Full-time soccer head coaching jobs in the province of Ontario cannot just be found around every street corner – and Randy Ribeiro knows that.

It’s part of the reason why the decade or so following his graduation as a well-decorated player with the St Francis Xavier X-Men in Nova Scotia has seen the Cambridge native cross-cross a few different regions of what was once known as Upper Canada, lured by the passion of the sport that has pretty much always been part of his life.

It’s also part of the reason why Ribeiro was going to give Laurentian University a very good listen when they convened to discuss the head coaching position with the Voyageurs’ women’s soccer team.

The rest simply fell into place.

“What Laurentian is trying to do with this program really lines up with my values, my principles, my philosophies of coaching,” said the 32 year-old who was recently named as the third coach in program history, following in the footsteps of Rob Gallo (2000 – 2018) and Brian Ashton (2019 – 2023).

“They want to see this grow and develop.”

Ironically, Ribeiro will become the first of the above-noted trio to actually hold down the role on a full-time basis, as L.U. recently announced their commitment to both soccer teams (Tony Tagliafierro is now handling the men’s squad, year round) as well as welcoming a High Performance Coordinator for varsity athletics in the form of Jonathan Brown.

“The expectations are aligned with the resources that we have been given,” stressed Ribeiro. “They have given me everything that I need here to succeed. That is so important.”

A central midfielder who eventually transitioned to left fullback, the engaging young man seriously pursued a career as a player in his late teens, part of the Toronto Lynx system for a five year stint and enjoying a small handful of playing and training opportunities in either England or Portugal.

A knee injury forced Ribeiro to defer to Plan B, with coach and athlete somewhat intermingled during his time with FC London (2016 to 2021). “I was playing with the men’s team and an assistant coach with the women’s premier team,” he said. “We won three championships and a league cup.”

“I was fortunate to play under some very good coaches.”

Backfilling with a healthy heaping of the coaching accreditation programs that exist, Ribeiro made the move to Peterborough in 2022, serving as the assistant coach for both the men’s and women’s League1 entries under the umbrella of Electric City FC.

For a whole variety of reasons, the landscape shifted under his feet, catapulting Ribeiro into a head coaching role with both teams less than three months later, staying aboard for two full seasons before the organization relinquished their license in the provincial semi-pro league.

By this time, the burgeoning soccer mentor had established himself somewhat in the Lift Lock City, sliding over to coach the Trent University women’s team last fall. Unfortunately, working that gig alone was simply not sustainable, with Ribeiro returning back to southwestern Ontario, jumping in as head coach of Guelph United this most recent summer.

“I knew that I always wanted to be involved in the sport in some way, shape or form,” he said.

“This doesn’t feel like work to me. It’s a passion of mine; I’m lucky to have an opportunity to coach.”

Beyond the core values noted above, Randy Ribeiro is like many other coaches, gradually formulating a vision of how he would like to see the game played, embracing initiatives that have worked, discarding those that haven’t, and always remaining open to the constant adaptation that is required.

“As a coach, I want to players to play in a way that I really liked to play as a player,” he said.

“There is no right or wrong way to play the game – but I like it to be fun. I am looking to instill a brand of football here that is free flowing. If we don’t have the ball, then we are doing everything possible to win the ball back as quickly as possible.”

More than anything, the connectivity with his players emerged as a prevalent theme throughout our conversation. Relationship building was at the forefront of pretty much everything.

“As a coach, you always have an ideal philosophy of how I want to play,” said Ribeiro. “But I think I would be very naïve to say that we can do all of those things before I really get to know the players. How do I bring out the best in these players? How I get them to apply everything I ask them to do and fine tune those things, that’s the coaching job.”

Having worked closely with both genders, Ribeiro insists that the job itself does not differ as much as some might expect, whether guiding the men or the women.

“Whether it’s on the men’s side or the women’s side, the objective is still to put the ball in the back of the net more than the other team does,” he stated with a smile. “From a tactical perspective, the truth is that the females are just as capable of executing.”

“The biggest difference is how you deliver the information – and that is different not just from men to women, but from player to player.”

With very little time to work with before the Voyageur women head to Ottawa on August 30th to face the Gee Gees, Ribeiro has earmarked more overriding issues while the team gradually immerse themselves into the “X’s” and “O’s”.

“It’s about establishing the culture that I want here, first and foremost,” he said. “These are my players and I want this experience to be enjoyable for them. I want them to be comfortable – in the sense that they feel supported.”

And like every single incoming head coach before him, Ribeiro cannot help but to be optimistic, with not a single loss on his record at Laurentian to date.

“There is something here that we can make very, very good,” he said. “I can see that. If I didn’t see that, I would have never taken the job.”