Sean Carey is going to need a larger trophy case. The Kodiaks soccer head coach keeps adding to his accolades as he was named CCAA national men’s soccer coach of the year on Tuesday evening at the CCAA awards banquet in Oshawa, Ont.
Carey is in the third season of his dual role as head coach of both the men’s and women’s Kodiaks soccer teams. This season, he led the Kodiaks men’s team to a 9-1-3 record during the regular season and a second place finish in the ACAC south division. It was the second-best regular season in Kodiaks men’s soccer history. He followed that up by winning the program’s first ever ACAC championship on Oct. 27 in Edmonton.
“It feels awesome, it really does,” says Carey. “I’m kind of shocked, I wasn’t expecting it because there are a lot of fantastic coaches in our league. It goes not just to me though, it’s my coaching staff too and the players on the field, they have to go out there and do the work. In the big picture of things, it’s a collective award for everybody.”
Carey is the first Kodiaks soccer coach to ever win a CCAA coach of the year award. In 2018, Carey was the first person to ever win both ACAC women’s and men’s south division coach of the year honours in the same season. This season, he took it one step further as he was the first person ever named ACAC coach of the year in both the men’s and women’s conferences in the same season. He also has an ACAC south division coach of the year honour from 2010, during a previous two-year stint as coach of the Kodiaks women’s team. This season he was also a runner-up for CCAA women’s coach of the year honours.
“A true leader doesn’t create followers – they create more leaders, and Sean exemplifies that spirit,” says Todd Caughlin, manager of Kodiaks Athletics. “Sean has assembled an incredible coaching team to lead both programs and recognition of this type doesn’t happen without the commitment that group has. The college is proud of what he has accomplished and hopefully there is more to come.”
Carey is originally from Leeds, England and now lives in Vulcan. He is a long-time soccer supporter in southern Alberta who has also led the Lethbridge FC men’s and women’s teams in the Alberta Major Soccer League and worked as an assistant coach with the men’s team at the University of Lethbridge for two seasons.
He coached the Kodiaks women’s team in the 2009 and 2010 seasons. He re-joined the Kodiaks as coach of both the men’s and women’s programs in 2017. He has led the men’s team to three-straight playoff appearances, and has guided the women’s program to back-to-back ACAC bronze medals.
Also at the CCAA men’s soccer awards banquet, Ben Knight (third year, General Studies, Manchester, England) was named a CCAA All-Canadian. Knight had already been named ACAC player of the year, an ACAC all-conference team and an ACAC championships tournament all-star. A midfielder, Knight captained the Kodiaks this season and was the catalyst of the Kodiaks offense, as he led the league with 12 assists – five more than any other player in the conference – while also adding three goals.
At the CCAA women’s soccer awards banquet in Edmonton, Christine Moser (third year, Massage Therapy, Whitehorse) was also named a CCAA All-Canadian. A central midfielder, Moser was named the ACAC south division player of the year this season and helped lead the Kodiaks to their first division title in 24 years, while scoring five goals and adding three assists. Last year, she was a CCAA Academic All-Canadian and an ACAC all-conference team member.