Making case for Vanney as top MLS coach
• Without cameras and recorders rolling, Greg Vanney would probably pick himself.
He players certainly would.
But on the eve of Major League Soccer naming its Coach of the Year, Toronto FC’s gaffer offered his own list of coaches worthy of the league’s top honour.
Far too modest and humble to pump his own tires following Sunday’s training, Vanney rattled off names like Tata Martino (Atlanta), Mike Petke ( Salt Lake City) and Wilmer Cabrera (Houston).
Yet Vanney praised everyone else over the weekend, hours before MLS was expected to reveal who players and staff and media deemed the league’s top coach this year.
“I do my job within the structure of (our club),” Vanney said ahead of Wednesday’s Eastern Conference final with Columbus. “I come to work every day to learn and be the best I can and to challenge our guys to take the right steps forward.”
Vanney later added: “I’ve changed a ton … When I took this job I was an unproven coach who’d worked a lot with young players.”
Supporters used t hat against him following a lacklustre (2- 6-2) end to the playoff- less 2014 season. They questioned Vanney’s competence again a year later.
But impatient outsiders weren’t privy to the culture change occurring inside the dressing room — the often overlooked aspect of a championship-calibre club.
“This doesn’ t happen everywhere,” Michael Bradley said of the relationships and commitment and belief inside TFC’s dressing room.
“This is special. We had it with the ( U. S.) national team for a period between 2007 and 2011, where we had some really big experiences as a group that allowed us to grow together.
“We have that here,” Bradley continued. “The relationship I have with Greg is a big part of that feeling. I’d do anything for him. I’d do anything for this team. I’d do anything for this club.
“His starting points of how much he l oves t he game, his humility, his willingness and desire to work means every single guy is prepared in the best possible way for our games.”
Bradley later referred to Vanney as the top coach in the league this year.
Vanney hasn’t just been the league’s best coach this season. He’s been the best coach for three consecutive seasons — the time it took to build a perennial MLS Cup contender.