Sources: Loudoun United to dismiss Ryan Martin at the end of 2025
On the shifting landscape at Loudoun and Martin's prime spot in the coaching market
Sources confirm to USL Tactics that Loudoun United head coach Ryan Martin will be let go at the conclusion of the 2025 USL Championship season.
Two months into their first-ever USL campaign in 2019, Loudoun named Martin as their head coach. Now, his tenure is coming to end – even as Loudoun is on track to qualify for the playoffs for the first time in club history.
It’s a decision that firmly pushes Loudoun into a new era under the control of Virginia Revolution, who took over management via merger this April. It also positions Martin as the most in-demand name on the coaching market entering the 2025-2026 offseason.
Asked for comment on the story, Loudoun United said:
No decision has been made. We are focused on the team achieving its first playoff berth in club history.
Loudoun United’s shifting tides
The 42-year-old Martin spent time on the Wake Forest staff and served as an assistant and scout in MLS before joining the DC United Academy in 2017. There, Martin began to establish a reputation for player development. That tenure made Martin the logical choice for Loudoun’s coaching role; the club was DC’s developmental affiliate at the time, a relationship that lasted until 2023.
Under Martin’s guidance, Loudoun made the most out of minimal resources. Prospects like Kevin Paredes, Griffin Yow, Donovan Pines, and Ted Ku-Dipietro blossomed under his stead. All the while, United became known for a pressureful, possessive, and watchable style.
Loudoun has posted just 0.99 points per game across more than 200 matches under Martin in all competitions, but returns had improved significantly once the club went independent. 2025 felt like the season where the coach’s vision came together in full. Loudoun currently sit fourth in the Championship’s Eastern Conference, a virtual lock to qualify for the postseason. Winger Abdellatif Aboukoura has flourished into an MVP candidate, the jewel in Martin’s developmental crown.
Signs pointed toward a long-term plan spearheaded by the head coach. This month, Loudoun signed Guatemalan international striker Quimi Ordonez on a multi-year deal, adding him to a core including fullback Kwame Awuah, center back Jacob Erlandson, and winger Pedro Santos.
Instead, Loudoun opted to move on from Martin, part of a continuing overhaul of their on-field operations. Earlier this year, the club also parted ways with sporting director Oliver Gage, Martin’s co-architect behind the winning roster.
Gage is credited with modernizing the club and helping to instill a statistics-driven, “Moneyball”-esque approach in the face of a minuscule budget – the lowest in the East, per sources. Together with Martin, he helped Loudoun to their best run in club history across 2024 and 2025.
After his unceremonious firing, Gage was snapped up by USL League One’s Fort Wayne expansion team. Loudoun filled his role with former DC United defender Steve Birnbaum, who also serves as the sporting director for DC Power in the USL Super League on top of his full-time duties with the Championship club.
Just four months ago, Loudoun president Niko Eckart seemed to commit to a future led by Birnbaum and Martin in tandem. In an interview with District Press, he described the club’s project as being “led by Steve and Ryan [Martin]” and cited a meeting in which ownership “gave Ryan our full support.”
The bold personnel moves have coincided with an ownership change, one that put Eckart in charge.
As DC United divested its majority interest in 2023, Greg Baroni’s Attain Sports purchased the controlling share of the club. This spring, local youth soccer program Virginia Revolution merged with the Loudoun United business entity, establishing a tripartite ownership setup alongside Attain Sports and DC United. As part of the merger, Virginia Revolution took over Loudoun’s day-to-day management.
Martin’s potential exit was reported by The Athletic around the time of the merger, but it didn’t immediately come to fruition unlike half-a-dozen other front office exits. Now, the Virginia Revolution group has made their boldest swing yet in service of an overhaul.
Martin’s appeal in the market
What comes next for Loudoun United is unclear, but Martin will immediately become the most attractive coaching candidate in the USL market. The manager is respected around the Championship for his clear principles and developmental track record; he also brings years of experience, having entered 2025 as the league’s second-longest-tenured manager behind only Pittsburgh’s Bob Lilley.
Over the last two seasons, Martin’s teams have ranked among the most possessive and territorially dominant in the Championship. Only Charleston, a perennial title contender, has played more passes than Martin-led Loudoun among Eastern Conference clubs since the start of 2024.
United has also ranked as a top-five pressing team during that same span, evidencing a knack for defensive organization. While recent results in 2025 have been troublesome, they’ve come amidst major injury issues for an exceedingly thin squad.
Martin has shown flexibility amidst the consistent outcomes. Squad limitations in 2024 encouraged the use of a 3-4-3 shape, a year before the wide proliferation of the “three-box-three” as the shape du jour in the Championship. Traditionally, Martin has preferred a back four, and this season’s best results have blended aggressive 4-2-4 pressure with well-drilled line-breaking on the ball.
Loudoun is still in the bottom half of the USL in terms of average age this year, even as they’ve shrugged off the developmental yoke. Young contributors like Aboukoura (aged 20), Moses Nyeman (21), and Riley Bidois (23) have all blossomed under Martin. Nyeman got his start at Loudoun before earning a shot in MLS; he opted to return to Virginia last offseason. Bidois signed out of the Australian second tier in 2024 and was named to New Zealand’s Olympic team last summer under Martin’s tutelage.
Aboukoura, a DC United Academy product, first debuted in 2021 as a 16-year-old. He truly broke onto the scene in 2022, operating across the attacking midfield and scoring four goals to earn an Egypt call-up for the U-20 Arab Cup.
Martin honed in on Aboukoura’s elite dribbling and right-footed finishing, teasing out those abilities and rounding out the prospect’s game. This season, Aboukoura has 14 goals in 27 total appearances and has reportedly drawn major transfer interest. His example is representative of Martin’s unique ability to balance short-term competitive needs with development on a longer horizon.
The picture is clear: Ryan Martin is uniquely skillful at instilling a stylish brand of soccer and maximizing his resources, particularly through player development pathways. His dismissal from Loudoun United will be the end of an era, one that puts a weighty onus on the club’s new ownership group to get their next hire right.