Vancouver native Derek Mann has forged an unlikely career in football.
The South Delta born Mann left Canada to play quarterback in Norway for the Oslo Vikings back in 2012 and ever since has found a home and success playing and coaching the game he loves. He led the Vikings to an undefeated season in 2017 in his first year as the head coach.
The team has now re-signed him for another three years.
Mann will be entering his sixth season with the Vikings since arriving in 2012. He spent the 2013 season with the Rostock Griffins in Germany, but returned in 2014. He hung up his cleats following the 2015 season and turned to coaching full time, first as the offensive coordinator in 2016. The 31 year old has won three Norwegian titles with Oslo, the last one as head coach. He has also coached the Under 17 and Under 15 Vikings teams to Norwegian championships. His overall record as head coach and offensive coordinator is 14-2.
A product of the South Delta Rams community football program in Vancouver, Mann played two years of high school football with the South Delta Sundevils before moving on to the North Delta Longhorns for one season and then starting at quarterback for the Okanagan Sun in the Canadian Junior Football League for three years. An unfortunate injury while playing for the University of Ottawa gave him time to contemplate and after registering on Europlayers, he found a new home in Norway with the Vikings.
The rest as they say, is history.
It seems like Mann has truly found a new home:
“I am very happy and excited to have re-signed with the Oslo Vikings for 3 more years. Since the first day I became a member of the Oslo Vikings, I have been treated well and have always been taken care of. I would not want to be coaching anywhere else! I am very appreciative for the opportunity to continue working for such a great organization. I would like to thank all of the Oslo Viking board members for having the continued support and belief in me as a person and as a coach.
There is a lot of great things going on with this organization from top to bottom. My main goal is to continue the development of all of our players with the help of our entire coaching staff. Every player should have the opportunity to play at the highest level possible. I am very much looking forward to continue to make that happen.”