NASHVILLE, TN - Nashville SC announced the appointment of Darren Powell as the club's new Academy Director on Wednesday. Powell, 52, has spent nearly three decades coaching soccer in the United States.
"I am excited to join the Nashville SC Academy and very much appreciate the opportunity to work with the staff, players, and parents,” said Powell in the club's press release. “I am thankful to everyone involved in the interview process, including Ian Ayre, Mike Jacobs, and BJ Callaghan, and for their insights into the Academy and the vision for its growth. We all look forward to inspiring and developing players on the club's pathway to the First Team.”
A native of Nottingham in England, Powell played at the University of North Carolina Greensboro before beginning his coaching career at Greensboro College in 1998. He moved to Elon University in 2005, coaching there for nearly a decade, where he overlapped with current Nashville defender Dan Lovitz.
In 2014, Powell was named Academy Director of Orlando City, where coached the U-23 and U-18 squads, producing five homegrown players for the first team and being named US Soccer Development Academy’s most-improved Academy in 2015. In 2016, he moved to the USL Championship, taking charge of San Antonio FC as their head coach and technical director, where he served for four seasons.
In 2020, Powell moved to Inter Miami. Until 2023 he worked in multiple roles there, including Academy Director, Inter Miami CF II head coach, First Team Assistant Coach and Director of Player Development. Powell moved to Lexington SC, where he worked as head coach in 2024, after which he transitioned to a leadership role on the technical staff.
“Darren has a tremendous track record of helping develop pro player pathways within Major League Soccer, and he has played a chief role in helping grow future First Team players,” said Nashville SC General Manager Mike Jacobs. “We are very excited to have someone with Darren’s level of experience within the MLS ecosystem and throughout every level of the game here in the United States.”
Nashville currently have three homegrown players signed to first team contracts, and are continuing to develop a pipeline of players from their academy through Huntsville City FC in MLS NEXT Pro, and ultimately to the first team.
