A third of the USL Championship changed coaches this offseason, meaning that Week One was the first look at a slew of new managers. Yes, some of the hires (say, Neill Collins and Dennis Sanchez) came with a USL track record in the league, but most others (Gaston Maddoni and Luke Spencer, for example) didn’t bring that same level of familiarity.
What did we learn about the 2025 coaching class from the first round of fixtures? Whose tactics were the most successful? Let’s take a look at the eight new managers.
Antonio Nocerino, Las Vegas Lights
Las Vegas was one of the USL’s most possessive and offensively sophisticated clubs in 2024. Antonio Nocerino’s Miami was the opposite of those things. Matchweek One saw the Lights take on a distinctly different style than the false No. 9-driven 4-4-2 that took them to the playoffs last year. Instead, Nocerino carried over a highly pragmatic 5-2-3 that beat Tampa Bay but looked fitful in the process.
Defensively, Las Vegas were content to sit in a mid-low block, hoping to disrupt the Rowdies’ rhythm and keep play in front of their back five. The Lights finished the match with a whopping 27 clearances, and their average defensive action came just 31 yards upfield to rank second-deepest in the Championship over the weekend. Nocerino’s back five didn’t exactly prevent danger in spite of the conservatism; Tampa Bay easily accessed the halfspaces on either side of the pivot, though their chance creation landed in the “quantity” bucket more so than “quality.”
