Dutchman Rini Coolen says he'll take a crash course in preparing Adelaide United after being named coach of the A-League club.

The 43-year-old former coach of Dutch premier league outfit FC Twente will coach the Reds for the next two years after being selected from 60 applicants to replace Aurelio Vidmar, who has been appointed a national assistant coach.

United chose to ignore the strong claims of Vidmar's longtime assistant Phil Stubbins, while Frank Farina is also believed to have applied for the role.

Adelaide are owned by Football Federation Australia, and the national body's predilection for Dutch football nous was demonstrated by FFA technical director Han Berger's strong advocacy of Coolen for the job.

Coolen acted as a scout for ex-Socceroos coach Pim Verbeek during Australia's World Cup qualifying campaign.

He will return to Adelaide just three weeks before their A-League opener on August 6.

"I have to know a lot of things more about the players," Coolen told reporters in Adelaide on Monday.

"I have to know more about the team, that is for sure."

Coolen returns to Holland on Tuesday armed with DVDs of Adelaide games, and an open mind.

"I have to wait for the games and the training sessions if it's true what I have heard about them," he said of United's players.

"I don't want too much information from people ... I want to see for myself."

Coolen, who spent 12 years as a player in the Netherlands, said his coaching style was typically Dutch.

"I'm a Dutch coach, so you think in a Dutch way," he said.

"I prefer to play with good organisation, with a lot of goal chances, a lot of technical moments, not too much high balls ... everybody wants to play like that.

"But if you are a good coach, you have to analyse your players, what can they do, and what they don't, and that I have to find out, I have to take time for that.

"The way you want to play depends on the quality of the players.

"I am going to find out if it's possible with this squad, if it's not, then we have to take time."

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