His most influential coach, and the coach he still speaks to frequently, is Gary Williamson, who was Kreis' under-19 youth coach in Louisiana. He's since moved on to become the director of coaching for North Texas State Soccer, but Kreis still considers him the best coach he ever played for. Williamson has a master's degree in philosophy, and Kreis believes the two see the game and life quite similarly.

It's about honesty with players.

"Fundamental to how I wanted to coach was about open and honest communication," Kreis said. "I really had a lot of appreciation for coaches that could just be honest with players, whether that was a good message or a bad message.

"I craved it as a player, and I know as you go along in your career you become tired of hearing what the coaches wants you to hear and you'd rather just hear the truth — whether it's good, bad or indifferent."

That aspect of his coaching hasn't changed, and probably never will. It's the tactical weekend-to-weekend aspects that continue to evolve as Kreis gains experience. With a career coaching record of 20-29-20, but a 14-16-13 mark in the past two years with those coveted better players, there's definitely room for growth.

RSL's general manager believes increased success will follow Kreis.

"One of the foundational reasons I think he's going to be a great coach: He was always the hardest worker on the team, and I say that as a former teammate of his," Lagerwey said. "He was not a prima donna and he was not a guy with a vast array of talent. He had to earn it."

He's still trying to earn it as a coach, and he's doing it with more and more detractors in the stands. It's stressful and straining and definitely not as easy as he thought it would be.

Kreis said he hopes he continues to figure things out and follow along the ideal career path he set for himself back when he was 14.

"There's plenty of cases out there of coaches that have coached in the professional level for a long, long time, but they're definitely a rarity, not the norm," Kreis said. "Would I like to be that guy? Yeah, I would because that would prove I'm successful at my next great challenge."