New Charlotte FC coach Dean Smith made a home in the Carolinas. Can he deliver hope?

Somewhere among the masses in Wembley Stadium, the Smith family sat nervously.

There was the son, Jamie Smith. He couldn’t eat. He couldn’t talk much, either, and instead opted to read the game’s program in relative silence as the minutes ticked closer to kickoff. There was the mother, Nicola. She was busy chatting away her jitters. And there was the daughter, Katie, who a day before had sneaked into her father’s office and left a loving note on his desk that read, “Dad, make sure you don’t mess this up” — one that the father kept in his back pocket all day.

As for Dad?

Dean Smith was unfazed.

It was May 27, 2019, a few hours before one of the biggest professional moments of Dean’s life. The then-48-year-old would later go on coaching Aston Villa to an English Championship playoff final over Derby County — leading his boyhood club and the team his father worked for as a stadium steward for many years back to the Premier League — but instead of worrying about the day’s hypotheticals, he stuck to his routine: morning walk-through with his players, coffee with an assistant soon after.

He was unshakeable.

“He’s never really been one to get nervous, which I find absolutely amazing,” Jamie said earlier this week, as he recounted that special day for him and his family.

The son then chuckled: “It’s kinda crazy.”

It’s been about five years since that Aston Villa victory, that hometown deliverance. In a few days, Dean Smith will make his Major League Soccer debut as head coach of Charlotte FC, which opens its 2024 season against New York City FC at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in Bank of America Stadium.

Although the West Bromwich native hasn’t lived in Charlotte for long, several things have made his arrival feel like a homecoming of sorts. His family has vacationed in Myrtle Beach for years. He shares a name with a UNC college basketball legend. One of the first MLS games he attended was with his family in uptown Charlotte, when CLTFC defeated New York Red Bulls last year.

His son, Jamie, traveled across the Atlantic Ocean to the Carolinas six years ago to pursue his own soccer dream — first at Limestone College for two seasons, then at N.C. State for three, and now he’s with USL One side Greenville Triumph, based in Upstate South Carolina.

And for what it’s worth, on Wednesday, Dean Smith certainly looked at home, too — leaning back in a chair at a table in Charlotte FC’s practice facility in East Charlotte, contemplating how he might feel when he takes the field.

He eventually offered a simple smile and shrug:

“I think I’m just excited.”

Dean Smith, Charlotte FC found each other

It’s not sensational to say Charlotte FC and Dean Smith found each other at the right time. Each were at inflection points in their own journeys.

Charlotte FC, for instance, was at a moment of transition.

In November 2023, the Queen City side had just wrapped up its second year in MLS. The first year was a revelation in many ways. The fandom was intense, record-setting, a reflection of the international city that Charlotte is. There were meaningful traditions begun — like the crowd’s singing of the national anthem in unison — and there were stars embraced. The second year, too, saw history. After a slow start, the team went on an admirable end-of-season run that delivered the first postseason berth in Charlotte FC history — one that came only after a win over the Lionel Messi-led Inter Miami in the team’s regular-season finale.

And yet, by November, a change was incoming. A new identity, a clean break, felt necessary — one that the team decided couldn’t be fostered under the leadership of Christian Lattanzio, who steadied the ship with aplomb after stepping in for Miguel Angel Ramirez, who the team fired 14 games into the team’s first season.

Smith, meanwhile, was wondering what was next, too. The coach with robust English Premier League experience just spent the last part of the Premier League season in Leicester City, stepping in as interim head coach for the team’s final eight games, trying to stave the team off relegation. He approached the owners after the season — borrowing a UNC basketball Dean Smith/Roy Williams self-aware aphorism, “I didn’t feel I was the best person to take that job forward” — and had meetings from other Championship clubs thereafter.

Smith was prepared to “wait it out and see what happened,” he said. Then he heard from Charlotte. Then he had a conversation as to whether he’d like to go through the coaching hiring process here with his family. And then, when he made it through to the second stage of interviews, other puzzle pieces fell into place, too.

“Part of the interview came when we were in our own home in Myrtle Beach,” Smith said. “So I wanted to see the facilities at the club and make sure the club was the one for me, that shared the ambition (I had) and where we wanted to grow, and where it wanted to go to.”

Smith said he “felt a symmetry there” when he met with sporting director Zoran Krneta, technical director Bobby Belair, team president Joe LaBue and owner, Dave Tepper and his wife Nicole.

“And fortunately they offered the opportunity,” Smith said.

Can he deliver the Carolinas hope?

So far, Smith has done his part to deliver hope to the Charlotte FC fan base. The team didn’t lose at all in the preseason and didn’t concede any goals in the team’s final three preseason matches, which included a 3-0 win over LA Galaxy.

February isn’t about wins, though, Smith said. It’s about building a culture, an identity — him learning from the team and the team learning from him.

He did many things along this front this winter.

Some involved team-building.

Everyone under the Charlotte FC umbrella who traveled with the team to South Florida this preseason — and that means everyone, players and coaches and team staff — were divided into four teams and participated in a series of off-field competitions. That included foot golf (Smith is an avid golfer), trivia, a scavenger hunt, a swim race and more. The winning team celebrated with a nice dinner, on Smith. The losing team had to sing karaoke in front of the team. (The group chose a rousing rendition of Backstreet Boys.)

On the field, Smith has gone to work as well, implementing his own playing style that’s a distinct departure from the possession-based philosophy Lattanzio used.

He’s also supervised some notable personnel moves. Kamil Jóźwiak was permanently transferred. Karol Swiderski, the team’s leading scorer in their first season and most recognizable player, is on loan to Serie A side Hellas Verona. With their departures, the team is now in the market for two Designated Players — two impact players, in other words — that the team could acquire and have their compensation not count against the league’s salary cap restrictions.

Smith has also liked what he’s seen from returners. That includes Enzo Copetti, the team’s highly touted goal-scorer acquired a year ago. It, too, includes Patrick Agyemang and Andrew Privett and Nimfasha Berchimas, who could potentially start for Charlotte FC on Saturday at a mere 16 years old after coming up through the club’s academy.

“I spoke to Ashley Westwood when I first spoke to Charlotte,” Smith said. Westwood is a Premier League veteran himself. “I didn’t know Ashley, but I picked up the phone because I got his number off somebody. He’d been at Villa and had overlapped with people I’d worked with as well. And I just wanted to get his opinion on the club. And I remember, the biggest thing he said to me is, ‘When you come, you’ve got to embrace it.’ And one of the things he said to me is, ‘Enzo Copetti has really embraced it. I’ve embraced it. Nathan Byrne has really embraced it.’ And I think that’s a really big and strong point.”

Smith has seemingly embraced it, too.

‘Seeing the potential that Charlotte has’

It’s no secret that Charlotte FC isn’t expected to live up to much in 2024. MLS experts project the club will finish near the bottom of the Eastern Conference and the league at large, even if the arrival of Dean Smith raises the club’s floor.

According to Westwood, the team’s captain, though: “a new era” of Charlotte FC will dawn Saturday.

“We’ve gone into every game trying to win,” he said in a press conference Wednesday, when asked about the team’s losses to begin each of its first two seasons. “Them years are gone now. We’re focused on a new era. We know what we want to play. We know what we’ve got in there. Despite all the questions that have been asked against us, we’re a good group. We’re a group that is willing to work hard for each other, and we’re going to fight for this football club.”

It’ll also be a new era for the Smith family.

They’ll be nervous in a new country, in a new stadium, watching their father embark on a new journey in MLS.

Jamie Smith said he’ll likely continue his regular pregame ritual of shooting his father a FaceTime before the game.

“I tend to always give him calls just before his games, normally while the players are warming up on-field,” Jamie said. “I’ll ask him a few questions, about why did you pick this (starting lineup), and we’ll have some tactical talks and that sort of thing. … I think that’s sort of a cool thing that we have going on.”

Those father-son gameday interactions might be easier now. No time zones to breach over the phone. No oceans to cross in-person. Jamie said of his father that “seeing the potential Charlotte has itself, not only as a club, but as a city, definitely drew him in.”

“And he’s only an hour and a half away from me now,” the son added.

It’s all a reminder of the home Smith made in the Carolinas long ago, not far from the one he’s busy making now.