Kreis jumps into the fire

The Jason Kreis regime got under way at 10 a.m. Thursday, and it didn't take the new Real Salt Lake coach long to make his presence known.

One of his primary objectives is changing the current mentality of his former teammates, and it starts by altering the way practices are run. Former coach John Ellinger was often a bystander during certain moments of training sessions, but that was not the case Thursday with Kreis.

As the players went through their various drills, Kreis could be heard from afar yelling out "it needs to be perfect," and he didn't hesitate to stop practice when mistakes were made.

"Jason brings a different mentality; he's one of the most intense guys I've known in my career," said RSL midfielder Chris Klein. "John brought a different flavor to the game. (Jason) is a former player and he's also very demanding, but I think he's going to be even more demanding as a coach."

Exactly how demanding, and exactly how responsive the players are, remains to be seen, but there will definitely be a learning curve. During Monday night's loss to Colorado, Kreis was one of the guys, a player, but he's now the coach, those relationships will inevitably change.

"There's going to be a transition time, where we're all trying to find our comfort level and exactly how we push each other's buttons and how we interact," said Kreis. "I get the feeling from the veterans that they're comfortable with it."

They better get comfortable with it, because Kreis brings a clean slate to the squad, and starting spots — including Kreis' — are there for the taking.

"Everyone has to come in like it's a brand new coach that they've never met," said midfielder Carey Talley. "Even though it's Jason and we all know him, he's now looking at this team from above instead of looking at it being on the field with us. It's completely different."

Talley and Kreis were roommates on the road this year, and very good friends. That relationship will inevitably change now that it's a player-coach relationship, but Talley said he told Kreis to treat him like just another player. "Hammer me if he needs to, do whatever he needs — he's the coach," he said.

Checketts introduced Kreis to the team at 9 a.m. prior to Thursday's practice at Rice-Eccles Stadium. Kreis stressed the importance of open communication between players and coaches.

"I believe in having a locker room that everyone can have a good time together. That players should be able to take a ribbing from me and give it back. I think that's the way it's been and I hope it continues that way," said Kreis. "What's most important, that I believe all of them should have an opinion about the ways things should be done, they should be able to voice that to me, I've made that quite clear."

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