Philadelphia Union Hire Jim Curtain As Head Coach

The MLS postseason is upon us, and one coach who helped turn his club around has found himself permanently in the position.

When the Philadelphia Union fired head coach John Hackworth back in June, the club was a measly 3-7-6. After inserting Jim Curtain into the interim head coach role, the club turned it around and won 11 of their next 23 games for a 11-6-6 record. That was good enough to get Curtain hired as the new full-time head coach of the Union on Friday afternoon.

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Union CEO Nick Sakiewicz spoke about the hiring of Curtain and noted his ability to turn the club around as a main motivating factor in giving him the full-time gig.

"“Since taking over the reins of this club, Jim has proven that he can compete and win. I have said from the outset of this coaching search that we were looking for a First Team coach to help guide us to our goal of competing to win an MLS Cup and Jim is our choice.”"

The Union didn’t make the MLS postseason, but they had a pretty solid second half run that saw them earn their first ever berth in the U.S. Open Cup final.

It’s going to be a long road to success, but Curtain no doubt seems like the right guy for the gig. He’s been around the MLS his whole career and knows how to win. Philadelphia fell just one spot short of an MLS playoff berth this season, which gives fans a lot of hope that next year could be a year where everything finally turns around.

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