NASHVILLE, TN - In just 24 days, BJ Callaghan will begin his first full season as a head coach at any level.
The 43-year-old New Jersey native was hired by Nashville SC last summer after two decades as an assistant, at the collegiate level, with the Philadelphia Union, and with the U.S. National Team. Along with Callaghan comes a hard pivot to "Nashville SC 2.0", a re-worked top-down philosophical shift towards a more modern, ball-dominant, youth-developing style of play.
Ahead of a monumental campaign in an increasingly competitive league, Callaghan sat down with SixOneFive Soccer's Ben Wright at the club's Antioch training center to discuss his journey to become an MLS head coach, his vision for the club and what "uniquely Nashville" means, and what success looks like for the club in 2025.
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
SixOneFive Soccer: First of all, how did you initially get into soccer? How did you start with the game, and was coaching always on your radar?
BJ Callaghan: I think I started soccer just like I think most kids in America. It was the sport that my parents put me in when I was six or seven in the most local travel level that you could play. And I played all sports: soccer, baseball, basketball at the very recreational type of level. As I progressed and got older, I got more into the serious travel soccer and baseball and did both of them up through high school. It kind of transitioned that I went and just played college soccer. But it wasn't that I came from a soccer family or anything of that nature, it was just kind of the sport I was introduced to early in a very grassroots kind of level.
