Nashville SC missed the playoffs and wrapped their season a month earlier than usual. A disappointing end to a very disappointing season means big changes are potentially coming to the squad. The first sign of said changes was Nashville’s roster decisions, which brought some surprises.
To discuss these changes and in anticipation of 2025, Broadway Sports Media‘s Valair Shabilla sat down with Head Coach BJ Callaghan, General Manager Mike Jacobs and CEO Ian Ayre. Our exclusive interview with BJ Callaghan kicks off our three-part series. Come back tomorrow for parts two and three.
Answers have been lightly edited for clarity.
Valair Shabilla: Now that the season is over, have you been able to find some areas for improvement?
BJ Callaghan: Yeah, I think for me, we’re constantly learning and we’re constantly, sort of, getting feedback whether it’s through our own analysis or through the players.
So we feel really confident in the foundation that we’ve been able to build and the core principles that we want to play with, and now it’s about moving on to the details. I think the details from an individual standpoint, from a unit standpoint, from a team standpoint are just going to lead to consistency.
And for me that’s where I think our biggest growth area is, we have the foundation set and what we want to look to next season is becoming a more consistent group doing what we say we want to do.
VS: Are you excited to have a preseason with the squad?
BC: Yeah, we are definitely excited. That’s going to be the team for the year, that’s the group that you’re working with, the players on and off the field create connections and bonds. The messaging, and for us, the strengthening of the culture is where it all happens before you have to get into the real competitive matches.
It’s also the place that you can make mistakes and you can try things. For us that’s also part of the learning and the growing, to have the opportunity to make mistakes. So we are able to communicate through all that and we will be able to learn from all that so that it’s really our best foot forward as we open up.
VS: What is the collaboration like with Mike Jacobs and the Front Office?
BC: Yeah, I mean, the collaboration has been tremendous. We are meeting a ton.
And it’s about going through every single position and, I would say, that it’s about building the core. What it means to be a Nashville player, first and foremost. There’s, I would call, non-negotiable qualities that every player, whether it’s on our current roster or the targets that we’re going to try to recruit from, that they have to have.
And then you get into more positional-specific pieces that build that actual profile. And I think when you have clarity with that, then that allows the scouting department and the data department to build data profiles and video profiles and really not get caught in the clutter and stay really, really focused and at the same time have really detailed conversations because we know exactly what we’re looking for. The challenge is then to just go find it.
VS: Is there a player or two you are particularly excited about? We saw you give more opportunities to younger players.
BC: I mean, I wouldn’t say that there’s a specific player. I think we saw that giving young players opportunities like Jonny Pérez, Julian Gaines, I think they showed that they belong at this level, and they belong in the MLS. I think that they took very big steps forward/
