Real Salt Lake: Under construction: Team and stadium getting makeover

Some wondered if Jason Kreis was in way over his head when he retired to take over as Real Salt Lake head coach last May despite zero coaching experience. That's right, zero, zip, nada. He'd never coached a day of soccer in his life, and his understanding of the game was strictly through the eyes of a player.

Handing him the reigns of a Major League Soccer franchise seemed like a bold — perhaps crazy — move by owner Dave Checketts.

Kreis acknowledged the uniqueness of the scenario at his introductory news conference but expressed his commitment and passion to the club and his resolve to make things right. He also believed with a little tinkering RSL could be competitive, despite its winless start.

It didn't take him long to realize it would take much more than a little tinkering, and thus Real Salt Lake's amazing transformation process was under way, in Kreis' likeness of course.

With opening day of the 2008 season just 13 days away, RSL is a shell of the team that took the field to open the 2007 campaign. Of the 28 players, only seven were ever coached by John Ellinger.

Along with new general manager Garth Lagerwey, Kreis hasn't hesitated one bit to make Real Salt Lake his team.

So what does this 75 percent turnover rate mean for RSL in 2008?

"Philosophically I'm not going to set any kind of benchmark for our season. I think we're going to be a better team," said Lagerwey, who was hired 4 1/2 months after Kreis last year. "I think the thing we accomplished last year, even though it didn't show much on the field, was being more competitive. We were able to change the culture of losing, I think, last year."

Outside of about three months in 2006, losing has been commonplace in Salt Lake City. Since joining the league as an expansion team in 2005, RSL has missed the playoffs three times, finishing with records of 5-22-5, 10-13-9 and 6-15-9.

That track record is more the fans' misery than that of the current collection of players. Only Andy Williams, Kenny Cutler and Nik Besagno remain from that first team, whereas Carey Talley is the only additional Year 2 survivor.

Not one of those players figures to be an opening-day starter, either.

"We promised the people of Utah that we're going to have a better soccer team, and one of the ways you do that is signing foreign players who can play right away," said Lagerwey.

That's really a two-fold process. RSL looked abroad to not only find foreigners but Americans playing overseas as well. The coaching staff turned up plenty of experience and talent, and several MLS critics believe Real could be a sleeper team in 2008 as a result.