Philadelphia Union manager Bradley Carnell on Thursday won the 2025 Sigi Schmid MLS Coach of the Year award, the league said.
Carnell, who led the Union to this year's Supporters Shield, claimed 37.78% of the weighted vote to beat out the Vancouver Whitecaps Jesper Sorensen (26.53%) and San Diego FC's Mikey Varas (19.82%).
Under Carnell, Philadelphia had the greatest points increase from 2024 (+29), which was six more points than the next-closest club (Chicago Fire FC, +23).
"I think there's almost three parts; happy for the club, happy for the players, and obviously then there's a side story for me where I try and fit myself in," Carnell said in an exclusive interview with ESPN. "But I've always believed if you can get good people in terms of the collective buy-in, and how we like to do things, and when it clicks, it becomes a really good, dominant force.
"And I've seen a very good click very early on, and just by showing a lot of belief and conviction in people, that's almost like my payback to get this award. But it has really nothing to do about me."
The man who earned the nickname "Pit Bull" during his playing days with VfB Stuttgart, started his coaching career in 2017 with the New York Red Bulls as an assistant under Jesse Marsch, and managed the team on an interim basis in 2020.
Carnell said that his biggest coaching influences were Marsch, along with current Austria national team manager Ralf Rangnick, who he played under at Stuttgart.
"I think the first thing I did was when I found out [I won], I sent Jesse a message," Carnell said about his long-time mentor. "I said, 'Jess, this is all your signature.'"
Carnell later was named the first manager of St. Louis City SC, and led the expansion club to an unexpected first place finish in the Western Conference in 2023. But he was let go on July 1, 2024 in the midst of a disappointing second season.
Carnell said that his departure from St. Louis is still "a sensitive subject."
"We built it and then we went on different pathways," Carnell said about his time in St. Louis. "I was trying to be true to who we are and reward performance and reward training and reward everything."
The native of Johannesburg, South Africa joined the Union on Jan. 2 of this year, and immediately set about pushing the team back towards the high-pressing ways that characterized their Supporters' Shield triumph back in 2020.
Philadelphia led the league in number of times the ball was won in the attacking third, as well as in the middle third. The Union conceded a league-low 35 goals. That approach on a modest payroll of $13.43 million -- which ranked 28th in the 30-team league -- saw Carnell maximize his resources.
"Just [be] brave," he said about his approach. "I've never been the flashiest of people. I've always believed in being a good teammate and I've always believed in togetherness, that you can form a way of playing in a system around those fundamentals to then make it successful. And also to do it in a humble way that doesn't break the bank with a modest sort of how we do it."
Philadelphia is still alive in MLS Cup playoffs after beating Chicago in the first round. Carnell's side will play the winner of the series between Charlotte FC and New York City in the Eastern Conference semifinals.