All Brian Schmetzer did in 2016 was to rescue what was quickly becoming a lost season for the Seattle Sounders, take them to the MLS Cup Playoffs, on to the brink of the Western Conference finals, and land himself the permanent head-coaching gig before season’s end.
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That last bit was made official on Wednesday night, announced by the Sounders at their Alliance Annual Business Meeting.
Your team, your coach.
— Seattle Sounders FC (@SoundersFC) November 3, 2016
#Sounders name Brian Schmetzer as Head Coach: https://t.co/kgISAUFwp5 pic.twitter.com/5xsEkT0Jnv
Many fans and pundits, including yours truly, left the Sounders for dead in late-July after the dismissal of longtime head coach Sigi Schmid, which came two days after a pathetic display in Kansas City that saw the entire team essentially quit on MLS’s all-time wins leader.
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After being Schmetzer named interim coach on July 26, Schmetzer guided the Sounders to a record of 8W-4D-2L down the stretch of the regular season in order to qualify for the playoffs, at which point they eliminated Sporting Kansas City in the knockout round, and hold a commanding 3-0 lead on Supporters’ Shield-winning FC Dallas in the conference semifinals. The widely-held thought was that Schmetzer would have to take the Sounders to MLS Cup to land the permanent gig, but sound logic prevailed in the end.
