For the first time ever, one of Malibu High School’s most successful coaches is going professional. Lloyd Kinnear led the girls’ soccer team to a CIF championship in 2010 and then went on to lead the MHS boys’ soccer team to their most winning seasons ever. Now, the beloved former coach is leaving Southern California for Oklahoma to work as an assistant coach for the Tulsa Roughnecks in the USL Pro League and he and his supporters couldn’t be more excited about it.
Kinnear is known for not only his five years at Malibu High School, but also for coaching local AYSO and privately for many families in the area. It was his work at Malibu High that earned him and his players accolades with the girls’ CIF win and the meteoric rise of the boys’ team. Under Kinnear’s leadership, the boys were ranked in the top 50 teams in the country, the top 20 in California and beat rival Oaks Christian which, according to Kinnear, “Hadn’t happened in many years.” He was awarded the Tri-Valley League’s Coach of the Year in 2009.
Growing up in Durban, South Africa, Kinnear was a soccer superstar. He played for Bloemfontein Celtic in the South Africa Premier League and then later moved to Southern California and started coaching soccer clinics. He’s coached LA Galaxy and U.S. National team players. He returned to South Africa for the 2006 season to play, as well.
“I went back to play for one of the biggest teams in South Africa I grew up watching as a child,” Kinnear recalled. “It was amazing.”
Working with a professional league Kinnear explained, is “something I’ve been waiting for, for a long time.
“Working with the pros is a big honor and I’m very happy that I got this opportunity,” he said. Kinnear’s new team, the Roughnecks, will be playing against the L.A. Galaxy’s USL Pro team.
“Lloyd is an exceptionally gifted technical coach who has helped a wide range of soccer players improve their skills, ranging from current professionals in the MLS to our local boys here in Malibu,” Jon Nokes, who has coached Malibu AYSO boys’ All Star teams, said. “With his outstanding knowledge of the game and his dedication to the sport, I think he is destined to go all the way to the top in U.S. Soccer. It will not surprise me at all to see him coaching a top MLS team in the not-too-distant future.”
Many of the students Kinnear has coached have gone on to play in college, including Ari Taublieb who plays NCAA soccer for the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, Wash.
“Lloyd is an incredible coach and human,” Taublieb said. “We used to call him ‘Little Mourinho’ to all those soccer fans who know that term. Lloyd was the first to see my talent and put me on varsity and told me I would be successful, even when I didn’t see it yet. He just saw what I had and trusted in me. Lloyd set me up for playing collegiate-level soccer.”
“Lloyd was a force of nature when he arrived at Malibu High School,” according to Jon Watkin, Malibu father of two soccer players. “There has never been a more intense coach — demanding, forceful and hilarious. He took the girls’ team to a CIF championship and then took over the boys’ team and turned them into a powerhouse. He inspired several generations of Malibu kids including my son, Max Watkin, who went on to play goalkeeper for the L.A. Galaxy Academy before getting drafted to San Diego State. This is a tremendous opportunity for Lloyd. I’m sure he’ll do incredibly well.”
The 47-year-old Kinnear wanted to thank the parents, high school and community for being so supportive of him.
“Malibu was amazing to me and my family,” Kinnear said. “Malibu was a massive part of my life, massive part of my income, massive part of my kids growing up in a great community like that and I just hope what I left behind successfully, I can start somewhere else successfully.
“Working with kids to working with the big boys in the pros is an honor,” he continued. “The USL is a chance for the players to move up to the MLS as well as coaches to be seen and move up. It is going to be me one day — that I can promise you.”
