The 2025 NWSL regular season is nearing its conclusion, with only 12 matchdays left before the playoffs begin and the road to the Championship unfolds. At this stage, most teams are expected to rally with whatever they have and push forward with what works best. However, in a bold and surprising move, the North Carolina Courage have made a call that no one expected them to make!

The Cary-based club has officially fired head coach Sean Nahas, as the news broke after releasing an official statement. “The North Carolina Courage have terminated the contract of Head Coach Sean Nahas, 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.”

Judging by the vague statement, one can consider it a no-questions-asked kind of decision, with no reason whatsoever stated by the NWSL side. However, as per NWSL insider Jackie Gutierrez on X, the North Carolina Courage shared an update during their media availability in the wake of Sean Nahas’ exit.

Judging by the vague statement, one can consider it a no-questions-asked kind of decision, with no reason whatsoever stated by the NWSL side. However, as per NWSL insider Jackie Gutierrez on X, the North Carolina Courage shared an update during their media availability in the wake of Sean Nahas’ exit.

After the team’s training session in Houston tomorrow ahead of their upcoming weekend away clash against the Houston Dash, Sporting Director and Chief Soccer Officer Ceri Bowley will take questions from the media in a hybrid press setting. While that is certainly bound to offer some more clarity about this call, one wonders what exactly happened that it came to this.

Notably, there has been no statement offered even by Sean Nahas himself. Surprisingly, just hours ago, his latest Instagram activity saw the 47-year-old American boss share a group selfie alongside his entire coaching staff and a few players on his stories, where all of them posed while wearing rain coats and heavy rain pouring down.

Additionally, he even wrote a caption saying, “I don’t rate this weather. AT ALL! But I rate this staff!” Further heaping praise on other members and highlighting players’ dedication to train even in water-logged pitch and tough conditions, Sean added, “When rain jackets become useless, well, you know it’s gunna be a day. Players were top today. And yes to the left is standing water. ON TURF!”

Meanwhile, prior to this, in the Instagram story just before the announcement, he reshared a birthday wish for his star goalie Marisa Jordan from NC Courage, adding his own message: “Wishing @marisamjordan a very happy birthday. Enjoy your day, Mo.” Surely, even the 24-year-old American goalie wouldn’t have expected such a return gift — hearing the news of her coach’s sacking.

No wonder they say life comes at you quite fast! Either way, this is quite a huge development for the Courage and their supporters that hardly anyone would have seen coming. Not to mention the timing as they travel to Texas for their regular-season game. But perhaps sporting factors might be involved, even though things have been good for the club over the years!

North Carolina Courage should have a solid reason to back Sean Nahas’ sacking

Notably, Nahas joined the North Carolina Courage as an assistant coach in 2017 after the team relocated from Western New York. In September 2021, after the departure of then-head coach Paul Riley, Nahas was appointed interim head coach, before having gained strong support from the players throughout the rest of the season, compelling the club to make his role permanent by December 2021.

And it’s not like things haven’t gone well for the Courage over the years. The club has enjoyed a highly successful run, winning the NWSL Championship twice in 2018 and 2019, after finishing as runners-up in 2017. They also dominated the regular season by securing the NWSL Shield three years in a row from 2017 to 2019.

More recently, the team lifted back-to-back NWSL Challenge Cup titles in 2022 and 2023. In fact, their success stories resounded quite perfectly on the global front, winning the Women’s International Champions Cup in 2018 and finishing as runners-up the following year. Even last year, they finished 5th in the regular season, qualifying for the playoffs, but eventually got knocked out within the first round.

Perhaps the decision from the North Carolina Courage board was made with the ongoing NWSL season in mind, where they currently sit in 9th place with just 19 points, holding a 5W-4L-5D record. Regardless, whatever reasoning led to this call is something that remains to be heard.