NEW YORK – D.C. United’s historic worst-to-first season in 2014 caused a proud Major League Soccer franchise to shine once more, and made a hero out of Ben Olsen all over again.
Major League Soccer announced on Tuesday that Olsen has been named the MLS Coach of the Year, a reward well earned after D.C. completed the most comprehensive turnaround in league history and compiled the best regular-season record in the Eastern Conference.
The 37-year-old Olsen is no stranger to success in D.C. – he won MLS Cup titles as a player with United in 1999 and 2004 – but the Coach of the Year award is validation for the club’s faith after a miserable 2013 season after which some anxious D.C. critics questioned if he should return.
Olsen easily topped both Seattle Sounders head coach Sigi Schmid and Columbus Crew boss Gregg Berhalter in the voting, conducted by MLS players, club leadership, and media members. He joins his coaching mentor and current LA Galaxy boss Bruce Arena as the second D.C. United head coach to win the award after Arena took the prize in 1997.
D.C. United finished 17-9-8 this season and ran away with the top seed in the Eastern Conference during the regular season. They boasted the best defense in the East and relied on savvy MLS veterans like Chris Rolfe, Davy Arnaud and Fabian Espindola to lead an attack that created 52 goals, 30 more than they put on the board in 2013.
D.C. won just three MLS games last year before they retooled during the offseason, and then Olsen made the pieces fit. He melded veterans and a talented group of youngsters to spur a plus-43 point turnaround this year, the biggest point differential in league history.
Olsen was originally hired on an interim basis midway through the 2010 season before he was eventually given the job later that year. He led the club to the Eastern Conference Championship in 2012 and the US Open Cup title in 2013.
Olsen and D.C. United agreed to a multi-year contract extension in September.
MLS Coach of the Year Winners:
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 – Los Angeles Galaxy
2008: Sigi Schmid – Columbus Crew
2007: Preki – Chivas USA
2006: Bob Bradley – Chivas USA
2005: Dominic Kinnear – San Jose Earthquakes
2004: Greg Andrulis – Columbus Crew
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 – Los Angeles Galaxy
1998: Bob Bradley – Chicago Fire
1997: Bruce Arena – D.C. United
1996: Thomas Rongen – Tampa Bay Mutiny
