After a long wait to announce their head coach, the New York Red Bulls are starting to fill in their support staff nicely.

Earlier today, EoS reported former Aston Villa goalkeeping coach Rafa Gonzalez as a lead candidate for the same position in New York. Now, Soccer By Ives is confirming a report first made by the New York Post; Robin Fraser will indeed be the next Red Bulls assistant coach.

Fraser, 46, is coming off of two brutal seasons at the helm of Chivas USA (he won all of eleven matches out of 45). Prior to that debacle, he was considered one of the highest regarded assistant coaches in the league under Jason Kreis in RSL. Fraser is an MLS veteran, having plied his trade as a player from the league’s inception through 2005. He featured for the L.A. Galaxy, Colorado Rapids and Columbus Crew, earning Defender of the Year honors twice (’99, ’04).

What does he provide the Red Bulls? For starters, a competent partner with some experience on his resume to help Petke along his maiden voyage at the helm. Though he wasn’t successful as boss out in L.A., Fraser brings a wealth of knowledge to the position as a player, a long time assistant and yes, even as a manager. In fact, he would know a thing or two about the experiences one lives as a rookie head coach in this league which could greatly help nurture Petke. Even in a worst case scenario, Fraser provides a good alternative if the Red Bull organization sees their experiment with Petke fail.

Other names with New York roots - Claudio Reyna, Tony Meola and the like – have all been connected to the team at certain points, but Fraser’s is perhaps the safest of all choices. It is also worth noting that the team has also considered working with a five person technical staff in the past – meaning an additional coach could still be hired – though there is no official word on whether or not that remains to be the case.