Stephen O'Kane
Stephen O'Kane (born on 17 July 1977 in Ottawa, Canada) is an Canadian former soccer player and head coach. He most recently served as the head coach of the Ottawa Fury in the USL Premier Development League.
Playing career
O'Kane began playing soccer at the youth level with the Eastern Ontario District Soccer Association regional team, where he served as the team captain. In 1996 he earn a scholarship with Geneva College. In his rookie season he was awarded by being named to the All Conference Freshman Team. The following year O'Kane transferred to Algonquin College, where he was also appointed team captain. During his tenure with the Thunder O'Kane earned an OCAA All Star Selection, and in 1999 he won a Provincial Championship and was National Championship Runners up. Once his graduated from college he decided to focus on his coaching career.
Managerial career
Once he finished his Algonquin playing career, O'Kane was offered a position as an assistant coach for Algonquin. In 2004 he was upgraded to head coach of the Algonquin College Men's Soccer Team, where at the time he was the youngest ever appointed coach for Algonquin. O'Kane enjoyed much success with Algonquin where he led the Thunder to four consecutive Provincial Titles, which marked a record as the only school in the history of the league to win 4 straight Titles. Under his tenure Algonquin also held another OCAA record a 26 game unbeaten run. In 2006 O'Kane led the Algonquin Thunder to a National Championship going the entire season undefeated. In 2008 O'Kane was appointed the head coach of the Ottawa Fury for the 2008 PDL season. Where he guided the Fury to a undefeated winning streak at home. He also led the team to earn 30 points, the most in Fury PDL history and led the team in scoring the most goals by a PDL Team. The Fury finished 2nd in the New England Division and missed out on the playoffs on a tie-breaking method. The following season he guided the Fury to the club's first New England Division title, but unfortunately the Fury were eliminated by the Ocean City Barons in the Divisional Finals. On December 4, 2009 O'Kane announced his resignation from his head coach position due to family reasons, he was succeed by Carl Valentine.