Lincoln Phillips was ready for the spotlight.



In 1995, just a year before the birth of Major League Soccer, Phillips — a long-time professional player and coach — had been quietly informed by a league official that his name was on the shortlist of potential head coaches for MLS’s 10 inaugural teams.



He was in every respect a qualified candidate. In the late 1960s, Phillips had become the first black head coach in the history of professional soccer in the United States, leading the American Soccer League’s Washington Darts to consecutive championships, and he followed that up by winning a pair of NCAA Division I titles at Howard University, though one was controversially stripped away over a question of player eligibility.



In eight years at the school, he amassed a 117-19-11 record, turning a small, historically black college into a national soccer powerhouse. By the time MLS began operations, Phillips had coached other college and pro...