The sidelines of sporting events at Capilano University will have a much different look and sound to them this year as four of the six Blues varsity teams have new coaches in place for the 2018-19 season.
Milt Williams, the university’s manager of athletics and recreation, said the stars aligned in such a way at the end of last season that four head coaches decided for various reasons to move on, opening up opportunities to add some new Blues blood.
“It wasn’t anything like the Toronto Raptors where the guy wins coach of the year and then gets fired,” Williams said with a laugh. “It was good timing. The guys that left were all very happy because they went on to other things.”
Included amongst the departed was one of the most successful coaches in the history of the program. Paul Dailly coached the men’s soccer team for 15 years, leading the Blues to five provincial and two national championships while claiming two CCAA national coach of the year awards and seven provincial coach of the year awards.
Those coach of the year awards were the most racked up by any of the coaches in the school's history, said Williams, adding that Dailly decided to take a break from coaching after 15 years with the Blues.
Stepping into those big shoes will be Alex Elliott, the former head coach of Quest University who also works in the Vancouver Whitecaps residency program and is one of the founders of the North Vancouver-based Urban Soccer Centre.
“With Alex’s fresh approach to it it’s made it vibrant, the guys are excited,” said Williams of the men’s soccer team. “There’s a lot of modern training, especially with his Urban Soccer Centre.”
Men’s volleyball coach Emmanuel Denguessi, women’s volleyball coach Cal Wohlford, and women’s basketball coach Ramin Sadaghiani are the three other coaches who stepped away from Capilano at the end of last season.
Denguessi, a former CCAA academic all-Canadian player with the Blues, has left to continue his education; Wohlford retired from coaching; and Sadaghiani moved to the Interior to take a job with ICBC, according to Williams. All three posted strong results with the Blues, with Denguessi earning PacWest coach of the year honours for the 2017-18 season and Sadaghiani guiding his team to a provincial title.
With Wohlford at the helm the Blues women won provincial volleyball bronze three years in a row from 2015 to 2017. Stepping into his spot will be Dan Huzar, a very familiar face in the local volleyball world. The North Shore native was previously an assistant coach of the women’s team at UBC, helping the Thunderbirds win seven national titles during his 10 years with the program. He has also been heavily involved with the Canadian national team program at the senior, varsity and junior levels, most recently serving as the head coach of Team Canada at the 2017 FISU World University Championships.
“Dan was one of my favourites way back when, but then he went off to UBC,” said Williams. “He brings a lot of experience to the program, I’m really looking forward to seeing what he can do. A lot of girls know of him, so they want to play for him.”
Williams said he hopes Huzar will help the Blues take that final leap to provincial gold, a title they haven’t claimed since 1986. Making that move will necessitate knocking off a powerhouse program from Vancouver Island University – the Mariners have won the provincial title three of the last five years and finished second the other two, often knocking off Capilano along the way.
“I’m hoping that this will be our chance to beat VIU,” Williams said with a laugh. “We’ve always lost to them.”
Weimer is another familiar face in the local sporting scene and on the Capilano campus. He’s moving up to the head coaching spot after spending six seasons as Sadaghiani’s assistant with the Blues. Weimer has been a head coach at Seycove and Sutherland secondary schools in North Vancouver, and served as the head instructor for the North Vancouver school district’s basketball academy.
Williams got to see Weimer in action last year as Sadaghiani needed to miss part of the national championship tournament, thrusting Weimer into the head coaching role.
“I thought they played some of their best basketball of the year, and we lost in double overtime to the team that eventually won nationals,” said Williams. “Chris did a fantastic job. That was sort of an interview-by-fire sort of thing.”
The fourth new coach will be Dave Dooley, who takes over the men’s volleyball team after spending eight years as an assistant at Camosun College under highly regarded head coach Charles Parkinson. In May Dooley guided his U18 boys team at the Seaside Volleyball Club to a silver medal-showing at the club national championships.
“I’ve known Dave a long time and we’ve talked many times about possibly coming to Cap, and now the timing was right so I reached out to him and he was all over it,” said Williams. “The timing was just perfect for that to happen. He wants to come here. … He’s got a lot of talented guys who are looking to play for him. I’m looking forward to seeing what he can do with the guys team.”
The two holdovers from last year are women’s soccer coach Dennis Kindel and men’s basketball coach Cassidy Kannemeyer, both of whom are entering their fourth seasons with the Blues. The women’s soccer team won provincial bronze in 2017 and silver in 2018, their first two medals since 2007. The Blues men won PacWest basketball silver in 2017.
With so much change in the coaching ranks, Williams said he was doing his best to keep expectations in check for this season.
“I’m trying to be real. These are all new guys, they’ve got to get to know the league first," he said, adding, however, that once the coaches adjust to the league, the Blues should be as successful as ever.
The new season will get underway on Saturday, Sept. 8 with Capilano hosting VIU in women’s and men’s soccer. Volleyball season begins Oct. 11 with Capilano hosting College of the Rockies, while the basketball Blues will begin their season on the road Nov. 2 at Columbia Bible College before returning for their home opener Nov. 9 against VIU.
