A year ago, Nashville SC made a historic run to the Leagues Cup final, falling just short in penalty kicks to Lionel Messi and Inter Miami CF.
Nashville ultimately reached the Audi MLS Cup Playoffs for the fourth consecutive year. All of that success came under Gary Smith, the only head coach the club knew in their MLS existence.
But after Nashville's struggles in the first half of the 2024 campaign, Smith was let go and B.J. Callaghan was appointed. As fate would have it, Callaghan starts his tenure with a Leagues Cup group-stage opener against LIGA MX’s Mazatlán on Wednesday at GEODIS Park (9 pm ET | MLS Season Pass).
As a reporter asked at his introductory press conference, does that create more pressure for Callaghan?
“There's already enough pressure being the head coach. Leagues Cup doesn't make it any more,” Callaghan said with a laugh. “But what I can tell you is what we're focused on really building on the good that's here to make it better. The sustained success that's already here, we want to build on that. And part of building on that is to continue to evolve this identity, the Nashville playing way on how we play on the field, how we act on and off the field.
“That beginning part has already started on the training field and, obviously, our first test is going to be the Leagues Cup match. From there we'll be able to continue to stick to our process, we’ll review it, we’ll reflect on it, we’ll refine it and we're going to continue to do it.”
Winning experience
A reminder of how Callaghan operates under pressure comes from his debut as US men’s national team interim coach in June 2023 – during a Concacaf Nations League semifinal against Mexico.
The USMNT won that match 3-0, then defeated Canada to repeat as Nations League champions. That experience enamored Nashville general manager Mike Jacobs, as did Callaghan’s time as a Philadelphia Union assistant coach.
“The experiences that B.J.’s had, having already worked in our league at the Philadelphia Union, having worked at the academy, having worked with trying to transition top prospects through a second team in a different city, very similar to what we have in Huntsville, to get a chance to work in MLS with an outstanding team, with an outstanding head coach in Jim Curtin, the idea of working with top young players,” Jacobs said.
“The experiences that B.J. and that staff gave to now fixtures in our US national team, like Brenden Aaronson and Mark McKenzie. To do that as a coach in a coaching staff, you have to be brave. You have to be a risk-taker if you want to take chances.”
After an initial meeting and a few training sessions, Callaghan said he loves that Nashville's first test under his watch comes in Leagues Cup against an unfamiliar foe.
“It’s actually an awesome opportunity for the staff to go through the entire process of preparing for a team to familiarize our players with the opponent,” he said.
“To have this as our first game to play in the Leagues Cup is actually a really welcome opportunity because we get to do every piece of preparation and we sort of get to evaluate, reflect and refine every one of our processes because the team that we're playing at the starting point is that we have to learn everything about them.”
Team evolution
Callaghan takes over a Nashville side that's lost six straight in league play and are 12th in the Eastern Conference, two points below the playoff line. But of the nine remaining regular-season games, all but one are against Eastern Conference foes with many battling around the same part of the table.
To turn their season around, Nashville must evolve beyond their stout defense and Hany Mukhtar’s brilliance in the final third. Just how different will Nashville look under Callaghan?
“When we’re with the ball, we want to be a team that unbalances, disorganizes the opponent in the opportunity to be able to play forward, dictate the tempo, play free and create goalscoring opportunities. And at the same time, when we're without the ball, we want to be a team that's dominant, we want to be a team that's pressing the opponent into mistakes so that we can create goalscoring opportunities,” he said.
“We want to be a team that's together, that's collective and connected, and it's everyone's attacking and everyone's defending. So I think that it's a team that you'll see that every player's gonna have clear roles and responsibilities.”
