Alan Alderson loves a good test. For that reason and others, he wanted to be the new head coach of the UNBC Northern Timberwolves men's soccer team.
More than 35 people applied for the job and Alderson was the successful candidate. The university announced his hiring on Tuesday and his first official day on the job will be June 4.
Alderson will be tasked with leading the Timberwolves out of the B.C. college league and into the Canada West conference of Canadian Interuniversity Sport. It's an assignment he completed successfully with the Trinity Western University Spartans earlier in his career.
"I'm incredibly excited to be back in the CIS, back in Canada West, and into a program that is ideally suited for who I am and what I love to do," said Alderson, who was most recently director of coaching for Total Soccer Development in Calgary. "The other part of that is, when I went up and visited the campus and met with some of the people I'd be working with, I was just impressed and I'm incredibly excited to be starting up."
Alderson spent 17 years -- on and off -- as head coach of the Trinity Western men's team. In 2001, he took the Langley-based Spartans out of the B.C. Colleges Athletic Association and into Canada West. In the club's first Canada West season, it played to a 4-6-2 record. After going 3-6-3 in 2002, the Spartans stormed to the top of the standings in 2003 with a mark of 9-2-1 and remained a contender after that.
Alderson was also a Canada West assistant coach with the University of the Fraser Valley Cascades women's team, a post he held until he accepted the job in Calgary last September. He has also served as president of the CIS Men's Soccer Association.
In total, Alderson has more than 20 years of coaching experience, including a stint as sideline boss of the Alberta Under-16 boys. His playing career included provincial, national and professional tours of duty. In the pro ranks, he played for the Calgary Strikers and London Lasers of the Canadian Soccer League and the Indiana Blast of the United Soccer Leagues.
Jason Kerswill, director of athletics at UNBC, said there was a five-person short list for the coaching position. Alderson was one of two individuals interviewed in person.
Kerswill is pleased the program has landed someone with such impressive credentials.
"When we put the request for applicants out, we were hoping a candidate of this calibre would apply," he said. "We were thrilled when Alan did apply and moved through the process successfully and we're happy to have him on board.
"His resume speaks volumes," Kerswill added. "Clearly he's got the experience of moving a team from the college level into the university level. He's demonstrated that and that's part of what really attracted us to him. He's extremely enthusiastic about building on a program that has seen some success at the college level. He really wants to move that forward and put in the energy and the effort necessary to recruit and build for success at Canada West. That was really evident in his interview."
Academically, Alderson holds a masters degree in coaching studies and a bachelor's degree in physical education. He is married to Trish and they have two children, 13-year-old Matthew and 11-year-old Kaitlyn.
Alderson takes over for Sonny Pawar, who guided the Timberwolves in all five of their seasons in the provincial college league. With the move to Canada West, the coaching position went from part time to full time and Pawar has a full-time job as a teacher.
UNBC is still in the process of hiring a full-time women's soccer coach. Interviews are well underway.
"We're hoping within the next week and a half or so that we'll have some good news to share about the women's coach," Kerswill said. "My No. 1 priority right now is to lock a women's coach in place."
Both teams will start competition in Canada West this September.
