Minnesota United has fired Adrian Heath, the only head coach it has ever had as an MLS team, and replaced him with interim coach Sean McCauley for the regular season’s final two games.
In the team’s announcement Friday, the Loons said technical director Mark Watson also has been fired, but assistant coach Ian Fuller and goalkeeping coach Stewart Kerr will remain in their current roles.
Heath has been head coach since the Loons’ inaugural 2017 season and has been the only Western Conference coach to lead his team to the playoffs each of the last four seasons.
Assistant coach Sean McAuley likely will serve as interim coach for the season’s final two games.
Heath’s contract was set to run through the 2024 season.
The Loons are winless in their last seven games (0-4-3) after Wednesday’s dispirited 5-1 loss at Los Angeles F. C. and have fallen to 12th in the West, three points below ninth-place Dallas and the final of nine playoff spots in the conference.
They are 9-12-1 in a MLS season when they also reached the quarterfinals of the new Leagues Cup midseason tournament.
They have two games remaining, Saturday at home against L.A. Galaxy and Oct. 21 at Sporting Kansas City.
Come back to startribune.com later for more on this developing story.