Minnesota United announced Friday the club has signed head coach Adrian Heath to a new contract through 2022 that includes increased authority over player personnel decisions.
Heath has been the Loons' only coach in their MLS era, coming on board in November of 2016 and leading MNUFC to a 36-49-17 record over their first three seasons. That included a club-record 53 points and fourth-place Western Conference finish in 2019, a first MLS Cup Playoff appearance and a run to the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup final.
“I’m delighted to get it sorted and really excited about where we can go from what we’ve just done,” Heath said in a statement. “It’s well documented that the first two years were a struggle but we always talked about having a three-year plan and we’ll see where we are at the end of the three years. When I look back at the year, making the Open Cup final, getting a home playoff game, being disappointed to lose to a team like the LA Galaxy who spend all the money they do and the players they have, it shows you how far we’ve come. The most important thing is we have to push on now, we can’t rest on what we’ve done.”
The move to extend Heath, first reported earlier this month by The Athletic, follows a reorganization of the club's front office, with Mark Watson assuming the role of sporting director and Manny Lagos taking the position of chief soccer officer.
“We have huge aspirational goals for our entire soccer operations department,” MNUFC CEO Chris Wright said in a statement. “We had a plan and timeline for how we wanted to develop this team starting out and we wanted to give Adrian and our soccer operations the time to implement the strategies that we have all put in place. Last year was a success any way that you measure it and we knew Adrian and his staff were still the right choice to help us keep developing our club. We are all working hard to make sure that our club moves in the right direction and our vision for the club is successful. We see Adrian and his staff as being a big part of this.”
Prior to arriving in Minnesota, Heath coached Orlando City SC for two seasons in MLS and four in USL, where Orlando won two USL Pro championships and three Commissioner’s Cups. His U.S coaching career began in Austin for the Austin Aztex in 2009. The team spent two years in Austin before relocating to Orlando in 2010, becoming Orlando City SC. Before that, Heath spent 11 years coaching in England for clubs such as Burnley, Sheffield United and Coventry City.
