Caleb Porter needed to get away.



From 18 years on the grind as a head coach. From an organization he felt needed a change in order to grow. From the spotlight in Portland after he made the stunning decision to step down after five seasons as head coach of the Timbers.



“I didn’t have anything left to give,” Porter says, sitting forward in his chair on the outdoor patio of a beachside restaurant some 2,500 miles away from Portland.



An ocean breeze cuts through the thick South Carolina air just off the beach that Porter walks some mornings with his wife. Palmettos and orange and blue umbrellas dot the beach against a backdrop of deep blue Atlantic Ocean. Porter is at ease here, living with his family at the southern end of Hilton Head Island, near his father, Jim, and brother, Seth.



It has been eight months since his departure from Portland shocked MLS, and Porter has no regrets. It was painful at first to step away—surprising in...