Longevity and head coaches don’t always go together, a fact that came into view last week when D.C. United announced the departure of Ben Olsen after a decade at the helm.
He was previously one of the longest-tenured head coaches in MLS, narrowly trailing Sporting Kansas City’s Peter Vermes. With the comings and goings, it makes Vermes’ run (since 2009) even more remarkable.
So, we’ve compiled where the list stands as the 2020 regular season winds down. Turnover is far more common than durability, which helps set those like Philadelphia Union boss Jim Curtin (since 2014) and Toronto FC’s Greg Vanney (since 2014) apart.
He’s the full rundown as ranked from longest-tenured to newest (year listed indicates a coach’s first season with their club):
MLS head coaches, ranked by tenure:
Coach |
Team |
Season started |
|---|---|---|
Peter Vermes |
SKC |
2009 |
Jim Curtin |
PHI |
2014 |
Greg Vanney |
TOR |
2014 |
Brian Schmetzer |
SEA |
2016 |
Adrian Heath |
MIN |
2017 |
Bob Bradley |
LAFC |
2018 |
Giovanni Savarese |
POR |
2018 |
Matias Almeyda |
SJ |
2019 |
Marc Dos Santos |
VAN |
2019 |
Luchi Gonzalez |
DAL |
2019 |
Caleb Porter |
CLB |
2019 |
Guillermo Barros Schelotto |
LA |
2019 |
Bruce Arena |
NE |
2019 |
Freddy Juarez |
RSL |
2019 |
Robin Fraser |
COL |
2019 |
Tab Ramos |
HOU |
2020 |
Gary Smith |
NSH |
2020 |
Thierry Henry |
MTL |
2020 |
Oscar Pareja |
ORL |
2020 |
Raphael Wicky |
CHI |
2020 |
Diego Alonso |
MIA |
2020 |
Ronny Deila |
NYC |
2020 |
Jaap Stam |
CIN |
2020 |
Stephen Glass* |
ATL |
2020 |
Gerhard Struber |
RBNY |
2020 |
Chad Ashton* |
DC |
2020 |
* = interim
