Casey Stoney and her famous cooler habit: Who is Canada’s new head coach?

“I’m not (going to) change,” new head coach of the Canada women’s national team (CANWNT) Casey Stoney told Full Time” podcast, sprinkled with a laugh, which means Stoney is going to “sit on a cooler.” She is going to sit on that cooler with “nice coats and nice blazers” and some Doc Martens-esque verve.

“I don’t have a red (blazer), though,” Stoney said. “So I need to get one.”

For Stoney evangelists and Canada fans, the news is good. The former San Diego Wave and England captain is back on the touchline, ready to perch pensively on a neon red drinks cooler in her technical area whilst sporting a rotating cast of stunning outerwear and game-day fits. More importantly, Stoney is bidding to do what she does best: instill a foundation of trust and confidence in a space that has lost it.

Stoney, 42, was named new CANWNT head coach earlier this week, taking over from interim head coach Andy Spence, who replaced Bev Priestman after she was sacked for her role in Canada’s spying scandal last year — an investigation found that senior coaching staff asked members of the coaching team to spy on the opposition using drones ahead of the Paris Olympics.

So the circumstances of her appointment are not ideal, but Stoney, who has been out of football since San Diego Wave fired her in June 2024, is confident that she can be the manager to lead CANWNT into a new era.

“My job is so much more than just being a head coach of the senior team,” Stoney said. “It’s about looking at the whole landscape in Canada, and just being able to help and support.

“I’ve got lots of experience having been part of the bidding process for the WSL (Women’s Super League) in England, having played there for so many years. I’ve run academies. I’ve worked in laundry. I’ve driven the minibus and run the first team.

“So I want to be able to educate myself first, observe, learn what is really good in Canada already, and then ask: What can we change and enhance? How can I help influence? It’s a top-down, bottom-up approach.”

In three seasons with the Wave, Stoney won the NWSL Shield in 2023 and the NWSL Challenge Cup the following year, while she won the NWSL Coach of the Year trophy in 2022. With Manchester United, she guided them to promotion to the WSL in the team’s first-ever season and two fourth-place WSL finishes before stepping down in May 2021. Stoney’s operation was one of dichotomies: incorporating defensive grit with attacking fluidity, veteran wisdom with youthful effervescence.

With Canada, Stoney sees a landscape ripe for her style.

“This team is already hard to beat. They’ve shown that. They’ve done some fantastic things over the last year. What they did during the Olympics (reaching the quarterfinals), I can only have admiration for,” Stoney said.

“It’s my job to build on that and enhance it. What I was able to show at Manchester United when I went there is that we could score goals. First two seasons at Wave, I think we were top-two goal scorers.

“Now, it’s about how do I bring that to Canada too. It’s a big remit for me. If you want to win things, you’ve got to keep clean sheets. The USWNT showed that in the previous tournament, and it’s about how you can now score goals in crucial moments and create more opportunities to score goals. We’ve got a huge amount of talent in our current pool of players and the pool coming through. It’s about embedding a style and a philosophy where we can use the ball effectively.”

Trust is a keyword for Stoney as she embarks on her latest chapter, particularly following last summer’s events and the controversy that clung to Canada in the subsequent months. The territory is familiar.

“When I walked in the door (of the Wave), they didn’t trust coaches,” she said. “I learned that building trust is so important. If you say you’re going to do something, do it and be accountable for that. Be the one that shows vulnerability, be the one that holds your hand up and owns their mistakes, so that players can do the same thing. And it’s about winning games too. Winning builds trust, confidence, the ability to continue to build.”

In her first comments as coach, Stoney said she would not have taken the role with Canada if she did not trust the direction of the program and the leadership of Canada Soccer CEO and general secretary Kevin Blue.

“I spoke to the players in depth about Kevin, I did my own research,” Stoney said in her initial press conference. “I didn’t take this job without knowledge, and they spoke very highly of the difference that he’s been able to make in the short time that he’s come in. I felt like our values were aligned.”

Stoney’s unveiling has recharged the conversation around Canada Soccer’s culture, particularly whether a reset is required.

“Everything I’ve heard about this culture, it doesn’t need changing,” Stoney says. “It just needs me to lead it, embrace it and take it in the right direction. They’ve got a very strong unity and culture in their player pool. It’s about setting standards and expectations and having clarity around that.”

Stoney underscores the importance of including former players, such as record goalscorer Christine Sinclair and former international Diana Matheson, into discussions around standards, while not shying away from demarcating between past and present.

“Because my experiences when I played are not going to be the experiences of the England players now,” she said. “And what’s now is really important. Because a high-performance environment should be led by the players. They should set the standards and expectations. I help guide and support that.

“But it’s also not losing the legacy of players like that, that had such an impact on the game that was so important to the fans.”

Developing young players remains a core tenet of Stoney’s. A well-trotted mantra of hers is, “If you’re good enough, you’re old enough.” It is not without substance. With United, Stoney played Lauren James when just 16 years old, providing a launch pad from which the now-Chelsea and England forward has flourished. With the Wave, Stoney is credited with aiding U.S. international Naomi Girma in becoming one of the world’s best young defenders.

Casting a glance at the CANWNT squad, the young talent at Stoney’s disposal is tantalising. At mention of Harvard defender Jade Rose, Stoney’s voice rose an octave. “For me, Jade Rose is such an exciting prospect moving forward,” said Stoney, adding that Rose trained with the Wave during her time as manager.

Mention of Liverpool forward Olivia Smith, who has been tipped to be the nation’s next Sinclair, rouses a similar response.

“I was lucky enough because I was back in the UK for four months, and I watched quite a bit of Olivia and will continue to,” she said. “With players like that, it’s about giving them an understanding of what it is to perform at international level, exposing them to it, holding them accountable, but supporting them and challenging them in equal measures. Because Olivia’s an exceptional talent. What she can do with the ball is fantastic.

“She needs to learn a little bit more of what to do without the ball, which is part of my job. And exposing her to as many caps as I can. If she’s going to play in 2027, she needs to have a bit more experience to be able to do that. That comes with the next year of games.”

Stoney’s appointment makes her the latest high-profile woman assigned to the position of national team manager, alongside former Chelsea manager Emma Hayes with the USWNT and Sarina Wiegman with the reigning European champions, England. The sight is encouraging but comes with responsibility, Stoney said, especially as the number of women coaching in NWSL dwindles.

“It’s also part of my duty as a coach to make sure I’m opening the doors for other female coaches to come into the environment,” she explained. “Eventually, hopefully, this job is held by a Canadian female and not me. I’ve been in the game a long time. I’ve seen so many average male coaches come into the game when females don’t even get the opportunity. But research will show you that a man will go for a job that he’s not qualified for and think he should get it. And a female won’t even enter the room because she doesn’t think she should get it and she’s qualified.

“Would I like to see more female coaches? Absolutely. You lost one at Wave and gained a man. It’s one of those situations where that happens. But we can only make sure that we keep pushing the agenda for more females in the game at all levels, not just in coaching, but at executive level, in all roles, to make sure that it’s accessible to everybody.”

This article originally appeared in The Athletic.

US Women's national team, Canada, Soccer, UK Women's Football

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