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Home , Ben Olsen, Caleb Porter, Chris Albright, Merritt Paulson, Schellas Hyndman, Sigi Schmid

Throw-In: With MLS jump, Porter joins exclusive fraternity | MLS... http://www.mlssoccer.com/news/article/2012/08/31/throw-mls-jum...

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AUGUST 31, 2012 Jonah Freedman Throw-In: With MLS jump, Porter joins exclusive fraternity MLSsoccer.com

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Caleb Porter, welcome to the most exclusive club in : college coaches who made the jump directly to the pros.

Next year, when you take over the , you’ll become only the fifth member of this elite club that we’ll call “The Fraternity.” And your new brothers are happy to have you.

“He’s arguably one of the best young coaches in the country,” says , who took over FC Dallas in 2008 after 24 years as head coach at Southern Methodist. “He’s proven himself among the best at the collegiate level. It was only a matter of time until somebody presented him something that was challenging as well as too good to pass up, and we welcome him on board.”

The 37-year-old Porter will join Hyndman, , and . Those four have among them six MLS Cups, five Supporters’ Shields, five US Open Cups and seven MLS Coach of the Year awards among a laundry list of other accomplishments.

No pressure, right? By now, no one should be crying that college coaches don’t have the chops to make the jump directly to the pros. That quartet is clear proof they do.

But your fellow members of The Fraternity have news for you, Caleb: You’re in for an awfully steep learning curve.

“Understand it’s a wonderful life,” Hyndman says. “But that’s what it is: It’s your life. There’s a lot of stress in this job.”

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Not that there isn’t in college. But much like Porter’s up-and-down ride in the US Under-23 squad’s failed Olympic qualification campaign, there may be a lot of failure ahead for Porter before there’s success. And he’s going to have learn how to deal with it.

Schmid, for one, says preparing himself mentally for failure was one of the hardest things he ever had to deal with. He coached the Galaxy to a 17-9 record after taking over in 1999. Impressive, sure – but he didn’t lose his ninth game as a college coach until his third season at UCLA, and lost more than five games in a season only once.

Porter comes into MLS as one of the winningest coaches in college history. He racked up 100 wins in just 126 matches at Akron, including a legendary 2009 season in which his Zips went undefeated in the regular season, only to drop their only match in the College Cup final to Virginia. The next season, Porter's Zips lost only once on their way to the 2010 NCAA title.

Schmid says Porter is going to have to wrap his head around losing quickly.

“Psychologically, you have to prepare to lose as many games in a month as you’ll lose the whole season,” he tells MLSsoccer.com. “That’s something you have to think about and react to, how you’ll present yourself to your team.”

He’s also going to have to win over a locker room in Portland full of professionals to whom he has proven absolutely nothing at this level. Well, everyone except for , his former Akron protégé. And he may need more familiar faces around him.

Arena, for instance, surrounded himself with some of his former Virginia players like , and . Schmid ended up adding Danny Califf and to a locker room already full of former Bruins. And Hyndman finally got his FC Dallas squad moving in the right direction after adding his former SMU captains in Ugo Ihemelu and Daniel Hernandez.

“If you don’t get the locker room, you’re not going to get the field,” explains Hyndman. “Talent can only get you so far. Chemistry will make you a champion.”

Porter can probably forget about adding other high-profile Zips for the time being – the odds his future Cascadia rivals will be willing to part with, say, or Darren Mattocks are pretty slim. But he may draft his former players, and may deal for others. That could help him turn around the last-place Timbers.

Working in Porter’s favor is what, by all accounts, his peers feel is the right demeanor to coach in MLS. It also helps that he’s a former player in the league, a thee-year career spent in San Jose and Tampa Bay. He’s also

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plenty familiar with the league’s players, having sent 14 of his former Akron students into MLS and coaching nearly 30 MLSers during the last U-23 cycle.

He also plays an attractive style with great success, is a keen student of the game domestically and abroad and has done his homework. And his support system in Portland – between owner Merritt Paulson and GM – is obviously behind him 100 percent.

But despite the success of The Fraternity, it’s still very much going to be a learn-as-he-goes process.

“There’s no formula you can follow,” says Schmid. “It’s just something you have to feel. When you coach a good college team, you play a certain style of soccer and a lot of teams can’t compete. Now at the pro level, you play with that same style, a lot of teams already play like that. And they know how to stop you.”

Jonah Freedman is the managing editor of MLSsoccer.com. “The Throw-In” appears every Thursday.

Follow @jonahfreedman 5,512 followers

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Chicho Blanco · Top Commenter · Respiratory Therapist at Apria Health Care Porter couldn't even qualify an Olympic team playing at home with a crap load of talent. He is a garbage coach. I predict he doesn't even last half a season. Reply · 1 · Like · 13 hours ago

Rory Cullen Gates · Top Commenter Garbage coaches earn their best coach of the league awards 5 years straight! Reply · 1 · Like · 8 hours ago

Chicho Blanco · Top Commenter · Respiratory Therapist at Apria Health Care With all due respect that was accomplished at the college level. In Olympic qualifying he was out coached by managers of teams we should play of the field. On paper this U23 team was probably the most talented in US soccer history. In the fact that all of the qualifying matches were played in the US makes this failure even more inexcusable. Reply · 1 · Like · 8 hours ago

Rory Cullen Gates · Top Commenter And with all due respect Hamid was enjoying the view until two slipped past him. Italy wanted to qualify too. And Argentina. And France. And so on.

Keep in mind this squad was selected by Klinsy. But to go so far as saying one tournament failure when they were moments away from qualifying in the face of terrible performances does not equate garbage coach. Nor does said garbage coach have the most drafted players in past Super Drafts from garbage college position.

Lastly, Concacaf finds the US most prepared to host Concacaf tournaments. See also Mexico's friendly schedule of the last decade. So, it's a terrible argument to make.

Just lay of the hyperbole next time. Reply · Like · 7 hours ago

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Jason Bras · Top Commenter · Not available Timbers' inexperienced owner need a manager with ages of success in MLS, somebody with credential like Bruce Arena, Sigi Schmid. Spencer was a mistake because he is too young for the role. now, Paulson is doing "young gun" Part 2. except this one is even YOUNGER and NO experience in pro soccer. good luck. Timbers need A LOT OF LUCK. Reply · Like · 15 hours ago

Christopher Martinez · Top Commenter · UCLA Reply · Like · 11 hours ago

Christian Gonzalez · Top Commenter · Glendora High i still cant believe they picked a coach that failed to qualify to the Olympics when he had a team that looked capable of winning it all in North America and probably would have looked strong in the Olympics. my opinion is that he still has alot to prove (Big Time) and doesnt deserve to be coaching in the MLS because that was embarrasing Reply · 5 · Like · 10 hours ago

Zach Lewis · Top Commenter · New York, New York So having the keys to your system that you had been working on with the side (not to mention the system that Klinsy said he had to play), Josh Gatt and Alfredo Morales, recalled to their professional teams literally days before your first game in qualifying, having Bill Hamid choke royally against Canada and El Salvador, not to mention the fact that you are talking about two totally diferent realms (youth national team set-up and college/professional squads), playing matches on one day of rest, and horrible, horrible field conditions, in your opinion, Porter is unworthy of this position. MANY quality sides do not qualify for the Olympic tournament because of its absurd place, like reigning gold medalists Argentina, Italy, France, Portugal, Germany, Nigeria, Cameroon, Ivory Coast, Australia, Mexico (2008). Get of it, it isn't a...See More Reply · 1 · Like · 8 hours ago

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Jordan Cundari · Top Commenter · Gonzaga I don't care who he is. If he gets the job done then he gets the job done. No use in speculating cuz its all about what happens on the field. I hope he coaches this team to success. I don't know if he will or won't. Just going to have to wait til next year to find out. Reply · Like · 8 hours ago

Andy León · Board Op at Townsquare Media

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