SFU’s Koch takes helm of WFC2

The campus setting will change — from SFU to UBC — but not much else will for Alan Koch, the newly hired coach of WFC2, the Vancouver Whitecaps’ farm team in USL Pro. The 39-year-old South African, who is leaving the Clan after seven successful seasons, including back-to-back appearances in the NCAA Division II Final Four, shares a similar vision to that of Caps head coach Carl Robinson. “On and off the field, I think we have very similar philosophies,” Koch said Friday after his hiring was confirmed. “Carl likes to give young players opportunities. I firmly believe in that, too. “He likes to play attractive football, I like to do that, too. He also places a high importance on character and I certainly do that, too. It’s very, very simple in football if you share the same philosophy. Hop on the same page and go and ride that wave together.” WFC2 will play its 14 home games out of UBC’s Thunderbird Stadium. With the WFC2 roster likely to be filled with graduates of the Caps’ residency program and draft picks just out of college, Koch will also be guiding players around the same age as the teams he had at SFU. Koch is clearly a winner. He posted a 126-21-7 record at SFU in NAIA and NCAA Division II play. “We achieved a lot up at SFU. The one thing we didn’t achieve, obviously, is winning an NCAA national championship, but I have a lot of colleagues who’ve coached in that league for decades and have never got as close as we got. “I feel like we’re leaving the program in good stead. To go to the professional ranks is something I’m excited about.” Winning will be a focus in USL Pro, particularly against Pacific Northwest rivals in Seattle and Portland. But Koch’s job will also be to develop players capable of stepping into the senior team’s lineup at some point. “It’s kind of like two strings,” said Koch. “Ensuring we prioritize both is going to be important. There will be certain games we’ll play a very young team and going in knowing it’s a tough challenge. But there’s enough young talent here that we can definitely win some games and help those guys develop.” Bob Lenarduzzi, the Caps’ president, said the organization is committed to putting a winning team on the field, but “if we push through two to three players to (significant roles) on our MLS squad, that’s the metric that’s going to determine how successful we are.” In addition to his coaching duties, Koch will do college scouting for the organization, something he started in the lead-up to the recent MLS SuperDraft.