Soccer <\/p>\n
A cult of personality has developed around modern soccer coaches, powered by the aura of icons like Marcelo Bielsa, Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola who have elevated a once-humble job description into something almost mystical \u2013 part guru, part professor, part alchemist. Some managers even cultivate a personal brand akin to that of the superstar players they guide on the pitch.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
So it\u2019s almost jarring to encounter one with no airs whatsoever, a team player even in the driver\u2019s seat \u2013 no book, podcast or tactical marvels to promote, and seemingly no need to convince the world of their expertise.<\/p>\n
One like B.J. Callaghan, for example.<\/p>\n
Nashville SC<\/a>\u2019s head coach grew up on the New Jersey Shore. His pinnacle as a player was at Ursinus College, a modest NCAA Division III program in exurban Philadelphia, where he also began his coaching career not long after graduation. He\u2019s spent the overwhelming majority of that time as an assistant. You\u2019re unlikely to spot him attired in anything fancier than a polo shirt or a hoodie along the sidelines on matchdays.<\/p>\n And anyone eager for juicy \u2018I am a special one\u2019-type declarations from his half-hour one-on-one conversation with MLSsoccer.com ahead of Nashville’s visit to near-neighbors Atlanta United<\/a> on Saturday afternoon will have to adjust their expectations (2:45 pm ET | MLS Season Pass, Apple TV+<\/a>; FOX, FOX Deportes).<\/p>\n \u201cI was just a piece to a larger vision of what the club was looking for,\u201d Callaghan said of his work since taking the reins last July<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was just me aligning with with the vision of [majority owner] John Ingram, [general manager] Mike Jacobs and [vice chairman] Ian Ayre of where they wanted the club to go.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Those paying close attention to Nashville\u2019s progress under his leadership would likely give him a good deal more credit than that. A team once associated with defensive solidity above all else has flashed some of the league\u2019s most attractive, aggressive soccer in 2025, along the way racking up the top expected goal differential per 90 minutes in the Eastern Conference (+0.76) according to FBref.com, a figure second only to the league-leading Vancouver Whitecaps<\/a>.<\/p>\n While the work is very much in progress, both the numbers and the eye test suggest marked advancement from the group that limped to a 13th-place finish over Callaghan\u2019s opening months in charge.<\/p>\n \u201cTaking stock on the first 10 games, there’s elements that we’re pleased with,\u201d he said. \u201cWe’re still also a team that’s trying to search for consistency in it and kind of just scratching the surface.”<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n BJ Callaghan appreciation post ???? pic.twitter.com\/ga9xdmF6hQ<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Nashville SC (@NashvilleSC) April 30, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n A 3W-1L-1D opening to the campaign represents the best start in Nashville\u2019s six-year MLS existence. And though they\u2019ve since let points slip away here and there, last weekend the Coyotes\u2019 good work coalesced into probably the most startling result of the season so far: a 7-2 hammering<\/a> of Chicago Fire FC<\/a> at GEODIS Park that showcased some of Callaghan\u2019s touch, and the tantalizing potential it could unlock.<\/p>\n Striker Sam Surridge<\/a> became the first player in club history to bag four goals in one outing, while his fellow attacker Hany Mukhtar<\/a> tallied 2g\/1a \u2013 promising signs from a Designated Player duo who haven\u2019t always lived up to their billing together. At the other end of the spectrum, attack-minded right back Andy Najar<\/a>, an MLS veteran Nashville brought back from a stint in the Honduran league over the winter, racked up a hat trick of assists, looking like his old self.<\/p>\n What made the whole thing almost surreal was that the coach on the other side of the rout was Gregg Berhalter, who Callaghan spent half a decade working under with the US men\u2019s national team<\/a> before taking the Nashville job, much of it serving as Berhalter\u2019s \u2018eyes in the sky\u2019 during matches, relaying observations from suite level via an earpiece.<\/p>\n There\u2019s some irony in how it was actually Berhalter\u2019s first departure from the USMNT that opened the door for Callaghan\u2019s next step forward in his career. When Chicago\u2019s current boss stepped away from the program as his contract expired and controversy raged in the aftermath of the 2022 World Cup, it fell first to former assistant Anthony Hudson, and later Callaghan, to man the ship on an interim basis, including an impressively successful defense of the Yanks\u2019 Concacaf Nations League<\/a> title.<\/p>\n \u201cHaving that opportunity to lead the national team at that period of time, I think probably was that push that you need to know that you’re ready. I feel a tremendous amount of gratitude \u2013 I was in the safest environment that you could step into, being a head coach, because I had worked with all of those people,\u201d Callaghan said.<\/p>\n \u201cYou need someone to take a risk on you. You need someone to take a chance. And I’m grateful that it was Nashville, with John Ingram and Mike Jacobs, who saw the potential in me and gave me the opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Conventional wisdom would label him as a member of Berhalter\u2019s \u2018coaching tree\u2019 given their extensive time together, and they do indeed share some common concepts. Yet Callaghan\u2019s journey to this point underlines the limitations of that term.<\/p>\n He spent even longer on Jim Curtin\u2019s staff with the Philadelphia Union<\/a>, where a much more direct, press-oriented philosophy than Berhalter\u2019s took root following the arrival of sporting director Ernst Tanner, and can call on a lifetime\u2019s worth of lessons from his years in the Union academy, at Philly-area colleges St. Joseph\u2019s and Villanova, and maybe even a few tidbits from his grandfather Jack Kraft, a longtime coach of Villanova\u2019s famed basketball team in the 1960s and \u201870s.<\/p>\n One common thread: He won over colleagues at every stop with his character and spirit.<\/p>\n \u201cBeing somebody that worked with and for B.J., I don\u2019t think you\u2019d be able to find a staff member or player that didn\u2019t have respect for him, based on the way he goes about his job, how hard he works and his commitment to the team,\u201d former USMNT scout Michael Stephens, who now runs Chicago\u2019s recruitment department for Berhalter, told The Athletic<\/a> two years ago.<\/p>\n \u201cHe did so many different tasks and he did them well, everything from player scouting to opposition analysis. He was somebody that all the rest of the staff could count on to do good work.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Nashville(!!!) have become a dominant possession team under BJ Callaghan, and it’s produced some glorious soccer. pic.twitter.com\/0OKaPIhDhh<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Matthew Doyle (@MattDoyle76) April 5, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n Callaghan takes care to note that the environments he\u2019s worked in have influenced him just as much as the individuals he\u2019s worked with. Both his Union and USMNT staffs have turned out to be cradles for future MLS coaches.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I was with Jim, I had the opportunity to spend time with Pat Noonan on the same staff. Then when I was with the national team, I had the moment to spend time with Josh Wolff, Nico Est\u00e9vez, Luchi Gonzalez and now Mikey Varas,\u201d he recalled. \u201cPeople talk about the coaching tree, because there’s always somebody at the top, and I would not be where I’m at now without the influence of Jim and Gregg. But I feel a ton of pride in the opportunity that I also spent with like, five other guys who currently or recently have been MLS coaches, and really to spend time in the trenches with those guys. Though I guess it’s more than a tree for us.<\/p>\n \u201cThe best way I could say it is, I’ve stolen pieces from all of them,\u201d Callaghan added. \u201cThe game has been played for 200 years, so you take the pieces that fit who you are \u2026 I believe that the way your teams play is a way of a reflection of who you are.\u201d<\/p>\n That helps explain his Nashville project. The Coyotes press, but aren\u2019t exactly a heavy-metal outfit. They can push the throttle, yet aren\u2019t quite run-and-gun at heart. They prize combination play and the fluid relationships that enable it, but don\u2019t go full tiki-taka per se, seeking to build a new, more assertive tactical identity without tossing aside the sturdy defensive foundation built by Callaghan\u2019s predecessor Gary Smith.<\/p>\n Everything has a practical purpose. That doesn\u2019t mean it can\u2019t be executed with elegance.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat we talk about here all the time [is that] everyone has to attack and everyone defends. And the reason we say that? Because through all of the phases of play, we’re trying to find ways to create goalscoring chances. That is our main focus,\u201d Callaghan explained.<\/p>\n \u201cSo if we’re high pressing, we’re trying to find goalscoring chances. If we’re defending corner kicks, we want to figure out ways that when we do that well, is there an opportunity to create a goalscoring chance off of the defending a corner, and everything in between? And that’s, I would say, really important to what we’re trying to do.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Bj Callaghan. pic.twitter.com\/SPmiTlJ2YZ<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Nashville SC (@NashvilleSC) March 23, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n In the bigger picture, his priorities at Nashville run some measure deeper than just the first team. One of the factors in his hiring was the club\u2019s desire to ramp up a more effective player development system, with the goal of coaxing more production out of a fledgling academy that literally started from scratch when Nashville joined MLS, while also freshening up an aging roster with the aid of their MLS NEXT Pro<\/a> side in Huntsville, Alabama, one of that league\u2019s model organizations.<\/p>\n \u201cThe club as a whole is currently going through this transition,\u201d said Callaghan. \u201cWe basically have a saying that your role is different, but your status is the same \u2026 Whether it’s the DP or the draft pick or the homegrown, everybody was going to be committed and aligned behind the same mission, the same vision and the same values.\u201d<\/p>\n Blending best practices from the Union, FC Dallas<\/a> and other leaders in the space, Nashville based their youth sides at Currey Ingram Academy, a boarding school in Brentwood, Tennessee, offering a residential program for recruits from outside the region in addition to local prospects working to advance down the pathway to a professional career.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can maybe say, in a historical sense, that Tennessee doesn’t produce as many players as Southern California or something like that. But the greater Nashville area has gone under such a transformation in, let’s say, the last 10 years, that I don’t actually believe historical contexts matter anymore, because of the population boom and just everything of what Nashville is,\u201d said Callaghan.<\/p>\n \u201cI still think it’s an area for growth for us, and we brought Darren Powell in to be an academy director, someone who\u2019s got a tremendous experience. So we’re really excited about that. And we have a really good infrastructure with our second team in Huntsville, which is almost like a glue between the two properties in the pathway.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n \u2014 Nashville SC (@NashvilleSC) April 21, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\nForward progress<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n
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Revolving doors<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n
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Coaching influences<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n
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Youth focus<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n