MLS Head Coaching Bias Part 1: Coaching Experience

Recently, I noticed a trend of MLS coaches being hired for their first professional head coaching gig. although guys like Caleb Porter offer a new perspective on building a team, I thought it may not be the best idea. So, I took a look and compared the percentage of first-time MLS Head Coaches and the percentages of the top two leagues in the world. I didn't include college and youth national team coaching as 'experience'(sorry Caleb Porter and John Hackworth), but decided to put Francisco Javier Rodríguez Vilchez of Almeria in the head coaching experience group due to the fact that he coached Almeria's B team, which plays in the Spanish third division

League	Percent of first time head coaches	Fraction
MLS	68%	13/19
EPL	15%	3/20
La Liga	10%	2/20

Even more frightening, there is only one MLS head coach to have started outside MLS. Even though coaches like Aron Winter and Ruud Gullit have failed in MLS, experienced managers tend to preform better due to the 10,000 hour rule mentioned in Malcolm Gladwell's book Outliers. Teams should also stop hiring just managers with playing experience. When Carlo Ancelotti was asked about the subject of playing experience, he commented, "I don't see the connection. My dentist is the best in the world, but he's never had a particularly bad toothache." I'll take look at that in a future post.