The non-negotiables: Jim Curtin's blueprint for success at Austin FC
On Tuesday, Jim Curtin laid out his vision for how he'll coach at Austin FC. But when exactly will he get started?
It took just a few minutes to get from platitudes to pragmatism on Tuesday morning, when new Austin FC head coach Jim Curtin met with Austin media for the first time, but then we got direct from him how he expects the team to play when he officially takes over ahead of the 2027 sprint season.
There will be a time to talk specific tactics and formations, he reassured us, but in laying out his vision for how he wants to play, we got a refreshing, clear-eyed vision of principles that can manifest specifically on the field.
Let's walk through them.
'We will be compact'
It's telling that Curtin went defense first in discussing his style of play, but it makes sense given how excellent his teams have been defensively. When the Union were nearly unstoppable in 2022, his team gave up just 26 goals in 34 matches while scoring 72. By contrast, Verde's given up 31 goals in just 15 matches in 2026, so far.
"We will be compact ... from Brandon Vázquez to our center backs," he said. "It's going to be 30 to 35 yards maximum at all times. I think, right now, maybe you see them get a little too stretched and open in MLS. That happens a lot, and that's where you see the randomness. So, I'm a big believer in being compact. Simply put, all that means is all the players are closer to each other to help each other. We want to win balls and get to goal as quickly as possible, score as many goals as possible, create as much excitement for the fans as possible. It's a very simple part, and you do that by being very compact and together with our pressing."
Note that pressing's part of the reason for doing this — so look for a distinct stylistic change from what Austin FC's deployed before. It's not that Verde never pressed, but there was a lot of emphasis, especially in the Josh Wolff era, of using possession to displace an opponent.
Get you 11 men who can do both
Curtin also emphasized the buy-in needed for everyone on the field to play both offense and defense — which isn't remarkable in and of itself, but becomes more interesting once he provides rationale.
"We want all 11 players to attack, we want all 11 players to defend," he said. "That's a non-negotiable for me. Everybody has to be fully committed on that. And what you'll see is when the strikers work their tails off defensively, all of a sudden they get the easy goals and the tap-ins, and we win the ball higher up the field, closer to our goal, and it becomes ... I don't want to say easy, because scoring is difficult, but we will create a lot of chances and be very dangerous as a group.
"You'll see anytime a team plays a negative pass against Austin FC, we will press that pass," he continued. "It will be clear from the stands. You guys will see it in the press box. That will be 100% non-negotiable. If they play negative, we are coming at you. We're going towards your goal to win the ball back. Any straight pass in the midfield, you'll see us as well. We will press that pass defensively now. When a ball goes past you, there has to be a recovery sprint, right? And we can measure that through analytics and data. Right now, there's nowhere to hide, so we'll keep a tight eye on that."
Targeting the weakest link
Curtin also revealed a key principal for his attack.
"We will also relentlessly attack our opponent's weakest link," he said. "We will find that weakest link. Sometimes it's one player, sometimes it's a part of the field, but you'll see us, and we did it in Philly, and had a lot of success. We will relentlessly go at that weakest link, we'll use data and analytics to pinpoint it and find it, but it's pro sports. We're going to be ruthless in attacking that weakest part of the field, and there still are weaknesses in MLS, so that's a big one for me."
The three Rs
He closed out with what he called "the three Rs" — which, while not exactly rolling off the tongue, do provide some insight as to how else he'll set up the team for success.
Those are:
The Red Zone
He explains that it's "the area of the field where, if you connect the six-yard box to the top of the 18, that's where 87% of goals are scored in MLS. We are going to defend that with our lives. You'll see it painted on all our training grounds now on the field, where that red zone is something that we protect and defend with our lives.
"And conversely, on offense, we're going to put as many balls into that area as possible," he added. "It's exciting for the fans. You'll see goals, good things happen when the ball is in the penalty area. Analytically, right now, I see a team in Austin that is at the very bottom of penalty area entry, so that will change. That's something that just very quickly I think we can tweak and make some adjustments with."
Rest defending
This is a familiar concept to those of you who paid attention to what Nico Estévez sought to work on while he was with the team, but Curtin defines this simply as "that means now am I in a good position on the field to put out a fire if there's a dangerous play?"
Restarts
Curtin, already tapped into an Austin FC strength this season, sees opportunity in corner kicks, free kicks, and throw-ins.
"You're going to see in this World Cup; I bet over 30% of the goals will come off of restarts," he asserted. "So, we will train them every day. In Philly, we were at the very top three in offensive and defensive restarts every year. I want to try to bring that to Austin, and sometimes the players will say, 'Ah, man, we're going to work on restarts every day. It's boring. It's this, it's that.' That means free kicks, corner kicks, throw-ins. We'll have a plan for those three phases at all times. It'll be detailed, it'll be clear.
"And once we start getting assists and goals off of those free kicks and corner kicks, and their statistics go up, and they make a Best 11 or an All-Star team, and the contract gets a little better, you'll see the players start to really, really embrace training restarts every day," he offered.
What does that mean right now?
Both Curtin and his players are in an unusual situation — most of them are on a World Cup break right now, though the club also announced Tuesday that Canada elevated Jayden Nelson to its 26-man roster after impressing in his audition to succeed an injured Marcelo Flores, and there's still a chance that Facundo Torres could be a late addition to Uruguay's roster as an injury sub for Giorgian De Arrascaeta, although reports have that possibility as less likely.
But Curtin won't officially join the squad in Austin until December once the 2026 season finishes, leaving interim coach Davy Arnaud to lead the team and perhaps infuse some of Curtin's ideas into the mix.
"Austin FC will be the top of my mind from the moment I wake up till the moment I fall asleep," Curtin made clear. "This is not a situation where I'm waiting till December one to start thinking about things. I spoke with Davy last night. Number one, the team is in incredible hands right now. Davy Arnaud is, number one, a great person, an incredible human being. He's a winner, he's a guy I hated playing against, trying to defend and chase around the field. He was a great competitor, a winner, and he's an incredible coach. So, the players are in great hands. I vocalized it to Davey last night.
"He knows what he's doing, of course," Curtin continued. "We'll share ideas, and we'll speak, and, but this is his group right now, and I want him to lead. It's a great opportunity for him, and he's going to do a great job with the group, getting them better each and every day. He's a coach that I want to be part of this thing moving forward, an incredible weapon for me to have, in terms of knows the city, loves the city, loves the team, loves the players, has a connection, and can help me navigate things. So that's been expressed and been, you know, relayed to him over the next six months."
It does, indeed, sound a bit like Arnaud could resume his "butler comes with the house" role that he had as an Estévez assistant following Wolff's dismissal. It's a bit early to tell whether that's indeed the future, but Curtin expressed confidence in the job Arnaud will do — indicating that perhaps there's still hope for a third Verde postseason appearance come November.
Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) wherever you get your podcasts.
On Friday, both the United States and Canada start their World Cup journeys with literal home matches. The tournament started Thursday with five goals and three red cards.
The World Cup is finally here! To kick off a daily feature we're doing because it's the duty of every soccer content creator, we're starting with Group A.
Jim Curtin, targeted as a top Austin FC head coaching hire per our reporting, was officially named club skipper on Monday. He'll start following the close of the 2026 season.
Austin FC has had just two head coaches in its history, not counting current interim Davy Arnaud. One key metric tells us that Verde could be doing better with one of its presumed target head coaches.
It took just a few minutes to get from platitudes to pragmatism on Tuesday morning, when new Austin FC head coach Jim Curtin met with Austin media for the first time, but then we got direct from him how he expects the team to play when he officially takes over ahead of the 2027 sprint season.
There will be a time to talk specific tactics and formations, he reassured us, but in laying out his vision for how he wants to play, we got a refreshing, clear-eyed vision of principles that can manifest specifically on the field.
Let's walk through them.
'We will be compact'
It's telling that Curtin went defense first in discussing his style of play, but it makes sense given how excellent his teams have been defensively. When the Union were nearly unstoppable in 2022, his team gave up just 26 goals in 34 matches while scoring 72. By contrast, Verde's given up 31 goals in just 15 matches in 2026, so far.
"We will be compact ... from Brandon Vázquez to our center backs," he said. "It's going to be 30 to 35 yards maximum at all times. I think, right now, maybe you see them get a little too stretched and open in MLS. That happens a lot, and that's where you see the randomness. So, I'm a big believer in being compact. Simply put, all that means is all the players are closer to each other to help each other. We want to win balls and get to goal as quickly as possible, score as many goals as possible, create as much excitement for the fans as possible. It's a very simple part, and you do that by being very compact and together with our pressing."
Note that pressing's part of the reason for doing this — so look for a distinct stylistic change from what Austin FC's deployed before. It's not that Verde never pressed, but there was a lot of emphasis, especially in the Josh Wolff era, of using possession to displace an opponent.
Get you 11 men who can do both
Curtin also emphasized the buy-in needed for everyone on the field to play both offense and defense — which isn't remarkable in and of itself, but becomes more interesting once he provides rationale.
"We want all 11 players to attack, we want all 11 players to defend," he said. "That's a non-negotiable for me. Everybody has to be fully committed on that. And what you'll see is when the strikers work their tails off defensively, all of a sudden they get the easy goals and the tap-ins, and we win the ball higher up the field, closer to our goal, and it becomes ... I don't want to say easy, because scoring is difficult, but we will create a lot of chances and be very dangerous as a group.
"You'll see anytime a team plays a negative pass against Austin FC, we will press that pass," he continued. "It will be clear from the stands. You guys will see it in the press box. That will be 100% non-negotiable. If they play negative, we are coming at you. We're going towards your goal to win the ball back. Any straight pass in the midfield, you'll see us as well. We will press that pass defensively now. When a ball goes past you, there has to be a recovery sprint, right? And we can measure that through analytics and data. Right now, there's nowhere to hide, so we'll keep a tight eye on that."
Targeting the weakest link
Curtin also revealed a key principal for his attack.
"We will also relentlessly attack our opponent's weakest link," he said. "We will find that weakest link. Sometimes it's one player, sometimes it's a part of the field, but you'll see us, and we did it in Philly, and had a lot of success. We will relentlessly go at that weakest link, we'll use data and analytics to pinpoint it and find it, but it's pro sports. We're going to be ruthless in attacking that weakest part of the field, and there still are weaknesses in MLS, so that's a big one for me."
The three Rs
He closed out with what he called "the three Rs" — which, while not exactly rolling off the tongue, do provide some insight as to how else he'll set up the team for success.
Those are:
The Red Zone
He explains that it's "the area of the field where, if you connect the six-yard box to the top of the 18, that's where 87% of goals are scored in MLS. We are going to defend that with our lives. You'll see it painted on all our training grounds now on the field, where that red zone is something that we protect and defend with our lives.
"And conversely, on offense, we're going to put as many balls into that area as possible," he added. "It's exciting for the fans. You'll see goals, good things happen when the ball is in the penalty area. Analytically, right now, I see a team in Austin that is at the very bottom of penalty area entry, so that will change. That's something that just very quickly I think we can tweak and make some adjustments with."
Rest defending
This is a familiar concept to those of you who paid attention to what Nico Estévez sought to work on while he was with the team, but Curtin defines this simply as "that means now am I in a good position on the field to put out a fire if there's a dangerous play?"
Restarts
Curtin, already tapped into an Austin FC strength this season, sees opportunity in corner kicks, free kicks, and throw-ins.
"You're going to see in this World Cup; I bet over 30% of the goals will come off of restarts," he asserted. "So, we will train them every day. In Philly, we were at the very top three in offensive and defensive restarts every year. I want to try to bring that to Austin, and sometimes the players will say, 'Ah, man, we're going to work on restarts every day. It's boring. It's this, it's that.' That means free kicks, corner kicks, throw-ins. We'll have a plan for those three phases at all times. It'll be detailed, it'll be clear.
"And once we start getting assists and goals off of those free kicks and corner kicks, and their statistics go up, and they make a Best 11 or an All-Star team, and the contract gets a little better, you'll see the players start to really, really embrace training restarts every day," he offered.
What does that mean right now?
Both Curtin and his players are in an unusual situation — most of them are on a World Cup break right now, though the club also announced Tuesday that Canada elevated Jayden Nelson to its 26-man roster after impressing in his audition to succeed an injured Marcelo Flores, and there's still a chance that Facundo Torres could be a late addition to Uruguay's roster as an injury sub for Giorgian De Arrascaeta, although reports have that possibility as less likely.
But Curtin won't officially join the squad in Austin until December once the 2026 season finishes, leaving interim coach Davy Arnaud to lead the team and perhaps infuse some of Curtin's ideas into the mix.
"Austin FC will be the top of my mind from the moment I wake up till the moment I fall asleep," Curtin made clear. "This is not a situation where I'm waiting till December one to start thinking about things. I spoke with Davy last night. Number one, the team is in incredible hands right now. Davy Arnaud is, number one, a great person, an incredible human being. He's a winner, he's a guy I hated playing against, trying to defend and chase around the field. He was a great competitor, a winner, and he's an incredible coach. So, the players are in great hands. I vocalized it to Davey last night.
"He knows what he's doing, of course," Curtin continued. "We'll share ideas, and we'll speak, and, but this is his group right now, and I want him to lead. It's a great opportunity for him, and he's going to do a great job with the group, getting them better each and every day. He's a coach that I want to be part of this thing moving forward, an incredible weapon for me to have, in terms of knows the city, loves the city, loves the team, loves the players, has a connection, and can help me navigate things. So that's been expressed and been, you know, relayed to him over the next six months."
It does, indeed, sound a bit like Arnaud could resume his "butler comes with the house" role that he had as an Estévez assistant following Wolff's dismissal. It's a bit early to tell whether that's indeed the future, but Curtin expressed confidence in the job Arnaud will do — indicating that perhaps there's still hope for a third Verde postseason appearance come November.
Verde All Day is a reader-supported online publication covering Austin FC. Additional support is provided by Austin Telco Federal Credit Union. For more coverage, check out Emergency Podcast! (an Austin FC Podcast) wherever you get your podcasts.
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