The eternal recycling of coaches in Liga MX is a popular narrative. Team officials preferred familiar faces even if tactics were old and predictable, if occasionally successful.
There is no shortage of examples, either. Newly appointed FC Juárez coach Ricardo Ferretti has had a Liga MX coaching job every day for 30 years now, bouncing from Pumas to Chivas to Tigres to Toluca to Morelia, back to Tigres, back to Pumas, and then back to Tigres once again where he reigned supreme for 11 years until management decided not to renew his contract.
Chivas coach Víctor Manuel Vucetich has had 18 different jobs (with 13 different clubs) since 1988, earning the reputation as a manager who turns so-so teams into title contenders.
Of course, Ferretti and Vucetich have enjoyed considerable success, so it’s understandable that team owners want them on their side. Ferretti, 67, has seven Liga MX titles to his name, plus four Liga MX Champions Cups, a Copa MX and a Concacaf Champions League title, while the 66-year-old Vucetich – aka “King Midas” – is responsible for five Liga MX trophies, three Copa MX crowns, as well as three Concacaf Champions League titles.
Hire, fire, rinse, repeat
Ferretti and Vucetich are the exceptions in that they have lengthy records of success. (Vucetich has not been to a Liga MX Final since 2015, though “King Midas” did win the 2016 Copa MX while in charge at Querétaro.)
Up until last season, Luis Fernando Tena, 63, and Tomás Boy, 70, were still on Liga MX benches. Between them, those two managers had 30 Liga MX jobs on their résumés. Enrique Meza (15 Liga MX jobs) and Ricardo La Volpe (15 jobs, too) were also popular names that every general manager had on speed dial.
Even younger managers have been sucked into and out of the permanent recycling bin. New Tigres coach Miguel Herrera, 53, is already managing his ninth Liga MX team. And Necaxa coach Guillermo Vázquez, 54, is holding down a Liga MX job for the eighth time.
With all that said, it is refreshing that the current slate of coaches features nine men in their first Liga MX coaching gig. Three of the nine were on a Liga MX sideline for the very first time this past weekend, going an impressive 1-0-1 in the process.
Read on for a summary of the 18 coaches who will be chasing silverware this season, followed by a review of last season’s coaching casualties.