Report: Martin Vasquez set for Real Monarchs coach role

Update, 12pm: The news has been made official. This story has been updated to reflect that. Additionally, the club confirmed the return of assistant coaches Jamison Olave and Matt Glaeser.

Martin Vasquez, Real Salt Lake academy director, is set for a switch to Real Monarchs, where he’ll be the team’s coach.

Additionally, assistant coaches Jamison Olave and Matt Glaeser are confirmed to return to the club, and the the club announced a new athletic trainer, Kyle Simkovich, following the departure of Marshall Stoddard to FC Cincinnati. The club said they will be starting a “global search” for a new academy director.

In a club-issued release, Real Salt Lake general manager Craig Waibel described the move as part of the club’s youth-oriented philosophy.

“This fits really well with the progression of young players in our organization and our philosophy of promoting from within. Martín’s resume speaks for itself and he brings a tremendous amount of experience at top levels to the Monarchs to aid in the progression of the players within our organization from the Academy on up to RSL. With all of the youth we have in our organization, this was the right time to promote him to the Monarchs.”

In the release, Vasquez described the move as an opportunity to continue developing players.

“I’m very grateful for such and amazing opportunity to join the Monarchs after eight years with the RSL Academy. My time with the players within the RSL Academy both past and present has helped me immensely. The players’ attitudes, enthusiasm and willingness to not only better themselves as players and men, but to help me grow as a coach has been an integral part of my time as coach and is something I will forever be thankful for. It has been a privilege to be a part of such an incredible Academy side. Now with the Monarchs I’m excited to continue to be a part of the development of our players and our club as the head coach. I’m here to win with the Monarchs while continuing to help develop our players and help them reach the next level.”

The news broke earlier today from hyper-reliable national reporter Steven Goff, who reported it not long after Real Monarchs hinted there would be a ‘major club announcement’ on Twitter today. That news is now official.

Vasquez has been serving as Real Salt Lake’s academy director since joining the club in 2011, overseeing a period of growth when the academy was in Arizona, then helping to successfully transition the academy’s move to Herriman.

During that time, he has been responsible for building up some exciting young talents that have successfully made the transition to Real Salt Lake and beyond.

This does raise some interesting questions that one would hope would be answered in a club press release. We’ll update this story when we know more, and if anything major comes out of that, we’ll break it out into its own coverage.

Vasquez does have coaching experience, having coached Chivas USA in 2010. He served as an assistant coach under Jurgen Klinsmann at Bayern Munich in 2008 and 2009, and during part of his U.S. stint. He was a national team assistant from 2011 to 2014.