2014 MLS Cup
Jay Heaps and Bruce Arena Will Match Wits in Final
Twenty-five years separate L.A. Galaxy coach Bruce Arena and New England Revolution top man Jay Heaps, but those who know both men say they share many attributes.
CARSON, Calif.—Bruce Arena and Jay Heaps are very different coaches.
Arena is 63 and famously salty. He can come across as standoffish on a good day, arrogant and dismissive on a bad one. Heaps is 38, and while his MLS career featured more than its share of hard fouls, off the field he’s quick with a smile and patient with even the dumbest questions thrown his way.
Despite the differences in their age and personalities, those close to both coaches say they are more alike than different, particularly in what makes them tick.
“They both work very hard,” said Los Angeles Galaxy first-year goalkeeper coach Matt Reis, who played with and under Heaps on the Revolution. “They have a work ethic that drives their success. Both are direct. Both are honest. They might say it a little differently but they get their point across pretty clearly. They’re each very competitive and that translates on the field.”
Former MLS defender Evan Whitfield played with Heaps at Duke for four seasons and says that work ethic was evident even then.
“He was that guy who was always going 110 percent in training,” said Whitfield, now an attorney in Chicago. “There’d be times in training, like the day before playing like, Elon, or some smaller team we were supposed to beat. And most of the guys would be taking it easy but Jay would still go all out in training and we’d be like, ‘Really, man? Take it easy.’ But that’s not his way. He’s a really nice guy off the field but very intense during practice and I think that helps in his coaching.”
Arena has known Heaps since 1995 when Heaps was a freshman at Duke and Arena was in his final season coaching at the University of Virginia. While not surprised at his coaching success, he saw a different kind of leadership potential in Heaps.
“You have a bright, articulate, hard-working guy. He might have been the U.S. senator from Massachusetts,” said Arena. “He went into finance (after retiring as a player) and decided that that was boring. I understand that because I did that at one point.”
And before anyone sees Heaps as a potential heir to Ted Kennedy or Elizabeth Warren, Heaps has no interest in the path Arena envisioned. “No, none," Heaps said.
Heaps actually played a role in ending Arena’s college coaching tenure a bit earlier than Arena had hoped. In 1995 Virginia had won four straight national titles when the Cavaliers met Heaps’ Blue Devils in the national semifinals in Richmond, Va. Despite being heavy underdogs, and playing before a sold-out stadium holding 20,000 fans in Virginia’s capital, Heaps scored a goal and added two assists to lead Duke to a 3-2 upset.
“I remember I played well but I can’t say I remember all the details,” Heaps said. “My biggest memory of that game was the crowd. It was the biggest crowd I’d ever played before. IIt felt like 100,000 fans.”
Heaps was named national freshman of the year and as a senior he was national player of the year. In between, he famously played as a walk-on for Duke’s basketball team under the legendary Mike Krzyzewski.
“Obviously athletics has been a big part of his life and I think the influence of the Duke basketball program gave him an inside track on coaching and he’s made the most of it,” Arena said.
Heaps retired as a player in 2009 after 12 seasons in MLS and spent the next year working in the wealth management division of Morgan Stanley before being hired to replace Steve Nicol in 2011. He had absolutely no experience as coach at any level. It was a risky play by the Revolution but one the organization thought would be worth the risk.
“I’m not going to stand here and tell you that I knew then that three years later we’d be here playing for MLS Cup,” said Revolution general manager Michael Burns. “But we had seen enough in Jay when he was a player to know that he had all the qualities to become a great coach and we had to be patient as he learned. At the same time, we put together a blueprint of how to get better.
“The year before he was hired we won five games. So we knew we had to get better and we identified the areas we needed to get better and addressed them piece by piece and as we did that Jay was learning and the team got better as he did.”
One of the biggest challenges for Heaps was suddenly being the boss of his former teammates, many of whom were old friends.
“You have to set boundaries,” said Heaps. “It’s not like we’re not friends any more but you have to establish what the expectations are and how to handle that as pros—and that none of what happens with the team is personal or about our relationships.”
And now it’s not as big a deal as most of his former teammates have moved on. Only Kevin Alston, Shalrie Joseph, Bobby Shuttleworth, and Andy Dorman remaining from Heaps' playing days. “We all got old so it’s not much of an issue anymore,” said Heaps.
Brooke Tunstall is an American Soccer Now contributing editor and ASN 100 panelist. You can follow him on Twitter.
“You have a bright, articulate, hard-working guy. He might have been the U.S. senator from Massachusetts,” said Arena. “He went into finance (after retiring as a player) and decided that that was boring. I understand that because I did that at one point.”
And before anyone sees Heaps as a potential heir to Ted Kennedy or Elizabeth Warren, Heaps has no interest in the path Arena envisioned. “No, none," Heaps said.
Heaps actually played a role in ending Arena’s college coaching tenure a bit earlier than Arena had hoped. In 1995 Virginia had won four straight national titles when the Cavaliers met Heaps’ Blue Devils in the national semifinals in Richmond, Va. Despite being heavy underdogs, and playing before a sold-out stadium holding 20,000 fans in Virginia’s capital, Heaps scored a goal and added two assists to lead Duke to a 3-2 upset.
“I remember I played well but I can’t say I remember all the details,” Heaps said. “My biggest memory of that game was the crowd. It was the biggest crowd I’d ever played before. IIt felt like 100,000 fans.”
Heaps was named national freshman of the year and as a senior he was national player of the year. In between, he famously played as a walk-on for Duke’s basketball team under the legendary Mike Krzyzewski.
“Obviously athletics has been a big part of his life and I think the influence of the Duke basketball program gave him an inside track on coaching and he’s made the most of it,” Arena said.
Heaps retired as a player in 2009 after 12 seasons in MLS and spent the next year working in the wealth management division of Morgan Stanley before being hired to replace Steve Nicol in 2011. He had absolutely no experience as coach at any level. It was a risky play by the Revolution but one the organization thought would be worth the risk.
“I’m not going to stand here and tell you that I knew then that three years later we’d be here playing for MLS Cup,” said Revolution general manager Michael Burns. “But we had seen enough in Jay when he was a player to know that he had all the qualities to become a great coach and we had to be patient as he learned. At the same time, we put together a blueprint of how to get better.
“The year before he was hired we won five games. So we knew we had to get better and we identified the areas we needed to get better and addressed them piece by piece and as we did that Jay was learning and the team got better as he did.”
One of the biggest challenges for Heaps was suddenly being the boss of his former teammates, many of whom were old friends.
“You have to set boundaries,” said Heaps. “It’s not like we’re not friends any more but you have to establish what the expectations are and how to handle that as pros—and that none of what happens with the team is personal or about our relationships.”
And now it’s not as big a deal as most of his former teammates have moved on. Only Kevin Alston, Shalrie Joseph, Bobby Shuttleworth, and Andy Dorman remaining from Heaps' playing days. “We all got old so it’s not much of an issue anymore,” said Heaps.
Brooke Tunstall is an American Soccer Now contributing editor and ASN 100 panelist. You can follow him on Twitter.
