldas’s next game, where he had to be substituted midway through after sustaining a heavy challenge. Unconfirmed report of the Revolution preparing to sue Once for breach of contract appeared on Twitter. Then Revolution Front Office claimed that the loan agreement does not begin until March 1^st. This mess of a signing has dominated what has been a disappointing offseason, and it is unknown whether the striker will report to Foxborough.

 I’ve heard the lines before. I know things will probably get much worse before they get better. I should probably take the embarrassment I’ve had in this team and run far far away. The Revolution have given me no reason this offseason to be optimistic. Naturally I will probably be in the stands when The Revs open their season against Portland on March 24^th.

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