Jim Curtin Named Philadelphia Union Head Coach

By Zach Galloway | Nov 7, 2014

Jul 25, 2014; Chester, PA, USA; Philadelphia Union interim head coach Jim Curtin walks off the field after during the match against the Crystal Palace FC at PPL Park. Crystal Palace FC won the match 1-0. Mandatory Credit: John Geliebter-USA TODAY Sports

On Friday, the Philadelphia Union held a press conference at a local Chickie and Pete’s restaurant in Philadelphia. This press conference was to officially announce Jim Curtin as the head coach, taking off the interim tag he has had since the beginning of June.

This has been a decision that has been expected over the past month or so. It became more expected after a couple of different interviews, especially with Dave Zeitlin for Mlssoccer.com. The Philadelphia Union CEO was very direct in saying that he thinks Jim Curtin will be with the franchise for some time to come. Even about a month earlier reports came out that Curtin had actually had the interim tag removed. It was never officially announced however.

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That led to much speculation that Jim Curtin had already been decided on as the head coach moving forward despite reports out there saying that the head coaching search was still in progress. Whether or not Curtin was decided this early, we won’t know, but Curtin is the coach going forward and I hope he succeeds and can turn the Union around.

Now Jim Curtin has shown what he is capable of throughout the second half of the MLS season and the US Open Cup. While, the season did not end the way any Union fan hoped, Curtin did prove himself. Curtin will now have the chance to start building his team this offseason to the way he wants the Union to play.

A lot of Union fans were and still are skeptical of Jim Curtin, mostly because of the way John Hackworth turned out. There are a lot of similarities in the way each was announced as interim and then announced as the full time head coach.

Their records as interim coaches were very similar and fans still have the sour memory of the end of last season start to this season from Hackworth. They do not want a repeat, a big reason why a lot of fans wanted a coach from outside the organization.

I think the biggest part of this announcement will be what follows hopefully in the near term. Will Jim Curtin get a good cast of assistants to work with? Will he get a general manager to work with? For Curtin to be successful here, he needs a good supporting cast. Let’s not forget, Jim Curtin is very young still and inexperienced as a manager.

Overall, I think Jim Curtin will be successful here. I just hope he gets some help from the front office. With the first order of the business out of the way, Jim Curtin and the rest of the Union staff have a busy offseason ahead of them. It’ll be very interesting to see how Curtin builds his team and hopefully a championship contender.