Brian Schmetzer had to wait an extra day to find out his appointment to head coach of the Seattle Sounders for the most farcical of reasons: He never called back majority owner Adrian Hanauer.
“[Schmetzer] sent me a text saying he would call me in five minutes and the next morning I had to call him again,” Hanauer said on Wednesday after the Alliance Annual Business Meeting at CenturyLink Field.
Hanauer had just introduced Schmetzer as the club’s second Major League Soccer head coach, removing the interim tag he has had since taking over for Sigi Schmid in late July.
“He gets the big job and now he’s a big timer,” Hanauer said with a laugh.
Schmetzer has said on multiple occasions that coaching the Sounders is his dream job. The Seattle native started playing for the NASL Sounders as a 17-year-old in 1980 and has been involved with the club ever since. He spent the past eight years as an assistant under Schmid after being in charge of the USL Sounders from 2002-08.
Schmetzer received a standing ovation when his hiring was announced, and Hanauer could hardly get through the introduction without getting emotional. The two are longtime friends and bestowing the head coaching title on Schmetzer was just as special to Hanauer.
“If I had to say three more words [on stage introducing him], I would have been in tears,” Hanauer said.
Said Schmetzer: “The reception I got was more than I anticipated. The amount of people in the room and the enthusiasm when that announcement was made really touched me. That was a good moment for me.”
Schmetzer quipped that the first thing he did when he found out about the decision was tell his wife that he had a job for another year. His son was also in the crowd on Wednesday and he was grateful to spend that moment with him, even if it came earlier than expected.
The front office had initially told Schmetzer they would wait until the season was over to discuss his future. But the results and turnaround the club had in Schmetzer’s short tenure expedited that process and made it more and more difficult to wait.
Schmetzer called the news “a welcome surprise” and was happy he won over the front office. After the Sounders’ 2-1 win over Real Salt Lake on Decision Day, which secured Seattle an improbable Knockout Round home game, General Manager and President of Soccer Garth Lagerwey pulled Schmetzer aside.
“I said, ‘You’re my guy,’” Lagerwey said. “At the end of the day, he earned it. He was lights out.”
Schmetzer went 8-2-4 in his 14 games in charge before winning his first two playoff matches and having the team in prime position to knock off Supporters’ Shield-winners FC Dallas in the second leg of the Western Conference Semifinals on Sunday (6 p.m. PT; FS1, KIRO Radio 97.3 FM, El Rey 1360AM). Seattle has a commanding 3-0 aggregate lead and is on the verge of reaching its third-ever Western Conference Finals.
“He’s a fantastic leader,” Hanauer said. “He wants to push all the praise down to the people who work with him...People respect him, he’s honest, he’s clear in his communication. Fans love and more importantly respect him.”
Eight years later, it’s fully his team, as is his title. Brian Schmetzer: Seattle Sounders head coach.
“It was emotional…To finally be able to go into his office and say, ‘Welcome. It’s been a while coming,’” Hanauer said. “I’m just so happy for him.”
