B.J. Callaghan:  “I’ve always had ambitions to be a head coach. If I’m being honest with you, would I say at the time to be the head coach of the U.S. men’s national team? No, probably not.” (USA TODAY Sports)

By Michael Lewis

FrontRowSoccer.com Editor

Someone who had no aspirations to become U.S. men’s national team head coach suddenly finds himself leading the squad in two most important competitions of the season.

B.J. Callaghan, who was announced as the new coach on Tuesday, was thrust into the interim role when the previous interim boss, Anthony Hudson, took a head coaching job with a Middle Eastern club.

Callaghan knew something was in the works, but he didn’t think it would happen so soon.

“Anthony and I’ve worked close together for a long time,” he said during a Thursday afternoon Zoom media call. “When you work alongside colleagues, you’re always talking about your personal ambitions. So, I don’t think it was ever a surprise to me that Anthony had personal ambitions to be a head coach again at the club level. I knew that these were the opportunities that he was looking towards but I certainly didn’t know that it was going to happen this quickly and this immediately.”

He will run the Americans’ show during the Concacaf Nations League Final Four (the U.S. meets Mexico in Las Vegas on June 15, and will play either Canada or Panama in the final or third-place match on June 18 and then the Concacaf Gold Cup (from June 16-July 16).

Callaghan said that he learned about what transpired last Friday morning, at the start of the Memorial Day weekend. He was going to take his daughter to a lacrosse tournament in North Carolina. That’s when U.S. Soccer sporting director Matt Crocker told him the news, “and asked me if I was willing to step up.”

“I think you have to practice what you preach,” he said. “I know it does sound cliche, but in professional sports, there’s a lot of changes in a short amount of time. We constantly say next man up, next man up. At this point in time, my number was called, and I’m honored to have the opportunity to step up.”

And no, he never had his sights set on the big job.

“I’m somebody who doesn’t try to get out too far ahead of the job that I’m doing,” Callaghan said. “I think I’ve done a good job of always being in the moment in the present.

“I want to do the best job that I can. I want to provide as much value to the team in the job that I’m doing. Yes, I’ve always had ambitions to be a head coach. If I’m being honest with you, would I say at the time to be the head coach of the U.S. men’s national team? No, probably not. But I can tell you that I’m honored with the opportunity right now. It’s something I don’t take lightly. I understand the responsibility of this job.”

Born in Ventnor City, N.J. Callaghan has been involved with soccer just about his entire life, “discovering” the USMNT at the 1994 World Cup.

“I’m from New Jersey, so the 94 World Cup has lots of Jersey guys on it,” he said, who added that he had coached with Mike Sorber, a member of that USA side that competed at USA 94.

Callaghan, 41, who has been an assistant coach for most of his career but said that hasn’t changed his approach to the game. Before becoming an assistant under former head coach Gregg Berhalter, he worked under Jim Curtin at the Philadelphia Union.

“I would say the roles that I’ve had on staffs, whether it was with Philadelphia or with the opportunity with Gregg, and then lastly, with Anthony, I’ve always tried to sit in the chair with my head coaching hat on, thinking about it, challenging head coaches on different aspects.

“Over that period of time, I’ve been lucky to be intimately involved in almost every aspect of these teams that I’ve been part of. So, you have that type of experience in the operation of it, whether it’s the game planning, or the culture building and the management of the staff.”

Now, everything begins and ends with Callaghan, at least through the Gold Cup.

“We all know that the next biggest piece is now the buck stops with me,” he said. “That’s the piece that I have to step up on. That’s the piece that in this short period of time that I’ve been preparing for. The final decision rests with me. But it’s something that I think over the time and how I’ve been integral pieces of the other steps I’ve been part of that I’m prepared for.”

Callaghan became the third person to guide the national side since Dec. 31, when Berhalter’s contract expired. Hudson was named as the interim coach who was supposed to direct the team through the summer tournaments.

He said that he has spoken to Berhalter, who still is a candidate to be U.S. head coach.

“Greg is somebody that I hold in high regard,” Callaghan said. “We were obviously coaching colleagues, but we’re also friends. We talk a lot. He’s somebody that I bounce ideas off of, but in no way would he ever step over the line of telling people to pick or anything like that. He’s a man of too much integrity ever do that.”

Callaghan said that he didn’t have the possibility of becoming permanent head coach on his radar.

“No, that’s not something that I’m focused on,” he said. “I’m completely focused on making sure that we provide a great environment for our players, one that they’re familiar with, and really just remaining to be the continuity and the glue. I value myself of being like a culture-glue guy. I just want to be a familiar voice, be myself with the players, so that we can all have a great, great Nations League tournament, a great Gold Cup tournament. And they can all be prepared again to have success as they all … [begin] the journey for the 2026 World Cup.”

Front Row Soccer editor Michael Lewis has covered 13 World Cups (eight men, five women), seven Olympics and 25 MLS Cups. He has written about New York City FC, New York Cosmos, the New York Red Bulls and both U.S. national teams for Newsday and has penned a soccer history column for the Guardian.com. Lewis, who has been honored by the Press Club of Long Island and National Soccer Coaches Association of America, is the former editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. He has written seven books about the beautiful game and has published ALIVE AND KICKING The incredible but true story of the Rochester Lancers. It is available at Amazon.com.