TORONTO — Brian Schmetzer sat at the podium at a press conference inside the Toronto FC training ground on Thursday, and in one of the rare occasions since he took over as Seattle Sounders head coach in July 2016, he blushed with a mixture of pride and embarrassment.
Schmetzer, beaming, looked to his left at forward Clint Dempsey and goalkeeper Stefan Frei, who each took turns praising the man who had resurrected them from the Western Conference basement 18 months ago to the brink of winning back-to-back MLS Cup titles. For a man with a deft skill at deflecting praise and accolades, he listened as two of his most prominent players showered him with admiration.
“He’s very competitive and wants to win,” said Dempsey. “It makes him happy. Having someone competitive like that and who wants to win motivates the team. He’s a thinker. He’s always studying tape and trying to figure out what’s best for the team.”
Schmetzer has compiled an astonishing 30-12-16 record (.517 winning percentage) since taking the reins and could become just the fifth manager to win multiple MLS Cups if Seattle can take down Toronto FC on Saturday (1 p.m. PT; ESPN, UniMás, KIRO Radio 97.3 FM, El Rey 1360 AM) in a rematch of last year’s final. He would also become the fastest head coach to two titles.
“He’s done a great job,” said Dempsey. “Being able to get to two finals in a row, hats off to him. He’s done a great job, and we have to see it out.”
Schmetzer is more than just the head coach of the Seattle Sounders — he is the embodiment of everything the organization is and has been. A Seattle lifer and former NASL Sounder, Schmetzer led the USL Sounders to two titles at the helm before joining former coach Sigi Schmid’s staff as an assistant from the club’s MLS inception in 2009 until Schmid’s departure midway through 2016. Schmetzer continues to stress that the founding pillar of this club is the relationship it has between the players and the fans, and his willingness to step back and defer responsibility to his players has been a defining factor in the team’s incredible success.
“One of the more impressive things would be, as a Seattleite, to have control of the Seattle Sounders, you’d want to control everything, but he actually gives us players so much trust,” said Frei. “He said it last year that this our team, and what you want to do with this team and what you want to achieve with this team is up to you.
“He’s very passionate about being from there and he knows what the Sounders mean to that community. To surrender that control to the team is a tremendous sign of respect for the players.”
Fighting back a bit of emotion, Schmetzer still refused to take the credit he has rightfully earned. He thanked his assistant coaches in Djimi Traore, Gonzalo Pineda and Tom Dutra, as well as everyone in the organization from owners Adrian Hanauer and Joe Roth to equipment managers Nolan Myer and Scotty Tranilla.
“My job gets easier when you have [that type of support],” Schmetzer said. “These guys [the players] make my job easier.”
