To start, I want to say that there isn't a bad coach in the USL Championship by my reckoning. Many of the names in my bottom tier have international or MLS experience! This tiering is based on what I've seen from in the context of the USL and the broader lower division landscape. At this level, a manager needs a particular set of skills as a tactician, roster builder, and motivator.
My ranking is rather fluid. At the end of the day, very little differentiates Zach Prince in Tier Four from, say, Brendan Burke in Tier Two. Am I drawn to Burke as a player developer and proponent of stylish soccer? Absolutely. Did Prince take an injury-addled New Mexico team to the playoffs, even if I didn't see a lot of panache? You betcha. I'm dumb and biased, and it's hard to separate these coaches.
Without further ado, let's get down to it...
Tier One: Best of the Best
After San Antonio's title-winning 2022 season, Alen Marcina is undeniable atop these rankings. His 3-4-3 system has facilitated some of the most dominant defending in USL history, and it bore the pressure of numerous injuries and late-coming loanees in the midfield and forward lines. Marcina is brilliant at scouting talent for his system and inuring new players with their responsibilities post haste.
Neill Collins of the Tampa Bay Rowdies comes next. Many of his early campaigns seemed to default to defensive back threes and win thanks to bailouts from elite forward talent. Not so: 2022 proved Collins' tactical mettle. The Scotsman pivoted to a wonky 4-2-3-1, rightly identified in-form players, and nearly won the East for a third consecutive year. Collins is progressive with data and eminently adaptive.
This tier includes a fairly distinct top three, and Mark Lowry is undeniably part of that group despite a rough first season in the Hoosier state. The high-possession, high-pressure diamond that proved so successful in Jacksonville and El Paso is one of the best systems in the history of lower-tier American soccer. Indy played at a 65-point pace in their last 10 games last year, signifying that Lowry figured something out. 2023 will be a litmus test.
We wrap up the top grouping with Danny Cruz in Louisville and Mark Briggs in Sacramento. Cruz won the East last year by deftly switching between defensive shapes and integrating youth within a talented but aging side. Briggs, meanwhile, laid the groundwork for Real Monarch's 2019 title and overhauled the Republic into a defense-first Open Cup finalist last season. He, too, is open to advise and data. Both have shown their merits, and both belong amongst the best.
Tier Two: Adept Tinkerers
My second chunk of managers lacks the high-end results seen in Tier One, but everyone here has a record of successful management and unique thinking.
If I had a bold bone in my body, I'd have thrown Ben Pirmann into the top of the pile based on last year with Memphis. His counterattacking 4-2-3-1 was powered by numerous examples of prodigious player development. If he repeats the trick in Charleston, there's no argument for his quality. I wouldn't bet against that success.
Bob Lilley is my biggest bugaboo here. The sheer scope of his success as a manager is unmatched, but there's an aspect of "what have you done for me lately?" at play. No manager is as tactically fluid or as proven at forging cohesion from a motley roster. Still, no Lilley side has reached a conference final since Rochester's 2015 title. He's great, but he's not the greatest.
We finish this tier with Brendan Burke in Colorado Springs and Trevor James in Detroit. Burke, barely 40 years old, excelled as a player development guru in an extended spell with the Bethlehem Steel before leading the Switchbacks to fifth- and third-place finishes in the West. His attacking vision is undeniable. James, meanwhile, is long-tenured as an assistant and scout in MLS and the lower divisions, and he turned a team of "NISA All-Stars" into a rock-solid USL playoff team. His second-half tinkering with Le Rouge is already the stuff of admiration across the league. Detroit ought to give him ample resources to build this team out.
Tier Three: Philosophies and Results
Here, we get into fairly subjective territory. Tom Soehn leads the way after never missing the playoffs with Birmingham. You'll get a boneheaded personnel decision or two and a frustrating inability to commit to a delightful high press from Soehn, but he's still near the upper echelon. He's actually a bold coach even if I disagree with his gambits.
Ryan Martin is the best USL manager that you're ignoring. Much as Burke exploded after leaving Bethlehem, Martin is burdened by his low-profile, revolving-roster position with Loudoun. Still, he's adept at organizing high pressure, capable of instilling smart counterattacking patterns into youthful sides, and liable to make in-game adjustments to keep the Virginian side competitive.
The draft version of this ranking had Wilmer Cabrera much lower due to a blasé style. Say what you will about up-and-down Houston and Montreal stints, but Cabrera has taken a low-budget Rio Grande Valley team to the playoffs in two straight seasons; he's just good at this gig. His high-line defenses and penchant for timely loans speak to a clear sense of identity and managerial je ne sais quoi worth acknowledging. The same applies to Anthony Pulis, but with a higher budget in Miami. He can build a solid playoff team in his sleep.
We wrap up Tier Three wryly, starting with Noah Delgado. After taking over in the East Bay, Delgado brilliantly iterated on an existing 3-4-3 with brave personnel decisions that led to a searing finish and a playoff win. He's clever with roster deployment. Still, Delgado relied on the tactics and roster built by Juan Guerra. The Venezuelan's fullback-driven shape did well in Oakland and revived Phoenix down the stretch; a full season in the Valley is going to be Guerra's real barometer.
Tier Four: Competent Plus
The final legit tier starts with two managers with storied careers in American soccer. Tab Ramos looked fine enough late in 2022 when he super-powered Hartford's offense, but the defense was poor, and a lot hinges on his hand-picked roster heading into next year. Meanwhile, Frank Yallop's expansion unit in Monterey slunk to a second-from-bottom finish after a ostensible playoff revival, and he did well to fix the defense in a boilerplate 4-4-2. There's a lot at stake for him as well; for what it's worth, my projections have his team in third place out West.
Enrique Duran, Richard Chaplow, and Zach Prince all seem too low, but I've never been overly impressed with any of them. Duran instilled a fun, bothersome shape in Las Vegas that defended deep and built upon a few stars in attack; how does he fare without Danny Trejo and Cal Jennings? Chaplow, meanwhile, was adept at simplifying Orange County's tactics into a hit-and-run, direct-to-Damus 2021 title, but the full 2022 campaign painted the picture of someone without a clear identity or useful ideas. Prince comes off harshly given New Mexico's poor health, but he, too, lacked for any obvious systemic tenets while still leading his team to the playoffs.
Stephen Glass coms last of the tenured coaches here, and that's thanks to disastrous results with Atlanta United 2 and Aberdeen. Can he succeed with a mostly-maintained Memphis roster? No doubt. Does his high-possession track record make sense as a plank of continuity? Sure. Still, none of his teams have ever built a defensive identity worth any note, and I want to see more.
Tier Five: To Be Determined
Finally, we move to the coaches that I'm simply not comfortable ranking. I almost put Nate Miller in Tier Two after he ran San Diego's technical approach over the last few years. His fluid defensive shape and year-on-year adaptations in attack with the Loyal were brilliant, but I can't fairly discount Landon Donovan's influence. Still, he's as bright a coaching prospect as exists in the USL outside Khano Smith in Birmingham.
Go read Phil Baki of Seriously Loco if you want a take on Brian Clarhaut in El Paso. I've seen very limited tape of his Swedish sides that indicates a lack of defensive sense, but that can happen to surprisingly promoted clubs. Finally, Blair Gavin feels pegged to Tier Three at a bare minimum based on his time with Phoenix and MLS-approved reputation, but I have to play by the (highly arbitrary) rules.
So that's that. If I had to make a premature guess, Nate Miller or Ben Pirmann is the favorite for Coach of the Year next season, and - fairly or not - Richard Chaplow owns 2023's hottest seat from the get-go. If Indy or Miami starts especially slowly, things could sour, but I like both of those clubs' offseasons. In any event, tell me why I'm wrong and be on the lookout for more USL content soon enough.
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