“I see this particular opportunity as one that we can do really well at because the Vancouver market has — and has had — so many really talented players.” — Aaron Lewis
Aaron Lewis.
Aaron Lewis has been named as the new head coach of Vancouver Victory FC ahead of the 2015 Evergreen Premier League season. The announcement was featured in a Paul Danzer story in The Columbian. Read it here.
Lewis has historic and current connections to the Corban University soccer program out of Salem, Oregon. He starred there as a player and is the head coach of the men’s team in its recent successful seasons. Lewis was drafted by the Dallas Burn (Now FC Dallas) and spent time with that Major League Soccer club. He has also coached within the Portland Timbers ranks.
In addition to hiring Lewis, the Victory have added Alex Nimo as an assistant coach. Nimo, 24, played high school soccer at Benson Tech in Portland. He spent three seasons on the roster of Real Salt Lake and two with the Portland Timbers USL team that predated the MLS Timbers.
“It was Aaron’s professionalism and his vision for the type of team we want on the field that solidified him as the head coach we were looking to hire,” team owner Barrett Goddard says.
In his first season as the head coach in 2013, Lewis led nationally-ranked Corban to its first Cascade Collegiate Conference regular season title since 1998 with a regular season record of 16-2-2 overall that included an 11-1-2 mark in league play. Following the conclusion of the regular season, Lewis then helped the Warriors capture the CCC Tournament crown for the first time since 1997. For his efforts on the sideline, Lewis was named CCC Coach of the Year becoming the third Warrior frontman to win the award joining Paul Meehan and Tony Vandermeer. In his first season at the helm of the Warriors, Lewis guided Corban to the program’s first-ever NAIA National Tournament berth where the team faced off against Concordia-Irvine.
Alex Nimo.
To open his first season as a collegiate head coach, Lewis and the Warriors put together a school-record 12-game unbeaten streak going 10-0-2 en route to earning a No. 20 ranking in the NAIA poll. Lewis put together a defense that led the NAIA in shutouts per game with an average of 0.63, while the Warriors’ back line also ranked in the Top 5 in the country in total shutouts (t-2nd – 12) and Goals Against Average (t-4th – 0.74).
Lewis was inducted as part of the first-ever Warrior Hall of Fame Class in 2010. During his time at Corban (Western Baptist), he helped the program secure four straight Cascade Collegiate Conference titles in 1995-98 and was named the CCC Player of the Year in both 1996 and 1998. Lewis also earned three All-CCC 1st Team honors (1995, 1996, & 1998), while helping lead the Warriors to the 1996 National Christian Collegiate Athletic Association (NCCAA) national championship.
Lewis was the first player in program, and NAIA history, to be drafted into Major League Soccer when the Dallas Burn (FC Dallas) selected him with the 35th overall selection in the 1999 College Draft. After his time in Dallas, Lewis played professionally indoors for the Portland Pythons of the World Indoor Soccer League.
Lewis worked for the Portland Timbers organization from 2010-13, primarily focused on managing the Timbers U-23s program, helping it become one of the elite PDL programs in the country. Seven players from the U-23s program entered Major League Soccer camps during the 2013 off season alone.
“I want people to know we plan on playing a high-pressure, intense style of soccer — one that we think will be successful and entertaining,” Lewis says.
