Five candidates to be the next head coach of Lexington Sporting Club’s men’s professional team
Club has said a new manager will be in place by its first season in the United Soccer League Championship
LEXINGTON, Ky. (ABC36 NEWS NOW)- The hiring of Lexington Sporting Club’s next men’s professional team head coach is most likely the most pivotal moment in the club’s short history.
Here’s a list of five coaches who could possibly be candidates for the job at the helm of the now-United Soccer League Championship (USLC) team.
Mark Briggs
Mark Briggs’ early November exit from Sacramento Republic FC seemed out of left field.
The club finished the season in fifth place in the USLC Western Conference and clinched a playoff spot before falling to Las Vegas Lights in the first round of the postseason.
Credit- Sacramento Republic FC
Since 2019, Briggs has taken charge in the California capital with a 74-47-48 (W-D-L) record. He’s made the playoffs in all but one year, reached the Western Conference Final in 2023 and the U.S. Open Cup Final in 2022.
Before his departure, he was the longest tenured head coach in the team’s history.
A new challenge in the Bluegrass may suit the Englishman, who has been a soccer globetrotter. Briggs has coached in North Carolina and Utah after a playing career that’s taken him from his native England to Malta, Norway and then stateside.
That amount of proven USLC experience that Briggs has would be very valuable to a young franchise like Lexington.
Frank Yallop
The end for Frank Yallop at Monterey Bay FC came during the middle of this past USLC campaign.
A 33-44-18 record in two and a half seasons was the Canadian’s undoing as MBFC sat at eighth place in the West at the time of his departure.
Credit- Monterey Bay FC
While the job done in Northern California wasn’t the best, Yallop is more than his last post. He is a two-time MLS Cup winner and two-time MLS Coach of the Year.
The Canadian Soccer Hall of Famer, who was born in England, is one of the cornerstones of the development of MLS.
He is also well versed in the lower leagues. Yallop has held positions in the USLC at Las Vegas Lights and Phoenix Rising as a front office member and/or manager.
A North American soccer legend would hopefully help improve Lexington’s performance and stature in the community.
Mark Lowry
Ticking a few boxes is what Mark Lowry would do for Lexington with his youth development and USLC experience.
Lowry has been the manager of Real Monarchs, Real Salt Lake’s MLS development team, since January 2024. He is 9-7-12 in his first season at the helm in Utah.
Credit- USL Championship
Before moving west, the Solihull, England native managed Indy Eleven with a 26-15-31 record leading them to a playoff appearance in 2023.
Further back, he also took El Paso Locomotive to the Championship Final in 2021 and mentored now USMNT midfielder Diego Luna in the Lone Star State.
Under Lowry, Luna scored nine goals and five assists in 31 matches. This season in the top flight, Luna has eight goals and eight assists. The 39-year-old Lowry is a great option if Lexington wants to hire on the younger side.
Lowry would be a great fit for LSC given Lexington’s extensive youth academy set up that’s looking to achieve big things.
Leigh Veidman
Credit- Spokane Velocity
Another manager with Midwest ties, Leigh Veidman, has extensive history in the Championship.
He has worked under one the the league’s best managers, Ben Pirmann, during the pair’s time in Charleston.
The Liverpool native is at the helm of Spokane Velocity in the United Soccer League One (USL1), a club that drew LSC twice during the past season. Veidman is coming off of a loss with Spokane in the USL1 Finals to Union Omaha.
While the word is that Veidman enjoys Washington, a head coaching job at the Championship level where he once was may be hard to pass up.
Rick Schantz
A coach who has been heavily embedded in the southern Arizona soccer community for years, Rick Schantz has owned/managed FC Tuscon and coached Phoenix Rising FC.
Credit- Phoenix Rising
In Phoenix, Schantz went from intern head coach to a two-time champion of the USLC Western Conference and the 2019 Coach of the Year.
The end of an era for Rising came in 2022 when the club and Schantz parted ways with the club five points out of a playoff spot.
Schantz is a Special Education teacher and Head Men’s Soccer Coach at a high school in Queen Creek, Arizona.
Based on his diverse resume, it seems the former manager is always up for his next challenge.
Schantz’s experience starting a club from scratch would surely help the team at LSC in several aspects.
