Jim Curtin was surprised by his family as he was named MLS coach of the year. (Photo courtesy of MLS)

Major League Soccer Tuesday announced Philadelphia Union head coach Jim Curtin as the Sigi Schmid MLS coach of the year.

Curtin earned the honor for the second time in his career. After first winning the award in 2020, Curtin directed the Union to a record-breaking campaign this season that set a season club points record (67) to secure first place in the Eastern Conference for the second time in three seasons.

He is the youngest two-time recipient of the honor and fifth coach overall in league history to win the award multiple times. He joins the dignified group of Bruce Arena (1997, 2009, 2011, 2021), Bob Bradley (1998, 2006, 2019), Sigi Schmid (1999, 2008), and Frank Yallop (2001, 2012). Curtin is also the first Philadelphia-based head across the five major North American men’s professional sports leagues to twice win a Coach of the Year award in their respective sport.

In Curtin’s ninth season at the helm, he guided the Union to club records in goals scored (72) and fewest goals conceded (26) in a single season. Philadelphia earned the top seed in the Eastern Conference for the second time in three seasons, en route to qualifying for their fifth consecutive MLS Cup Playoffs under Curtin’s leadership.

Curtin recorded his 100th regular season career win as head coach after the Union’s win over the San Jose Earthquakes on March 12. He accomplished the feat in under 250 matches to become the second youngest and 10th coach overall in league history to do so. He owns the fifth-highest regular season win percentage of all MLS head coaches with at least 100 wins (54.5 percent), and he coached his 300th match across all competitions on July 16 in a win over the New England Revolution.

The award honors the best head coach in MLS during the regular season.

The award was voted on by MLS club technical staff, media and current MLS players. Below is a breakdown of the voting results, with Curtin narrowly beating out CF Montreal’s Wilfried Nancy for top spot and Los Angeles Football Club’s Steve Cherundolo finishing third.

 

2022 MLS Sigi Schmid Coach of the Year Voting Breakdown
Name PLAYER MEDIA GM AVG
Curtin, Jim (PHI) 23.00% 17.90% 29.80% 23.57%
Nancy, Wilfried (MTL) 9.50% 43.90% 17.00% 23.47%
Cherundolo, Steve (LAFC) 14.60% 16.30% 12.80% 14.57%

A full list of previous MLS Sigi Schmid Coach of the Year award winners can be found below:

MLS Sigi Schmid Coach of the Year Winners
Season Coach Club
2022 Jim Curtin Philadelphia Union
2021 Bruce Arena New England Revolution
2020 Jim Curtin Philadelphia Union
2019 Bob Bradley Los Angeles Football Club
2018 Gerardo “Tata” Martino Atlanta United
2017 Greg Vanney Toronto FC
2016 Oscar Pareja FC Dallas
2015 Jesse Marsch New York Red Bulls
2014 Ben Olsen D.C. United
2013 Caleb Porter Portland Timbers
2012 Frank Yallop San Jose Earthquakes
2011 Bruce Arena LA Galaxy
2010 Schellas Hyndman FC Dallas
2009 Bruce Arena LA Galaxy
2008 Sigi Schmid Columbus Crew SC
2007 Preki Chivas USA
2006 Bob Bradley Chivas USA
2005 Dominic Kinnear San Jose Earthquakes
2004 Greg Andrulis Columbus Crew SC
2003 Dave Sarachan Chicago Fire
2002 Steve Nicol New England Revolution
2001 Frank Yallop San Jose Earthquakes
2000 Bob Gansler Kansas City Wizards
1999 Sigi Schmid LA Galaxy
1998 Bob Bradley Chicago Fire
1997 Bruce Arena D.C. United
1996 Thomas Rongen Tampa Bay Mutiny

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.