NC Courage cites performance, culture issues in firing of head coach Sean Nahas

The North Carolina Courage provided clarity surrounding the firing of head coach Sean Nahas during a postgame media conference Friday night.

Following a 2-1 loss to the host Houston Dash, a spokesperson for the club said the termination on Wednesday night stemmed from a combination of “compounding performance issues, culture issues and a perceived lack of fit.”

Nahas has served as full-time head coach since the 2022 season. He joined the team as an assistant in 2017, later serving as interim head coach in the fall of 2021. Over the course of his time in Cary, Nahas amassed a 36-35-19 record.

This season, the Courage holds a 5-4-6 record, just below the playoff cutoff.

“It’s not been easy, don’t get me wrong,” acting head coach Nathan Thackeray said. “I’ve worked with Sean for a long, long time and worked closely with him both with our youth club in North Carolina, with the North Carolina FC and then obviously pro team since we’ve moved into Raleigh in 2017. I’m disappointed for him, obviously. It’s tough for me to take. I don’t want to ever see anyone suffer, but unfortunately professional sports can have a brutal side to it as well.”

Thackeray said there is still no update on the timeline for finding a replacement, so he will continue in his role as acting coach until told otherwise. He said he did not know exactly when the issues began or from where they stemmed.

“[The decision] is probably just an accumulation of things over time,” he said. “To be honest, being a head coach in this league now for four years, eventually there’s some things that happen and maybe affect the culture or impact culture. I think as Ceri [Bowley] said yesterday, there’s a lot of things that have maybe gone on that have gone beyond just the team, but maybe front office as well. From that moment, the club decided they needed to make a decision. I was shocked and surprised as anybody, but the club made the decision and haven’t told us too much more than that.”

At 7:45 p.m. Wednesday, only two days before the Courage traveled to Houston, the team posted on social media that Nahas’ contract had been terminated “effective immediately.”

“The North Carolina Courage remain focused on the continued development of the team and maintaining a professional, competitive environment for players, staff and supporters,” the statement said.

Sporting Director and Chief Soccer Officer Ceri Bowley appeared at a weekly pre-match media conference Thursday afternoon, but little information was shared about the reasoning for Nahas’ termination until after Friday’s game.

For the first time since the announcement, a player was also made available to media Friday night.

The team learned of Nahas’ termination Wednesday by individual phone calls to players. Captain Denise O’Sullivan said that since then, it’s been an emotional and tough week.

“I think throughout the whole season the culture of this team has been absolutely amazing,” she said. “That’s one of the main priorities as a captain of this team is to make sure that the culture is fantastic and every single day we come in, we’re a close-knit group and we work together. The news hit us with a shock for everyone. I’ve known Sean a long time, so it was a shock to me.”

This story was originally published August 8, 2025 at 11:57 PM.