Detroit City Football Club has come a long way since its founding in 2012. It moved from Cass Technical High School to historic Keyworth Stadium in Hamtramck, where the team draws 5,000 to 7,000 fans for its home matches. It won the National Premier Soccer League’s Great Lakes championship in 2017. It has hosted international squads from Italy, German, Mexico, Canada, and Ireland. And it has built a loyal following of fans known as the Northern Guard Supporters.

Now, DCFC is taking the next step in its evolution. Starting in 2019, Le Rouge will be part of a new 11-team professional league that stretches from coast-to-coast. City will also continue to play against regional teams in the NPSL. To guide them through the process, the club’s owners have hired Trevor James as the new head coach. James succeeds Ben Pirmann, who led the squad for six seasons. Pirmann recently joined Memphis 901 FC as an assistant coach.

James brings Major League Soccer coaching experience to DCFC, as an assistant with the Los Angeles Galaxy and the Portland Timbers. He’s also been a scout for top English and European clubs, including a freelance scout for FC Barcelona.

The new coach has already met with DCFC supporters and is looking for a home in the Detroit area. He talked about his background and his goals for the club with WDET’s Pat Batcheller.

Patrick Batcheller Trevor James visits WDET

Trevor James: “I’ve been in the game a long time, as a player—played as long as I could, then went into the coaching side. I’ve been very fortunate that it’s taken me around the world and, obviously, to some great clubs, working with great individuals, great players, and great coaches. So that’s how I got into it, and it’s been a great experience for both me and my wife, because she’s traveled everywhere with me.”

Pat Batcheller: What is your vision for City?

Trevor James: “Well, I think it’s really what the club wants to do, in communication with ownership and their vision of what they’re doing to where they are now. It’s unbelievable to have grown so quickly in such a short time with the support of the community, the fan base. And it’s not just supporters, it’s everybody who’s aware of DCFC in the city, but also outside. So I think it’s probably where the club wants to go. I think the vision will be—short-term—to really compete this year, this first season, which is going to be a little bit tricky. It’s a little bit unique that we play two seasons, effectively, in the same year. One as an amateur club, one as a pro club. That’s going to be tricky. But I think in the short term, it’s to compete for championships in both leagues, whether it’s NPSL or the pro league.”

Pat Batcheller: You mentioned playing at the amateur and professional level at the same time. What kind of player challenges might that create for you from match to match?

Trevor James: “It’s a little bit unique because normally a team will just play a season and you know where you are for the year. The way this is going to be, we’re going to have to be a little bit creative in putting the roster—or rosters—together. Ideally, the first roster would include the best college players that we’ve identified, the club has identified, like it has over the years. But also a mix of experienced players, ex-professional players, or players who still want to be professionals but don’t have clubs at this time. So that when the college players do return after the first season, then a number of players will transfer into the pro squad, the pro roster, which means that we would need to add a full roster. That’s ideally what I’d like to do the first season, and then take the players along with us through to the pro level. That will be the goal, so we’ll see how close we can get to that.”

Pat Batcheller: You’ve met some of the fans, the supporters of Detroit City Football Club in the short time you’ve been here. Has the level of enthusiasm for City soccer surprised you at all?

Trevor James: “Yeah, it has. I say that and I’ve worked around Europe and the world, but also worked in the United States for a long time with a number of clubs who have large fan bases. But seeing it and speaking to people, they do realize that they really own this club effectively, and it is a different club, and it’s set up differently with ownership, and it’s run for the community.”

Pat Batcheller: How important is that passion to help you achieve your goal as the leader of the club now?

Trevor James: It’s great to have it, obviously. Also, if you look at it, it works two ways. Everybody who comes to play Detroit, it’s the biggest game of the season, it’s their cup final. They’re going to play in front of 6,000 or 7,000 people, which they won’t do all season elsewhere. So everyone will be up for the game, but again, it’s using that to our advantage. We know that we’ve got that. We know the support is going to be there. It’s a mindset of using that as an advantage, so it’s a great help for us to have that fan base and the supporters, knowing that they’re right behind you and trying to make a difference. It’s a great help.

Click on the audio player to hear the conversation.

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