Nick Cushing's interim tag has been removed, and New York City FC said Thursday he will coach the team next season.
Cushing became NYC's fifth coach in eight seasons when Ronny Delia left in June to coach Belgium's Standard Liege. Cushing, who had been an assistant, took over after the defending Major League Soccer champions started with eight wins, three losses and two draws.
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NYC had eight wins, eight losses and five draws under Cushing and finished third in the Eastern Conference behind Philadelphia and Montreal. New York lost to Philadelphia in the Eastern Conference final.
"From the moment I arrived in New York in 2020, I have been really inspired by this city and by the energy in our club," Cushing said. "To have the responsibility of taking this incredible Football Club forward and lead the team and to continue to be successful is what I am really excited about.
"I want to thank everyone at City Football Group for believing in me and giving me the opportunity to continue to grow and develop as a coach. New York City is such a special place, there are some real special people here at the Club, we feed off our city, we feed off of our fans. We feel like our fans deserve a team that plays good football but also delivers trophies and I have the desire to continue that."
Cushing followed Jason Kreis (2015), Patrick Vieira (2016-18), Dominic Torrent (2018-19) and Delia (2020-22) as coach.
Cushing, who turned 38 on Wednesday, spent 2013-20 as coach of the women's team at Manchester City, which, like NYCFC, is owned by City Football Group.