NASHVILLE - Nashville Soccer Club has named Gary Smith head coach for its inaugural Major League Soccer season, choosing the man currently leading the franchise's United Soccer League team to oversee the transition to the highest level of American soccer in 2020.
Ian Ayre, Nashville SC's chief executive officer, said in a release Wednesday that the search for an MLS coach kept returning to Smith as the best candidate for the team because he understands American soccer and has experience working with both U.S. and international players.
Smith, 50, won the 2010 MLS Cup title with the Colorado Rapids, becoming the first - and, to date, only - English coach to lead a team to the championship. He was hired in April 2017 to coach Nashville's USL team, and he led the franchise to the USL Cup playoffs last season, when it was one of three teams outside of MLS among the final 16 in the U.S. Open Cup.