Photo: Ron Soliman
Jim Curtin became Philadelphia Union’s interim manager on June 10, 2014, when the club fired John Hackworth.
The next day, I wrote my second-ever post on PSP, summarizing Hackworth’s legacy and looking ahead to what would come next.
I don’t think anyone thought it would be more than ten years before the Union fired another manager… but here we are.
Yesterday, the club parted ways with Curtin, a shocking move that left observers around the league stunned, many supporters furious, and an incredible cloud of uncertainty over what would come next.
It’s a seismic development for a franchise that’s spent most of the last half-decade as a model of consistency at the top of MLS.
Looking back at the Curtin era
Curtin’s tenure as a whole is — to use one of his favorite expressions — a tale of two halves.
Just 34 years old when he became interim manager, it took the Oreland native a while to find his feet. In his first 4.5 seasons, he guided the team to just two playoff appearances (no wins), and dropped three U.S. Open Cup finals. At the end of 2018, I suggested that the Union had hit the ceiling of what Curtin could accomplish.
Boy, was I wrong.
Over the next five seasons, Curtin’s Union became one of MLS’s powerhouses. He successfully blended longtime stalwarts, shrewd acquisitions, and talented Homegrowns into a gritty side that always made it difficult for the opposition. The litany of accolades from this run is well-known: a Supporters’ Shield, an Eastern Conference title, five playoff appearances, three Concacaf Champions Cup appearances — and two Coach of the Year awards for Curtin. That run totally turned around a franchise that spent most of its first decade vacillating between moribund and forgettable.
For all that success, though, trophies were hard to come by. Curtin’s Union had a bad habit of losing in the biggest games. In this five-year stretch the Union played in seven finals, semifinals, and conference finals. They won just one of those games. And they failed to turn their most dominant regular seasons into titles, crashing out in their first playoff game in 2020 and suffering the most heart-wrenching defeat in club history in the 2022 MLS Cup.
Curtin’s strength was his man management. The Union built a strong club culture that helped a team without high-paid stars become more than the sum of his parts. Curtin is a genuinely likable guy, and he set a standard that grew beyond the locker room and into the wider club. As a Philly native, his knowledge of the area helped raise the club’s profile as results improved on the field.
(On a personal level, I should say that Jim was always professional with me, and I appreciated his thoughtfulness in dealing with the media. That matters much less to me than the uniformly positive things I heard about Curtin the person from everyone around the club.)
It is a testament to Curtin’s tenacity, interpersonal skills, and ability to grow that he overcame a rocky start to become the second-longest tenured manager in MLS.
How’d we get here?
Curtin’s firing on Wednesday came as quite a surprise to the fan base. Even after a down season in 2024, it was assumed that Curtin had the equity to see out at least another season. Ownership and sporting director Ernst Tanner saw it differently.
I think there are four interrelated dynamics at play here, based on my knowledge of the team and various media reports over the last 24 hours.
- The 2024 collapse. This past season was a huge step backwards for the Union after so many years of sustained success. Did Curtin and the front office analyze the failure the same way? Curtin seemingly believed that he did not have a roster that was deep enough to survive injuries and midseason departures. But it’s reasonable to think that the front office viewed Curtin’s selections as suspect. Per Joe Tansey, Curtin’s push to bring back aging club captain Alejandro Bedoya last offseason and his reliance on older players during the season led to tensions with the front office and ownership group. By the end of the season, it was a frustrated and demoralized club.
- Ernst Tanner’s signings. Throughout his tenure, Curtin was not shy to nail players to the bench if they didn’t perform up to his standards in practice. In recent years, that increasingly happened with players the sporting director signed to play big roles in the team. Neither Joaquin Torres nor Andres Perea, signed in 2023, made any real impact for the Union; Perea signed a big contract and lasted barely half a season before going out on loan. The Union spent real money that summer to sign Tai Baribo, who promptly spent a year chained to the bench behind Chris Donovan. When he got his chance, he promptly scored 16 goals in 26 games (all competitions). Other signings were forced into action and revealed themselves to be well below par, like goalkeeper Oliver Semmle. It is reasonable to conclude that the sporting director and the manager were no longer seeing eye-to-eye about new pieces for the squad.
- Spending frustrations. It is no secret that Curtin — quite reasonably — had become frustrated with ownership’s failure to invest in the Union, who carried the second-smallest payroll in MLS at the end of 2024. While ownership has publicly claimed that it would be willing to spend more on players, it’s obvious that it has no present intent to keep pace with even MLS’s mid-tier spenders. There may have been a mutual sense that this situation was untenable; frankly, Curtin deserves a chance to show what he can do with a better squad.
- What comes next. The Union are likely entering into a rebuild. That will mean moving on some franchise stalwarts and giving opportunities to younger and lesser-used players, including the next wave of Homegrowns. Jonathan Tannenwald suggests that Curtin’s historic reluctance to use his depth pieces may have led the front office to believe that a new manager is needed for this next era. (It’s hard to know what the pipeline’s crown jewel, Cavan Sullivan, must think, as Curtin played a decisive role in keeping the youngster with the Union.)
Any one of these dynamics seems navigable, but together I see a picture of a front office and manager no longer in sync. That’s a recipe for disaster, and a parting of the ways would make sense — even if, on the merits, Curtin did not deserve to be fired.
Uncharted waters
So, for the first time in more than ten years, the Union are looking for a new head coach.
For the first time since the franchise’s founding, I think they’ll hire from outside the club — even though Marlon LeBlanc has done good work with Union II and would be a solid option. Tanner has been here for over six years without getting the chance to bring in his own coaching staff. It seems likely that the new coach will be “a guy you’ve never heard of who used to work with Tanner in Germany.”
Of course, that shouldn’t stop us from wild speculation! Maybe old friend Danny Cruz wants to move up from managing Louisville City. Or, aim bigger: Erik Ten Hag is available after doing an outstanding job running Manchester United into the ground, which earned him my admiration.
My personal favorite option, of course: hire me. As in 2014, I remain available and ready to serve!
I’ve been in retirement since my double-winning season in 2013.
Whichever way Tanner goes, it’s tough to understate what a change this will be.
After an era of unprecedented success and stability, the good ship Union is heading into uncharted waters.
Notoriously skinflint ownership decided to fire Curtin, but will have to pay out his contract. I take that to mean they must have really wanted to move on.
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Ownership has always been the weakest part of the Union. This decision seems like a bonehead move. I wish Curtin the best and I hope he wins many trophies. Sugarman and Tanner can keep crowing about having the best metrics over the last five years. Trophy cabinet is still empty.
This really seems like a hot-headed move with little thought for the future. Maybe Tanner has coaches in mind, but considering the new contract for Jim this year I can’t imagine Ernst has talked to anyone recently. He better have someone in place before the end of the year (though not like Union have anything going on besides preseason this year…)
Great piece , Peter. That “historic reluctance to use his depth pieces” is one thing when the results go your way and quite another one they don’t. I think most of us who are regular commenters on PSP have been bothered by that over the course of Curtin’s career. It doesn’t at all work with an ethos of bringing in and quickly building up youth players. My guess is Tanner has a list of young Dutch, German, and or Austrian coaches who might be willing to give MLS a shot.
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Best to Gym. I’m sure he’s going to be just fine. He should have his choice of jobs out there.
This was what always bothered me about Curtin. I have been to many games where Bedoya was dead on his feet with no sub forthcoming. On the other hand, I have seen him make the right choice on occasion, Ilsenho anyone, or the 60 minute Corey Burke sub. But it is frustrating to see the away team use all five of its subs and the Union when chasing a game uses one or two in the 80th minute. Can’t built up the youth players if they never see the field.
As you noted all the best to Jim.
I suspect that there has been, from the beginning of Tanner’s tenure, a disagreement with Curtin on how to employ the young players. I don’t follow the Bundesligas of Germany and Austria that closely, but my impression is that when the Red Bull teams from which Tanner came have highly regarded youth players, they play. They start. Again, I think when results have gone well, Tanner couldn’t complain. But when the wheels fall off, then he’s going to ID the coach first and foremost as the problem. That’s my theory, anyway.
Who would hire Curtin? Seriously asking?
Atlanta and Canadian MNT seem like good spots. I bet there’s another half dozen MLS clubs that would have interest. Maybe even a club over in the Championship.
Lopezzz, scratch ATL off the list. Think they’ll be keeping their interim coach. #JustSayin
I think he’ll be at the top of any MLS team’s list. Two time coach-of-the-year winner who most believe vastly overachieved with the players he had. He’ll have his choice. He can take a year off and by this time next year have the job of his choice.
Please Release Me… I think the loyal good soldier had 1 final talk with Ernst and Sugarman about how this current team will never compete for more than the final spot in the playoffs and said the Union fans deserve better. At least in my mind I hope thats what he said. Good Luck Jim You deserved a better send off.
They fired the wrong guy. The person who should be fired — & should have been done LONG AGO — is of course Jay Sugarman.
Thank you Peter! Great analysis and insight. I hope you get the job!!!
The model as stated is to develop players and sell them. Period, end of story. Winning is nice and increases value of said players and adds an extra percentage point or two to the profit line but not critical to the model. Curtin was good at much of the development but not the part of getting prospects game time and relied too much on veterans of little development value. Had he not been necessary to make sure Cavan stayed here he would have been fired last year I suspect. Next coach will be Tanner’s guy and play more of the young players and transfers and be less worried about winning. Buckle up for more action but worse results.
Just imagine if the Eagles business model was to play as many promising young players only too sell them off to some imaginary league so that the teams owner can always increase his bottom line and have a steady guaranteed cash flow as Surgarmans model is designed. First NFL fans would never tolerate it, the stadium would be empty, the team would always be at the bottom of the standings and the franchise would never survive. In every other professional sport the goal is to assemble the best team possible. Do you think Sugarmans model is going to increase or decrease the fan base of the Philadelphia Union? Sugarmans model will eventually fail. The EPL and other leagues will not be interested in signing future Philly academy superstars when the first team firmly settles in the bottom of the league. The “Sullivan and Aaronson” wealthy families will look to other clubs to develop their budding superstars.
This criticism might make sense if the best of the academy products who Curtain played weren’t sold before being fully developed: B & P Aaronson, M McKenzie, Austen Trusty, C Sullivan. The ones left are moderately effective in the current MLS – J McGlyn, Q Sullivan, N Harriel.
It looks to me, that the academy graduates who have enough value to truly excel in the current MLS will always be sold early in their career (less risk to both the Union and the player). That leaves the best of the academy graduates out of the core of the team if the expectations are to consistently compete at a high level in MLS since they will be either still developing (hence inconsistent) or ready to be sold
in a word, yes.
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The point I would add is that when the Union sell their contracts, the players have to young enough to be candidates for re-sale by the purchasing club. For example, B. Aaronson was sold by Red Bull Salzburg to Leeds United. M. McKenzie was sold by Genk to Toulouse.
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Only P. Aaronson was sold directly to a first division box six club, Eintracht Frankfurt of the Bundesliga.
Great summary of a greater loss for Philly!
This had to happen. They risked even more season ticket cancellations and a full on mutiny by the fan base. Any other MLS team would’ve done this the Monday after decision day.
After over 50 years of watching soccer I can say without hesitation that Ernst Tanner has done an excellent job for the Union Yes, Curtain kind of grew on me, but I didn’t believe he had enough imagination to counter an excellent team with an excellent coach Kind of like Buddy Ryan vs Joe Gibbs Tanner needs to hire that type of coach one who has a knack for making the proper adjustments, for and during a big game
What good coach will come here if the team isn’t willing to provide him with players who can compete?
I never thought Jim was any better than an average coach, honestly. It is clear that rapport with (most of) his squad was his strength. And there were some players (e.g. Quinn Sullivan) whom he seemed to get a lot out of.
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But he had major weaknesses as a coach, the biggest being:
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1. Substitutions — These were almost always set in advance, rarely varied, and only very occasionally provided the spark the team needed if they were behind.
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2. Tactics — He knew a couple of ways to play, and that’s how we played. When an opposing manager changed things up at the half, you could not expect Jim to have much of an answer. He relied on the players to just play our system, as best they could, regardless of what was happening on the field.
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3. The Doghouse — In the end, this was probably his biggest weakness. If Jim decided he didn’t like you, you were not likely to get the chance to prove him wrong. Sometimes guys ended up in the doghouse who deserved it (e.g. Joaquin Torres). But there were quite a number who went on to play very well elsewhere, including Keegan Rosenberry and Auston Trusty.
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Yet the most damning resident of the doghouse, in my mind, is Tai Baribo. With every goal he scored this year, he made Curtin look more and more foolish for his extended snit in parking him behind Chris Donovan. And in the end, this latter is the reason why I cannot say I regret his firing. When you take a guy for whom management paid a good transfer fee, and stick him behind a guy who is clearly not an MLS-caliber player, without even giving him a decent change to show what he can do, then you are not managing your team properly.
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I am quite shocked by this news, and I’m not pumping my fist, but neither can I say I am upset about it. I will look forward to see what somebody else can do with a retooled squad.
But will it be retooled?
Good article and good comment here. I’m willing to hear arguments for the dismissal as we’ve often criticized him for these habits. Still, not the agent of change I would’ve lead with after this season. But now Ernst gets to put his stink on it, destroy the culture the team had — I know destroy is strong, but not many like him in the org so, you don’t have much of an argument for a softer word — and remake it into something else. If it doesn’t work, oh well. We’re already prepared for the rebuild at a mediocre level. Further dissent is inevitable
Maybe tai started to work harder in both practice and in games because he learned to work harder by sitting ….
Just a quick note, in hindsight m, it’s nice to have been there for Jim’s first and last matches. For anyone in that Hack to Jim era, the bar was low. We’ve a lot of memories and I appreciate his tenure. A cynic would say a better org wouldn’t have kept him this long. He was able to mature and deserve the accolades and endear himself to many.
Thank you Jim for putting up with us SOBs.
SDFC is probably interested in someone who can work with an Academy…
Good Luck to you in the Future
Well… what now?
DOOP !
I’m excited about the move. It’s been a long time coming. I’d like to see this team focus on possession a bit more, like a Columbus. We can’t counter attack every time we have possession. We need a more explosive and possessive number attacking mid in my opinion. And, a new central defense. I think to be a true counter attacking team you have to have immaculate touch and control at your feet and with the ball, which the union haven’t quite mastered. Hopefully they will bring in a couch with a different mindset with strategy and who will actually open his mouth on the sideline and more competent when subbing.
Well I’ve got bad news for you. One of the two reasons Tanner listed for Jim being fired was that we didn’t press enough. So if you thought last season didn’t feature enough possession (I’m in this boat as well) next year should be even more difficult to watch.
My opinion is that the MLS wants to be a selling league and it needs to be a selling league to be relevant on the world stage.
If the head coach won’t play the young guys, that hinders the club in trying to sell those players. If the Union are not selling players, they’re not making money for the future.
I see it as Ernst is the CO and Jim was the XO, but the XO was a problem for the CO so he had to go. The Union have to sell players or they won’t remain sustainable. I think Union fans think it’s all about winning and that’s not the reality for club operations. “Sell or Starve” is the unfortunate truth for lower leagues like MLS.