Patrick Brennan

pbrennan@enquirer.com

Alan Koch's life has been a whirlwind recently.

Just weeks removed from guiding the Vancouver Whitecaps FC 2 to within a win of advancing to the United Soccer League's USL Cup championship match, Koch said he's been in Montreal for 10 days putting the finishing touches on a Canadian coaching license.

He's also been flying around preparing for the Vancouver organization's upcoming draft – a kind of exit responsibility before he arrives in Cincinnati to join head coach John Harkes' Futbol Club Cincinnati technical staff.

Given all the running around he's been doing, Koch said he's eager to settle in with FC Cincinnati as early in 2017 as possible.

"What's happening in Cincinnati – it looks absolutely fantastic," Koch said. "For a professional sports team just being around for a year and having the fan base that they do already says a lot about the organization. It also says a lot about the sports fans in Cincinnati and how they can get behind a team. That's very appealing.

"There's a good base. First year, a lot of positive things have been done, but there's obviously a lot of work still to do as the club moves forward. The club's big ambitions match my big ambitions."

They'll be plenty of work waiting for Koch upon arrival.

While Koch will serve as assistant coach to Harkes, he's also been charged by FC Cincinnati President and General Manager Jeff Berding with building out the club's forthcoming academy, a wing of the FC Cincinnati organization that's crucial to its bid for Major League Soccer expansion.

Berding told The Enquirer Koch will lead partner coordination, selection and management of academy staff, and more.

"I like to win, and I think there's a platform in place to try to win," Koch said. "I want to grow, obviously, as a coach, so the ability to continue to coach and work with John (Harkes) is very, very exciting. But also leading the scouting for the club as they hopefully kick on to MLS will be a lot of fun."

Koch's resume is stacked. In addition to his multitude of coaching licenses from multiple governing bodies and taking low-budget "WFC2" to this year's USL Western Conference final, Koch might be best known for identifying and developing talent.

That was evidenced throughout his two years as head coach of WFC2, where Koch routinely fielded starting lineups with multiple teenagers.

Koch also played a key role in the development of Canadian phenom Alphonso Davies, a 16-year-old product of the Whitecaps organization that's reportedly been scouted by some of Europe's biggest clubs.

Koch gave Davies his professional debut at age 15.

Asked to elaborate on his talent-development philosophies by The Enquirer, Koch said, "I think in terms of identifying talent, if they're good enough, their age doesn't really come into it. But the beauty of someone like myself coming in and joining a club like FC Cincinnati is there's so much growth, and I've been used to wearing multiple hats with the Whitecaps. I'm more than willing to wear multiple hats with FC Cincinnati."

Koch joins a staff that includes Harkes, goalkeeper coach Jamie Starr and Nate Kish, who was hired mid-season in 2016 to head up the team's scouting operations.

Scouting work will continue in Koch's absence as the club will host on Sunday an open tryout.