Caleb Porter

Caleb Porter

Porter as Portland Timbers head coach in 2015
Personal information
Date of birth	(1975-02-18) February 18, 1975 (age 49)
Place of birth	Tacoma, Washington, United States
Height	5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Position(s)	Midfielder
Youth career
1994–1997	Indiana Hoosiers
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1998–1999	San Jose Clash	4	(0)
1999	→ Sacramento Geckos (loan)	2	(0)
1999–2000	Tampa Bay Mutiny	7	(0)
Managerial career
2000–2005	Indiana Hoosiers (assistant)
2006–2012	Akron Zips
2011–2012	United States U23
2013–2017	Portland Timbers
2019–2022	Columbus Crew
2023–	New England Revolution
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Caleb Porter (born February 18, 1975) is an American soccer coach who is the manager of Major League Soccer club New England Revolution. He was previously head coach of the Portland Timbers from 2013 until 2017. He won MLS Cup in 2015 with Portland and 2020 with Columbus. In addition to MLS, he coached the United States U-23 team in 2011–12, and the University of Akron men's team from 2006 to 2012, winning the NCAA title in 2010.

A former midfielder, he played college soccer for Indiana University before his short professional career in Major League Soccer and the United Soccer League was ended by persistent knee injuries.

Player

Porter attended Indiana University where he played on the men's soccer team from 1994 to 1997 as defensive center midfielder. Lifetime Mentor Jerry Yeagley lableled his players as Piano Players or Piano Carriers. Caleb was a Piano Carrier. He was one of only two all time Indiana Hoosers to be Captain for three years of his team. He graduated in 1997 with a Bachelor's degree in sports management. In February 1998, the San Jose Clash selected Porter with the 3rd round (27th overall) in the 1998 MLS College Draft. He did not join the Clash until 1999 but his tenure there was short - he made just four appearances and, in his one start, was ejected in the 32nd minute.^[1] Following that performance, the Clash sent him on loan to the Sacramento Geckos of the A-League^[2] before waiving him in June. He quickly returned to MLS after being signed by the Tampa Bay Mutiny in July.^[3] He suffered from several knee injuries and had arthroscopic surgery on both knees during the off-season before retiring on June 30, 2000.^[4] In 1997, Porter was a member of the U.S. soccer team which took the bronze medal at the 1997 World University Games.

College coach

In 2000, Porter returned to Indiana University as an assistant soccer coach. While at Indiana as Assistant Coach, the Hoosers won two National Championships. After Ken Lolla left the University of Akron in December 2005, the Zips hired Porter as head soccer coach. After taking the Zips to two consecutive Mid-American Conference titles, and being named the 2007 MAC Coach of the Year, Porter signed a two-year contract extension in June 2008.

Following Akron's near-perfect season of 2009, Porter was rumored to be in talks with Major League Soccer club D.C. United about their vacant head coaching position.^[5] However, the University of Akron and Porter agreed on terms of a new contract, keeping him in Akron for the next five years.^[6]

Under Porter, the 2010 Akron squad captured the NCAA Men's Division I Soccer Championship, defeating the Louisville Cardinals, 1–0.^[7]

National U-23 team coach

Porter was named the head coach of the U.S. Under-23 Men's National Team on October 20, 2011, while retaining his duties as coach of the Akron Zips.^[8] His first task was attempting to guide the U-23 team to a successful qualifying run in March 2012 for the 2012 Olympic Games in London; however, following a 2–0 loss to Canada and a 3–3 draw with El Salvador, the Americans were eliminated.

Professional coach

On August 29, 2012, it was announced that he would become the head coach of MLS club Portland Timbers after the conclusion of the 2012 NCAA season.^[9]

Porter was named the 2013 MLS Coach of the Year after leading Portland to a 14–5–15 (57 pts) record, finishing the regular season in first place in the Western Conference and with the third-best record in the league – two points shy of MLS Supporters' Shield-winners New York Red Bulls. In 2013, the Timbers set new single-season club marks in points, wins, goals (54), goal differential (+21), shutouts (15) and fewest goals allowed (33). Porter was awarded the 2013 Slats Gill Sportsperson of the Year Award from the Oregon Sports Awards.^[10]

In the 2014 MLS All-Star Game, Porter coached the MLS All-Star team to a 2–1 victory against a Pep Guardiola-led Bayern Munich.^[11]

Helping guide the Timbers to the MLS Western Conference Championship twice in three seasons (2013–2015), Porter compiled one of the league's top winning percentages among active MLS head coaches (41 wins - 25 losses – 36 draws, .578). The 25 career losses in his first 100 career games as an MLS head coach ranks tied for the fewest losses with San Jose's Dominic Kinnear among all MLS coaches who have reached 100 or more games in the league. Under Porter's guidance, the Timbers made Providence Park one of the toughest places to play in the league, registering a regular-season mark of 24–7–20 at Providence Park over the three seasons 2013–15.^[12]

In 2015, the Timbers once again reached the MLS Cup Playoffs, setting a new single-season club record in wins (15), while leading the league with 13 shutouts. Porter led the Timbers to their first MLS Cup final, which they won, 2–1, against Columbus Crew SC.^[13] From 2013 to 2015, Porter helped guide the Timbers to the fourth-most points (159) among all MLS clubs, behind only the New York Red Bulls (169), Seattle Sounders FC (167) and LA Galaxy (165).^[14]

On January 27, 2016, Porter signed a long-term contract extension with the Timbers.^[15] On November 16, 2017, Porter and the Timbers mutually agreed to separate.^[16]

On January 4, 2019, Columbus Crew announced Porter as their new head coach, to replace Gregg Berhalter, who had left to become the head coach of the United States men's national soccer team.^[17] Porter's appointment was made simultaneously with the announcement of Tim Bezbatchenko as Crew SC's new president.

Porter helped lead Columbus to victory in MLS Cup 2020, making him only one of three all time MLS Coaches to win MLS Cup with different teams. However he failed to lead the Crew to the playoffs in any other season. On October 10, 2022, after missing consecutive post-seasons — including a loss on the final day of the 2022 season — Porter was fired as Crew head coach.^[18]

On December 19, 2023, the New England Revolution announced that it had appointed Porter as its head coach, filling the void left by Bruce Arena several months prior.^[19]

Coaching statistics

College

Statistics overview

Season	Team	Overall	Conference	Standing	Postseason
Akron Zips (Mid-American Conference) (2006–2012)
2006	Akron	14–6–1	4–0–1	1st
2007	Akron	15–4–2	5–0–1	1st	NCAA 2nd Round
2008	Akron	17–2–4	6–0–0	1st	NCAA 3rd Round
2009	Akron	23–1–1	6–0–0	1st	NCAA Final
2010	Akron	22–1–2	6–0–0	1st	NCAA Champions
2011	Akron	15–4–4	6–0–0	1st	NCAA 3rd Round
2012	Akron	18–1–3	6–0–0	1st	NCAA 3rd Round
Total:		119–18–17
National champion         Postseason invitational champion         Conference regular season champion         Conference regular season and conference tournament champion       Division regular season champion       Division regular season and conference tournament champion       Conference tournament champion

Professional

As of match played September 7, 2024^[20]

Coaching record by team and tenure

Team	Nat	From	To	Record
				G	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Win %
Portland Timbers		January 8, 2013	November 17, 2017	202	85	57	60	329	271	+58	042.08
Columbus Crew		January 4, 2019	October 10, 2022	138	53	39	46	190	167	+23	038.41
New England Revolution		December 19, 2023	Present	35	12	6	17	44	63	−19	034.29
Total				375	150	102	123	563	501	+62	040.00

Honors

Coaching

Portland Timbers

• MLS Cup: 2015^[21]
• Western Conference (playoffs): 2015^[22]
• Western Conference (regular season): 2013, 2017

Columbus Crew SC

• MLS Cup: 2020^[23]
• Eastern Conference (playoffs): 2020
• Campeones Cup: 2021

Individual

• MLS Coach of the Year: 2013^[24]

See also

• List of Major League Soccer coaches

References

1. "SJ vs. KC 4/10/99". Sporting Kansas City. April 10, 1999. Archived from the original on June 16, 2013. Retrieved April 16, 2013.
2. GECKOS FACE HIGH HOPES, STEEP OBSTACLES The Sacramento Bee - Friday, April 23, 1999
3. "Scoring prowess major part of striker's promise". St. Petersburg Times - Wednesday, July 21, 1999
4. "June 30, 2000 Transactions". New York Times. June 30, 2000. Retrieved August 29, 2012.
5. Goff, Steve (December 10, 2009). "Soccer Insider - Fire Interviews Fraser". Voices.WashingtonPost.com. Archived from the original on September 15, 2012. Retrieved August 29, 2012.
6. Beaven, Michael (December 15, 2009). "UA soccer coach to stay with Zips". Akron Beacon Journal. Archived from the original on June 15, 2011. Retrieved December 15, 2009.
7. "The Gold Standard: Men's Soccer Captures National Title". GoZips.com. Retrieved October 15, 2017.^{[permanent dead link]}
8. Silverstein, Max (October 20, 2011). "Porter and Ramos announced as new U-23 & U-20 coaches". Usfutblog.com. Retrieved August 29, 2012.
9. Amerika, Prost (August 29, 2012). "Caleb Porter is New Timbers Coach". prostamerika.com. Retrieved August 29, 2012.
10. "Portland Timbers' Caleb Porter wins 2013 MLS Coach of the Year award". MLSSoccer.com. December 2, 2013. Archived from the original on September 2, 2015. Retrieved October 15, 2017.
11. "Landon Donovan leads MLS All-Stars to 2-1 win over legendary coach Pep Guardiola's Bayern Munich". OregonLive.com. August 2014. Retrieved October 15, 2017.
12. "Head Coach - Caleb Porter". Timbers.com. December 19, 2012. Retrieved October 15, 2017.
13. "Portland Timbers beat Columbus Crew SC to win first MLS Cup title". ESPNFC.com. Retrieved October 15, 2017.
14. "A by the numbers glance at the Portland Timbers path to the Audi 2015 MLS Cup Playoffs". Timbers.com. October 28, 2015. Retrieved October 15, 2017.
15. Communications, Timbers (January 27, 2016). "Portland Timbers sign head coach Caleb Porter to long-term contract extension". Timbers.com. Retrieved January 27, 2016.
16. "Caleb Porter out as Portland Timbers head coach". OregonLive.com. Retrieved December 13, 2017.
17. "Columbus Crew SC names Tim Bezbatchenko as President and announces Caleb Porter as Head Coach | Columbus Crew".
18. "Columbus Crew coach Caleb Porter fired after missing playoffs for second straight year". The Columbus Dispatch. October 10, 2022. Retrieved October 10, 2022.
19. "New England Revolution hire Caleb Porter as head coach" (Press release). New England Revolution. December 19, 2023.
20. "Caleb Porter career sheet". footballdatabase. Retrieved February 3, 2021.
21. "Portland Timbers celebrate MLS Cup title with downtown parade". ESPNFC.com. December 8, 2015. Retrieved October 15, 2017.
22. "Portland Timbers become first Cascadia club to reach the MLS Cup: "We want to win the big one"". MLSSoccer.com. November 29, 2015. Retrieved October 15, 2017.
23. "Columbus Crew SC 3, Seattle Sounders FC 0". MLSSoccer.com. December 12, 2020. Retrieved December 12, 2020.
24. "Portland Timbers' Caleb Porter wins 2013 MLS Coach of the Year award". MLSSoccer.com. December 2, 2013. Retrieved December 13, 2020.