The business of hiring coaches and general managers in professional sports is not an exact science, never has been and never will be. There are inherent risks with every hiring, a reason so many owners take the safe route and go with the most experienced and qualified candidate.
Then there's Dave Checketts, who threw conventional wisdom out the window last year with his Real Salt Lake house-cleaning project.
He gambled on a coach with no experience and a general manager in the legal industry to turn his struggling franchise around. Many scratched their heads wondering what he was doing, and even Checketts knew it was big risk. At the same time he always said he didn't mind taking chances on hardworking people with character.
It's been a bumpy ride virtually every step of the way, but Real Salt Lake's advancement into the Western Conference finals is further justification for Checketts' gamble.
"I'm not nearly self-confident enough to say I knew what I was doing," said Checketts. "But if you've been around pro sports long enough you can quickly pick up when someone has a fire in their stomach which can lead to success in their profession."
In MLS, there's a fine line between success and failure, but Real Salt Lake coach Jason Kreis and general manager Garth Lagerwey have elevated the franchise to new heights in less than a year and a half.
"We've made progress. If you talk about justifying someone's faith in you, you've got to do it over the long term. But have we delivered as much as we can? I would say 'yes,' but I would add we have two more steps to go," said Lagerwey, who was an associate for Latham & Watkins prior to being hired by Real Salt Lake.
Checketts first got to know Lagerwey when his firm handled the logistics of Checketts' sale of a portion of his St. Louis Blues franchise. Months later, with Checketts still searching for a replacement for departed general manager Steve Pastorino, Checketts inquired about Lagerwey's interest.
After all, Lagerwey understood the game quite well, having played goalkeeper for six years, and came highly recommended by RSL head coach Jason Kreis.
Checketts met with Lagerwey over lunch in Sun Valley, Idaho, for three hours last summer, and liked enough of what he heard to hand the reins to an individual with no MLS front office experience.
As for hiring Kreis, it seemed like an even bigger gamble. But to Checketts, having seen Kreis in action on and off the field since he became the franchise's first player in 2004, RSL's owner was confident in his decision.
"The first time I met Dave, I just had a little bit of a connection with him. He really struck a cord in me about how passionate he is about everything he does," said Kreis. "To go from being a player to somebody he believed in as much as he did to make me the coach, it just made me want to succeed for him very badly."
With a little luck along the way in the form of 90th-minute goals and a big playoff upset by New York, RSL has stumbled upon tremendous success the past three weeks and is now hosting the Western Conference final this Saturday.
Whether or not RSL had made the playoffs or even advanced out of the first round, defender Chris Wingert was a big believer in the philosophy and direction of Kreis and Lagerwey.
Shortly before being traded to Real Salt Lake last summer, Wingert was on his way to California to finalize a trade with the Galaxy. He received a call from RSL though expressing interest in sweeping in and making a better offer to Colorado to acquire his services.
"I had some long talks with Jason and this was a place that was heading in the right direction. I really liked what his vision was and liked where they were heading as a franchise," said Wingert. "I was in a situation in Colorado where the owner didn't care that much."
He noticed right away that wasn't the case Checketts either.
It was the continued work ethic of Kreis and eventually Lagerwey when he came aboard a few months later that had Wingert thinking boldly about the future.
Wingert recalls back in training camp how meticulously Kreis was determined to establish a foundation for success, and it had everything to do with defense. Wingert said the team worked on one-on-one defending, followed by pairs defending and then eventually team defending. It was borderline overkill how tirelessly the guys worked on defending, but Wingert loved.
"The organized teams in this league are the most successful because there's so much parity in terms of talent the way the league has spread out their talent, so organized teams are the ones who are going to stand out in the end," said Wingert.
Playoff success realistically wasn't supposed to come until next year according to Kreis and Lagerwey, yet here Real Salt Lake is two wins from a championship.
The duo has already provided Checketts a nice return on his two big gambles.
Western Conference Finals
Real Salt Lake
vs. New York Red Bulls
Saturday, 7:30 p.m.
Rio Tinto Stadium
TV: Fox Soccer/HDNet
Radio: AM-1600, 7:30 p.m.
E-mail: jedward@desnews.com