So, did Jay Heaps – the first hire in Birmingham Legion FC history eight years ago – ever envision himself becoming the club’s Head Coach? 

“No,” said Heaps last week. “Originally, there was so much work to be done on building the club up. I mean, starting from the badge to where we were playing games, to the front office, so being the first employee, you kind of want to make sure you have your hands on everything. Being a coach, it really wasn’t on my horizon, just because I wanted to dive in.” 

And yet, just over a week after his transition into the lead spot on the sidelines had been announced, there was the former United States international addressing media in his new role. 

It’s a move that just three months ago would have turned heads, even with Legion struggling to its worst finish in the USL Championship.  

For Heaps, though, it’s a chance to make a new imprint on the club, turn the page and attempt to return Birmingham to the success it had previously achieved both in league and cup play.

Finding the Right Timing

As he joined Legion in February 2018 as club President and General Manager – effectively putting him at the helm of the club’s year-long rollout before it took the field in 2019 – Heaps had received offers to return to the coaching ranks after his six-season stint at the helm of the New England Revolution. 

In New England, Heaps had led the side to top-three finishes twice in Major League Soccer’s Eastern Conference and the Final of the 2016 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup before his tenure came to an end after missing the postseason by one spot in 2017.  

For the 49-year-old, though, the timing to return to coaching wasn’t right. 

“It was really a family decision,” said Heaps. “I had younger kids at the time – my son, Jack, who’s now a junior at Georgetown, my daughter’s a freshman at Georgia, and my youngest son’s in ninth grade now. When they were in sixth, seventh grade, traveling on the weekends, being around the team was a challenge. I had that conversation with my wife about, ‘you know, let’s focus on the family. We’re moving from Massachusetts to Alabama, let’s work on this.’” 

The desire to coach never really left, however, and when Heaps and the club made the decision to part ways with former Head Coach Tom Soehn early in the 2025 season, Heaps stepped in alongside interim Head Coach Eric Avila as the search for a full-time replacement came. Those weeks in training and on the sidelines in games proved reinvigorating for Heaps, even as they worked toward bringing Mark Briggs on board to lead the team forward.  

“I was back on the field and I could really feel the energy back, getting to a place we were going,” said Heaps. “I felt like we were making the right strides and so that was probably the first time I thought, ‘OK, where is this going to be in a year, two years, three years? Is Mark going to be the long-term solution where we’re going to figure that out?’ So that was probably the first time I really thought maybe this would be a position I’d want to get back to.” 

Ins and Outs 

Of course, in hiring Briggs in late April, the club had a manager who brought a strong resume from his prior stops in the USL Championship. The 43-year-old had won the Players’ Shield with Real Monarchs SLC in 2017, led Sacramento Republic FC to the U.S. Open Cup Final in 2022 and individually passed 100 victories in the league across the regular season and playoffs before his departure from the Indomitable Club at the end of the 2024 campaign. 

In terms of available hires, it looked like Birmingham had found the ideal successor to Soehn. On the field, though, things never quite caught fire. Over the remainder of the regular season Legion went 4-10-10, and visible frustration emanated from the sideline as opportunities to get back into the playoff race went begging. No club dropped more points from winning positions than Legion’s 25 in the 2025 regular season, and the offseason saw the start of a major reboot that included some notable names departing.  

“It happened pretty quickly,” said Heaps. “I think it was a unique kind of situation, because FC Dallas’ assistant went to Atlanta United, I got a call from Mark asking if he could explore that right after Christmas – I think it was in between Christmas and New Year’s – and it went fast. He was interviewed pretty quickly, we just couldn’t make an announcement, because they were working through things. But the offer and his commitment to go there happened within three or four days.” 

It left Heaps with a quandary. Legion was only a few weeks from starting training camp itself. He could go through another hiring process that could bleed into the start of camp and put the team potentially on the back foot as players got used to a new leader on the sidelines.  

But what if he decided to make the move himself to attempt to reset the tone? 

Changing Places 

One key piece to Heaps’ decision was already in the building for Legion. Appointed shortly before Briggs in April as the club’s first Chief Business Officer, Nick Hall brought more than 16 years of experience as an executive at Major League Soccer and Minor League Baseball with the remit to reinvigorate the club’s business operations. 

From the relationship Heaps and Hall had developed over the prior eight months, it became a clear opportunity for the club to reset and for Heaps to return to the field. 

“I think that it was fairly natural from our working relationship over the last few months,” said Hall. “That timeframe of that one-to-two weeks, sitting down with Jay, sitting down with owners, it was a fairly easy discussion. We knew what we wanted. We knew what we had to do to get there. And so, you know, we’re working hard right now.” 

Resetting the Tone 

Now the pressure is on for Legion to move back up the Eastern Conference standings.  

To achieve that, for Heaps, building the right culture within the locker room is the foundational piece. 

“That, to me, is really critical, right?” said Heaps. “I believe strongly, as much as you want to say, a club has a culture, it’s the culture of the locker room and the culture of the Head Coach every day.” 

As a player, Heaps got to experience that up close. In addition to winning the MAC Hermann Trophy at Duke University under longtime Head Coach John Rennie, he also competed for the Blue Devils’ Men’s Basketball team under Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame member and college basketball legend Mike Krzyzewski.  

In the professional ranks, almost the entirety of Heaps’ tenure with the Revolution on the field came under Steve Nicol, who remains the longest-tenured coach in club history and led the club to four MLS Cup Finals in the 2000s and a U.S. Open Cup victory in 2007. 

“I talk about Coach K and I talk about some of my mentors, the culture was always, was always led by the by the head coach,” said Heaps. “Then the players, they understand that, and then they bring their fingerprints to it. But there’s a standard and a drive that the coach has to set.” 

There are new approaches Legion is implementing to support those goals. Each player will have an individual program and metrics they’re aiming to achieve both in practice and in games that will play into the tactical approach Heaps is aiming to implement.  

“We are always learning, but at the same time we’re taking a very data and analytical approach to our own market here at Birmingham,” said Hall. “We’re tracking what has gained traction in the past, and we’re also looking at the things that haven’t worked. We’re trying to fine tune those things on reaching as many fans as possible and converting those fans that may be interacting with us on social media. How can we take those fans and turn them into ticket buyers, and hopefully one day, season ticket holders?” 

Of course, winning can be the ultimate salve when it comes to selling the club in market. For Heaps, the result against Nashville isn’t the priority, but it is a key starting point as the club aims to put a successful product on the field in the new campaign. 

“Are we going to be the finished product? Absolutely not, but I’m hoping that we get the key players into those positions that we’ve drawn up as what we think is – from a statistical standpoint – where we're going to be the most dangerous,” said Heaps. “That’s what we’re putting together for that game. We may not score five goals, but if we break into that zone three or four times that we’re trying to get to, that will be a success for me.” 

After guiding the club from the executive suite since its arrival in the professional ranks, Heaps appears ready to meet his new challenge head-on.