![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nesoccertoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/heaps2.jpg?resize=218%2C300\" "\\"heaps2\\"")
<\/a>Jay Heaps was named head coach of the Revolution on Tuesday. (Photo by Art Donahue\/artdonahue.com) <\/p><\/div>\n
\u201cI am thrilled to accept this position,\u201d Heaps said. \u201cThroughout my playing career and with my involvement with the team after I retired, I\u2019ve made no secret about my commitment to the Revolution, and I\u2019m honored to be entrusted with this responsibility as head coach. I\u2019d like to thank the Kraft family, Brian Bilello and Mike Burns for believing in me, and in the vision I have for the club as we move ahead. We have a strong base to build on, but we also have a lot of work to do as we look ahead to 2012.\u201d<\/p>\n
Heaps, a Nashua, N.H., native and Longmeadow, Mass., product, is the first native New Englander to lead the Revs as head coach. He was recently inducted into the New England Soccer Hall of Fame.<\/p>\n
Despite his impressive playing credentials in MLS, Heaps lacks any professional coaching experience or coaching license, but impressed the Krafts during the interview process.<\/p>\n
\u201cDuring the interview process, Jay impressed Robert and me with his knowledge of how to build a roster and how teams can gain and maintain a competitive advantage,\u201d said Revolution Investor\/Operator Jonathan Kraft. \u201cWe are convinced that he will work well with General Manager Mike Burns and President Brian Bilello to rebuild the Revolution into a championship-contending team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Heaps, who in addition to working at Morgan Stanley has spent the past two years as the Revs color commentator on the team\u2019s TV and radio broadcasts, becomes the second youngest active head coach at 35 years old. He had previously played for the Revs from 2001 till 2009 becoming the longest-tenured Revolution player, ever.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery day, Jay set a positive example when he was one of our players: he gave everything he had on the field, no matter if it was a game or a training session, and then was a leader in the locker room and in the community,\u201d Revolution General Manager Michael Burns said. \u201cWe believe Jay is the right person to lead us as our head coach and we\u2019re very excited to get him in and involved. We have a lot of work to do to prepare for 2012.\u201d<\/p>\n
Heaps, who started in all four of the Revolution\u2019s MLS Cup appearances (2002, 2005-2007), won the U.S. Open Cup with the team in 2007 and the SuperLiga in 2008. He also made four appearances for the U.S. Men\u2019s National Team in the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup.<\/p>\n
His previous coaching experience comes as a volunteer assistant coach at Boston College (2004) and Northeastern University (2005-2006).<\/p>\n
\u201cAs we began the search for our new coach, we had a strong idea about the qualities we were looking for in our next head coach,\u201d Revolution President Brian Bilello said. \u201cAs we went through a comprehensive search and spoke with candidates with a variety of backgrounds and experiences, Jay stood out with his vision for the team, his desire to move the club into the future and for his positive attitude about impacting change. Coupled with everything we already knew about him personally and his competitive traits we\u2019ve always admired and respected, he emerged as our clear favorite and number one choice as our next head coach.\u201d<\/p>\n
Heaps will begin his coaching duties immediately and will be formally presented before the media in a press conference on Wednesday, Nov. 16, at 10 a.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Jay Heaps becomes the Revs sixth head coach.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7184,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/nesoccertoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/11\/heapsfeature2.jpg?fit=490%2C225","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7182"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7182"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7182\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7188,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7182\/revisions\/7188"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nesoccertoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}