PORTLAND, Ore. – Caleb Porter will turn 40 next month, a relatively young age for a coach in MLS, but he’s been at the game for quite awhile.
And now that he’s embarking on his third season leading the Portland Timbers, following more than a decade in the college ranks, Porter said he’s still learning a lot about his trade. And last year, Porter said, was one of his most challenging.
“The biggest thing for me was last year experiencing more lows than I ever have,” he said after Saturday’s training session on an unseasonably warm and sunny day at Providence Park, where the team opened preseason camp on Friday. “In terms of reflecting and analyzing and changing, that’s never been an issue for me, and I always just try to do that if there’s things to correct. But I think the biggest thing was just being in more low moments, where you’ve got to pull yourself out.”
Porter’s second season as a professional coach started horribly from the opening kick, with the Timbers collecting just five points from their first eight games. That, in addition to various missteps down the stretch, namely squandering a 2-0 halftime lead and losing 3-2 to Toronto FC on Sept. 27, cost them a spot in the MLS Cup Playoffs by just one point.
He later admitted that perhaps the team bit off more than it could chew in terms of making too many changes to the team between year one in 2013 – when the Timbers won the Western Conference regular-season title – and year two in 2014.
“For me now in year three, not that I didn’t have it figured out after year one, but a lot more knowledge, wisdom after year two,” Porter said. “There were some mistakes that maybe I made in trying stuff that now I won’t make again because it doesn’t maybe work or translate. That doesn’t mean I won’t try new things, that’s a part of coaching, but you’ve got to know this league and what works. I feel like, above all else, now going into year three, I have a much better sense of what works and what doesn’t work.”
And Porter will face some similar challenges.
He’ll have to cope with the early season absences of playmaker Diego Valeri (ACL) and captain Will Johnson (broken leg) as they recover from injuries. They’ll have a new goalkeeper in Ghanaian international Adam Kwarasey after the Timbers parted ways with veteran Donovan Ricketts, the 2013 MLS Goalkeeper of the Year.
Portland also hope to have solved their issues at center back, bringing in longtime RSL stalwart Nat Borchers to line up next to Designated Player Liam Ridgewell, a midseason signing last year.
But other than that, Porter touted the fact that their core remains mostly unchanged – especially after Valeri and Johnson return.
“You want to make splashes and signings, and you want the fans to be excited for new pieces,” Porter said. “But I’ve seen that backfire a lot over the years. And perhaps we’ve made some of those mistakes in thinking the grass is greener with a player, and in reality maybe it’s not. … When I look at the best teams in this league, it’s pretty simple, it’s continuity in coach, players, strong core year after year.”
Dan Itel covers the Timbers for MLSsoccer.com.
