New Swansea City manager Bob Bradley has deep MLS roots

Dave Zeitlin

It was a huge day for American soccer on Monday when Bob Bradley became the first American to be hired as an English Premier League manager.

The new Swansea City manager, of course, is well known for his tenure with the US national team, followed by ambitious stints with the Egyptian national team, Norway’s Stabæk and France’s Le Havre.

But before he broke barriers overseas, Bradley was on the front lines helping MLS grow — while himself growing into one of the country’s most sought-after coaches.

After beginning his career in the college ranks, including a decade-long stint at Princeton, Bradley’s first pro coaching job came as an assistant with D.C. United during the league’s first two seasons in 1996 and 1997.

He won MLS Cups in both of those seasons — and remarkably won another one the following year after taking over in Chicago as the Fire’s first head coach and immediately leading them to the 1998 title.

He stayed with the Fire until 2002, guiding them back to MLS Cup in 2000 (they lost to Kansas City) and winning US Open Cups in 1998 and 2000, all while helping to breed the next batch of American soccer coaches, including the New York Red Bulls’ Jesse Marsch and the Philadelphia Union’s Jim Curtin.

Following his tenure in Chicago, Bradley led the MetroStars from 2003 to 2005, where he coached his then-teenage son Michael. His final job in MLS came in 2006 when he coached Chivas USA into the playoffs, before landing his job with the U.S. Men's National Team and beginning his international ascension.

All told, Bradley amassed 128 MLS victories, which is currently good for fifth all time. And although he’s now been gone from MLS for a decade — Bradley was reportedly in the running for the Vancouver Whitecaps job before the Canadian club settled on current coach Carl Robinson — he recently said that he still closely follows the league and would consider returning to it for the “right opportunity.”

That opportunity, however, will now go on hold as Bradley looks to do in the EPL what he did at several stops in MLS and elsewhere: win as an underdog.

Bob Bradley coaching history: