From Dublin’s schoolboy leagues to shaping the future of the Colorado Switchbacks, Alan McCann’s journey blends Irish grit with American ambition.
As Technical Director and Assistant Coach at the Colorado Switchbacks, McCann oversees everything from player performance and recruitment to the implementation of the club’s new Switchbacks II program, a reserve side designed to bridge academy and first-team football.
“It’s about building a consistent environment,” he explains. “Players moving up to the first team should land into familiar drills, vocabulary, and approaches. That gives them a ‘soft landing’ into the professional environment, and it helps our coaches grow through the same pathway.”
Previously, as Director of Sports Performance, McCann focused on ensuring the team could physically sustain its high-pressing, transition-heavy style. “We wanted the group to peak physically from March to November,” he says. “That meant blending the football side into everything, from warm-ups to testing.”
Shaping a Club for the Long Term
McCann believes the USL Championship is evolving fast. “Everything is exploding into bigger opportunities day by day,” he says. “The level has become a lot more competitive, especially since MLS second teams moved into MLS Next Pro.”
For Colorado Springs, growth starts at home. “Launching an academy and expanding the stadium are the big next steps,” he notes. “The club already has a huge impact on the city, and those projects will only strengthen that for generations.”
“Players moving up to the first team should land into familiar drills, vocabulary, and approaches. That gives them a soft landing into the professional environment.”
From Dublin to the Dugout
Before arriving in the U.S., McCann came through one of Ireland’s most competitive youth systems. He played for Home Farm FC and Belvedere FC, represented the North Dublin Schoolboy League (NDSL) in the Kennedy Cup, and later captained the Dublin District Schoolboy League (DDSL), competitions often scouted by English and Scottish clubs.
“It was extremely competitive,” he recalls. “At 16, a lot of lads were heading abroad to sign for Premier League or Scottish sides.” His next step was St. Patrick’s Athletic, where he began the U21, Reserve, and First Team pathway in the League of Ireland.
Building a Coaching Identity
McCann’s coaching philosophy draws from mentors across three countries. “My father was the first coach I learned from, he knew how to bring a dressing room together to win trophies,” he says.
In Ireland, he worked with Paul Osam, Maurice O’Driscoll, Harry McCue, Gino Brazil, and Johnny McDonnell, while later in the U.S., Paul Conway, Brendan Burke, and Jim Curtin shaped his thinking. “All those experiences blended into how I approach the game now,” he says.
As a Head Coach in USL League Two, McCann learned the full spectrum of leadership: recruitment, tactics, player management, and helping college players transition into the professional ranks. “That time taught me a lot about man-management and pathways,” he explains. “It’s helped me the most in my current role.”
Scouting, Data, and the Human Side
McCann’s background in scouting runs deep, he served as a Director of Scouting across multiple regions in USL2, developing a network that now fuels Switchbacks recruitment. “We currently have 14 players in the 2025 squad who came through USL2 or college soccer,” he says.
While the club has embraced analytics, McCann insists that human connection remains central. “We’re big believers in going to watch a player in person, and meeting them,” he emphasizes. “Each player responds differently, so there’s no one-size-fits-all approach.”
“We’re big believers in going to watch a player in person and meeting them. Each player responds differently, so there’s no one-size-fits-all approach.”
The U.S. Pathway: Room to Grow
For McCann, one of the greatest strengths of American soccer lies in its flexibility. “If a player doesn’t break through an academy at 18, they still have a second chance through college or USL2,” he says. “In most countries, it’s an academy or nothing.”
He sees potential for the USL Academy system to take the next big step. “If USL Academy can build a truly competitive, nationwide structure, the potential is endless,” he says. “You’re already seeing players choose USL over MLS for more first-team opportunities.”
Learning Every Day
Even as he leads one of the USL’s most forward-thinking projects, McCann approaches each day as a student of the game. “If I can become sharper every day, then the likelihood of impacting players and teams for the better increases,” he says.
Football, he adds, “has given me everything.” His motivation is to return that through developing others, and winning. “Helping people achieve their goals and better their lives is a main driver,” he says. “Doing that through winning trophies is the ultimate compliment.”
His message to young Irish players and aspiring coaches? “Be ready to sacrifice a lot. Trust yourself, work relentlessly, and take your opportunity when it comes.”
Our exclusive interview with Alan McCann
You were born and raised in Ireland, can you tell us about your early footballing experiences there?
It was training twice a week and a game on the weekend. All of it was run by volunteer coaches doing it because they loved it up until about U16. I played for Home Farm FC and Belvedere FC in the youth system. While at Home Farm I also represented the North Dublin Schoolboy League (N.D.S.L.) in the Kennedy Cup and then captained the Dublin District Schoolboy League (D.D.S.L.). These were the teams and games scouts from English and Scottish Premier League teams would watch so it was extremely competitive at the time, with many lads going abroad to sign once they turned 16. I then moved to St. Patrick’s Athletic and began into their U21, Reserve and First Team pathway in the League of Ireland.
Could you share some of the lessons that shaped you during your time as a player in the Irish system?
It might seem like a very basic detail but being vocal on the pitch was a must growing up. Every team I played in growing up had a majority of the team that was vocal on pitch, even at the younger ages. My experience now coaching is that it is the polar opposite in many youth environments. Aggression, standing up for yourself and your teammates along with taking on responsibility on/off field were things I noticed coming to the US that made an Irish footballer have big impacts on environments.
When you began coaching, what philosophy or style did you want to build around? How much of that came from your own playing days vs coaches you observed?
I was lucky to have had great examples of coaches to steal all of their best traits from when I was a player. In Ireland, my father was the first I got to learn from. Bringing a dressing room together to fight for each other and bring out each other’s best abilities to win trophies, year after year was a huge early lesson. Coaches such as Paul Osam, Maurice O’Driscoll, Harry McCue, Gino Brazil and Johnny McDonnell were all coaches I learned from as I got into my late teens. In the USA, as a player, I have been able to learn the most from Paul Conway, Brendan Burke and Jim Curtain. Then in Sweden the coaching was brilliant although my time there was short. All of those experiences really blended all together to form an approach when I first began.
You’ve held different roles (manager, assistant manager, match analyst) before your current role at Colorado Switchbacks. How did those earlier roles prepare you for each new challenge?
Each role had its own lessons that I was then able to fall back on for the current role. As a Head Coach in USL2 it was recruitment, man managing of players, tactical approach to different opponents, delegating roles to staff, planning and implementing training on the football side. The unique side to USL2 is helping the college level players transition up into the professional game. So that meant speaking to agents, coaches at different clubs and helping advise each player to the best possible pathway to give them the best possible chance at having a career. All of that has helped me in the current role the most.
What are your priorities as Technical Director and Performance Manager? How do those roles differ from being on-the-touchline assistant manager?
In the previous role of Director of Sports Performance it was more of a focus and specialization on the physical side for the team. Ensuring they can physically peak for games was the sole focus. The individual load management of each player throughout the training week should then tie into the team’s physical goals. During that time we were a high pressing, transition based team so ensuring the team was physically capable and durable to do that from March-November was the focus in that role. As it was a dual role as Assistant Coach, incorporating the football side into any warm up or physical testing helped to blend it all together.
As Technical Director, it is more a focus on the bigger picture impact that you can have on the club. The biggest one of that being the implementation of our Switchbacks II program. It serves as a reserve team to the first team with the capacity to build a Switchbacks Academy underneath also. Ensuring that the concepts and principles being taught at Switchbacks II level are matching with the first team through communicating with the coaches running it on the day to day. This allows players moving up to the first team land into familiar training drills, coaching vocabulary, and approach. This serves as a potential ‘soft landing’ into the professional environment and in theory gives us a greater chance of graduating an academy player into a fulltime professional. It also allows our coaches at that level the chance to move up in the system also.
The team plays under the USL Championship. How would you describe the level, competitiveness, and infrastructure in the USL, and what opportunities do you see for growth at Switchbacks?
It seems as though everything is exploding into bigger opportunities day by day in USL. The level has become a lot more competitive in the past few years, in particular with the movement of the second teams into MLS Next Pro. The Western Conference in particular seems to be everyone capable of beating everyone on their day. It will be very interesting to see how promotion and relegation gets implemented in the next couple of years.
The growth in the current league infrastructure is firstly the launching of an academy. The club has had a hugely positive impact on Colorado Springs as a city and this would only help to keep that growing for generations to come. The expansion of the stadium is most likely the more immediate opportunity applicable to the future league infrastructure as the USL starts to identify different tiers within the promotion and relegation system. Identification of talent that can progress onto the bigger world football and international football stage is likely another opportunity within the next few years.
Can you walk us through your process for identifying and developing talent within the club? How do you integrate analytics, scouting, and coaching for player development?
During my time in the USL 2 as a Head Coach, I also served as a Director of Scouting for various regions throughout the time there. This has allowed me to grow a network throughout the USL 2 and collegiate game that has proven dividends throughout the years. We currently have 14 players in the 2025 squad that came through either the USL 2 or collegiate system. The data side has also been introduced in the more recent times to compliment our process within the club. We are big believers in physically going to watch a potential player and then meeting them as a person also.
On the coaching side, understanding that each player/person is different is key. This means they may respond to the same experience a million different ways. Having a one size fits all approach most likely will not work but most definitely will not bring out the peak of each individual and as a result, the team. Learning what each person responds to, how they take in information, how they physically respond to training load, while bringing that altogether to fit team goals is the approach.
What do you believe are the strengths of the U.S. pathway for young players? Where do you see the most obvious areas for improvement?
The strength of the US pathway that I have the most experience with is that if a player has not been able to break through the traditional academy to professional route; they then have a second chance almost through the collegiate and USL 2 system. In many other countries the pathway within that country’s system is either academy into professional or nothing. Different players can peak at different ages and different stages of their growth. The US system allows another chance for those late developers or slow to peak talents.
Within our USL system, at academy level, there is a huge chance to grow it as the progression into the first team for the right talents can happen quicker compared to that at MLS. If USL Academy can grab a hold of the stakeholders at each club and create a viable, competitive system, country wide, then the potential for growth is endless. There is also a growing trend of players leaving the collegiate system, starting to choose USL over MLS options as they can see a greater chance for first team football exposure.
What motivates you most day-to-day? What are the values you want your teams to represent?
Continuing to learn more everyday sounds a bit cliché but it is a genuine approach. If I can become sharper in different aspects each day, then the likelihood of effecting players and teams for the better increases by the day. This sport has given me everything I have in life and changed it dramatically for the better. Being in a position to help others achieve their goals and better their lives is a main driver. That process being done through winning trophies is the ultimate compliment in my opinion.
What advice would you give young Irish players or young coaches who want to follow a path similar to yours?
Be prepared to sacrifice a lot if choosing this route. It definitely is the road less traveled so there have been a lot of ups and downs along the way. There’s been a lot of patience needed throughout the years of going through an undergrad and two master degrees. Trusting yourself as long as you can compliment it with genuine unrelenting hard work and then it’s about taking your opportunity when it comes your way.
