Bruce Arena was named head coach and sporting director of the San Jose Earthquakes on Thursday, marking his return to MLS more than a year after he was placed on administrative leave.
His broad role in San Jose is similar to his responsibilities with both the LA Galaxy and New England Revolution, and he takes over for Luchi Gonzalez following his dismissal in June; interim Ian Russell coached the team for the remainder of the season.
The club is entrusting Arena with a major rebuild ahead of the 2025 season, which is desperately needed after an uninspiring campaign in 2024. The Earthquakes were last in the Western Conference this season, conceding a record 78 goals in the process. The Earthquakes have also struggled over the past decade, failing to make the playoffs in three of their last four seasons and failing to advance past the first round of the postseason every year since 2012.
Arena is one of MLS’s most decorated coaches. He has won five MLS Cups and four Supporters’ Shield titles between stints at DC United and LA Galaxy, the most recent in 2021 with the Revolution. However, he has also been out of the picture since July 2023, when the league opened an investigation into him for “inappropriate and insensitive comments.” He was placed on administrative leave in September 2023 and resigned shortly thereafter.
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Arena did not delve into the details of the investigation, although in a recent interview with ESPN said that “it was just staff joking with each other in private. I accept all criticism and I’ll move on.”
In order to take another job in the league, Arena had to petition MLS commissioner Don Garber, who appears to have signed off on the coach’s return. On an episode of CBS Sports Golazo Network’s Kickin’ It, Arena claimed he was cleared by MLS in December 2023, but the league’s “miscommunication” about his status hindered his job prospects.
“I’ve had conversations,” he said. “There was, I think, some miscommunication around the league about my status. I was cleared in December and no one knew that… I’ve talked to a few teams and I think some of the information wasn’t communicated properly, but we’ve leave it at that.”
Arena told ESPN that he took some corrective actions to move past the incident that led to his suspension, though he did not specifically say what work he did.