Toronto FC Hires new Goal Keepers Coach

Toronto FC announced today that their goal keeping coach Mike Toshack will be leaving to join the Portland Timbers. The vacancy has already been filled by the club though, as they announced on their website that Stewart Kerr would take over the job of working with the likes of Stefan Frei and Milos Kocic next year.

Mike Toshack is widely considered to be a very good coach and was well liked by people who had the chance to work with him so his departure will surely leave a bit of a hole at Toronto FC but the good news is that Kerr should be more than capable of doing the job.

Kerr brings with him a wealth of experience that he gained as a goal keeper at a high level. He spent the majority of his playing career at Celtic of the Scottish Premier League. Kerr retired from playing back in 2002 before taking on his first coaching job in Scotland working for Motherwell. Kerr worked with Motherwell for less then a year, having been hired by the club in early 2011, before he made the move to live in Canada.

He will join a Toronto FC coaching staff that tends to boast similar resumes to his own. A lot of experience and talent during their playing days but not a whole lot of experience in the realm of coaching. The 37 year old Kerr will certainly be motivated to impress in his new role and should be able to relate well to Frei and Kocic. For me the biggest question will be how he fits in with Winter and the desire to train the keepers in a more total football style of play. Last season Toshack did very well working with the keepers on improving their distribution of the ball as a key part in launching attacks so now Kerr will have to continue that work.

We wish Toshack all the best in his new role with Portland and are glad to welcome Kerr to our beloved Reds.