HERRIMAN, Utah (Friday, August 12, 2022) – The Real Salt Lake Academy has announced the technical staffs for the U-15 and U-17 squads for the upcoming 2022-23 MLS NEXT season.
Head Coaches Jordan Allen and Andrew May have returned to lead the Club’s youngest talents. However, the two will switch roles, with Allen coaching the U-15 team and May ascending with last year’s MLS NEXT Cup runners-up to the U-17 level.
Allen is entering his first full season as a head coach within the RSL Academy, having rejoined the Club in January of this year from the University of Virginia where he served as graduate assistant. Allen first joined the Real Salt Lake organization in 2011 as a member of the RSL Academy in Mesa, Arizona, before eventually signing as Club’s sixth Homegrown Player on December 31, 2013, during which he scored four goals and tallied four assists in 50 appearances. After playing nearly every match during his first two seasons Allen struggled with a persistent knee injury that forced him into early retirement in 2019 at just 24 years old.
Meanwhile, May returns for his third season with the Claret-and-Cobalt, having led the Club’s U-15 teams to back-to-back championship matches in the MLS NEXT Cup. May helped the 2020-21 squad lift RSL Academy’s first national championship trophy since the 2015-16 season. In just two years May has recorded a 21-1-1 record in tournament play, only losing in the 2022 MLS NEXT Cup final. Under his leadership two of his former players (Axel Kei and Jude Wellings) have signed Homegrown contracts with Real Salt Lake, while eight players have made their professional debuts with Real Monarchs.
Allen and May will be supported assistant coaches Ronny Charry, Jamie MacGregor, Etiandro Tavares and Nick Rimando. Additionally, Diego Casillas has joined Real Salt Lake from Atlanta United FC as Head of Academy Goalkeeping.
