James Merriman was hired as an assistant coach under Michael Silberbauer for the inaugural season of Pacific FC and the Canadian Premier League. That 2019 season was disappointing for Pacific, and Silberbauer was fired before Pacific's final game of the year.[4] This gave Merriman the opportunity to take the reins as interim manager, and he managed Pacific to a 2–0 victory over Valour FC to close out the season in fifth place.[5]
Ahead of the 2020 season, Pacific hired Pa-Modou Kah as the new head coach and retained Merriman as his assistant.[6] The season saw improvement for Pacific as the club finished the CPL season in fourth.