List of longest-tenured head coaches in MLS during the 2020 season

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 VermesSKC2009Jim CurtinPHI2014Greg VanneyTOR2014Brian SchmetzerSEA2016Adrian HeathMIN2017Bob BradleyLAFC2018Giovanni SavaresePOR2018Matias AlmeydaSJ2019Marc Dos SantosVAN2019Luchi GonzalezDAL2019Caleb PorterCLB2019Guillermo Barros SchelottoLA2019Bruce ArenaNE2019Freddy JuarezRSL2019Robin FraserCOL2019Tab RamosHOU2020Gary SmithNSH2020Thierry HenryMTL2020Oscar ParejaORL2020Raphael WickyCHI2020Diego AlonsoMIA2020Ronny DeilaNYC2020Jaap StamCIN2020Stephen GlassATL2020Gerhard StruberRBNY2020Chad AshtonDC2020

* = interim