Toronto FC president Bill Manning envisions a future where head coach Greg Vanney is leading the US men’s national team, should the job ever open up.
The TFC executive boasted as much during an interview Wednesday on TSN 1050 show First Up with Landsberg and Colaiacovo.
“I think he’s one of the best coaches in the league,” Manning said. “I think the future for the US national team, he’s a guy who’s gotta be in those conversations.”
Vanney has led Toronto since the 2014 season, winning a treble in 2017 when MLS Cup, Supporters’ Shield and Canadian Championship trophies were all raised. They’re atop the Shield standings again in 2020, and are the first team to qualify for the Audi 2020 MLS Cup Playoffs.
One of the longest-tenured coaches in MLS, Vanney's latest contract is due to expire at the end of 2020 but there is little danger of club and coach parting any time soon. Vanney said Tuesday that he’s “very close,” to signing a new deal and Manning said Wednesday that an extension is imminent.
“He and I actually just had a glass of wine last night,” Vanney said. “Hopefully we’ll wrap this up in the next few days. The pandemic threw everything off. We actually started chatting back in February and the pandemic kind of threw everything off.
“It’s one of these things where he’s such a focused guy and he’s very organized. Right now, his whole attention is on the team. Part of this was just trying to get him, ‘Hey, we’ve still got this little thing we gotta finalize.’ In a lot of ways, everything was agreed to quite some time ago, and so now it’s just getting some contractual language and stuff. But he’s focused on winning games, which is what you hope for.”
Manning also addressed Toronto’s turnaround in 2019, when they endured an eight-game winless streak from late May through mid-June. The Reds, of course, eventually advanced to MLS Cup while contending with several key injuries.
Manning said he was “never close” to firing Vanney during that stretch, and going in a different direction would’ve required a “catastrophic” time. He also pointed to a broader MLS trend, where top teams have stability in the coaching ranks.
“I believe very strongly that the longer a coach can stay with you – especially when you have a really good coach like Greg – just the stronger your organization’s going to be,” Manning said. “I look at the top teams in the league right now, you have Kansas City in the West and Seattle, both coaches have been there for quite some time: Peter Vermes, Brian Schmetzer. You look in our division, the top two teams, Toronto and Philadelphia, both coaches have been there since 2014.”
For more from Manning on a wide range of topics, check out the full interview here.
