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Nashville SC announces three additions to coaching staff under B.J. Callaghan
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- Nashville SC announces three additions to coaching staff under B.J. Callaghan
Nashville SC announced three additions to its technical staff Wednesday as the club prepares for its first full season under coach B.J. Callaghan .
Michael Nsien joins Callaghan's staff as an assistant coach, and Danny Cepero has been hired as Nashville 's goalkeeper coach. Robert Butler will serve as director of high performance.
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Nsien was previously the coach of the United States Under-19 men's national team and also coached the U.S. U-16 team, a position he held from 2022-23. He spent four years on the coaching staff of USL Championship club FC Tulsa from 2018-22 and played for the Portland Timbers when the club competed in the USL.
Cepero also has USMYNT experience, having been the goalkeeper coach for the U-17 squad from 2021-23. A former goalie for the New York Red Bulls , Cepero coached in college at Florida Gulf Coast (2013-17) and Louisville (2013-17). He spent the past six years with New York City FC , most recently as an assistant coach for the club's MLS Next Pro affiliate NYCFC II.
Nsien and Cepero replace Kosuke Kimura and Matt Pickens , respectively. Kimura and Pickens coached under Gary Smith and remained on staff after Smith was fired midway through the 2024 season, but departed the club after the season ended.
New Nashville SC assistant coach Michael Nsien was previously the head coach of the United States U-19 national team.
In Callaghan, Nsien, Cepero and John Bello , who was hired as assistant coach in July, Nashville has four coaches who have been part of the United States national team program. Callaghan was a USMNT assistant under Gregg Berhalter from 2019-24 and acted as interim coach during the summer of 2023.
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Butler spent eight years as the director of performance for the St. Louis Cardinals in Major League Baseball. Before that, he was a professor at Duke and worked for the FIFA Medical Center of Excellence. Butler holds a Ph.D. in biomechanics and movement science from Delaware.
MORE: Here's how much Nashville SC players made in 2024 according to the MLS salary guide
Nashville, which went 9-16-9 last season and missed the playoffs for the first time in five seasons as an MLS team, opens the 2025 season on Feb. 22 against the New England Revolution at Geodis Park.
Players report for preseason training Saturday and will depart for training camp in Florida a day later. Nashville faces the U.S. U-20 national team on Jan. 18 in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, in the first of six exhibitions it will play before the regular season.
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Jacob Shames can be reached by email at jshames@gannett.com and on Twitter @Jacob_Shames.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Nashville SC announces three additions to BJ Callaghan coaching staff
