James Merriman is a Canadian soccer coach who is currently the head coach of
Pacific FC in the
Canadian Premier League.
Playing career
Merriman played
NCAA Division I soccer with the
University of Denver Pioneers. His senior career included stints with Colorado Rapids Reserves,
Victoria Highlanders FC
Victoria Highlanders FC is a Canadian soccer team based in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. The club was founded in 2008 and currently play in the League1 British Columbia.
The team had played in the American USL League Two from 2009 to 201 ...
, and
Colorado Lightning
The Colorado Lightning was an American professional indoor soccer team, founded in 2008.
The team was a charter member of the Professional Arena Soccer League (PASL-Pro), the Second division (at the time of play) of arena (indoor) soccer in No ...
.
Coaching career
Early career
Merriman served as assistant coach of
Vancouver Island University from 2009 to 2011 and at
Simon Fraser University from 2012 to 2013.
He also coached in various roles with the
Whitecaps FC Academy
Whitecaps FC Academy is a Canadian soccer team, the academy of professional team Vancouver Whitecaps FC
Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Vancouver. They compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as ...
.
Pacific FC
James Merriman was hired as an assistant coach under
Michael Silberbauer
Michael Silberbauer (born 7 July 1981) is a Danish football manager and former professional player. He is currently the manager of FC Utrecht in the Dutch Eredivisie.
Silberbauer played more than a 100 games for each Danish club Aalborg BK and ...
for the inaugural season of
Pacific FC and the
Canadian Premier League. That
2019 season was disappointing for Pacific, and Silberbauer was fired before Pacific's final game of the year. This gave Merriman the opportunity to take the reins as interim manager, and he managed Pacific to a 2–0 victory over
Valour FC to close out the season in fifth place.
Ahead of the
2020 season, Pacific hired
Pa-Modou Kah as the new head coach and retained Merriman as his assistant. The season saw improvement for Pacific as the club finished the CPL season in fourth.
The
2021 season was even better as Pacific managed to win the
2021 Canadian Premier League Final
The 2021 Canadian Premier League Final was a soccer match which determined the winner of the 2021 Canadian Premier League season. It was played on December 5, 2021, in Hamilton, Ontario, between Forge FC and Pacific FC. Those teams qualified as t ...
to become league champions and also went on an impressive run in the
Canadian Championship
The Canadian Championship (french: Championnat canadien) is an annual soccer tournament contested by premier Canadian professional teams. The winner is awarded the Voyageurs Cup and Canada's berth in the CONCACAF Champions League. It is contest ...
. Following the season, Kah departed the club to manage
North Texas SC and Merriman was named as Pacific's new head coach.
References
External links
Denver Pioneers men's soccer statistics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Merriman, James
1985 births
Living people
Canadian soccer coaches
Pacific FC non-playing staff
Soccer people from British Columbia
Sportspeople from Nanaimo
Victoria Highlanders players
Canadian soccer players
Association football midfielders
Canadian Premier League coaches