Ranking the top 15 managers in MLS

A power ranking of MLS’s top 15 coaches, accounting for team success, tactical identity and in-game adjustments.

Everybody loves lists, and everybody loves to criticize coaches, so today, we’re combining the two: A power ranking of MLS managers. We’ll limit the list to coaches that have been in MLS for longer than this year, meaning only one new manager for 2018 will make it. It’s too early to rank Remi Garde, Anthony Hudson, Giovanni Savarese and Brad Friedel.

Fifteen coaches made the list. They’re ranked on a variety of factors: Team success relative to talent, implementation of a tactical identity and coherent philosophy, and in-game adjustments. It’s pretty subjective and changes pretty much every week, so don’t take this as gospel.

Let’s take a look:

1. Jesse Marsch (New York Red Bulls)

Marsch has been the most willing manager in MLS to play young players from the Red Bulls’ highly-productive academy, and while this alone wouldn’t place him at number one, the immediate success those players have had shows a top-down identity reflecting Marsch’s ideals. He values pressing and creating opportunities from takeaways high up the field, in conjunction with creating numbers in attack and combining heavily in the attacking third.

As a result, the Red Bulls have been one of the most consistently successful clubs in MLS, and they will compete in the CONCACAF Champions League semifinals. Marsch is a big reason for that.

2. Gregg Berhalter (Columbus Crew SC)

No manager, aside from maybe Marsch, has committed to a definitive tactical identity for as long as Berhalter has. Since 2015, the Crew have played from the back and focused on using patient passing to draw teams out and create attacking opportunities in space. They’ve continued to do this in 2018 even as Ola Kamara and Justin Meram, staples of the attack, have moved on. Pretty soccer is a staple in Columbus.

3. Greg Vanney (Toronto FC)

It feels unfair to rank the manager of the first treble-winning club in MLS history as low as three. Vanney has done a remarkable job with his stacked Toronto FC team, putting Sebastian Giovinco and Jozy Altidore into the best possible position to dominate. TFC are comfortable in multiple formations (mainly the 3-5-2 and 4-4-2 diamond) in addition to various tactical setups.

4. Patrick Vieira (NYCFC)

If Berhalter has committed to the build-from-the-back identity for the longest, Vieira has been the most dedicated to it in his time as NYCFC manager. He’s implemented a system that values the ball and keeping possession of it, particularly in deeper areas, to generate attacking opportunities. This season, he’s combined it with a much-improved counter-press look (as Bobby Warshaw noted for MLSsoccer.com).

He needs to show he can win in the postseason before he advances up this list.

5. Tata Martino (Atlanta United)

Atlanta’s superstar coach, whose history of managing the best players in the world has drawn a number of top young players to Georgia, checks in at five. The former Barcelona and Argentina coach (how many can say they’ve coached Lionel Messi for two different teams?) runs a fast-paced press-and-pass system with the goal of creating space for Josef Martinez and Miguel Almiron. He has to do better at squad rotation and the integration of younger, developing players into the first team, though. 

6. Bob Bradley (LAFC)

We haven’t seen much of Bradley in LA, but what we have seen has been too impressive to leave him off this list. His expansion team jumped out to a 2-0-0 start, beating Seattle in Week 1 and then cruising past Real Salt Lake a week later. They have a ways to go, but Bradley has them looking like one of the better expansion teams in league history.

7. Mike Petke (Real Salt Lake)

Petke’s RSL got destroyed by LAFC a couple weeks ago, but that won’t dampen the excitement around Salt Lake, who have one of the league’s most promising young cores. At the center of it is Petke, a passionate and motivated coach with the willingness to trust Homegrown players. RSL are a fun team to watch and will look to challenge the Western Conference’s unstable top tier.

8. Peter Vermes (Sporting KC)

Since Vermes took over Sporting KC in 2009, SKC have been among the most consistently successful franchises in the league. They’ve made the postseason every year since 2011 and are primed for a similar end result in 2018. Vermes has relied on his 4-3-3 and high defensive line throughout his tenure, and has consistently produced stout defensive teams.

9. Wilmer Cabrera (Houston Dynamo)

Cabrera led the Dynamo back to the playoffs in 2017, pushing them all the way to the Western Conference final with a young team built in his image. Young and energetic attackers, headed by La Panterita Alberth Elis, enable the Dynamo to sit deep and run, scoring on fast counter-attacks and transition plays. Their Colombian manager plays to the team’s strengths, and it’s worked.

10. Veljko Paunovic (Chicago Fire)

Ranking Coach of the Year candidate from last season at 10 feels low. Paunovic was given an interesting group at the beginning of 2017, tasked with building around Dax McCarty and Bastian Schweinsteiger in midfield sans a true number 10, and he led them to third in the conference, using Dax and Bastian’s amazing passing ability to create chances for Golden Boot-winning forward Nemanja Nikolic. It was an impressive display of coaching, and they certainly played the beautiful game.

Next: The 10 best teams in MLS history

11. Sigi Schmid (LA Galaxy)

The all-time MLS legend Schmid faces a tough task in turning around an LA Galaxy team that was the worst in club history last year. He made a lot of changes in the offseason and now will have to prove he can find immediate success with a revamped roster. He’s done it before.

12. Carl Robinson (Vancouver Whitecaps)

While one can make the argument that Robinson is not as talented a coach as others on this list, he has been effective at implementing the Whitecaps’ defensive philosophies, and he led them to a playoff beatdown of San Jose at home last season. This year will be a test of how sustainable that success was.

Extra credit for starting Alphonso Davies.

13. Brian Schmetzer (Seattle Sounders)

Schmetzer has led the Sounders to the MLS Cup final each of the past two seasons. But he’s struggled early this year, and given the managerial ability he has shown during his tenure, one has to wonder how much of the Sounders’ success came from their talent and how much came from Schmetzer.

14. Oscar Pareja (FC Dallas)

Pareja’s a tough one to evaluate. He once was arguably MLS’s best manager, back when FC Dallas were playing all the kids and winning the Supporters’ Shield, but Dallas have been stuck in their current sluggish state since the middle of 2017, and it’s become a legitimate question as to whether Pareja will be able to turn them around. If he does it, it will be by relying more on FCD’s highly-productive academy.

15. Jim Curtin (Philadelphia Union)

Curtin has had one of the hottest seats in MLS over the last couple of years. Philly haven’t exactly been the league’s model organization in terms of player acquisition and on-field success, and Curtin hasn’t been good at keeping players on an upward trajectory. But he deserves credit for trusting academy graduates so far this season. It will be interesting to see how much they progress.