MLS Coach Hotseat Rankings through Matchday 6

With six Matchdays down, there's enough of a sample to do our first MLS Coach Hotseat rankings of the 2026 season.

After taking a look at the table and reviewing the tape of some of this year's Blazing Hot Press Conferences (sponsored by Häxan Ferments), here are the coaches under the most pressure to right the ship in the early days of the new campaign.

Phil Neville (Portland Timbers)

For a brief moment, it seemed like Neville was about to emerge from the weekend with his stock improved. The Timbers were winning 2-1 in second-half stoppage time at Vancouver. They were just a few minutes away from getting a big, hard-fought Cascadia rivalry victory, a much-needed three points, and a performance Neville could point to as a sign that he's got things headed back in the right direction. Then, his team utterly imploded, conceding a penalty kick and a Sebastian Berhalter game-winner in a five minute span for their fourth loss in six games to start the year.

After the match, when he was predictably asked about his job security, Neville got into a spat with the reporter, which is always a good indicator of positive vibes and morale. It's also something a coach does when he knows he's feeling the heat, so the sense of urgency is clearly ramping up in the Rose City. When he's been in this situation in the past, Neville always seems to turn it around just enough to buy himself another season at the helm, so it's going to be fascinating to see if he can pull it off again.

Bradley Carnell (Philadelphia Union)

It's pretty difficult to tank your stock to hot-seat territory just one season after winning the Supporters' Shield, but that seems to be what's happened to Carnell in Philadelphia. After losing 2-1 at Charlotte FC on Saturday, the Union have now lost all six of their matches to start the year. How much of that is Carnell's fault? You could argue that he's in a no-win situation. His roster was gutted of its good, building-block players over the offseason, and none of them were replaced. On top of that, his sporting director, Ernst Tanner, is mired in scandal and turmoil, which has the entire organization in flux.

These are circumstances where pretty much no coach could succeed. They're probably going to try it, but it feels like the Union have issues beyond what a coaching change can even impact.

Pat Noonan (FC Cincinnati)

Going into this season, Noonan was in about as good a standing as he could have hoped for FC Cincinnati. He hadn't won an MLS Cup yet, but he did win the Shield in 2023 and turned his club from a perennial laughingstock into a legitimate contender. That alone was an impressive accomplishment. It also seemed like he'd found a formula for a decently high floor, which can increase job security. If you were paying attention, though, you'll remember that there were signs of a potential downfall dating back to last season. This year, they've had one of the league's worst defenses. Evander seems unhappy, and the results are regressing. That was all true even before their epic crashout in Concacaf Champions Cup, when they got absolutely demolished by Tigres, 5-1, in the second leg.

Noonan is the one with the best chance of survival in this group, given the equity he's accrued, but he is in a time crunch now, given how they've started the season.

Honorable mention: Tata Martino (Atlanta United)

There's no chance they actually move on from him, but Martino gets honorable mention selection given how little improvement Atlanta United have shown compared to last year under Ronny Deila. Martino was supposed to be the stabilizing force that would get the most out of Miguel Almiron, unlock Emmanuel Latte Lath and Aleksei Miranchuk, and help restore a baseline of competence to the operation. Instead, it's looked pretty much the same as last year, when Deila was lampooned for failing to get better results with pretty much the exact same group of players.

Martino isn't on the hot seat, but it's clear he's looking at a multiple-transfer-window rebuild.

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