A true professional — literally — will be leading The Dalles High School boys soccer team this fall.
Matthew Dallman, who played on a professional level for nine years — most recently with the Pittsburgh Riverhounds of the United Soccer League — has been hired to be the new head coach for the Riverhawks.
Dallman is already laying the groundwork to begin building up the school’s soccer program.
“The first day of the pre-season workouts is Aug. 15,” Dallman said. “We’ve been doing non-mandatory workouts recently.”
TDHS Athletic Director Mike Somnis said he is happy to bring in a promising young coach with the experience Dallman possesses.
“Landing a coach like Matt, who has been in the professional ranks over the last decade, brings an instant credibility and excitement to our program,” Somnis said. “We are thrilled to have a coach with his pedigree.”
Dallman, 31, is no stranger to the Columbia River Gorge. He attended Hood River Valley High School and graduated in 2003. After that, he attended the University of Portland for three years, and then began playing soccer on a professional level.
“For the last nine years I’ve played professionally, in Europe, Los Angeles and then Pittsburgh,” he said. “That has been my profession up until now.”
As a pro, Dallman played several positions: center midfield, right midfield, and right defender. During his stellar pro career, he set two United Soccer League records. Dallman is the league’s all-time assists leader and also had the most assists ever in a single season.
But after nearly a decade as a professional athlete, Dallman said he was ready to step away from the game he loves and plant some new roots.
“I was ready to retire,” he explained Thursday morning. “I got married a couple years ago, and I want to start the next chapter of my life.”
Dallman pointed out that, as a professional athlete, you can get traded to another team or bounced around in other ways, which is not always conducive to planning for your future.
“It’s not a secure line of work,” he said, “and I wanted to put down roots and start a family. What better place to do that than in the gorge?”
Dallman said he hopes there will be a good turnout of players for the upcoming high school season.
“We definitely want to have some depth on the bench, so we need 14 or 15 people to help provide a good drive,” Dallman said.
Last year’s team suffered through a disappointing season, going 2-12, but Dallman said it’s too early to get a sense of the talent level on the 2016 team.
“We’ll build on that; hopefully we can only go up,” he said.
A “team-first” approach is critical to Dallman’s coaching philosophy, and he said he intends to instill that mentality in his players. According to Dallman, the game is not about how great any one individual can be, but rather how the team as a whole works together.
“If everyone plays for the team, the team will be a lot better,” Dallman said. “We’re working for the team to win – you’re not out there to show how good you are individually. I’m interested in hard work and having the team succeed.”
Dallman added that he hoped his success with soccer will help motivate others, and he believes he has made an early impression on some of the young men who will be competing for playing time with The Dalles High School team.
“There are not a whole lot of professional soccer players coming out of the gorge, and I think a lot of kids took to that; to see that someone from Hood River or The Dalles can make it professionally,” he said. “If I can use my career as a selling point to get kids to come out, I’d love to do that. I want to help build the program here, and build soccer in the gorge. If I can help one or two kids go to college, I’d be incredibly excited to do that.”
Although The Dalles High School represents Dallman’s first opportunity as a head coach, he pointed out that he has some coaching in his background.
“In Europe, I helped with coaching some charity events, and helped develop a soccer academy, which really propelled me to take over this job,” he explained.
Dallman said he enjoys being able to help develop the skills of young people. One of his goals is to establish soccer camps in the gorge that would focus on technical skills to benefit not just The Dalles High School, but all of the gorge.
“Kids in this area need soccer camps to go to,” he said, “so there can be trainings in The Dalles, Cascade Locks, White Salmon. It needs to be accessible for kids who don’t have transportation. I think that would be great.”
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