For Jim Curtin and the Union, Earnie Stewart wasn’t simply a colleague, he was an ally

U.S. Soccer sporting director Earnie Stewart’s departure from the job affects a lot of people across the sport, not just the men’s and women’s national teams. To start finding them, look no further than his previous employer: the Union.

In the four-plus years since Stewart left Chester, he hasn’t just kept in touch with manager Jim Curtin. Stewart has championed the progress of Union players and academy products, bringing them into the senior U.S. squad and youth teams at every level.

Building out the academy was a big part of Stewart’s Union legacy. Brenden and Paxten Aaronson, Mark McKenzie, Auston Trusty, and more future pros were in the youth ranks during his tenure. And the academy was only just getting started when Stewart arrived, hired to clean up an organizational-wide mess left by former CEO Nick Sakiewicz.

By the time Stewart moved to U.S. Soccer in 2018, the foundations for success were in place, and Ernst Tanner could build on them. No one knows that better than Curtin, whom Stewart stood by resolutely when fans wanted Curtin gone.

» READ MORE: Earnie Stewart and Brian McBride leave U.S. Soccer

Though Stewart moved on before the payoff, he’s been able to enjoy it from afar. Curtin has done so well on the Subaru Park bench that he’s a legitimate candidate to lead the national team — a decision that’s now up to Stewart’s successor.

Next month, Stewart will return to the Netherlands, where he was born to a U.S. serviceman father, to become the director of football at big Dutch club PSV Eindhoven.

Coincidentally, Curtin’s weekly news conference Thursday came a few hours after U.S. Soccer announced Stewart’s exit. Curtin said he only knew as much about the announcement as anyone else. But he had plenty of reflections to offer.

“First and foremost, Earnie is a winner. Earnie’s a great person, he’s a friend, he’s a colleague,” Curtin said. “He laid the foundation here at the club, so I’m grateful for him. And, to be candid, he stuck behind me when a lot of people didn’t. So I owe a ton to Earnie.”

Curtin mostly stayed away from the broader controversy of the Reyna/Berhalter scandal. There was one moment, though, when he didn’t.

“[Stewart] will be missed at U.S. Soccer for sure,” Curtin said. “Obviously, there’s a lot going on there now, and a lot of change and transitions. I’ll just say sometimes that’s good, and sometimes it’s not. So deal with that, take that and twist it however you’d like.

“When you think about good people in this game, I’ll just say they’re a dying breed. And when you have good ones, it’s important that you keep them on your side. I know Earnie will now go on to big things at PSV and do a great job.”

» READ MORE: Paxten Aaronson is excited to be in his first senior U.S. national team camp

The Union’s trade for CF Montreal’s Joaquín Torres became official Thursday, as did what it cost: $500,000 plus up to $300,000 more based on performance incentives.

“In the last couple of years, since a certain Ilsinho left, we haven’t had a one-v-one guy, and I think our guys know that too,” Curtin said. “We haven’t had a guy that goes by the first man and then creates things off the dribble. We have incredible hardworking and creative players in different ways, but to have a guy that is that change of pace is really, really important.”

Curtin reached far into the Union’s history books for a comparison to Torres’ skill set.

“Roger Torres,” he said, recalling the young Colombian playmaker — coincidentally with the same last name — who was a fan favorite in the Union’s early years.

The Union’s new Torres had his first practice with his new team Thursday morning. Curtin is already drawing up a range of ways to use the 25-year-old Argentine: a second forward in a 4-4-2, a winger in a three-man front, or an attacking midfielder.

» READ MORE: Union make a deal for Joaquín Torres from CF Montréal

“We played with two No. 10s today, with him and Dániel [Gazdag] next to each other, and that was fun to watch in a one-touch game,” Curtin said. “They kind of connected right away, because soccer understands and respects soccer, just put it that way.”

As for new centerback Damion Lowe, Curtin has known the 29-year-old Jamaican for nearly a decade. When Lowe was still in college at Hartford, he spent the summer of 2013 in Reading, playing with lower-league amateur team Reading United. Curtin was an assistant coach there at the time.

“To see his career progress the way it has, and see him grow into a guy who’s won trophies overseas, who’s represented his national team very well, who had a great season last year for Miami and was one of the top centerbacks in terms of the metrics that we value in the league, it was kind of a no-brainer.” Curtin said.

Lowe will be No. 3 on the Union’s centerback depth chart, but Curtin said that doesn’t mean he’ll just come off the bench.

“We talked a lot already about playing three in the back — I think you’ll see us do that,” Curtin said.

» READ MORE: Union trade for Damion Lowe, a central defender from Inter Miami