Nashville SC fired head coach Gary Smith; Munthali takes over

By Anthony Caruso III | Publisher

The Nashville SC management felt like the team needed a new leader. Head coach Gary Smith was fired on Thursday morning.

Assistant coach Steve Guppy was also fired. Former player Rumba Munthali was named interim head coach.

Munthali joined Nashville SC last season. He was previously with Sporting KC.

The team is expected to search for a new head coach. The statement did not say whether Muntali will serve as head coach for the rest of the season and then hire a permanent coach in the offseason.

Or whether they will hire a new head coach in season. When Inter Miami CF hired Tata Martino as their new manager last summer, he joined the team in-season.

Smith coached the team to a 2-0 win on Wednesday night against Toronto FC at Geodis Park.

In fact, all three of Nashville SC’s wins have come at Geodis Park. The team also won 4-1 over CF Montréal on May 4th.

Their first win of the season came on March 16th at home against Charlotte FC in a 2-1 win.

Nashville SC is currently 10th in the MLS standings. Despite having the same record with the struggling Philadelphia Union, Nashville SC is 10th and the Union are 9th.

The Union’s last win came in a 2-1 win over Nashville SC on April 6th. Since then, the Union have not won in six straight games.

Both the Union and Nashville SC have 3-5-4 records. They also have 14 points.

Neither team at this time is in playoff contention.

According to the Tennesseean, Smith went 49-36-52 as the Nashville SC head coach. Since 2018, Smith led Nashville SC to a 100-66-73 record in all competitions.