New York Red Bulls Name Hans Backe Coach

The New York Red Bulls have named 57-year-old Swede Hans Backe, who won a combined four Danish championships with FC Copenhagen and Aalborg, as the coach who will lead the floundering franchise into its new stadium this year.

Considering the Norwegian heritage of new GM Erik Soler, who has no experience in American soccer, the choice of a Scandinavian coach is no surprise. Perpetual assistant Richie Williams will remain part of the technical staff along with goalkeeper coach Des McAleenan, the club announced Thursday morning.

"I have followed Hans' career for many years and I think he will be an excellent coach for this team," Soler said. "Hans brings a vast amount of experience from a variety of different clubs in Europe and he has been a fantastic mentor for many young and established players. We are confident that he will be able to help our club accomplish our goal of competing for a MLS Cup."

Keeping track of Backe's career is an impressive accomplishment. He's managed 11 clubs, with his longest stint the four years in the Danish capital that ended in December 2005. Like Soler, he's also worked in television.

Backe has managed five teams in Sweden, two in Denmark and one each in Norway, Austria and Greece. In 2007 he joined Sven-Goran Eriksson at Manchester City, then followed his countryman the following year to help with the Mexican national team. Eriksson did not last long in either position. He was hired to run English fourth-division club Notts County last July and eventually brought Backe to England. Backe was named head coach last October and lasted all of nine games. He resigned last month, reportedly over a dispute about funding for players. If that's a problem in England, one wonders how he'll handle the strict rules in MLS.

"I am extremely excited to join the Red Bulls," Backe said on Thursday. "It is evident with the stadium and the resources available that Red Bull is very committed to making this club the best in Major League Soccer. I hope that I can bring my expertise to the club and build a winning squad for our supporters."

Backe will be charged with reversing a pretty consistent trend -- foreign coaches with little to no experience with American soccer culture fail in MLS.

We all know how Ruud Gullit worked out in Los Angeles. John Carver lasted just over a year with Toronto FC and went 11-15-10 before resigning last April. Going back to the early days of MLS, Bobby Houghton and Frank Stapleton were one-year busts in Colorado and New England, respectively. Carlos Alberto Parreira, who won a World Cup with Brazil, couldn't figure out MLS and went 13-19 with the MetroStars in 1997. Carlos Queiroz didn't fare much better, going 12-12 in New York the year before. Hans Westerhof went a hilarious 3-14-4 with Chivas USA in 2005. Brazilian Ivo Wortmann did okay in Miami and compiled a 21-28-4 record over parts of three seasons. Walter Zenga did play in goal for the Revolution for a couple of seasons, but stopping shots didn't prepare him for the coaching gig -- he went 13-23.

We're not ignoring the successes. There just haven't been any. Foreign coaches who have done well in MLS at least played in the U.S. or coached in the minors or in the national team program before taking a job with an MLS club. The one current coach who would join this list is Colorado's Gary Smith, an Englishman who was hired by the Rapids as an assistant two years ago then took over when Fernando Clavijo resigned later in 2008. The Rapids went 10-10-10 last year in Smith's first full season in charge and missed the playoffs.

The Red Bulls said Backe will be unveiled formally at "a later date."