FC Edmonton job offer came “out of the blue” for Paulus

Jeff Paulus is in a unique position. Rarely have Canadian fans seen a domestic coach progress from the collegiate pro ranks to the pro game. While it’s not unusual to see an American coach move from NCAA to MLS, Canadian university and college coaches rarely get the chance to make that leap.

Paulus was named an FC Edmonton coach in December, after previous assistant Dave Randall was let go. Paulus had just led the NAIT Ooks to national college-soccer championship, as the team went through the regular season, playoffs and national championships without a loss.

But, the jump to FC Edmonton’s coaching ranks came as a surprise. He got a call while he was designing a fitness program for his National Training Centre charges.

“It came out of the blue,” he said. “I was setting up fitness tests for National Training Centre athletes. Joe (Director of Soccer Operations Joe Petrone) called and asked if we could immediately. We had discussed some things previously, like me working with the reserve team. But then I was offered the assistant coaching position, and I couldn’t say no. It was a great opportunity. And NAIT was brilliant, by allowing me to take a leave of absence.”

Paulus has been the head coach of the Alberta Soccer Association’s provincial program for the last five years. He’s a National Training Centre coach. He’s coached through various youth levels. But he knows getting the jump to work with a professional side is an awesome opportunity not afforded to many Canadian coaches. And, being able to work with coach Harry Sinkgraven and assistant Hans Schrijver — men educated in the Dutch system who have coached throughout Europe and Asia — is a big step.

“To work with Harry and Hans is a great opportunity for a Canadian college coach like myself, but it’s also an intimidating thing,” Paulus admitted. “They are both so accomplished. I feel very good about what I have accomplished at the college level. Harry and Hans have so much experience, and they have coached at the highest level. But, at the same time, I will be able to settle into the system. As a system, it’s not a major shift for me.”

The coaching style is what makes Paulus unique. A lot of college and university teams play route one football — that is, they play a physical, long-ball style. But NAIT played a ball possession game, trying to work the ball up the pitch through combination passes and good player movement. Because FC Edmonton embraces the Dutch 4-3-3 philosophy, Paulus doesn’t have to be reprogrammed when it comes to the way he thinks about the game.

Paulus will take over the reserve-team duties that Randall held in 2011. That means he likely won’t go on a lot of the road trips; instead he will stay in Edmonton and work with the younger players. As someone who has experience working with college-age and youth players, it’s a good fit.

“FC Edmonton is a young team; at NAIT, I worked with many players who were at about the same age.”

Paulus is also a big booster of the notion that Canadian university and college players are good enough to make the jump to the pro ranks. At this week’s upcoming MLS SuperDraft, a whole bunch of NCAA prospects who will never play a day for an North American first-division team. Meanwhile, FC Edmonton has just signed St. Mary’s University standout Elvir Gigolaj, who scored twice in the CIS semifinal and then again in the final against Victoria. The team has also brought on former University of Toronto keeper John Smits, who is expected to see time under Paulus with the reserve side in 2012. After last season, which saw former Canadian university standouts like Paul Craig and Paul Hamilton blossom in Div.-2, FC Edmonton seems to be only increasing its dependence on the Canadian collegiate ranks, and tapping into a resource that the MLS teams choose to ignore.

Paulus is enthusiastic about the policy.

“And it’s not just university players. There are a lot of very good players at the college level, and not just at NAIT. I was impressed by (Ontario’s) Humber College (who NAIT beat in the national semifinals), they had a lot of quality players.”