Former Louisville City FC coach returning in new role

James O'Connor, who led Louisville City FC to its first USL championship in 2017, has returned to the local soccer operation in a new capacity: executive vice president of development.

O'Connor's official duties will include the establishment of Louisville City's soccer academy and hiring staff for its expansion National Women's Soccer League franchise, Proof Louisville FC, which is due to begin play in 2021. Louisville City FC President Brad Estes said O'Connor will not be directly involved with the men's team and will not coach the women's team, but will focus instead on infrastructure and front office matters.

"For us, it’s about culture," Estes said. "His culture is exactly what we aspire to be: hard-working, blue-collar. It’s an organization-first mentality. That will translate from the field to the front office without question. And, candidly, we’re really excited to have that kind of mentality."

Candidly, too, it also creates the appearance of added pressure on John Hackworth, O'Connor's successor as Louisville City's head coach.

"I wouldn’t say we had to reassure (Hackworth)," Estes said. "(But) We had those conversations. We talked with Coach Hackworth before any decisions on this, but we didn’t have to reassure him. We just had a conversation about what (O'Connor's) role is going to be. He's an extremely club-oriented person as well."

In its press release announcing O'Connor's hiring Monday morning, Louisville City included a statement from Hackworth endorsing the move. "On a personal level," Hackworth said, "I am excited to collaborate with James as we develop our club."

Reached by telephone Monday afternoon, however, Hackworth's enthusiasm was more measured. While praising O'Connor as "an upstanding individual in our sport" who has "clearly had a massive influence in our city," Hackworth recognizes his hiring could be interpreted as an implicit threat.

"I’m not going to lie and say that it’s not an interesting situation," he said. "I knew I had big shoes to fill when I came here. And there are certainly going to be people that immediately think this is an interesting situation. I think we all have to trust what our role is with the club and be humble about what specific jobs we’re doing.

"My hope is that it turns out to be exactly what John (Neace) and James and I think it’s going to be, a very collaborative process where we’re all ending up in successful situations. The hard part is I’ve been in this game long enough to know that sometimes things don’t always go the way you expect and then some of the optics are difficult."

O'Connor compiled a 71-28-26 record in four years as the founding coach of Louisville City FC, leaving midway through its 2018 USL championship season for the chance to coach Major League Soccer's Orlando City franchise. But after compiling an overall record of 11-27-13, and twice finishing 11th in the MLS' 12-team Eastern Division, O'Connor was fired in October.

"That was really interesting," O'Connor said Monday of his Orlando tenure. "That was tough. There’s some aspects I’m not able to speak much about. It becomes difficult from a public standpoint to go into too much detail. . .

"Every experience you go through, if you’re sensible you use that to make you stronger and to steel yourself moving forward. That’s something I’ve unquestionably done."

Now 40, O'Connor stopped short of declaring his coaching career over, but referred to the Louisville job as "a wonderful opportunity that I couldn't turn down."

O'Connor's short-term priorities include the hiring of a coach for Proof Louisville FC by the end of the year and establishing a structure for Louisville's soccer academy, a development program designed to serve as a feeder system for the USL team.

More: Beginning season on the road is nothing new for LouCity coach John Hackworth

"I think that’s something that’s really important," he said, "to give us the opportunity to be able to develop local talent and keep them here in Louisville. Quite often a lot of good young players end up leaving and going to different academies. We want to create a academy where people stay; where they go to the academy and hopefully play with the first team.

"There's so much involved with the academy alone, then with the NWSL as regards to the buildout from a staffing standpoint. There’s so much to be done on that side, I honestly don’t have time to be doing anything else."

O'Connor commended Hackworth for "an incredible job" in leading Louisville City back to the USL Championship game in 2019. He promised he would not be looking over his successor's shoulder.

"I'll crack on with what I need to be cracking on with," he said.

Hackworth said he believes Louisville City chairman John Neace trusts both O'Connor and himself, recognizing that faith can be fluid in professional sports.

"Part of this is I’m overly confident in my own ability," he said. "And I say that knowing that’s bitten me in the ass a couple times in my career already. So again, maybe I’m just too arrogant to learn my lessons from the past. (But) I also know my biggest objective in terms of working is being with quality people.

"I think James is a quality person, therefore I’ve got to take a positive approach and look forward to the opportunity rather than any possibilities that could go wrong."

Tim Sullivan: 502-582-4650, tsullivan@courier-journal.com; Twitter: @TimSullivan714. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: courier-journal.com/tims.