The persistent speculation that Gregg Berhalter will land his next MLS job before the summer transfer window opens is not just a tired rumor—it is a damning indictment of a league addicted to recycling mediocrity. Berhalter’s tenure as U.S. men’s national team head coach ended in a whimper: a limp Round of 16 exit at the 2022 World Cup, followed by a second cycle of aimless possession that produced no attacking identity, no defensive backbone, and a dressing room that reportedly tuned him out. Yet here we are, watching front offices from Chicago to New England whisper his name as if his Columbus Crew résumé—one Supporters’ Shield and zero MLS Cups in five years—qualifies as a proven blueprint. The man built his system around slow build-up play that lacked verticality, and his failure to evolve when players like Gio Reyna or Christian Pulisic needed freedom speaks to a rigidity that MLS clubs should have learned to avoid after watching Caleb Porter’s Portland Timbers and Bruce Arena’s New England Revolution both flatline without fresh tactical blood. Berhalter is not an outlier; he is the logical endpoint of a league that still believes a familiar face with a U.S. Soccer pedigree is safer than a risk on an unknown innovator.
The evidence against this recycling habit is plastered across the league table. Wilfried Nancy arrived in Columbus with a fluid, positionally rotating system that won MLS Cup in 2023 and currently has the Crew playing the most intelligent football in the conference—and he had to leave Canada to get a shot. Meanwhile, clubs like the LA Galaxy cycled through Greg Vanney—another well-respected but static tactician—while Inter Miami handed the keys to Tata Martino, a man whose best work is nearly a decade old. The pattern is clear: when an opening appears, the first calls go to the usual suspects. That approach ignores the growing pool of talented assistant coaches, the underappreciated lower