SANDY, Utah (Thursday, March 29, 2016) – Real Monarchs have promoted Mark Briggs as the USL club’s new head coach, Real Monarchs General Manager Elliot Fall announced today. Terms of Briggs’ multi-year deal are not disclosed.
Briggs replaces Mike Petke, who was promoted Wednesday from the Monarchs head coach to assume the same position for Real Salt Lake of Major League Soccer. The duo have worked together throughout the preseason, winning 2-1 on Saturday at Portland in the USL club’s 2017 opener. Briggs and his staff will lead the Monarchs against Phoenix Rising FC in this Saturday’s home opener for the Utah club at Rio Tinto Stadium (4:00 p.m. MT kickoff).
"I am thankful for this opportunity to lead such a critical piece of the Real Salt Lake pyramid," said Briggs, 35, a former midfielder who played in the English Premier League (West Bromwich Albion, 1998-2003), the Danish Superliga (Herfølge, 2003/04) and the USL (Wilmington Hammerheads, 2009, 2012-14), amongst a 16-year playing career. "The aspiration, vision and culture of this organization is unparalleled, and I can’t wait for our home debut on Saturday.”
“Our 2017 Monarchs plans have been two-fold for the last several months,” continued Briggs. ”While the end goal is to develop MLS-caliber players, an important part of development is winning. Finding success on the field goes hand-in-hand with our philosophy of winning in the USL while simultaneously teaching young players how to become more-polished professionals.”
Briggs arrived at the Utah club last November, and his Monarchs staff will continue to include Matt Glaeser – his assistant at Wilmington before joining the Monarchs four months ago – along with former RSL and Red Bulls defender Jamison Olave, who retired as a player following the 2016 season and has spent recent months earning his coaching accreditations and assisting with the Monarchs.
“Mark’s appointment is reflective of the natural progression of what the Monarchs represent within our club structure,” said Fall, the Salt Lake City native who has worked for RSL since 2007. “Briggs possesses an intimate understanding of how we balance our developmental philosophy of giving players vital minutes in a professional atmosphere, with that of winning games, entertaining fans and feeding Utah’s soccer culture.”
Briggs, a Wolverhampton, England native, boasts previous head coaching experience, guiding the now-defunct USL Wilmington Hammerheads – whom he led to a USL title in 2009 as a player, served as a player-coach in 2012-14 before becoming Head Coach in the 2015/16 seasons. Last June, the Briggs-led Hammerheads pushed Real Salt Lake to the limit in the Third Round of the 2016 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, the USL side falling in a penalty shootout tiebreaker at Rio Tinto Stadium after an even 2-2 scoreline through 120 minutes of regulation and extra time.
Under Briggs’ guidance, the group will continue its mantra of integrating a consistent system and style of play across all teams, with the primary aim of developing players for the parent club. Back in December, Petke was hired as the Real Monarchs second-ever head coach, replacing original boss Freddy Juarez, who was promoted to RSL assistant coach Dec. 6 after guiding the USL franchise from its inception.
Juarez, formerly the director of RSL’s Arizona academy and a graduate of Major League Soccer’s French Football Federation curriculum prior to leading the Monarchs to a 17-27-14 mark in 2015/16, cultivated the valuable developmental aspect for the USL side, watching FW Emery Welshman, DF Chris Schuler and FW Ricardo Velazco matriculate to the first team in 2015/16, while also seeing numerous young RSL players hone their skills with USL minutes.
Monarchs Assistant Coach Matt Glaeser, 31, hails from Fredericksburg, Virginia, where the 6-foot-5 goalkeeper went on to play collegiately at James Madison University and then the University of Hartford, where he was the 2007 America East Conference Goalkeeper of the Year and the NSCAA Northeast Region Goalkeeper of the Year during his senior campaign. In 2007, led the Hawks to their first appearance in the America East Championship since 2003, playing every minute in goal, allowing just 18 goals, less than one per game.
Glaeser’s first professional contract saw him sign with the Western Mass Pioneers in the USL Second Division, playing 20 games between the posts in 2009 prior to signing internationally with Finnish club Pallo-Iirot in the Kakkonen (Finland third division).
Glaeser returned to the United States in 2010 and played with Miami FC, FC Tampa Bay and the Ft. Lauderdale Strikers from 2010-13. In March of 2014, Glaeser signed with Wilmington as both an active player, and the club's Goalkeeper Coach and Community Development Coordinator, moving to a full-time assistant coach in 2015/16 under Mark Briggs.
2017 marks the debut coaching campaign for long-time Real Salt Lake defender Jamison Olave, who retired after last year, his ninth in MLS. The Cali, Colombia native – now 35 years old – earned MLS Defender of the Year in 2010 with RSL, and was a two-time MLS All-Star and Best XI selection (2010 and 2011) during his initial RSL tenure (Olave’s second stint with RSL covered the 2015/16 seasons).
With RSL, Olave won MLS Cup 2009 with the club and later providing the critical road goal at Saprissa in the second (road) leg of the 2010/11 CONCACAF Champions League Semifinals, an early second-half volley which pushed RSL through to become the first – and still only – American team to progress to within one goal of the FIFA Club World Cup. That crucial away goal was one of many with historic significance for the Claret-and-Cobalt, as Olave also scored the inaugural goal at Rio Tinto Stadium on October 9, 2008, in a 1-1 draw with New York Red Bulls.
Olave began his playing career with Deportivo Cali in 2001, appearing on loan for a multitude of clubs in his native Colombia, before returning to his first club in 2005. In his first season back with Cali, Olave helped the club capture the 2005 Finalización. From 2005-07 with Cali, Olave appeared in 97 league matches and scored two goals.
For the 2013/14 seasons, Olave played under current RSL Head Coach Mike Petke with the New York Red Bulls, scoring a goal in his debut for the new club in a 3-3 draw at Portland. Olave ended his first season with New York appearing in 29 league matches and scoring four goals, helping the club to its first major title – that year’s MLS Supporters' Shield.
Petke and RSL return to Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy on Saturday, April 8 against Vancouver Whitecaps, with kickoff at 7:30 p.m. MT. Season Tickets for Real Salt Lake's 2017 campaign at Rio Tinto Stadium are now on sale; please visit www.RSL.com/tickets/royalty or call 844.Real.Tix for more information. At this juncture, ONLY current RSL “Royalty” season ticket members in good standing are eligible to purchase tickets to world power Manchester United’s July 17 visit to face RSL at Rio Tinto Stadium.
The home portion of the 2017 Real Monarchs / USL season kicks off this weekend at 4:00 p.m. MT against Phoenix Rising FC. Season Tickets for the Real Monarchs third season in 2017 are now on sale; please call 844.Real.Tix or visit www.RSL.com/Monarchs for more information.
Coming in late Summer, 2017, Real Salt Lake's regional training center opens in Herriman, Utah, approximately 20 minutes southwest of Rio Tinto Stadium. The $60 million facility will serve as the daily training home beginning in 2018 for both of the club's professional teams – RSL (MLS) and Real Monarchs (USL) – while centralizing the club's U-18, U-16 and future U-14 development academy youth selections. The Herriman facility will provide adjacencies for an on-site charter school opening this Fall, with STEM disciplines (Science/Technology/Engineering/Math) for nearly 300 boys and girls.
Last November in North Logan, Utah, RSL Owner Dell Loy Hansen broke ground on the first of a half-dozen regional training centers across Utah and Arizona to be built in the next 2-3 years. Each $5 million RTC houses a classroom, as well as an indoor and outdoor field, dedicated to fulfilling a curriculum dedicated to the club's vision and mission for youth soccer training and education, and the continued development of both recreational and competitive pre-Academy (ages 7-12) initiatives across Utah and Arizona.
