Longtime Capers soccer coach marks final home game of career

Before Sunday’s game between the Cape Breton Capers women’s soccer team and the visiting Moncton Aigles Bleues, Stephen (Ness) Timmons preferred to view it like every other game in their Atlantic University Sport (AUS) regular soccer season.

Only there was one significant difference.

Sunday marked the final home game of Timmons’ coaching career on the Cape Breton University field that, since 2022, bears his name, and where he spent more than three decades as bench boss for the Capers women’s club.

“It’s been a great privilege and pleasure to coach at this level for as many years as I have,” Timmons said after the Capers’ 2-0 win over the Aigles Bleues. “They’ve been very good to me here, and to have this job dealing with these student athletes, I mean it doesn’t get any better than that.

“I’m just grateful for the opportunity to do the whole job.”

The university announced in August the New Waterford native will be retiring at the end of 2026 season after a 31-year tenure as the Capers women’s head coach. But Timmons himself knew for some time he wanted to wind down his career this season.

“I told John Ryan (CBU’s athletics and recreation director) last year in February that there comes a time … (and) you just get a feeling that you know it’s time to pass the torch on to the younger guys.”

“And he decided to ease my assistants in, and for this year we’ve been sharing the load.”

The team has yet to announce Timmons’ successor. But whoever is chosen will have a challenge of matching what Timmons accomplished from the time he signed on to help revive the university soccer program in 1996 (when CBU was known as the University College of Cape Breton before the 2005 name change) until this season.

Under Timmons’ leadership, the Capers women captured a record 14 AUS championships, won the program’s first U Sports national championship in 2007 — at Veterans Memorial Turf in his hometown, no less — and earned national silver and bronze medals in 2017 and 2018, respectively.

He also was named AUS coach of the year seven times, U Sports coach of the year three times, and the Cape Breton Sport Heritage Award for Coach of the Year twice.  

Additionally, in recognition of Timmons’ community service, he was awarded the King Charles III Coronation Medal in 2025. He also received the Sport Nova Scotia Chair Award in 2022 in special recognition of long-standing dedication, commitment, and leadership to amateur sport in Nova Scotia.

While honoured by all the accolades and awards bestowed upon him, Timmons said the greatest memories of his coaching career have been watching team players’ growth with every game they play.

“I really like the transition from a rookie coming in until they graduate, and when you see them grow,” Timmons said. “The reason I say that is I heard the quote from a famous coach one time (who was told), ‘You got a great team there, coach,’ and he said, ‘Well, ask me in 20 years.’

“It’s just the relationship and the connection you make in the soccer circles, but mostly with your players, and to see the growth and development that happens from that freshman year to the senior graduating class to when they go out into the world.

“When I hear back from my players, of the things they picked up along the way, or maybe the influence I had on them in some little way, I think those are the special moments.”

Timmons’ own sports passion began in his formative years, when he played several sports — including soccer — for Breton Education Centre, prior to his graduation in 1975. He later attended both the then-College of Cape Breton and St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, where he earned a degree in physical education.

After working as a substitute teacher in Cape Breton, Timmons moved to Western Canada in 1982 for full-time teaching opportunities in Alberta and British Columbia. He said it was out west where he found his passion for coaching.

Upon moving back to Cape Breton in 1988, and a full-time position available at BEC, he immediately jumped at the opportunity to coach the school’s Bears soccer club.

“To have played here and to know the soccer community and how important soccer was (there), it was just fantastic,” he said. “But to be coaching there, that was my dream job at the time.”

Under the leadership of both Timmons and Richie Wilcox, BEC’s male soccer teams quickly became provincial contenders every year in the early 1990s. Timmons also comprised part of the coaching staff that guided the Bears to provincial titles at the senior Division 1 level in 1994 and 1995.

Meanwhile, UCCB attempted to establish a football team in 1990, but that experiment folded after just one year because the program severely exceeded operating budgets and impacted other campus sports at the time.

When the university sought Timmons to help revive its soccer program in 1996, the school’s administration approached him with the option of playing either at the small college or university level.

“There were teams that could play in either one, and I knew we’d be a slow start,” Timmons said.

“So I said put us in the league that we wanted to be in, and that was AUS at the time. Setting our sights on that, and having a goal to play at that high level, really helped us and got us to where we are now.”

Initially, it took some time to see progress in the win column. The Capers wrapped the 1999 season with a 2-9-2 record. But in the following season, in 2000, the club would finish first overall in the league with a 10-2-1 record.

“And then one thing led to another,” he said. “So yeah, we built it.”

Fast forward to 2026 — and testament of his respect as head coach of Capers women’s soccer comes no closer than two of the team’s current players.

“He’s not only a coach, but he’s a role model for a lot of us,” said midfielder Elle MacDougall, a fourth-year CBU student from Georges River. “Not only does he develop us as players, but as people as well.

“He has this mindset that’s unlike anything I’ve ever witnessed before. It’s this positivity and this willingness to always go and compete and take everything that happens, whether it’s a win or a loss, and you learn from it and you grow from it.”

Added defender Sarah Baker, a second-year student from St. John’s, N.L.: “One of his famous things that we like to say on the team is, ‘Who says that’s bad news?’ So if there’s bad weather, if there’s wind like today, or if something doesn’t go our way, who says that’s bad news, right?

“It’s all about moving forward, always keeping that positivity, and that really stayed with me and a lot of the other players.”

During Sunday’s halftime ceremony, CBU’s Ryan recognized Timmons’ commitment to his players.

“You have built a program that people respect. You have created a culture that people want to be part of, and you have done it while remaining true to yourself and true to the principles that have guided you throughout your career,” Ryan said.

The Capers women (7-1-2) still have two more road games to go, visiting the Acadia Axewomen (5-3-3) on Friday and Mount Allison Mounties (0-10-0) on Saturday, before heading into post-season action. The Capers have clinched a playoff spot and are currently ranked No. 2 in the AUS, behind the 8-1-2 Dalhousie Tigers.

As for Timmons’ retirement plans, apart from time spent with his family, he said, “I hear doors open once you retire; that’s what people tell me. I don’t know what those doors are yet, but it’s a new chapter. I’m looking forward to it, and we’ll see what happens.

“I won’t be far from the soccer field, and I’ll (still) be watching the Capers for sure.”

— With files from Jeremy Fraser