Chicago Hounds head coach Chris Latham has been named Major League Rugby's Coach of the Year, presented by CTMS Travel, after leading the Hounds to the most dominant season the league has ever seen.

The 2026 Hounds didn't just win, they rewrote the MLR record book. Chicago's attack averaged 6.9 tries and 46.1 points per regular season game, both the best marks in league history. In the Championship Final, the Hounds put up 35 points, the most ever scored in an MLR title game, on their way to an 18-point margin of victory, also a championship record. Across the full playoffs, Chicago scored 94 points, the most of any team in a single postseason in league history.

That record-breaking year was built on a foundation Latham had already laid. He signed on with Chicago ahead of the 2025 campaign and immediately took the Hounds to the most successful season in franchise history at the time. He guided the team to its first-ever double-digit regular season win total and back to the Eastern Conference Championship game for the second year running, before the league's later contraction to a single table. Along the way, Chicago earned its first home playoff game and made the most of it, posting a resounding win over Old Glory DC in the opening round. The Hounds closed out the year with a club-record eight All-MLR selections, headlined by a first-team nod, six second-team selections, and one honorable mention, and under Latham's guidance, 2024 first-round pick Peyton Wall was named MLR Rookie of the Year, the first individual end-of-season award in franchise history.

Latham arrived in Chicago with a track record already in place. Before taking over as head coach, he spent 2024 as the Seattle Seawolves' Attack Coach, helping Seattle finish the regular season with the most points scored in the league (498) and one of six teams to top 60 tries on the year, a campaign that carried Seattle all the way to the Championship Final. He'd also already led an MLR team as head coach, taking charge of the Utah Warriors during the shortened 2020 season.

From rebuilding a franchise to breaking its record book, Latham's Coach of the Year honor caps a run that's transformed the Hounds into the standard for the rest of the league.