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Checketts expecting changes from Real
BYLINE: Brad Rock Deseret Morning News
It was the evening of a long day when Dave Checketts phoned, a day he spent in New York but ended in Salt Lake.
What sort of person holds business meetings all day and returns calls at night anyway?
The sort who figures what the heck, it's only work. What else would he be doing, watching "Gilmore Girls"? Sleeping?
Getting ahead of the competition comes at a price. And that price is often sleep. He did this two decades ago, putting in 16-hour days as president of the Utah Jazz, and later as the head of Madison Square Garden. He's not exactly sleeping through his latest venture, either. His soccer club, Real Salt Lake, just completed a spectacularly awful season and change is in the air.
"I can't take this," said Checketts, Tuesday night. "I don't know how (the players) feel, but I can't take this. This is very difficult."
Unacceptable, really.
"We're not going to accept this kind of performance," he continued. "Not under any conditions."
Welcome to Dave's World. Anyone unwilling to miss some prime time TV or lose a little sleep is welcome to step off. The Dave Train is leaving the station.
In its inaugural season, the team with the second-worst record in the league didn't exactly set the world afire. It began a year ago with predictions the club would make the playoffs -- perhaps even contend -- in its first season. It ended with a 1-0 loss to Colorado, Wednesday, and a 5-22-5 record. On the same day the season ended, Checketts was in Utah to announce a new stadium in Sandy.
So he's expecting his soccer team to stick around, though in a different incarnation. "We've got to get better. We've got to find out who really wants to be here, which ones of these guys wants to be part of the solution," he said.
Wait a minute. Don't expansion teams get a grace period?
Aren't they supposed to be awful at first?
"I don't even think in those terms," he said. "I know what to do, what the steps are, and I want to find who wants to be here, who can make a difference and who's ready to take that giant step up competitively.
"I'm not saying we're going to win a championship next year, but we need to be higher-scoring, have better defense -- to have a better team to watch, period."
The first year of Major League Soccer in Salt Lake was a mixed success. On one hand, RSL averaged more than 18,000 fans, second best in the league. Checketts figured 15,000 a game would be enough to survive. The fans came despite a dreadful team and even worse sight lines at Rice-Eccles Stadium. They formed a booster club, wore gold, burgundy and blue face paints, banged their spirit drums and generally acted nutty. Fair enough.
It's not polo.
On the other hand, the team was a few ingredients shy of a cake. Injuries, national-team call-ups and poor chemistry conspired to make RSL one of the worst teams in league history. Playing on Rice-Eccles Stadium's artificial turf hurt them on the road. Then there was the failure of key players. Among several: D.J. Countess had the worst goals-against average in the league and Clint Mathis, the team's highest-paid player, scored three goals the entire season. That figures out to $133,000 per goal.
Even by soccer's modest scoring standards, that's not much return.
Checketts also said veteran leadership was lacking.
"I expected us to be much better than we were. I expected our veteran guys to provide a lot more leadership than they did. I also expected a bigger commitment to fitness than what I saw," said Checketts.
In that light, he plans on initiating change. He hired Brian Kamler as the club's director of soccer development, which he anticipates will improve the team's soccer IQ. He also plans a required off-season training regimen and a regularly scheduled practice field.
"The thing that surprised me most," continued Checketts, "is even if you'd told me none of those (negative) things would come about, I thought we'd play .500 soccer with the talent we had."
But five wins? [/b][/quote]
This oughta be good when he strolls into town....[img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif[/img]
BYLINE: Brad Rock Deseret Morning News
It was the evening of a long day when Dave Checketts phoned, a day he spent in New York but ended in Salt Lake.
What sort of person holds business meetings all day and returns calls at night anyway?
The sort who figures what the heck, it's only work. What else would he be doing, watching "Gilmore Girls"? Sleeping?
Getting ahead of the competition comes at a price. And that price is often sleep. He did this two decades ago, putting in 16-hour days as president of the Utah Jazz, and later as the head of Madison Square Garden. He's not exactly sleeping through his latest venture, either. His soccer club, Real Salt Lake, just completed a spectacularly awful season and change is in the air.
"I can't take this," said Checketts, Tuesday night. "I don't know how (the players) feel, but I can't take this. This is very difficult."
Unacceptable, really.
"We're not going to accept this kind of performance," he continued. "Not under any conditions."
Welcome to Dave's World. Anyone unwilling to miss some prime time TV or lose a little sleep is welcome to step off. The Dave Train is leaving the station.
In its inaugural season, the team with the second-worst record in the league didn't exactly set the world afire. It began a year ago with predictions the club would make the playoffs -- perhaps even contend -- in its first season. It ended with a 1-0 loss to Colorado, Wednesday, and a 5-22-5 record. On the same day the season ended, Checketts was in Utah to announce a new stadium in Sandy.
So he's expecting his soccer team to stick around, though in a different incarnation. "We've got to get better. We've got to find out who really wants to be here, which ones of these guys wants to be part of the solution," he said.
Wait a minute. Don't expansion teams get a grace period?
Aren't they supposed to be awful at first?
"I don't even think in those terms," he said. "I know what to do, what the steps are, and I want to find who wants to be here, who can make a difference and who's ready to take that giant step up competitively.
"I'm not saying we're going to win a championship next year, but we need to be higher-scoring, have better defense -- to have a better team to watch, period."
The first year of Major League Soccer in Salt Lake was a mixed success. On one hand, RSL averaged more than 18,000 fans, second best in the league. Checketts figured 15,000 a game would be enough to survive. The fans came despite a dreadful team and even worse sight lines at Rice-Eccles Stadium. They formed a booster club, wore gold, burgundy and blue face paints, banged their spirit drums and generally acted nutty. Fair enough.
It's not polo.
On the other hand, the team was a few ingredients shy of a cake. Injuries, national-team call-ups and poor chemistry conspired to make RSL one of the worst teams in league history. Playing on Rice-Eccles Stadium's artificial turf hurt them on the road. Then there was the failure of key players. Among several: D.J. Countess had the worst goals-against average in the league and Clint Mathis, the team's highest-paid player, scored three goals the entire season. That figures out to $133,000 per goal.
Even by soccer's modest scoring standards, that's not much return.
Checketts also said veteran leadership was lacking.
"I expected us to be much better than we were. I expected our veteran guys to provide a lot more leadership than they did. I also expected a bigger commitment to fitness than what I saw," said Checketts.
In that light, he plans on initiating change. He hired Brian Kamler as the club's director of soccer development, which he anticipates will improve the team's soccer IQ. He also plans a required off-season training regimen and a regularly scheduled practice field.
"The thing that surprised me most," continued Checketts, "is even if you'd told me none of those (negative) things would come about, I thought we'd play .500 soccer with the talent we had."
But five wins? [/b][/quote]
This oughta be good when he strolls into town....[img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/laugh.gif[/img]
"Can't buy what I want because it's free...
Can't buy what I want because it's free..."
-- Pearl Jam, from the single Corduroy
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