After leading his team to the highest peaks, the head coach of the Carabins women’s soccer team, Kevin McConnell, has decided to leave his position.
• Read also: LCF: an upcoming reflection on singles
• Read also: Denis Casavant: an exemplary 40-year career
This was announced by the University of Montreal on Sunday, 14 days after the club’s victory in the final of the Canadian championship.
McConnell had been with the Blues for 19 years and was the women’s pilot for 18 seasons.
“It’s kind of like leaving home,” he said in a statement. I have been here a long time and I will have countless treasured memories. The objective, above all, was to create good relations, and I think I can say mission accomplished.
“Kevin took a very young program and he brought it among the most dominant in the country, indicated the general manager of the CEPSUM and the Carabins, Manon Simard. He is a discreet and dedicated person who really had his team at heart. He built a great culture for women’s soccer, and we want to keep it.”
Under McConnell, the Carabins won two Canadian university championships, eight Quebec Student Sports Network championships and nine regular season titles. They also won three silver medals and one bronze at the national level.
“The two national titles are like the icing on the cake. The atmosphere that we have created since 2005, that is the priority. We participated in five national finals and we won two of them. The three that we have lost, it takes absolutely nothing away from what we have been through. You have to be proud of it and realize how lucky we are,” said McConnell.
It is Nadège Akamse who takes over on an interim basis. The latter has been an assistant coach with the Carabins since 2013. She also played for the Blues from 2004 to 2010.