SANDY, Utah (Thursday, October 26, 2017) – Real Salt Lake has signed Head Coach Mike Petke to a long-term contract extension, RSL Owner Dell Loy Hansen announced today. Terms of the multi-year deal were not disclosed.
“Loyalty is huge for me. I am ecstatic about Mr. Hansen coming to me and offering me this contract,” Petke said. “I’m ecstatic at the prospect of being here at least three more years. And I’m excited and ecstatic about what I think we can accomplish together – Mr. Hansen, (General Manager) Craig Waibel, myself, the players … the whole organization. I’m on cloud nine because I have an owner who values me, likes what I’m doing and wants to reward me for that.”
In his first season in charge of the Claret-and-Cobalt, Petke led RSL to a 13-12-4 (win/loss/draw) record, narrowly missing on a playoff berth after an 0-3-2 start before he took the helm. That record included a run of 8-3-4 and 25 points to close out the season after a 6-2 win on July 4 on the road against the LA Galaxy. The Claret-and-Cobalt record in the final four months of the 2017 MLS season represented the fourth-best mark in the league spanning the final 15 matches, behind only Toronto FC (9-2-4), Seattle Sounders FC (8-2-5) and Columbus Crew SC (8-2-5).
"The arrival of Mike Petke into our organization over the last 10 months, first as head coach of the Monarchs and then in his seven months with RSL, has re-energized not only the fan base and the locker room, but myself and every single person involved," said Hansen, who joined RSL as a part-Owner in October, 2009, prior to assuming full control in January, 2013. "Watching Mike work with his players and staff daily, and the Monarchs staff with Mark Briggs, while keeping an eye on the Academy development with Martin Vasquez, witnessing his passion and work ethic while implementing the vision that Craig Waibel and Rob Zarkos and I have for the sport in our community, all of this is truly inspiring for our future. I hope our fans share in this excitement and optimism for 2018 and beyond."
Under Petke's watch, several RSL players have seen success at the club level as well as on the international stage in recent months. FW Jefferson Savarino (Venezuela) and MF Albert Rusnák (Slovakia) both made their senior international debuts, while FW Joao Plata was called back into Ecuador for the first time since 2014.
“We put a lot of stock in player development and Mike has been tremendous in that regard this season. His success on the field and great leadership in integrating young players does a lot to confirm the confidence we had in him when we first hired him with the Monarchs and when we promoted him earlier this year,” Waibel said.
Petke – who joined the Utah club back on December 23, 2016, as head coach of the USL’s Real Monarchs – previously served as the New York Red Bulls Head Coach for two seasons in 2013-14. He led the Red Bulls to a franchise-best two-year run in club history, amassing a 30-19-19 mark while giving the club its first-ever trophy, the 2013 MLS Supporters Shield. In 2014, the Red Bulls finished one goal shy of MLS Cup, dropping its Eastern Conference Finals series.
After growing up on Long Island, Petke appeared as a player in 196 of his 351 career MLS games with the MetroStars/Red Bulls, also playing with D.C. United and Colorado Rapids during his 13-year MLS career. A three-time MLS All-Star, Petke won MLS Cup with D.C. United in 2004. Prior to his professional career, he played collegiately at Southern Connecticut and as a prep at St. John’s The Baptist High School in West Islip, New York.
Petke will retain each of his 2017 assistant coaches Freddy Juarez, Tyrone Marshall and Todd Hofford, video analyst Ted Eck and strength coaches Henry Ruggiero and Matt Howley.
Petke is the fourth head coach in Real Salt Lake’s 13-year Major League Soccer history, following John Ellinger (17-39-16 over 82 games from 2005-07), Jason Kreis (111-87-68 over 266 games from 2007-13) and Jeff Cassar (44-42-45 over 131 games from 2014-17), as well as Daryl Shore (0-1-1 in 2 games as interim earlier this year in between Petke and Cassar).
In his post, Petke will lead the organization into a new era, with the full January opening of the Zions Bank Real Academy in Herriman, Utah. The state-of-the-art, $75 million facility will be the training home for both of the club’s professional teams – RSL and the Real Monarchs – while centralizing the club's U-19, U-17 and future U-15 development academy youth selections. The Herriman facility opened in part earlier this Fall, with an on-site charter school prioritizing STEM disciplines (Science/Technology/Engineering/Math) for nearly 300 boys and girls.
Additionally, last November in North Logan, Utah, 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 $6 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. RSL will host the grand opening and ribbon cutting ceremony for the Logan facility on Monday, December 4, 2017.
