LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Under the guidance of now-Orlando City SC manager James O’Connor, Louisville City FC established itself as a formidable juggernaut in the USL. Back-to-back runs to the conference finals in 2015 and 2016 followed by a league title in 2017 prove as much. And this season — mostly coached by O’Connor — the club sits in fourth place in the Eastern Conference with games in hand on multiple teams above it.

Enter new LouCity head coach John Hackworth, whose motto might as well be “maintain the status quo.” And why not? With the the club already shrouded in success at the USL level, ‘twoud arguably be foolish to implement drastic changes.

“I think he has a lot of confidence in who we are and what we’re able to do,” said player-coach George Davis IV, who shed the latter half of his job title upon Hackworth taking over. “If I had to guess, I would say he would come in here and try to make it better any way that he can. But I don’t see him coming in here and trying to reinvent the wheel because we’ve been successful, and I know he wants to carry on that tradition.”

But don’t expect the squad to be wholly sans tinkering under Hackworth. According to Indy Eleven head coach Martin Rennie, LouCity supporters might witness at least one mildly significant tweak: the formation. While it certainly could’ve been orchestrated by the current trio of player-coaches, Indy’s manager noticed something following his team’s 2-2 draw with LouCity on Aug. 5 at Louisville Slugger Field.

“I coached with him in MLS,” Rennie said of Hackworth. “He was at Philadelphia while I was at Vancouver. So yeah, I think he’s a good coach and I’m sure he’ll do a good job here. It’ll be interesting to see how he adjusts things. Obviously, (in our game on Aug. 5) the system changed for the team, so I’m assuming he asked for that to happen.

“I think it was more of a back four — 4-2-3-1. (There’s) a lot of the similar style of play and similar problems to solve, but it’s obviously different than a back three. I think we’ve become so used to Louisville playing that back three system and they’ve done it well, so it’s probably a little adjustment for them as well.”

Hackworth arrived in Louisville with a breadth of experience. In addition to his MLS tenure, he previously coached at the collegiate level at Wake Forest and South Florida. Hackworth’s most recent stop was managing the U17 U.S. men’s national team.

“One of the things that I personally like is he’s spent the past several years developing players,” said player-coach-turned-just-player-again Luke Spencer. “The locker room is full of guys who want to get better, and he’s somebody who can certainly come in and make that happen.”

So, how much noticeable change — if any — will occur on Hackworth’s watch? The answer might be revealed sooner rather than later. Hackworth will make his debut roaming the touchline in LouCity purple at 7:30 p.m. ET tonight when his side hosts Nashville SC.

“Every coach has their own way they want to play. His way is an attractive style. But he’s not going to be James, he’s not going to be anyone else in the locker room. He knows what he likes. We’re going to buy into it.”

Just don’t expect a new iteration of the wheel.

Follow Kevin on Twitter: @KJboxing.

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