Michael Toshack
A former Saints assistant coach who has had an outstanding career as an assistant in professional soccer, Mike Toshack was named the fourth head coach in program history in July 2015. He relieves former head coach Bob Durocher, who was promoted to Director of Athletics and Recreation in May 2015.
The 2017 men's soccer season will be the third for Toshack, who led the Saints to their third consecutive Liberty League regular season and tournament championships during his first season in 2015. St. Lawrence finished that year with a 16-4-2 record and advanced as far as the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament. The Saints also advanced to the NCAA Tournament in 2016.
In two years with the Saints, Toshack has coached 17 All-Conference players, four NSCAA All-Region selections and one NSCAA All-American. The team had a 27-8-3 record under Toshack thus far.
Prior to joining the Saints, Toshack had spent three seasons as an assistant and goalkeeper coach for the Portland Timbers for in the MLS and spent a total of eight seasons with three different teams in Major League soccer (Houston Dynamo, Toronto FC, Portland Timbers).
Toshack coached in over 500 professional games and coached in the 2001 FIFA Youth World Championship in Argentina. He was the owner and operator of Global Goalkeeping, a soccer education company specializing in goalkeeper development from 1993-2003 and was the Director of Goalkeeping for Global Premier Soccer from 2004-2005.
He was director of goalkeeping for the Vancouver Whitecaps in the United Soccer League from 2005-07 before moving to the Houston Dynamo in Major League Soccer as assistant and goalkeeper coach in 2007. He held the same position with the Toronto FC from 2009 till 2012 before joining Portland in January of 2012.
Toshack served as an assistant coach for the Saints under Durocher from 1994 until 2003 and was a member of the coaching staff for the 22-0-0 national championship team. He also coached the U20 Canadian Men's National team from 1998 to 2001 and began his professional soccer coaching career with the Montreal Impact of the United Soccer League in 2002. Saints teams went 115-20-11 during his tenure as assistant coach and had a 60-game unbeaten streak. He coached Greg Sutton '99 who went on to a professional goalkeeping career and Dustin Crooker '03 who was the national statistical champion in goals against average in 2000.
A graduate of Acadia University and a native of Prescott, Ontario, Toshack was assistant coach and goalkeeper coach for the 2007 Major League Soccer Cup Champion Houston Dynamo and was on the coaching staff for the Major League Soccer All-Star Team for the match against the European Champion Bayern Munich in 2014. His Portland Timbers goaltender, Donovan Ricketts, was named Major League Soccer Goalkeeper of the Year in 2013.
"I am grateful to Merritt Paulson, Gavin Wilkinson, Caleb Porter and the entire Timbers organization for the opportunity to coach for such a first-class club in the best soccer environment in the country," Toshack said. "As much as I will miss Portland and MLS, this opportunity with St. Lawrence was too great for me to pass up, and I am looking forward to returning to where I started my coaching career and the opportunities that await in my new role as the head coach of the Saints program." Toshack said.