Racing Louisville FC's 2025 was a year of reaching many milestones, so it's only fitting that they ended their season with one of the NWSL's highest symbols of recognition. Manager Bev Yanez received the Coach of the Year award at the league's first-ever formal awards ceremony, beating out the head coach of the No. 1 seed KC Current, Vlatko Andonovski.
“I'm so grateful for the team,” Yanez said while accepting the honor. “For the team believing in me, trusting in me. I couldn't be up here without them.”
Yanez helped lead Racing Louisville to the best season in the franchise's history, which included setting the club record for points wth 37, setting a new mark for wins at 10, and making the playoffs for the first time ever as the No. 7 seed.
Racing Louisville was eliminated in the first round of this year's NWSL Playoffs at the hands of the now-finalist Washington Spirit, but they came dangerously close to an upset. The match was played through extra time and came down to a penalty kick shootout, which the No. 2 Spirit won 3-1. Despite the heartbreaking end, Yanez made it clear she doesn't consider the season a failure or regret taking on the role.
“I was told really early on when the opportunity presented itself to me that there's no right time to become a head coach, and that always stuck with me because I was thinking to myself, ‘Am I ready for this?'” Yanez said. “I believe everyone has imposter syndrome. It never actually goes away. And I chose to embrace it.”
Yanez also became the league's first former player to win a COTY award. Her biggest competition came in the form of Andonovski, who led the Current to the top of the NWSL this season while setting their own record for points and wins, with 65 and 21, respectively.
