Tyrone Marshall is the MLS Next Pro Coach of the Year for 2024
League officials on Wednesday announced Marshall had been named Next Pro's Coach of the Year after guiding FC Cincinnati 2 (16-8-4, 54 points) to a dramatic, year-over-year turnaround and the top seed in the competition's Eastern Conference. "FCC2" was also the champion of the league's Northeast Division.
The voting process for coach of the year and other honors saw ballots cast by other head coaches, chief soccer officers at MLS Next Pro clubs, league broadcasters and members of the MLS Next Pro content team.
Marshall, who won two MLS Cups as a player and served as FC Cincinnati's first-team manager for roughly a third of the 2021 season, oversaw in 2024 the best campaign in the young history of FCC's reserve team.
After winning just 11 matches over the first two seasons of MLS Next Pro play, FC Cincinnati 2's 16 wins were the tied for second-most in the league behind only North Texas (17), whose Michel Garbini was a finalist for the award.
Philadelphia Union II’s Marlon LeBlanc and St Louis CITY2’s Bobby Murphy were the other Coach of the Year finalists, according to a news release.
FCC2 also had the best road record (8-4-2) and third-best defensive record (34 goals allowed) in the league.
The 2024 season marks the first playoff berth in FC Cincinnati 2's three seasons. It finished 15 points back of a playoff spot in 2023 and 23 points back during its last-place 2022 campaign.
FC Cincinnati 2 on Sunday hosts Crown Legacy, the MLS Next Pro side for Major League Soccer's Charlotte FC, at Northern Kentucky University's NKU Soccer Stadium (7 p.m.) for the first playoff match in FCC2 history.
The personnel accomplishments
FC Cincinnati 2's 2024 season under Marshall isn't reducible to statistics. The league is largely a developmental one, and facilitates opportunities for academy players all the way up to those on first-team contracts and injured veterans.
FC Cincinnati 2's personnel proved to be a varied, deep roster under Marshall.
The club didn't have a goal-scorer that ranked among the top 40 in MLS Next Pro this past regular season, but Kenji Mboma Dem and Ben Stitz tied as FCC2's joint leading scorers (seven goals). Mboma Dem is 22 while Stitz is 24.
After them, Stefan Chirila scored six goals. The 17-year-old Chirila quickly accelerated through the FC Cincinnati academy after the Allentown, Pennsylvania native's rights were acquired from the Philadelphia Union this year. Chirila in May signed a contract to become one of FCC2's professional players, and eventually a first-team player.
Gerardo Valenzuela, 20, tied Chirila for second-leading scorer with six goals, and maybe that was expected as Valenzuela logged 952 minutes in MLS and scored a goal for the first-team.
Four players who didn't see time with the first-team logged more than 2,000 minutes for Marshall, including 22-year-old Brian Schaefer (2,430 minutes; two goals), 22-year-old Amir Daily (2,219; five goals, four assists), 23-year-old Peter Mangione (2,039 minutes; two goals, five assists), and 23-year-old Nico Benalcazar (2,013 minutes; two goals).
Eleven players scored multiple goals for FCC2.
First-team and MLS veteran goalkeepers Alex Kann and Evan Louro logged just four starts. Homegrown and first-team goalkeeper Paul Walters led FCC2 with 13 starts while Hunter Morse, an FCC2 player exclusively, made 11 starts.
All told, FC Cincinnati 2's season was not one propped up by star, first-team players. FCC2's staff, including Director of Player Pathways Jeff Larentowicz, found, developed and deployed the players that made the team the 16-win, No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: FC Cincinnati: Tyrone Marshall named MLS Next Pro's 2024 Coach of the Year
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