The Philadelphia Union fired longtime head coach Jim Curtin on Thursday, ending his decade-long stint leading the team. The Union missed the MLS Cup Playoffs this season for the first time since 2017, finishing 12th in the Eastern Conference. It was a precipitous decline after reaching the 2022 MLS Cup final, although a series of injuries significantly derailed their hopes this season.
Curtin has long been synonymous with the Union: the team is the only one he has coached and is the team’s longest-serving coach. He took over as head coach in June 2014, just four years into their expansion season. The Pennsylvania native has also been on the Union’s books since June 2010, when he was hired as academy coach. He was promoted to assistant coach ahead of the 2013 season by then head coach John Hackworth, who took over from Hackowrth on an interim basis after poor form to start the 2014 season.
During his spell as interim, Curtin’s Union lost only six of their remaining fifteen matches and reached the final of the US Open Cup, leading to the club rewarding him with the role of head coach on a full-time basis.
The Union’s faith in Curtin was ultimately rewarded with a Supporters’ Shield win in 2020, the club’s first and only trophy to date. They were also runners-up in the 2022 MLS Cup, as well as finalists in the 2014, 2015 and 2018 US Open Cup finals.
Although Curtin signed a new long-term contract just over a year ago, their run of just nine games in 2024 was one of the Union’s worst results in recent years.
Curtin is now the eighth head coach to be fired in MLS this season, and the Union position is now one of four in the league currently vacant.