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Pacific FC’s Pa-Modou Kah named 2021 CPL Coach of the Year

Just as the champagne dries, Pacific FC head coach Pa-Modou Kah has earned another reason to celebrate.

Kah, the second-year coach of the Tridents and recent Canadian Premier League Champion, was named Coach of the Year at the 2021 CPL Awards in Toronto, Ont. on Tuesday.

Pacific posted a 13-6-9 regular-season record under Kah and spent much of the season in first place before dropping to third in time for the 2021 CPL Playoffs.

The Tridents went on to win the CPL championship with back-to-back wins on the road: First was a spirited 2-1 extra time result in Calgary against Cavalry FC before the slaying of Forge FC in the CPL Final on December 5. Best Under-21 Player of the Year winner Alessandro Hojabrpour’s near-post header in the second half was all Kah’s side needed to beat the two-time champions to win the club’s first North Star Shield.

“My job is to serve the players, my job is to help the players become better,” Kah told reporters at the Awards ceremony. “When they become better, they make me better. We challenge each other… I’m fortunate enough to be in a group that have seen me play, but also have seen me spend time with them. They know anything I’m saying or I’m doing, it’s because I believe they have the quality and the capability to achieve something.”

Kah bested 2019 COTY winner Tommy Wheeldon Jr of Cavalry FC and Forge FC gaffer Bobby Smyrniotis – whom he beat in the aforementioned CPL Final – to capture the honours. HFX Wanderers FC head coach Stephen Hart captured the honours in 2020.

Kah went on to touch on the significance of winning the honour as a person of colour in a coaching position: “It’s about paving ways. Other people have paved the way for us, my job is to pave the way for minorities to see that they also can be in leadership roles and also excel.

“I think the narrative has always been that minorities only play the game and then leave… I think where we are now in the world, you can see it more and more, yes we do know how to play the game but we also know how to excel in leadership roles.”