)ºüÀêÊÓƵ City SC may have gone from being an expansion team no one expected much of in its first season to a first-place finish in the Western Conference, but it wasn’t enough to get Bradley Carnell MLS coach of the year honors.
Carnell came in second in voting by players, coaching staffs and media to someone else with a ºüÀêÊÓƵ connection, FC Cincinnati coach Pat Noonan, a graduate of De Smet High. Noonan coached Cincinnati to the Supporters’ Shield for having the best record in the league. Cincinnati completed an impressive turnaround under Noonan; the team had the worst record in Major League Soccer in each of its first three seasons. In 2022, Noonan’s first season, the team finished with the 10th-best record in the league and then went all the way to the top in 2023. Noonan was not among the top three vote-getters in 2022.
Noonan won with 45% of the vote, with Carnell at 27.78%. Wilfried Nancy of Columbus finished third (11.73%), after finishing second last season while coaching Montreal. Carnell had a slight edge on Noonan in the media vote, but Noonan was the overwhelming choice of club technical staffs, 56% to 20%.
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It’s the second year-in award won by Cincinnati, following Matt Miazga’s selection as defender of the year. Cincinnati is expected to pick up a third, with midfielder Luciano Acosta considered the favorite to win the league’s MVP award.
The race for the Sigi Schmid MLS Coach of the Year award was always seen as a two-horse race between Carnell and Noonan, with many giving Carnell the edge for taking a team predicted by most to be headed for the Western Conference cellar but instead turning it into the first expansion team to finish first in its conference in its inaugural season. Bob Bradley, with Chicago in 1998, remains the only expansion team coach to win coach of the year honors in the team’s first season.
City SC came away with one year-end honor, with Roman Burki winning goalkeeper of the year; two seconds, with Carnell and Tim Parker in defender of the year; and a third-place finish by Eduard Lowen in newcomer of the year.
This was Carnell’s first season as an MLS head coach, though he was interim head coach with the New York Red Bulls in 2020, when the team went 6-5-3 and made the playoffs, though the team’s new coach took over for the playoffs.
The team set a record for most wins by an expansion team, 17, and fell one point short of the record for points by a team in its first season.
“With Bradley, it was an easy choice,†said City SC sporting director Lutz Pfannenstiel, “which was easy in the end but not so easy in the start because we had a big number of coaches from all over the world applying for that position. An expansion team is always where big names are trying to come in and put their handwriting on it. The philosophy of the plan we made, the five-year plan was very clear, it’s all about a way of playing, it’s about a DNA, creating a culture, and we made that decision before how we wanted to play, so obviously we needed a coach who lives it, who breathes it, who understands it and who is 100% on board. Bradley was that terrier as a player.
“We wanted to have a coach who’s hardworking, who’s hands-on, who’s young, who is extremely ambitious, who hates to lose and who believes in exactly that kind of football. ... There was (people saying) an expansion team should sign an experienced coach, should sign a big name, should have somebody here who knows this and that. Not in our case. We had a plan, and Bradley was exactly the guy who followed into that idea because he knows what it’s like; that’s his DNA, that’s why I thought it was a good match.â€
“We know what it takes to be successful now,†Carnell said, “and this gives me drive every single day, and for me, the journey that’s least reflective of me is the one with the least spoken about me. Please show me how your team plays and then we can tell you how good your coach is because that’s the way to judge a coach and his pathways. It’s never been about here and it never will be, and if I can impact people’s lives and give them better platforms and foundations for them to grow with their families, that’s my purpose.â€
As for Noonan, he and general manager Chris Albright made Cincinnati the first team in any of the five major U.S. sports leagues to go from three straight last-place seasons to winning a regular-season title within two seasons. Cincinnati clinched its playoff spot after just 26 matches, the second-fastest ever in MLS, and finished with 69 points, fourth-most in one MLS season. Cincinnati also led the league with 14 wins in one-goal games, the third-highest total in MLS history. It was also the only team not to drop any points after the 75th minute of a game.
Cincinnati and City SC met once in the regular season, with City SC winning 5-1.