Last season, Philadelphia Union Head coach Jim Curtin was on the hot seat, but this year he has righted the ship.

When Earnie Stewart took control of football operations for the Philadelphia Union it wouldn’t have been a surprise for him to let Jim Curtin go on the heels of a disappointing season. Last year the Union finished 10-12-12.

There were issues with Curtin’s substitution policy (or lack thereof) as well as the general style of play that the team would adopt. Those are growing pains for the youngest coach in the league as he works to build his coaching philosophy. Before Earnie Stewart joined the team, he met with all the coaches and technical staffers to get a read on how he’d like to move in personnel decisions.

It would have been easy for Stewart to let Curtin go and bring in “his guys” but he saw something in Curtin that he liked. Curtin is a young coach who’s eager to learn and can also be molded to fit Stewart’s system. If Stewart brought in a new coach he would have to convince them to buy into his system and hope that they would work well in it.

With a young coach, there isn’t a buying in period, Stewart could say, “I’d like the team to play this way. Can you do it?” And Curtin would be judged on his abilities to fit that system. As Stewart’s first season winds down it’s safe to say that Curtin has passed that test.

While he still has some issues with substitutions (recently not using them) Curtin has gotten much better at commuting his technical directions to the squad on the pitch. At times the pressing system has been beautiful and it should only get better next year as everyone becomes more comfortable with it.

Curtin is also growing as a coach in other ways. Being the youngest coach in the league he has a long way to go in his coaching career. Starting out young means that Curtin has time to grow into his role and become one of the premier coaches in US Soccer as a whole. He sees this opportunity and has taken advantage of the coaching courses that the United States Soccer Federation (USSF) offers.

For a quick breakdown, there are seven levels of the USSF coaching ladder with the top level being at MLS. To progress up those levels you must take and pass coaching courses earning badges along the way. Think about it as the Boy Scouts with a little more added in. Just because you’ve reached the top level doesn’t mean that these courses are done, however.