Alex Ryan: The Coach Behind New England's First USL National Title
Alex Ryan: The Coach Behind New England's First USL National Title
"I’m the first to say that I've learned a lot, failed a lot, and once again, you learn from it and try to sort of mold your own coaching style."
Alex Ryan sat in his off-campus dorm in Campbellsville, Kentucky, planning his summer. While some classmates headed home to vacation with family and friends, Ryan debated between locations to spend his summer playing in the USL Premier Development League.
Miami seemed like an attractive destination, but the decision from 2013 made New Hampshire his home.
“My coach from Gateshead knew the coach at Seacoast United, and that's kind of where the connection kind of came from,” Ryan said. “But the head coach had to do a bit of digging, the due diligence, and rang back home and made sure he knew a lot about me. And thankfully, I made the right decision with how things panned out so far.”
Fast forward 11 years and Ryan lifted the USL League 2 national championship in Peoria, Illinois as the head coach of the club he chose to spend his college summers with.
A native of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, England, Ryan arrived in the United States to play collegiate soccer after Gateshead FC released him at the end of his youth contract. A former AFC Sunderland academy player, Ryan played as a midfielder for three years at Campbellsville and spent two summers in Portsmouth, New Hampshire with Seacoast United.
“The main selling point was that Iain Scott, the head of football, is actually from Newcastle,” Ryan said explaining his arrival to Seacoast United. “That was a big pull of going from an American coach in college and, well, I was trying to have an English coach again.”
After graduating college in three years, Ryan spent a year trying to find an opportunity as a professional soccer player in England, Scotland, and Finland.
With no offers to play on the table, Ryan accepted an invitation to return to New Hampshire to coach U-15 boys and UPSL for Seacoast United.
“Since then, I've climbed up the ladder very, very quickly,” said Ryan. I tried to learn as much as possible, try to take as much information in, and put myself out there. I was a bit of a yes man at the start, but I haven't looked back since.”
As a result of his commitment to Seacoast United, he’s now the club’s General Manager, USL League 2 Head Coach, and MLS Next Academy Director. His success on the field can be summed up by his three consecutive Northeast titles and a USL League 2 national championship in his four years managing at the level. Ryan also passed the 50 career wins milestone in USL League 2 this season.
However, Ryan’s biggest accomplishment is that about 30 professional players have come out of his set-up — including Canada and OGC Nice center-back Moise Bombito.
“My number one job is to make them better going into the collegiate season and also try and elevate them from an individual standpoint, and try and get them on the pathway,” said Ryan on how he plans out his objectives for each season. “For that to happen, right, there's got to be team success at the same time. But I'm not someone who's, you know, win at all costs. I want to try to develop the individual and the collective as well.”
Following this summer’s success, many of the Phantoms’ player began their seasons on a positive note. The University of New Hampshire forwards Ibrahim Conde and Terry Makedika have started in all their games. Conde scored twice against William and Mary College and Makedika notched an assist in the same game. Harrison Bertos scored as a center-back for the University of Washington against ninth-seed Denver and winger Marco Dos Santos scored on Boston College’s season opener following a deflected shot from Vermont Green FC’s lead assist-man Xavi O’Neil.
With the positive direction of Ryan’s work at Seacoast United, he credits the tactical mistakes and difficulties from his early coaching days for his personal growth.
“I’ve spent eight years coaching and, you know, I’m the first to say that I've learned a lot, failed a lot, and once again, you learn from it and try to sort of mold your own coaching style,” said Ryan about his rise at Seacoast. “And I like to think that, yes, I'm still relatively young, but I think I've experienced a lot and gained a lot of knowledge.”
From this past season, Ryan exemplified the 4-3 loss to AC Connecticut as the learning curve his team needed. Despite several breaks in play due to thunderstorms, both teams agreed to play on as former Vermont Green forward Sam McCann’s hat-trick gave Seacoast United its only loss this summer.
“That game was the wake-up call for our season,” said Ryan. “Some people tell me that we could’ve gone undefeated, that it would have been a perfect season if we’d won, but then again maybe we wouldn’t have won the national tournament, you know?”
Despite not being invincible, Ryan’s team managed to ward off the Western Mass Pioneers and Vermont Green FC in the race for the Northeast Division.
With the division growing, Ryan acknowledges the good work done by people such as Pioneers head coach Federico Molinari and the directives of Vermont Green FC.
Despite the high competition and the sparks caused by Marco dos Santos referencing the Vermont Green as "Social Media FC", Ryan holds an amicable relationship with the club.
“We were in the same hotel down in Ocean City,” said Ryan about encountering Vermont Green after their match-up in the Eastern Conference Playoffs. “So, we had a couple of drinks and laughed over the ‘Social Media FC’ thing.”
Following his success in USL League 2, several collegiate programs in the country gained interest in Ryan’s services. However, Ryan values his current position at Seacoast and intends to coach the club next summer.
“Hey, I've got aspirations myself, and I'm a motivated individual, and I want to continue to have success in climbing the ladder,” Ryan said about his career moving forward. “And you know, when the timing's right, the timing's right. I think timing's important and the right people you work for.”
While the offers of playing at a professional level never came in, the proposals to coach elsewhere will have to wait for that right timing.
Like the timing of summer in 2013 that made New Hampshire his new home.