As the MLS regular season nears a close, the coaching carousel is starting to spin.
There have already been seven coaching changes across the league, though two of those clubs (Inter Miami and Toronto FC) have already appointed permanent successors.
Here’s the latest on the other five active searches, plus what direction expansion side San Diego FC is heading and another two situations with uncertain futures. All sources in this piece spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect their positions.
Portland Timbers
The Timbers have concluded rounds of interviews with a number of candidates. According to sources familiar with the process, Phil Neville, Dome Torrent, Ezra Hendrickson and Robin Fraser are among the interviewees and are also among the list of final candidates, which is believed to be six or seven names long.
Neville is the former Inter Miami manager, Hendrickson is formerly of the Chicago Fire and Fraser formerly with the Colorado Rapids. All three were let go by their clubs earlier this year. Torrent previously was in charge at NYCFC and left after the 2019 season. He has since worked for Flamengo and Galatasaray, but didn’t last long at either post.
Another name firmly in the final group is interim head coach Miles Joseph, who has led Portland to a stellar run of form since he took over following Gio Savarese’s dismissal. More extensive talks and formal interviews with Joseph about his candidacy will come when the season ends, as he and his staff have been focused on Portland’s run over the playoff line.
The Timbers are unbeaten in their last seven matches under Joseph, with five wins. He and his staff, including former Timber Liam Ridgewell, are valued by the organization. Even if Joseph doesn’t ultimately get offered the head coaching job, he could stay at the club. The same goes for Ridgewell.
New England Revolution
With former head coach and sporting director Bruce Arena resigning amid an investigation for alleged “inappropriate and insensitive remarks”, New England has been plunged into a search for both positions. Sources familiar with the search say the sporting director hire will come first and there’s no resolution on that front yet.
Still, the club has been connected with two names on the coaching side: Gio Savarese and Neville. Savarese has also gotten inquiries from abroad since departing the Timbers in August.
Former Celtic boss Neil Lennon was also touted as a potential candidate, but those conversations are inactive.
Klopas remains a candidate for the Fire’s permanent manager job (Jamie Sabau-USA TODAY Sports)
Chicago Fire
The Chicago Fire has an ongoing coaching search after Hendrickson’s dismissal, but first they will need to decide the future of their front office as the contracts of sporting director Georg Heitz and technical director Sebastian Pelzer expire at the end of the season.
Sources with knowledge of the team’s plans believe that Heitz and Pelzer will both return with the organization, though they cautioned no final decision has been made
Heitz and Pelzer joined the Fire ahead of the 2020 season. The club appointed Rapha Wicky as head coach, before parting ways with him in 2021 and hiring Hendrickson. The Fire didn’t make the playoffs in any of the first three seasons under their leadership but are currently above the playoff line with two games remaining in 2023.
Along the way, the Fire’s key signings have included Xherdan Shaqiri, Jairo Torres, Robert Beric, Gaston Gimenez, Ignacio Aliseda, Rafael Czichos, Federico Navarro and Chris Mueller.
Frank Klopas is currently the interim manager and has kept the Fire within the thick of the playoff race. Chicago has made the playoffs just twice in the last 13 years and hasn’t advanced in the playoffs since 2009.
Klopas is expected to remain at the club next year in some capacity even if he’s not named head coach, though he’s in contention for that role. That search is in its early stages.
Colorado Rapids
The Colorado Rapids parted ways with Fraser at the beginning of September and are progressing through their search for his successor. Sources with knowledge of the process say the club has narrowed down their process to five candidates for a second round of interviews. Those under consideration come from eclectic backgrounds, both domestic and abroad.
A central theme to the Rapids’ process was analyzing where they wanted to improve and the game model they’d like to sharpen, which will inform the types of players brought in for a new regime this winter.
“What we’ve seen is a deviation from that club identity over the last 18 months, and I think that unfortunately necessitated the change,” club president Pádraig Smith told the media after Fraser was let go. “I think ultimately getting back to that and getting back to a situation in which everybody is clearly on the same page in that identity and principles model is going to be critical in this approach, in this hiring process.”
Interim head coach Chris Little is highly regarded at the club and there’s been a clear, positive shift in the team’s performances since he took over. Little is among the candidates being considered.
Colorado is bottom of the Western Conference and was the first club in the West to be mathematically eliminated from playoff contention.
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San Diego FC
San Diego FC joins MLS in 2025 and is likely to beef up its sporting department, first and foremost with a sporting director. Sources with knowledge of the team’s plans say San Diego has settled on a European-based candidate for that role. San Diego’s ownership, the Mansour Group, also owns Danish club FC Nordsjælland and the Right to Dream Academy.
AS Monaco technical director Carlos Aviña Ibarrola was interviewed and offered the job, but ultimately turned it down in favor of Monaco, the same sources say. He was sporting director at Cercle Brugge before joining Monaco.
San Diego hired Tyler Heaps as their head of recruitment and insights as they build out their expansion roster. He’s the former head of analysis and insights at AS Monaco and previously worked for U.S. Soccer as director of sporting analytics.
Sources added that San Diego has spoken with MLS-based executives to join the front office and aid with institutional knowledge of the league.
Paul Tenorio contributed reporting
Rooney said he’s yet to speak with D.C. regarding an extension (Andrew Katsampes/ISI Photos/Getty Images)
D.C. United
D.C. United still doesn’t have a new general manager after going without one in 2023 and head coach Wayne Rooney is only under a guaranteed contract through the end of this season.
There’s a mutual option for Rooney in 2024, meaning both he and D.C. United would have to opt in to trigger the option. Rooney said last month that he and the club had yet to discuss his future.
“I am slightly disappointed and frustrated that there has been no contact for two months,” Rooney told the Washington Post’s Steven Goff in September. “We asked about a new deal. We can sit down and talk about it. We haven’t heard back. Either way, I can take whatever the situation is. I was hoping we would have, either way, at least spoken about it. That hasn’t been the case.”
D.C. parted ways with GM Lucy Rushton at the end of the 2022 season. The club contacted Orlando City for permission to interview technical director Ricardo Moreira this winter, sources said, but little else about United’s search was reported. In the absence of a permanent hire, Rooney has been given a bigger say in the team’s roster decisions, while Dave Kasper, the club’s president of soccer operations and sporting director has served as the interim GM.
Sources within the club have suggested over the past month that United feel any decision made on Rooney’s future as the club’s head coach should be made with input from whoever they select as the club’s new GM, a decision they’ll likely make in the coming months.
Pablo Maurer contributed reporting
New York Red Bulls
Head coach Troy Lesesne is under contract only through the end of the season and, while no decision has been made or contracts signed, sources believe Lesense remains in the pole position to keep the job.
Lesense was named head coach after RBNY parted ways with Gerhard Struber. He wasn’t named interim, but his contract was only through the end of 2023. He stabilized the locker room, improved the culture and has done a lot of good work behind the scenes. The results haven’t been all that impressive, but they haven’t been awful either.
The Red Bulls are one point below the playoff line with two games remaining.
Orlando City SC
Orlando City still doesn’t have the future of its sporting structure secured past the end of this year.
Head coach Oscar Pareja is out of contract after this season. He took over in 2020, immediately kicking off a playoff qualification streak. Executive Vice President of Soccer Operations Luiz Muzzi and Technical Director Moreira each have mutual contract options for 2024, meaning both ownership and each executive have to opt-in.
All three will be sought-after if they get to the open market.
Orlando won the U.S. Open Cup last year and has made the playoffs in four straight seasons, including 2024, their first four postseason berths since entering MLS in 2015.
(Top photo: Ira L. Black – Corbis/Getty Images)