Are coaches in the US older than elsewhere? Here are the ages of the 11 official MLS head coaches (New York is currently vacant, possibly to be filled by 54-year-old Bruce Arena): Kinnear - 38 (7/26/67) Nowak - 42 (7/5/64) Yallop - 43 (4/4/63) Clark - 43 (10/30/62) Nicol - 44 (12/11/51) Bradley - 48 (3/3/58) Clavijo - 50 (1/23/56) Sarachan - 52 (6/7/54) Schmid - 53 (3/20/53) Ellinger - 54 (10/4/51) Gansler - 65 (7/1/41) The six oldest coaches are all Americans, but out of the five who are under 48, Kinnear is the only Yank. Considering that players of Kinnear's generation are almost all retired from soccer and have had a lot more playing experience than the previous generation, this is odd. What's more, the league's younger coaches seem to be an improvement upon their elders. Right now, Kinnear, Nowak, and Clark have the three best records in the league, while Yallop has only just returned to MLS after winning two titles in three previous seasons. Rounding out the younger generation, Nicol has also been successful, reaching one semifinal and two MLS Cup finals in four previous seasons.
Ages of MLS Cup Winners 38 - Frank Yallop, 01 40 - Bob Bradley, 98 40 - Frank Yallop, 03 40 - Peter Nowak, 04 42 - Thomas Rongen, 99 45 - Bruce Arena, 96 46 - Bruce Arena, 97 48 - Steve Sampson, 05 49 - Sigi Schmid, 02 59 - Bob Gansler, 00 Only one coach has won a title after turning 50; currently, 5 of 11 head coaches are at least 50.
Ages of MLS Supporters' Shield Winners 37 - Dominic Kinnear, 05 39 - Thomas Rongen, 96 40 - Octavio Zambrano, 98 42 - Thomas Rongen, 99 45 - Bruce Arena, 97 46 - Ray Hudson, 01 46 - Greg Andrulis, 04 49 - Sigi Schmid, 02 49 - Dave Sarachan, 03 59 - Bob Gansler, 00 Again, only one coach has won after turning 50 (although two did it at age 49); currently, 5 of 11 head coaches are at least 50.
Current Premiership managers: Wenger-Arsenal-56 O'Leary-Aston Villa-48 Hughes-Blackburn-43 Allardyce-Bolton-51 Dowie-Charlton-41 Mourinho-Chelsea-43 Moyes-Everton-43 Coleman-Fulham-35 Benitez-Liverpool-46 Pearce-Man City-44 Ferguson-Man Utd-64 Southgate-Middlesbrough-35 (McClaren is 45) Roeder-Newcastle-50 Redknapp-Portsmouth-59 Coppell-Reading-50 Warnock-Sheff Utd-57 Jol-Tottenham-50 Boothroyd-Watford-35 Pardew-West Ham-44 Jewell-Wigan-41
Ferguson-Man Utd-64 Redknapp-Portsmouth-59 Warnock-Sheff Utd-57 Wenger-Arsenal-56 Allardyce-Bolton-51 Roeder-Newcastle-50 Coppell-Reading-50 Jol-Tottenham-50 O'Leary-Aston Villa-48 Benitez-Liverpool-46 Pearce-Man City-44 Pardew-West Ham-44 Hughes-Blackburn-43 Mourinho-Chelsea-43 Moyes-Everton-43 Dowie-Charlton-41 Jewell-Wigan-41 Coleman-Fulham-35 Southgate-Middlesbrough-35 (McClaren is 45) Boothroyd-Watford-35 Thx JG ... I've sorted your list above. There's not a huge difference in terms of raw numbers (Prem avg: 46.75; MLS: 48.36), but it's noteworthy that most of the older EPL managers are there because they've been good enough to avoid getting fired. Ferguson is the second longest-serving manager in the entire Football League (hired at age 44), and Warnock, Wenger, and Allardyce are all in the top six.
World Cup managers are much older--not surprising that it takes a while to work their way up into those jobs, but I wouldn't have expected the difference to be this dramatic. Pfister-Togo-68 Aragones-Spain-67 Bruckner-Czech Rep-66 Lemerre-Tunisia-65 (turned 65 during WC) Parreira-Brazil-63 Ruiz-Paraguay-63 Beenhakker-Trinidad/Tobago-63 Kuhn-Switzerland-62 Dujkovic-Ghana-60 Petkovic-Serbia/Montenegro-60 Hiddink-Australia-59 Scolari-Portugal-58 Michel-Ivory Coast-58 Lippi-Italy-58 Eriksson-England-58 Advocaat-South Korea-58 Lagerback-Sweden-57 Pekerman-Argentina-56 Domenech-France-54 Arena-USA-54 Lavolpe-Mexico-54 Zico-Japan-53 Blokhin-Ukraine-53 Janas-Poland 53 Ivankovic-Iran-52 Kranjcar-Croatia-49 Paqueta-Saudi Arabia-47 Suarez-Ecuador-46 Guimaraes-Costa Rica-46 Goncalves-Angola-46 (turned 46 during WC) Klinsmann-Germany-41 Van Basten-Netherlands-41
Updating ... Kinnear - 38 (7/26/67) Bliss (interim) - 40 (9/28/65) Nowak - 42 (7/5/64) Yallop - 43 (4/4/63) Clark - 43 (10/30/62) Nicol - 44 (12/11/51) Bradley - 48 (3/3/58) Clavijo - 50 (1/23/56) Sarachan - 52 (6/7/54) Schmid - 53 (3/20/53) Ellinger - 54 (10/4/51) Arena - 54 (9/21/51)