Coming off the worst season in franchise history, the San Jose Earthquakes have turned to Bruce Arena, the former U.S. National team manager and the MLS’s all-time winningest coach, to help revive the club’s fortunes.
Arena told ESPN’s Jeff Carlisle on Wednesday that he has been named the Quakes’ sporting director and manager. Arena, 73, will be calling all the shots, with San Jose general manager Chris Leitch reporting directly to Arena, a team source told Carlisle. Arena also said in the report that owner John Fisher, who has been widely panned for fielding teams with among the lowest payroll in both the MLS and Major League Baseball (the A’s), has committed to spending more on the Quakes.
The Quakes are expected to announce the hiring of Arena on Thursday morning.
This will be Arena’s first coaching job since he was placed on administrative leave by the Revolution and ultimately resigned during the summer of 2023 amid allegations of making “insensitive and inappropriate remarks.” He was deemed eligible to work again in the MLS last winter after meeting with MLS commissioner Don Garber.
United States head coach Bruce Arena kicks a ball during a training session in preparation for a World Cup qualifying soccer match Wednesday, March 22, 2017, in San Jose, Calif. The U.S. face Honduras on Friday. (AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez)
“I think it’s an interesting job. It’s certainly going to be challenging,” Arena told ESPN, noting that Fisher and his staff “were very impressive and they’re committed to making this club better. I think there’s potential there to develop the club into a team that can certainly be better than they’ve demonstrated over the last couple of years.”
San Jose was last in the MLS this season by a wide margin. The Quakes (6-25-3) finished with 21 points, the only club in the 29-team league that didn’t finish with at least 30 points.
The Quakes have not had a winning MLS regular season since 2013.
Luchi Gonzalez started the season as the Quakes’ coach but was fired in late June after the team got off to a 3-14-2 start. Ian Russell was promoted as the interim head coach for the rest of the season. San Jose collected half of its MLS victories over the final 13 matches of the season (3-9-1) but was 1-6-1 over the final eight games.
San Jose Earthquakes’ Benjamin Kikanovic (28) reacts at the end of their 2-1 loss against the LA Galaxy for their Leagues Cup match at PayPal Park in San Jose, Calif., on Wednesday, July 31, 2024. (Nhat V. Meyer/Bay Area News Group)
The hope is Arena, who has 262 MLS regular-season victories and has won five league championships, can turn around the Quakes the way he did in previous MLS stops with the L.A. Galaxy and the New England Revolution. He led the Galaxy to three MLS Cup titles from 2011-14 after winning two with D.C. United in the late 1990s. The Revolution won the MLS Supporters’ Shield title in 2021 for the best regular season record two years after he arrived.
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In the ESPN interview, Arena said he wants to bring in at least 3-5 new players and said Fisher has committed to spending more on player salaries as well as upgrading locker rooms and other player areas at PayPal Park.
“The commitment [Fisher] has made to help improve the roster is the one that I think is very positive,” Arena told ESPN. “We’re gonna target some guys and try to attract them to San Jose.”
“You can’t change a dozen players in one year, so I think we need to have some patience. I think the roster’s a heck of a lot better than they demonstrated this past year. It’s not a 21 point roster. Is it a 30 point roster? Is it 40 points? Is it 50 points? I don’t know, but the roster is certainly more capable than they showed in 2024.”