Extol February-March 2019 | Page 29

EXERT & EXHALE Picking Up Where He Left Off Louisville City FC Head Coach John “Hack” Hackworth is ready for 2019 BY KEVIN KERNEN | PHOTO COURTESY LOUISVILLE CITY FC When former Louisville City FC Head Coach James O’Connor left for Major League Soccer’s Orlando City on June 28, 2018, a sizable gap was left his wake. O’Connor was not only head coach for the club but also served as the de facto general manager. He had led the team in 125 matches, assembled the squad from the ground up and built a winning tradition that produced a 2017 United Soccer League Championship. In his absence, Louisville City FC appointed a trio of players in an interim capacity: George Davis IV, Paolo del Piccolo and Luke Spencer. The Triumvirate, as they became known, were tasked to steady a ship that had been set adrift in the waning days of the previous regime. Eight games and six weeks later, Louisville City FC announced the signing of their new head coach, John Hackworth. Hack, as many call him, picked up right where the caretakers left off, winning eight of the last 13 games of the regular season and guiding the squad to a fourth straight top-two finish in the regular season before dominating the USL Cup Playoffs and hoisting the USL Cup after the championship game on November 8, 2018. But there is so much more to Hack’s hiring than the flashy passing and winning soccer. Yes, Hackworth brought a wealth of experience at the youth, club and senior international level. He has innumerable connections. But the real impact the 49-year-old brings cannot be quantified in wins or championships. It is not the laundry list of talent that he has had a hand in producing It is in his unyielding pursuit of both success and development. A player himself at the collegiate and professional level, Hackworth started building his coaching experience while he was still amidst his playing career. A defender by trade, John characterized his own play as fearless and energetic, developing sizably in his college days at Wake Forest, where he played EXTOL : FEBRUARY/MARCH 2019 27