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San Jose Earthquakes hire Mikael Stahre as new head coach

FILE - Fomer Earthquakes coach Dominic Kinnear, center, was fired in June. The organization said Friday that Mikael Stahre will replace Kinnear. (David J. Phillip / Associated Press)
Associated Press

SAN JOSE, Calif. – The San Jose Earthquakes hired Mikael Stahre as their new head coach Friday to replace Dominic Kinnear, who was fired in June.

Stahre, 42 and from Stockholm, Sweden, had 11 years of coaching experience in European leagues, most recently as head coach for a season with BK Hacken in Sweden’s Allsvenskan league, posting a 14-6-10 record.

The Quakes fired Kinnear along with assistant John Spencer, making former player Chris Leitch the replacement head coach for the remainder of the season.

Leitch and Alex Covelo, an assistant coach the final four months of the season under Leitch, will go back to their previous roles as technical director and director of methodology.

Kinnear was hired in 2015 – when San Jose opened its new, state-of-the-art, soccer-only Avaya Stadium – for his second stint coaching the Quakes after also directing the club from 2004-05, compiling a combined record of 54-45-48.