It was a disappointing ending to the 2016 season for the New England Revolution, whose late-season rally to qualify for the 2016 Audi MLS Cup Playoffs came up just short.
But missing out on the postseason won’t cost head coach Jay Heaps his job.
Although admitting that the team "underachieved" in ’16, Revs general Michael Burns told The Boston Globe on Thursday that Heaps will return for his sixth year as coach.
A former player for the Revs, Heaps led the team to three straight playoff berths from 2013 to 2015, including a trip to the 2014 MLS Cup.
This season marked the first time since 2012 — Heaps’ first in charge — that the Revs missed the postseason as they finished tied for sixth place in the Eastern Conference with the Philadelphia Union on 42 points but lost the goal-differential tiebreaker. New England’s final goal-differential was -10 as they scored 44 goals (second lowest in the East) while allowing 54 (their highest total since 2011).
But the Revs did make it to the US Open Cup final and finished the regular season with a 5-3-1 record, giving reasons for optimism heading into 2017.
