Ventnor City native B.J. Callaghan is ready for his first full year as a MLS manager

CHICAGO — B.J. Callaghan took a long time to reach the top level of American professional soccer. But once he got there, a lot happened in a short time.

The native of Ventnor City, N.J., spent two decades as an assistant coach: at his alma mater Ursinus, then St. Joseph’s, Villanova, the Union for five years, then the U.S. men’s national team starting in 2019.

In the spring of 2023, Callaghan suddenly was thrust into the manager’s seat when Gregg Berhalter’s contract wasn’t renewed amid the Gio Reyna scandal. He oversaw that year’s Concacaf Nations League title win with the A-squad, then a fourth-place finish at the Gold Cup with a mostly domestic B-squad.

When Berhalter got his job back after the Gold Cup, Callaghan returned to being an assistant. He remained through the Copa América, then left to become Nashville SC’s manager in a move that was in the works well before the U.S. crashed out.

“From 2003 to 2023 is 20 years [where] probably no one knew my name,” Callaghan said on a panel at last week’s United Soccer Coaches convention. “In 50 days, everybody knew my name in the soccer world.”

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Callaghan was in charge last year for 11 games in Nashville, most of which didn’t go well. But that team wasn’t really his yet. As he prepares for his first full season at the helm, he’s had time to build and to look back on his remarkable rise.

“It’s a lot to fit in, but that’s what I want to do,” he told The Inquirer. “You’re getting to do what you love, and you do a lot of it, and each situation is a unique challenge. But you wouldn’t trade spots with anybody to get to continue to do it.”

Callaghan hopes Nashville SC will be a destination for a city that didn’t need sports to become famous. Johnny Cash and the Grand Ole Opry took care of that decades ago. Now the world’s game has joined the party. Nashville made the playoffs in its first four MLS seasons before missing last year, and GEODIS Park has quickly become one of the nation’s elite soccer stadiums.

Plus, since the only other major pro sports teams in town play football and hockey, there’s room to boost the spotlight on soccer.

“There’s a lot of talent that’s homegrown there that goes on to become big stars, there’s a lot of people that move into Nashville pursuing a dream that become big stars, and then there’s a lot of big stars that leave and they come back to Nashville,” Callaghan said. “We feel like we can build a club that can become a destination for any type of player, any type of staff member.”

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Callaghan’s squad has a definite star in playmaker Hany Mukhtar, the 2022 MLS MVP, and an ideal veteran leader in U.S. national team centerback Walker Zimmerman. There’s room to sign more big names, and Callaghan also wants a strong youth pipeline — with an obvious model.

“In Philadelphia, from the top down, we were ingrained with that,” he said. “As a coach, we were provided confidence from ownership and through [academy bankroller] Richie Graham to do that, and there were big investments made at Philadelphia to do that. But when your personal value is aligned with the values of a club and you have that support behind you to make maybe what we would call a risky decision, you feel supported to do it — and then you want to give that to the player.”

Callaghan naturally had plenty to say about Jim Curtin, his boss at the Union and a longtime friend. Beyond working together from 2014 to 2019, they have deep ties to Villanova. Curtin went to college there, and Callaghan’s grandfather, Jack Kraft, was a legendary coach of the Wildcats’ men’s basketball team.

“Jim gave you a ton of opportunity to take a lot of ownership in things,” Callaghan told the convention. “You would [mess] stuff up, and he would give you good, timely, direct feedback but never took the project away from you. … You really felt like you were contributing. And he also had a high level of accountability because you knew that you owned it and it was a reflection of you.”

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Coincidentally, Callaghan started his Nashville tenure one game after the club visited the Union, so he narrowly missed a chance to debut against Curtin. And with Curtin seemingly set to take this year off from coaching, it might be a while before they cross paths on a field.

But Callaghan will be back at Subaru Park this year when Nashville visits the Union on March 16. The teams will meet again in the Music City on July 5.

“I have the utmost respect for Jim Curtin. I think he’s a tremendous coach,” he said. “I think it’s a dangerous precedent to set that if you have one season that doesn’t meet expectations, that you can get fired. … It still is a choice — we chose this profession, and these are the things that happen — but my reaction is immediately to Jim and his family. And for me, I don’t think that decision is indicative of who the man is and who the coach is.”

The Union’s record last year (9-15-10, 37 points) wasn’t the only reason why Curtin was fired, but the die is cast. Callaghan is now one of a few coaches around MLS who are part of Curtin’s coaching tree, and can show the sport the influence that their former boss had.

“He’s an excellent, excellent coach,” Callaghan said. “I look forward to finding out where his next opportunity will be, and I know he’ll be successful there.”

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