San Antonio FC interviewed several candidates for their Manager vacancy over the past several weeks, but in the end they already had the man they wanted all along. San Antonio FC announced Alen Marcina as the new Manager of the club on Monday afternoon. Marcina is the second Manager in the team's 5 year history, as he replaces Darren Powell. Marcina spent the 2019 season as part of Powell's coaching staff. With that being said, he'll certainly bring player familiarity to the job as he evaluates and shapes what will ultimately become the 2020 SAFC roster.
SAFC Managing Director Tim Holt had this to say about the hiring. “As result of a thorough search process, we are very pleased to introduce Alen Marcina as the head coach of San Antonio FC,” said Holt. “Alen’s strong leadership, driving ambition, tactical intelligence, and wealth of experience as a high-performing professional coach and player make him the right fit for our club. We are confident that Alen’s appointment will enhance our ability to perform amongst the elite teams in the USL Championship, while continuing our club’s important commitment to identifying, developing and integrating homegrown talent.”
Marcina is a former player who's 8 year playing career took him from Canada to Puerto Rico and a few places in between. In 2006 he scored 13 goals in 27 appearances for the Puerto Rico Islanders. But more recently he is known for his coaching successes. In 2016 he led Rayo OKC to the NASL playoffs but the troubled team ceased operations after one season. In 2018 he led Des Moines Menace to a first place finish in USL PDL's Heartland Division.
Local fans will surely remember Marcina from his San Antonio Scorpions days. He was on the coaching staff for all 4 years of the club's existence in NASL and was Manager from 2013 - 2015, most notably winning the NASL Championship over Ft Lauderdale Strikers at Toyota Field in 2014. Now he'll look to bring a Championship to the same stadium but with his new San Antonio team. After missing out on the playoffs in three of their first four seasons, step one for SAFC might simply be qualifying for the playoffs. He'll have a big job ahead of him to turn SAFC's fortunes around.
“I’m grateful to the leadership of San Antonio FC and Spurs Sports & Entertainment for entrusting me to lead this fantastic community club,” said Marcina. “Everyone at the club is committed to developing and evolving our identity by retaining and adding people of high character who will help us improve through their passion and performance. With our core values, we will improve our commitment to create a gold standard environment with a defined vision, playing style and integration philosophy. I’m excited to get underway.”
Now that the Manger decision has been put to bed, look for San Antonio FC to start making player announcements for 2020 in the coming weeks. Stay tuned to the San Antonio FC team page on ticket760.com for all the latest SAFC off-season news updates.
IMAGES: San Antonio FC Twitter