The long-serving coach is done in Seattle after nearly eight years in charge, but his problems were not all of his own making

What is success? In sports, players and coaches often fall prey to utilitarian calculations. You either score goals and win trophies, or you are a loser. Yes, some idealists will point to “style of play” and mention “attacking soccer”, but you’d be hard-pressed to get an average fan to give up silverware for critical acclaim. So, after nearly eight years, Sigi Schmid and the Seattle Sounders have parted ways.



One has to ask: was his time a success? The answer, of course, depends on how you look at it.



North American sports leagues, including MLS, have the oddest of structures. On the one hand, teams play very long regular seasons with plenty of games to separate the wheat from the chaff. However, the reward for this grueling march is a higher seed in the playoffs. And even two-legged ties are often dictated by chance, form, and questionable referee calls. Playoffs are exciting for fans, but perhaps not the fairest way to resolve who is king of the hill.

Sigi Schmid leaves Seattle Sounders after eight-year reign Read more



Schmid’s Sounders were regular-season warriors, and reached the playoffs every year. They even won the Supporter’s Shield in 2014 for the best regular-season record, and looked poised to reach the MLS Cup final as recently as last year. But they didn’t. Schmid has won MLS Cups before, but failed to do so at Seattle.



And it was in the postseason that the Schmid was undone time and time again. Fans will point out that the team struggled to get past the first round. As Matt Doyle noted in his column, Schmid’s Seattle teams often relied on star players perhaps to a fault. The perception among some was that the Sounders simply played to get to the ball to the feet of their forwards, and then let those often well-paid strikers create goals.



Teams that crowded their own penalty box or choked off the midfield had success in tense playoff encounters. Of course, in a league hampered by salary cap restrictions, almost all MLS teams have to rely on their handful of stars to play well to have a hope of success. Trying to get the ball to your forwards’ feet is at least easier on the eyes than long-ball football.

What’s perplexing is that while the Sounders struggled in the MLS Cup playoffs, they won four US Open Cups. Seattle also enjoyed a few strong runs in the Concacaf Champions League. It’s not so much that Schmid couldn’t win in in knockout competition - it’s that he couldn’t win when it mattered.



Schmid’s time at Seattle, like a play, is perhaps best divided into three acts: Act One - Expansion, Act Two - Consolidation, and Act Three - Decline. Expansion clubs in MLS and other North American leagues can often struggle at the onset, but Schmid’s knowledge of both MLS and the college game allowed the Sounders to hit the ground running. Act One was an unqualified success. Unlike Toronto where a weak team killed the interest of passionate new fans, Seattle enjoyed a halo effect: success on the field led even more fans to pack into Qwest stadium.

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He also can’t be faulted for his man-management of both stars and MLS regulars. He squeezed a good season out of an aging Freddie Ljungberg, allowed Montero to blossom, rehabilitated Eddie Johnson, and even made Obafemi Martins look like the star he once was. Faces changed, but success beget success. Schmid deserves at least as much credit as the front office. If some coaches squeeze the life out of a roster to reach the promise land - an MLS Cup - Sigi never ran his players into the ground.

Schmid’s Act Two was a qualified success: Seattle regularly reached the playoffs and competed with the big guns of MLS. However, in Act Three, Schmid arguably fell victim to his own earlier success and heightened expectations. Whether Seattle failed to win an MLS Cup may be ascribed to chance, form, or questionable tactics, but lots of fans from rivals teams looked Seattle’s way with envy. They were consistently strong and “in the mix”, for what that’s worth.



Some Sounders fans also wonder if perhaps this poor opening half of the season is due more to roster moves than Schmid’s hand as coach. Jordan Morris has had a solid rookie campaign and bagged seven goals but, like many young strikers, prefers to run off the last shoulder of a center-back whereas Dempsey constantly drops deep to ask for the ball. This creates a huge gap in the attacking third. The Sounders barely managed one goal per game and struggled mightily on the road. You can blame tactics, but Martins is missed. Neither Nelson Valdez nor Herculez Gomez have been consistent goalscorers.



The current team needs to score goals and lacks midfield creativity, but, then again, lots of MLS clubs have turned things around for the second half of the season. Seattle were 10 points off the last playoff spot, but that’s just one bad road trip and three losses for Vancouver. An optimist would say that once Dempsey has fully recovered from a grueling Copa America, he could easily catch fire and spearhead a late run. Nevertheless, in a very tactful press release, both Sigi and the club concurred that a “change was needed” and the Sounders claimed that it was “upon us to reset the club.”



For every roster, windows for success open and close. If the New England Revolution with Twellman and Joseph and Ralston and Reis never won an MLS Cup, then you can also see the sun setting on the Seattle of Alonso and Dempsey and Evans (who are all over 30). The team needs to turn a new page, and at least things appear to have ended amicably between Schmid and the Sounders.



Of course, there are allegations Schmid fell out with Dempsey and the locker room has grown “toxic,” but Johnson also caused a stir in Seattle before leaving and still tweets at DP players who earn more than they score. Income disparity in MLS and underperforming stars are common in all locker rooms, not just Seattle. If Schmid was held to blame for three aging strikers who have failed to click and score goals, he at least honorably fell on his sword.

At the age of 62, Schmid may soon qualify for Social Security but still has many more years of soccer management left if he wants. In 2018, a less demanding (on a daily basis) national team coach position may become open, and it wouldn’t be a surprise if he was a leading candidate. He may not have won an MLS Cup at Seattle, but he’s earned a lifetime of respect.