In three months as FC Tucson’s interim coach, Jon Pearlman says he felt no pressure to win. But he won anyway, a main reason why he has been rewarded with the job he wanted all along.
On Thursday, FC Tucson announced Pearlman would be the club’s head coach through the 2022 season. Pearlman, a longtime Tucsonan and original co-founder of the club, said the promotion “means everything to me.”
“I’m trying to express the amount of joy I have,” he said in a news conference held Thursday night at FC Tucson headquarters.
FC Tucson fired John Galas on June 30, seeking a new voice that could help turn around a season that was cratering. Pearlman was promoted from within to replace Galas on a temporary basis. Although he was not initially a candidate for the permanent job, Pearlman became one as the process went on.
FC Tucson interviewed USL Championship, USL League Two and college coaches. None compared to Pearlman.
“As we sort of sit back and take a bigger picture about what’s important to this team right now, what’s important to this community right now amid all the different candidates, there was one that stood out and we already had him: It’s Jon Pearlman,” FC Tucson president Amanda Powers said. “When we had to make the difficult decision to part ways with Coach Galas, I turned to Jon to see what he could do and I think what he’s been able to do is pretty remarkable.”
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FC Tucson has gone 7-5-3 under Pearlman this season, including a seven-match unbeaten streak that saw them jump from 11th place in USL League One to contenders to host a playoff match. FC Tucson is 9-9-6 heading into Wednesday’s match against North Carolina FC. The clubs will face off at 7 p.m. inside Kino North Stadium.
Pearlman said Powers and FC Tucson owner Brett Johnson were supportive during the hiring process.
“The pressure wasn’t particularly on to, ‘Go out there and win if you want any chance at this job,’” Pearlman said. “They said, ‘Do what you do, do it as well as you can, do it with our full support and let’s look at this, not just for the team but for you as well.’ There was a lot of consideration given to me as a longtime person and that’s really a credit to Brett and Amanda and the organization.”
Pearlman has been part of FC Tucson since its inception. He co-founded the club in 2011 and has been coach, general manager, director of soccer operations and technical advisor. He coached FC Tucson in 2017, going 9-2-3 in the USL Premier Development League, after Rick Schantz left for Phoenix Rising FC.
Pearlman said his heart has always been in coaching. He’s done it for 23 years, making stops everywhere from Sabino High School and Real Salt Lake to the OKC Energy.
“At the end of the day, I’m an X’s and O’s guy,” Pearlman said. “I’m a coach. I’m a guy who’s happiest on the sideline. I was the happiest at Sabino, I was the happiest as the PDL coach here and in Oklahoma I was the happiest as an assistant in the championship. I was the happiest trying to win ODP championships working for RSL.”
Schantz, now Rising’s head coach, called Pearlman on Thursday to offer his congratulations.
“Rick and I are always going to be close,” Pearlman said.
After helping build up FC Tucson to a club that hosts MLS spring training, fields a professional men’s team, a championship winning women’s side and an academy, Pearlman said the next step to building soccer in Tucson is winning USL League One matches.
“Our vision was to grow soccer in this community, to bring MLS teams here, to inspire kids, to build fields, to make people know that this is a centerpiece of the United States soccer landscape, which seemed an impossibility at the time,” Pearlman said. “And then suddenly David Beckham was here and different things happened.”
