St. Louis CITY SC has announced that head coach and former Bafana Bafana left-back Bradley Carnell has departed the club.

Carnell, hired as CITY SC’s first head coach in January 2022, steered the inaugural season squad to a historic 2023 Western Conference Regular Season championship, finishing with a record of 17-12-3.

Technical Director John Hackworth will assume interim head coaching duties while the search for a new leader commences.

St. Louis became the first expansion team to achieve this feat, also recording a franchise-best 17 wins (post-shootout era). However, the team’s sophomore season has seen struggles, with a current record of 3-7-10 (.95 points per game) and a position of 26th in the Supporter Shield standings.

“Given Bradley’s many contributions to the club, this was not an easy decision,” said CITY SC Sporting Director Lutz Pfannenstiel. “Unfortunately, based on our Year 2 results to date, we believe a coaching change is in the best interest of the club as we regroup and look to improve both our performance and our results.”

CITY SC President and GM Diego Gigliani echoed these sentiments: “On behalf of everyone at CITY SC, we would like to extend our deepest gratitude to Bradley for his time with the club. He was integral to the club’s success during our historic first campaign.”

Gigliani continued, “Bradley, Claudia and their family embraced St Louis and we wish them nothing but the best moving forward.”

Effective immediately, Hackworth takes the helm as interim head coach. A veteran in the U.S. soccer landscape, Hackworth boasts nearly 30 years of coaching experience across various levels.

This includes two assistant coaching stints with the U.S. Men’s National Team and head coaching positions with the Philadelphia Union and USL’s Louisville CITY FC, where he led them to the 2018 USL championship.

Carnell, who played 40 times for Bafana Bafana, was in charge of 62 matches for the club, winning 22, losing 25 and drawing 15.