15 June 2016: New England head coach Jay Heaps. The Carolina RailHawks hosted the New England Revolution at WakeMed Stadium in Cary, North Carolina in a 2016 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup fourth round game.

Jay Heaps coached the Revs since the 2012 season. (Andy Mead/YCJ Photo)

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – It’s official. Jay Heaps is out as New England Revolution head coach.

The club announced that it has parted ways with Heaps, effective immediately.

Assistant coach Tom Soehn will take over as interim head coach for the remainder of the Major League Soccer season.

“Jay has done a great deal for the club over the years and had considerable achievements. I have great respect for him and wish him well in the next steps of his career,” Revs general manager Michael Burns said in a statement. “This decision has not been taken lightly, however, we need to do better than the results have shown from the last couple of seasons and this season left us convinced we need to go in a different direction.”

New England (10-14-5, 35 points), which is in eighth place in the Eastern Conference, still is in contention for a playoff berth. The top six teams in each conference qualify for the postseason.

It certainly didn’t help that the Revs dropped an embarrassing 7-0 defeat to expansion Atlanta United last week.

The 41-year-old Heaps directed New England to a 75-81-43 in five-plus seasons since he was hired as the team’s sixth coach in its history in 2011.

The Revs have never won MLS Cup, although they have reached the final five times in their history. Their most recent appearance came under Heaps in 2014, when they lost to the host LA Galaxy, 2-1, in extratime.

Heaps directed the Revs to three consecutive MLS Cup Playoff appearances from 2013-15 and the 2016 Lamar Hunt/ U.S. Open Cup final.

“Jay gave the club his all as a player and coach, and we are thankful to him for all his passion and hard work,” Revs president Brian Bilello said in a press release. “We will always be grateful for his efforts in bringing us back to both an MLS Cup final and a U.S. Open Cup Final and wish nothing but the best for him moving forward.”

Heaps has been a central figure in 15 of the Revolution’s 22 seasons in MLS, including nine years as one of the team’s all-time great defenders from 2001-09. He played a part in all five of the Revolution’s Eastern Conference championships, four as a player, and helped lead the club to the U.S. Open Cup Final on three occasions, including the club’s victory in 2007.

As a Revolution player, Heaps made 243 appearances, started 238 matches and recorded 21,619 minutes played, all of which rank third most in club history. Including three seasons with the Miami Fusion, his regular season career totals include 314 games played, 299 starts, 17 goals, and 34 assists. In the postseason, Heaps added 30 appearances, all starts, with one goal and two assists.

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.