SALT LAKE CITY - Real Salt Lake today announced that Jeff Cassar will join the team's staff as an assistant coach. Cassar, who joins RSL after spending the last five months as a member of the FC Dallas coaching staff, will begin his coaching duties during tomorrow's practice session at Rice-Eccles Stadium. In a subsequent move, Real Salt Lake also announced that goalkeeper coach Peter Mellor has been relieved of his coaching duties.
Tomorrow's practice session from 10:00-11:30 a.m. MT will be opened to media at 11:15 a.m., with media availability for all players and coaches scheduled to follow training at approximately 11:45 a.m. Cassar will not be the only new member of Real Salt Lake meeting his new squad on Friday, as forward Alecko Eskandarian is also slated to attend his first practice with RSL tomorrow morning at Rice-Eccles.
"The decision to let Peter Mellor go was a very difficult one for me. He is just an absolute class gentleman," said RSL Head Coach Jason Kreis. "The only thing that makes that notion bearable is the fact that we are replacing him with Jeff Cassar, who was a longtime teammate and friend of mine in Dallas. Jeff will add some new ideas, some fresh viewpoints, and a comforting, supporting factor for me, unrivaled by anyone. The players will all enjoy his spirit and he will quickly become an absolute treasure to this staff and to this club."
The 33-year-old Cassar has been involved in Major League Soccer since the league's inception in 1996, spending 11 seasons between the posts for three squads from 1996-2006 before retiring to become FC Dallas's goalkeeper coach this past January. During his career with the Dallas Burn/FC Dallas (1996-97, 2003-06), Miami Fusion FC (1998-2001), and the MetroStars (2002), Cassar made 79 appearances (76 starts) and posted a 1.76 goals against average, 28-36-10 record, and 13 shutouts.
Cassar also appeared in five MLS Cup Playoff contests while with the Fusion and helped a pair of squads - the 2000 Fusion and 2005 FC Dallas teams - reach the final of the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. In addition to his MLS experience, Cassar also spent time with English sides Ipswich Town and Bolton Wanderers following the 2002 season before returning to Dallas in the summer of 2003.
Mellor departs the Real Salt Lake staff after more than two years of service to the team, having joined the club's coaching ranks in the build-up to the team's inaugural season in 2005.
