Jeff Cassar is a self-described family man, one of just many, many reasons he's Real Salt Lake's newest assistant coach.
"I was just driving to work the other day with Jason (Kreis) and I just told him I love this place, it feels like home already," said Cassar, 33. "The people are great, and I'm a massive family guy, and this place just oozes family. It oozes being outside and mingling and meeting people. It's not like everyone's in their own hole."
In reality, all of those aspects of his new home are bonuses, but everyone knows the main reason he's here is becasue of Kreis.
Since taking over as Real's new head coach last month, Kreis has gradually tried surrounding himself with "his" guys, and there's few people Kreis trusts and feels comfortable around more than Cassar, a former Dallas Burn teammate and one of his best friends.
During a conversation shortly after being hired, Kreis and Cassar chatted over the telephone, and during the process Kreis inquired if his buddy was interested in leaving the FC Dallas coaching staff to join Real Salt Lake's staff.
Those conversations ultimately cost RSL $20,000 for tampering purposes, and even though both parties involved regret the mistake, they don't regret the end result.
"You want to always feel good, safe, secure," said Cassar. "You want to have people in who are going to give you honest opinions. It's what every coach would do and should do, as long as the person they're bringing in is qualified for that spot."
Based on their coaching resume, neither Kreis nor Cassar are necessarily qualified for their current MLS coaching positions — both having retired less than a year ago. But Real Salt Lake owner Dave Checketts admittedly took a gamble on Kreis, and in turn Kreis is gambling on Cassar, who retired after the 2006 season and was only an assistant with FC Dallas for several months.
Cassar, who replaced Peter Mellor as the team's first assistant and goalie coach, believes his relationship with Kreis gives them the highest opportunity for success.
"We're both learning," said Cassar. "Jason's an extremely intelligent person. He's getting things fast. I'm just trying to add my advice and opinion. We don't always see eye-to-eye, and that's great. He makes the decisions and I'm not just going to agree with what he says and I think that's what makes a great partnership."
Cassar's MLS playing career spanned 11 seasons, including two stints with Dallas (1996-97 and 2003-06), one with Miami (1998-2001) and one with the MetroStars (2002). During that time, he made 79 appearances, finishing with 13 shutouts, a 28-36-10 record and a career goals-against average of 1.76.
It was a good career, but by no means a great career. What separated him from others was his work ethic, a big reason why he spent half a season in the English Premier League with Ipswich Town and the Bolton Wanderers. Even though he never made an appearance with a senior squad, Cassar started in seven reserve games, and he said it was an "awesome experience."
In his brief coaching career in Utah, Cassar has already proven himself to be an asset for Real Salt Lake — despite the shortage of wins.
Since joining RSL's coaching staff on May 24, Cassar's helped settle starting keeper Nick Rimando's nerves, and Rimando's been the team's best player since.
"I've known Nick since Miami," said Cassar. "He and I used to compete together. He's a very gifted, very talented goalkeeper. Sometimes his decision-making was a bit indecisive, but you can put goalies through drills and you can do this and you can do that, but the mental game is the biggest."
During training sessions, Cassar is always trying to put Rimando through drills that make him feel comfortable and confident. The result for Rimando was back-to-back shutouts prior to a pair of losses last week.
"He's been playing unbelievable," said Cassar. "His decision-making is very sharp and decisive."
Demanding and honest are the words Cassar used first to describe his coaching style.
"I just feel I want to demand a lot from these players, because there's more inside them. A good coach is a coach that can get the most out of a player," he said. "If you look around the league, Bruce Arena gets a lot out of his players. They might not be the best 11 players on the field, but he gets the best out of each and every one of them. That's what I want to do and that's what Jason wants to do."
Real Salt Lake's level of play has definitely picked up since Kreis and Cassar joined the coaching staff, but it hasn't translated into wins yet. Cassar hasn't lost hope.
"It's an exciting challenge," said Cassar. "The possibilities to do special things here are the reason why I came, and it's going to happen. We're going to make it happen, that's for sure."
As for his wife and two daughters (a 9-year-old and a 9-month-old), they're settling into Utah quite nicely, and are closing on a house in Draper on July 3.
E-mail: jedward@desnews.com