Photo: Earl Gardner

Should Jim Curtin remain Philadelphia Union’s head coach for the 2018 season?

Now that the season is done, it’s time to ask that question. Again.

You’ve watched the team. You know the results this year. Curtin’s career MLS record is as follows:

2014: 7-5-6 (6th place, East; 1.5 ppg; runner-up, U.S. Open Cup)

2015: 10-17-7 (9th place, East; 1.09 ppg; runner-up, U.S. Open Cup)

2016: 11-14-9 (6th place, East; 1.24 ppg; knocked out of MLS playoffs first round)

2017: 11-14-9 (8th place, East; 1.24 ppg)

Total: 38-50-31 (1.22 ppg)

Readers’ poll

Please vote in the poll and explain your vote in the Comments section below.

Should Jim Curtin return as Philadelphia Union's head coach for the 2018 season? Yes

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PSP writers’ views

We asked PSP writers for their views on whether Curtin should coach the Union in 2018. With so many Union fans and PSP readers talking about this, it’s not really a question we could avoid if we want to maintain credibility with our readers.

Here’s what our writers have to say.

Peter Andrews: No.

There are two questions you have to ask if you’re going to fire a manager:

Is the manager actively making the team better? Are the manager’s decisions contributing to a long-term plan?

For Curtin, the answer to both questions is no.

Curtin’s tactical inflexibility, stagnant rotations, and inability to make in-game adjustments prevent the Union from becoming more than just the sum of its parts. Further, Curtin’s preference for veterans and poor handling of young players mean that he is actively impeding the club’s stated goal of developing talent from within the system. After watching what has happened to the Union’s youth this season, it’s tough to say that Curtin should be entrusted with Anthony Fontana.

Curtin’s service to the club should be commended, but it’s time for Earnie Stewart to install his preferred coach — one from outside the organization, and with previous experience as a top-flight manager.

Tim Jones: Yes.

Jim Curtin should return for the 2018 season.

Earnie Stewart will remake the Union’s foundation before acquiring creative difference-makers. Given 2017 contracts, he wants two more years to complete his foundation, since several currently contracted players have reached their developmental ceilings. The transformation will occur after the foundation is laid.

Stewart’s concept for the organization’s decision-makers is integrated teamwork supervising all levels. The Union Academy’s school, its teams, Bethlehem Steel FC, and the Union carefully consider every decision’s implications for all. Stewart fosters the cooperation, coordination and teamwork necessary to realize a single underlying philosophy. Disrupting that teamwork is premature until the foundation’s completion allows a first-team coaching change a chance to strive for a champion.

Seeing the first-team practice on Sep. 30, the players still enjoy each other’s company on the pitch, they play for each other, and in the face of poor results they remain united. Jim Curtin builds and maintains team unity. Before you throw that away, speak aloud two words: “Peter Novak.”

Jim O’Leary: No.

Let’s take Earnie Stewart’s commitment to youth development at face value.

If building talent is the Union’s philosophy, then Jim Curtin clearly isn’t on the same page. Keegan Rosenberry is rotting on the vine, Derrick Jones rarely found the field after a promising start to 2017, and we still haven’t seen Auston Trusty play for the Union.

With three games left after being eliminated from the playoffs, Curtin fielded the same lineup that failed to get results all season rather than test these young players. That isn’t to say they would have wowed us all with their formidable skills and singlehandedly saved the season. Odds are that none would have changed the results of those final three games. But at least everyone –the coaching staff, the players themselves, and even the fans – would have an idea of where they are in their development and what they need to work on to become ready for MLS competition.

As much fun as it was to beat Orlando 6-1, it would have been significantly more valuable to learn about these players, even if it led to a meaningless home loss.

Instead, like so many times before, Curtin was completely inflexible tactically. He refuses to change, and as long as he’s at the helm, it seems likely the Union’s fortunes won’t change either.

Matt McClain: Yes.

Yes, Jim Curtin should return as Union head coach in 2018.

In MLS, it is crucial to win your home games, and Curtin did just that by setting a new franchise record for home victories. It may be a fair argument that a better road record could have placed the Union in a playoff race for that final spot. A worrisome aspect of the season was the team’s inconsistency and an inability to hold onto draws.

The front office decision to be frugal once again this season proved to be the deciding factor for the team. A head coach can only do so much with his roster, and Curtin hit a wall this season due to a lack of skilled players. Curtin’s history within the organization serves as another reason for one more season.

The organization should give Curtin one final shot to reach the playoffs. 2018 should be a playoff or bust year with no excuses.

Chris Gibbons: No.

Jim Curtin is the youngest coach in MLS but among the most tenured. One of the primary knocks on him is his system inflexibility, which might be a function of his relative youth, though it can’t be chalked up to inexperience anymore. Every iteration of his squad has been fatally flawed, it’s clear, but the same can be said for every team in the history of the league. Earnie Stewart’s guidance didn’t suddenly make him wiser, unfortunately.

In response to an evermore apathetic fan base, it’s probably time for him to move on. The data say his departure won’t make the team better, but he’s becoming a talisman for decreasing engagement, and that’s not a good place for a coach to be.

Dan Walsh: No.

It’s probably time to move on.

That seems unfair in some ways. The Union were the only team with a positive goal differential to miss the playoffs this year. They were best in the East last year until they suddenly and unexpectedly lost Vincent Nogueira. Had Nogueira stayed, he and Tranquillo Barnetta might have led the Union to a conference title in 2016, and this would be a different story. But Nogueira didn’t, and then Barnetta left. The failure to replace Barnetta lies with Earnie Stewart and Jay Sugarman, not Curtin, who managed this season without a key, necessary piece.

But Curtin still had plenty of time and ways to prove himself.

Curtin has demonstrated a consistent lack of flexibility and creativity and mismanaged his young talent. Every significant under-25 player from last year’s team regressed in 2017, and that’s a deal-killer for a club whose supposed philosophy is to develop young talent.

Almost everyone likes Curtin off the field. He carries himself like a man should. I particularly loved everything he said about the national anthem protests. But you also have to win enough games on the field. It’s a tough call, and I’m torn on it, but something has to change.

Editor’s note: We included these write-ups in the same post as the poll because we thought it best to centralize the inevitable reader discussion in one place.