Orlando City has parted ways with coach Adrian Heath midway through the season as the team has struggled to meet its own outsized expectations.
Orlando City has parted ways with the only coach the franchise has ever known, dating back to its USL PRO days and moving on to the transition to MLS. The team announced it has mutually parted ways with coach Adrian Heath on Wednesday.
Team chairman Phil Rawlins issued an open letter to fans as the team said goodbye to a coach that had won two USL PRO championships with the franchise since it moved to Orlando from Austin in 2010:
"Today is a very sad day for everyone associated with Orlando City and for me personally, as we agree to the mutual release of my good friend and our Head Coach for the past eight years, Adrian Heath.As a Board, we believe that we have reached a tipping point in our Club’s history where we must evaluate, learn and make difficult decisions. Decisions that are designed to continue our progression as a Major League Club."
Heath arrived with the team from Austin in 2010. With the investment and vision Orlando City had to one day make it to MLS, the team needed to perform on the pitch.
Orlando City won the championship that first year and then came to dominate the USL PRO for its four years in that league. That included two playoff titles and two regular season supporter’s shield trophies.
The Lions graduated to MLS in 2015, signed Kaka and asked their fans to “Defy Expectations.” With Kaka on the team, the playoffs were expected. And Heath was the man in charge as one of the many holdovers from the USL PRO days.
But Heath struggled in MLS, and Orlando City failed to meet the outsized expectations from its whirlwind success on and off the field in Central Florida.
The team failed to make the playoffs, going winless from late June until early September. A late winning streak helped Orlando City stay alive to the final day, but it was always a long shot.
The second season in MLS has seen continued struggles from the team. It has been unable to turn the corner, giving up late goals to record draws rather than wins or needing late-game comebacks like the 2-2 draw against New York City FC at Yankee Stadium or the opener against Real Salt Lake at home.
Orlando City is unbeaten at home in nine games, but has just three victories. It is that kind of result that has Orlando City outside the playoff picture at the midpoint of the season.
With some high profile transfers in the last year on thin ice too — Adrian Winter has already left the team — and some turmoil remaining from an off-season of front office changes, Orlando City has made a change that could shift the franchise and stop its seeming unstoppable ascendance in creating a soccer capitol in the Southeast.
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