Pacific FC head coach departs after 2 years, championship win

Pacific FC head couch Pa-Modou Kah is heading south to join FC Dallas after two years with the Vancouver Island team, and a recent championship win at the 2021 Canadian Premier League.

Kah joined Pacific FC in January 2020, after working as an assistant coach at FC Cincinnati and Whitecaps FC 2. He also played more than 400 professional soccer games across the world, and was part of the Norway national team.

"I’m very proud of what we accomplished this season with the championship," Kah said in a release Friday.

"We went through a lot as a team so I want to thank the players, the staff and the ownership," he said. "In my two years here we accomplished a lot so I will always remember my time here well."

James Merriman, the team's associate head coach, has been named the new head coach.

Merriman was born and raised on Vancouver Island and has previous experience coaching at Vancouver Island University, and was the technical director for the Van Isle Wave program and Trident Development.

"I’m excited to build off what we did last year and what we built over the last three years, and take it into the next season," said Merriman Friday.

"I definitely didn’t think I’d ever have the chance to coach a professional team on Vancouver Island but that’s what the Canadian Premier League is doing, creating opportunities like this."

Pacific FC CEO Rob Friend says that Merriman has been part of the team since its inception three years ago, and was "instrumental" to how the club came together.

He adds that the club is grateful for the time that Kah spent coaching the team, and describes him as "arguably one of the top coaches in North America."

As Kah heads to the U.S. to coach for Dallas, he says he's grateful for the time he spent on the island, and is confident in Merriman's leadership.

"I hope I made them proud, I hope I made the Island proud," he said. "We couldn’t have achieved this without their support."