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
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