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Wilfried Nancy named MLS Coach of the Year in 2nd season with Columbus Crew
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- Wilfried Nancy named MLS Coach of the Year in 2nd season with Columbus Crew
The Crew's Wilfried Nancy was named the MLS Coach of the Year on Wednesday.
This marks Nancy's first time winning the award in his four seasons as a head coach in the league.
Nancy is the third Crew coach to win the award, following Sigi Schmid in 2008 and Greg Andrulis in 2004.
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"It is an honor to win this award because it represents the collective spirit and hard work of my coaches, support staff, players and family," Nancy said in a statement. "We accomplished many things together this past year. I'm proud of the group's commitment to improving for ourselves, our teammates, our club and our fans. That's why this award is possible."
Crew coach Wilfried Nancy walks off the field following a game against Toronto FC on July 6.
Nancy, with 40.02% of the vote, beat out finalists Tata Martino of Inter Miami and Chris Armas of Colorado Rapids .
In Nancy's second year with the Crew , the 47-year-old led Columbus to a 19-6-9 season for a club-record 66 points. The successful season comes on the heels of Nancy and the Crew's MLS Cup victory to conclude the 2023 season.
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Columbus also broke the club record for most goals scored in a season, with 72 and held a 32 goal differential, this season's league-best.
MLS guidelines for players, coaches and media voting states that voters are not to consider anything outside the regular season, but it is noteworthy that Nancy was able to coach Columbus to a record-breaking season while playing 16 non-regular season games.
Crew coach Wilfried Nancy motions to his team during a game against Inter Miami CF on Oct. 2.
The Crew reached the CONCACAF Champions Cup final this year and won the Leagues Cup title. Columbus, the No. 2 seed, was upset in the MLS Cup playoffs by No. 7-ranked New York Red Bulls .
This is Nancy's third-consecutive season being a finalist for the award. In 2022, when Nancy coached CF Montreal , he had just .10% points less than the winner, Philadelphia Union 's Jim Curtain.
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Prior to winning the award, Nancy spoke about the honor of just being a three-time finalist for the award .
"We can see rotation for the finalists, and for a moment I'm here," Nancy said. "I'm really proud of that, because I know where I come from, I know how I started, I know what I want to achieve. But, I'm not the only one, I'm not alone. There is my staff behind me, there are my players also. Because, again, I can have my vision but my players are on the pitch, to try to do certain things. But for sure, this is the consistency and I'm happy for that."
Nancy joins Steven Moreira as the second member of the Crew to win a 2024 regular-season honor. Moreira was named 2024 Defender of the Year earlier this month.
Cucho Hernandez is still in the running for the 2024 MVP award after being named one of the five finalists. The Crew striker is considered one of the favorites to earn the honor, with the projected winner being either Hernandez or Inter Miami star Lionel Messi.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Crew: Wilfried Nancy named MLS Coach of the Year
