Philadelphia Union manager John Hackworth is currently the longest-tenured head coach in Philly pro sports.
There. Now you know it.
It wasn't that clear to ESPN's SportsCenter, which issued the following tweet after the NHL's Philadelphia Flyers axed head coach Peter Laviolette on Monday: "Peter Laviolette's firing after 3 games is earliest in NHL history. Philadelphia's longest-tenured pro coach is now Chip Kelly."
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ESPN weren't the only ones. FoxSports.com wrote the same thing (read article here) and even The Wall Street Journal followed suit.USA Today was also in on it. Philly.com, which has the beat of the Philly pro sports scene, also claimed that "Chip Kelly rules Philadelphia."
But the Eagles' Kelly was actually hired in January 2013, a good six months after the Union named Hackworth the interim head coach in June 2012 in place of Peter Nowak.
Baseball's Philadelphia Phillies permanently hired Ryne Sandberg only a few weeks ago after he took over on an interim basis in August from long-time manager Charlie Manuel, who was fired. And the Philadelphia 76ers tabbed Brett Brown as their new head coach in August.
Even the Arena Football League's Philadelphia Soul promoted Clint Dolezel from offensive coordinator to head coach in August 2012.
So is Hackworth slighted in the least that some media outlets have overlooked his soccer club? He was asked about it during his weekly press conference on Wednesday:
“The first answer is that I think that it doesn’t matter at all. It’s completely irrelevant, especially with how long [I’ve been the head coach]. It hasn’t been very long," Hackworth said.
"The second answer is that it does piss me off, to be very clear. But it’s not about me. I think it’s incredible that in this day and age, in the world we live in, with how popular our sport is, that in a city that says that it is such a sports town, to say that, ‘Eh, it doesn’t count as one of the top professional sports.’ I think that’s crazy.”
Hackworth's shaking up the status quo may not go down too well in some parts of the Philly sports establishment. In fact, here's how Philly.com cartoonist Rob Tornoe interpreted it:
What do you think? Is Hackworth right about soccer's place on the Philadelphia sports scene? Give us your feedback below.
