TUKWILA, Wash. — Brian Schmetzer almost couldn’t make it through his media scrum on Thursday.
The newly announced head coach of the Seattle Sounders was visibly choked up and needed a moment to compose himself. He left the scrum to greet Seattle soccer legends Alan Hinton, Jimmy Gabriel and Dave Gillett, who showed up to offer their congratulations and support for Schmetzer’s hiring.
“They’re really, really good guys,” Schmetzer said through plenty of emotion. “All of them. They’re part of our history, so it means a lot.”
Thursday was Schmetzer’s first day in charge with the interim label lifted, though it was business as usual at training. Seattle still has to play the second leg of the Western Conference Semifinals against FC Dallas on Sunday in Frisco, Texas (6 p.m. PT; FS1, KIRO Radio 97.3 FM, El Rey 1360AM).
The team congratulated Schmetzer when Owner Adrian Hanauer and General Manager and President of Soccer Garth Lagerwey shared the news ahead of the Alliance Annual Business Meeting on Wednesday when Schmetzer was announced to the public. Forward Jordan Morris said a couple weeks ago that Schmetzer “100 percent deserves the job” and others expressed their sentiments on social media on Wednesday evening.
Schmetzer said he’s most proud that the team believes it’s their team and has ownership, something he has been stressing since he took over in late July. The players have bought in and the results have followed.
“You see on the field how they play,” Schmetzer said. “I think they really believe that they can do something special this year…They enjoy coming out here on nice days with their teammates and working. That’s the spirit of this group.”
