Bobby Murphy will lead the team in its second MLS NEXT Pro campaign
ST. LOUIS (January 23, 2023) – St Louis CITY2 has announced today that Bobby Murphy will take over the reins as head coach for the upcoming MLS NEXT Pro season.
“I’m excited to take on this new role and continue to build on the great foundation and culture that has already been set in this team,” said CITY2 Head Coach Bobby Murphy. “We want to continue developing the young professionals and academy players in our roster so they can gain valuable experience at this level.”
Murphy joins the club after serving as assistant coach for Union Omaha in USL League One, helping the team to the title in his first season in 2021. Prior to his stint in Omaha, Murphy was an assistant coach at Rio Grande Valley FC. In the MLS, Murphy was an assistant coach and two-time interim head coach of Orlando City SC, where he was also the technical coordinator for the club’s academy.
Murphy will have Chris Duvall as an assistant coach, Tim Kelly as the goalkeeper coach and Sam Black as the Performance Coach.
Duvall, a Duluth, Georgia-native, joins the club after serving as an assistant coach at Charleston Battery in the USL Championship. A former MLS player, Duvall was drafted by the New York Red Bulls in the 2014 MLS SuperDraft. He spent three seasons with the Red Bulls, before joining Montreal Impact where he played for two seasons before being traded to the Houston Dynamo in 2019. Following a short stint with the Dynamo, Duvall signed with USL Championship club OKC Energy before signing with the Portland Timbers for the 2020 season. The following season Duvall retired as a player with FC Cincinnati.
Kelly was St. Louis CITY’s academy’s goalkeeper coach before moving up as CITY2’s goalkeeper coach. Kelly, a St. Louis-native, joined the club in 2021 and was responsible for implementing training programs geared towards developing goalkeepers in St. Louis CITY’s academy. Kelly played a huge role in building out the club’s first-ever academy teams. Kelly played professionally for the Kansas City Wizards in 1997 and the Arizona Sahuaros in 1998.
Black, an Isle of Man, UK native, played collegiate soccer at Belmont University from 2013-2016 before serving as a graduate assistant strength and conditioning coach for the Belmont men’s soccer team. After interning at Vanderbilt University and University of Texas, he returned to Belmont as an assistant strength and conditioning coach. Prior to joining St. Louis CITY, Black served as the strength and conditioning coach for the men’s and women’s soccer teams at Marshall University. He was a member of Marshall’s 2020 NCAA National Staff of the Year, after helping Marshall to the National Championship title that year.
