Halifax Wanderers Coach Michael Hunter Leaves Club

Halifax local Michael Hunter will not be returning to Stephen Hart’s coaching staff come the 2020 season of the Canadian Premier League.

The 45-year-old has now coached at almost every level of the game within Halifax, and had previously worked as the technical director and program manager of Soccer Nova Scotia. For Hart, he donned several hats throughout the Halifax Wanderers‘ inaugural campaign.

With Canadian Premier League clubs having a salary cap for staff, it’s difficult to find the right balance of pedigreed coaches without dividing their duties too much. In the case of Hunter, here’s what Stephen Hart had said regarding split duties in the early days of the fall season:

My goalkeeping coach, I’d worked with him before. He’s actually well-known for the work he does on the internet. So, there’s coaches from Fulham and all over, believe me or not, from the EPL that have called him about his excellent analysis of goalkeeping. I said, will you come on board? He was in the IT business. He came on board, and I said there’s one catch: you’re also gonna have to be the match analysis, sort of video IT guy. He goes ‘no problem, I will do all of that’. So, that side of it takes some time from him, but not too much.

Stephen Hart

Unfortunately, it seems like a season filled with long away trips with divided duties wasn’t ultimately working out for Hunter, who made sure to thank Hart – with whom he’s worked with for over twenty years now – for the opportunity to coach at the professional level.

Hunter’s announcement comes just hours after young midfielder Elliot Simmons confirmed that he was also parting ways with the club. According to prominent soccer personality Duane Rollins, there’s set to be a few more outbound Wanderers announcements in the near future, too.

The Halifax Wanderers finished dead last in the fall season standings, so it’s fair to expect Hart to be making adjustments – though in Hunter’s case, it sounds like he wanted a more specific role than the coaching budget allowed Hart to give.

Halifax Wanderers President Derek Martin recently revealed that currently-rostered players who have received offers for the next season have until January 1 to put pen to paper.

Source: Michael Hunter (via Twitter)