Coaching changes at Southern U

TWO of Southern United’s four teams will have coaching changes.

Terry Parle takes over the women’s side from Hayley Stirling, who left Dunedin earlier this year, while Kevin Scouller returns to head the youth team.

The men’s team remains in the hands of Paul O’Reilly and assistant Terry Boylan, while Darren Hart stays in charge of the futsal outfit.

Parle was in Dunedin several years ago and has been coaching in Australia and Samoa.

He has a Uefa B licence and will be assisted by Dunedin Technical women’s head coach Graeme Smaill.

Football South CEO Chris Wright said Parle came with a positive reputation.

‘‘He’s just very experienced, he’s worked with females a lot before.

‘‘He’s got an existing connection here and I know that a lot of players have had positive coaching experiences with him in the past.

‘‘So we had good endorsements from the clubs he’s been involved with in the past, including Green Island.

‘‘It’s good to have someone of his calibre . . . ’’

Scouller returns to the youth team, having been unavailable to coach the side last season.

Having finished second in his last season in charge, he will be looking to build on that success after the team finished ninth in his absence.

Richard KerrBell remains as his assistant.

Wright said all four teams were looking to take steps forward and perform better than last season.

It would be the second year of the current regime for the men, who managed three wins last season.

Wright said progress had been made, though, and he hoped the side would continue to head in that direction.

‘‘We’ve got a lot of faith in Paul [O’Reilly] and Terry [Boylan] and the progress that they drove last year.

‘‘The buyin locally from players and clubs was a big step forward.

‘‘So we just want to continue that positive process.

‘‘Paul and Terry are very ambitious, so we just want to support them as much as possible.’’

Wright said the pair had been working on various signings, which it would be in a position to announce next month and in September.

A group of locallybased players had begun training.

Meanwhile, Hart remained the obvious option for the futsal team, which finished top of last season’s league, although it was tripped up in the playoffs.