Real Salt Lake’s performance this season was enough to secure head coach Mike Petke a three-year contract extension, RSL owner Dell Loy Hansen announced Thursday morning in downtown Salt Lake City.
Terms of the multi-year deal were not disclosed.
“I’m ecstatic at the prospect of being here at least three more years,” Petke said in a team release. “And I’m excited and ecstatic about what I think we can accomplish together — Mr. Hansen, Craig Waibel, myself, the players … the whole organization. I’m on cloud nine because I have an owner who values me, likes what I’m doing and wants to reward me for that.”
Petke signed his first RSL contract, multi-year deal, on March 29, after the team fired previous coach Jeff Cassar three games into the season. Petke, a former New York Red Bulls coach, originally came to Utah to coach the RSL affiliated Real Monarchs this season.
Petke led Real Salt Lake to its first win on April 8 in his first match at the helm, and the team has gone 13-12-4 since he took over. Growing pains after the change in leadership contributed to a rocky first half of the season, but RSL finished the season unbeaten in 12 of its last 15 matches.
General Manager Craig Waibel has long-emphasized finding a match in every position — both player- and personnel-wise — that fits the club in both skill level and personality. With the extension, RSL sends the message that sees that in Petke.
“We put a lot of stock in player development, and Mike has been tremendous in that regard this season,” Waibel said in the release. “His success on the field and great leadership in integrating young players does a lot to confirm the confidence we had in him when we first hired him with the Monarchs and when we promoted him earlier this year.”
This story will be updated.