New year and a new leader for County

Composed by Robert Kerr

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Happy New Year everyone, we made it! A new year is upon us and with it a new Oakland County FC season is on the horizon. 2023 is here and with it comes big OCFC news. Oakland County Football Club is proud to welcome Brian Doyle as the new Head Coach of the club. The veteran American coach will bring more than 40 years of coaching experience to the County sideline. Coach Doyle succeeds Vinnie Vasilevski, who led the Purple Gang since 2020 and secured the club’s first ever title win in 2022. Vasilevski remains with the club in a front office role.

To say Brian Doyle is experienced is an understatement. The New York native is a USSF ‘Class A’ licensed leader who has been in the coaching game since the late 1970’s. Coach Doyle has been local to the Metro Detroit area since 2001, when he became the Director of Coaching at the acclaimed Michigan Wolves-Hawks Soccer Club. The Hartwick College alumni also served as coach for Michigan’s Olympic Development Program during this time. Doyle has since served as Coaching Director for the Michigan Rush Soccer Club, and most recently Royal Oak Football Club. Prior to moving to Michigan, coach Doyle found success in the College game, finding success at a number of programs including Cleveland State University.

The veteran coach has seen a lot of change in American soccer and worked at a variety of levels in the game. He has, however, not yet led an elite amateur summer league team like OCFC. The new challenge, the high talent level of the players, and the passion for the club he felt from Vasilevski and the owners, swayed the now semi-retired coach to sign up for the job. 

Coach Doyle states he is “looking for a marriage between attractive and effective play”, meaning he wants his team to not only create chances but to finish them, while limiting the chances for the opponents. Doyle noted that players will both “enjoy the sessions and improve during their time with him and “will be healthy and fit for their return to college.”

Ticket packages for the approaching 2023 Oakland County FC season are now available at https://www.oaklandcountyfc.com/tickets. For more information and updates on follow the club across social media platforms @OaklandCountyFC.