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The Interviews from the Sounders Marbella preseason - a sit-down with Sounders head coach Brian Schmetzer
383 Plays1 day ago
(This is the final of three interviews that were done while Jeremiah and Noah Riffe of Lobbing Scorchers were visiting the Sounders preseason in Marbella, Spain.) Jeremiah got the chance to sit down and talk to head coach Brian Schmetzer. We also learn what Brian’s stance on umbrellas are as a Seattle native.
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Transcript
Introduction and Will Bruin's New Role
00:00:01
Speaker
Hi, I'm Will Bruin, and I was just recognized as a Seattle Sounders legend. Now I get to do voice reads for the Sounder at Heart Podcast Network. Here we go.
00:00:11
Speaker
Come
Seattle Sounders' MLS Cup Victory
00:00:12
Speaker
on. Hey, O'Shaan. Let's go. Seattle Sounders have done it. MLS Cup winners. Here comes Ruiz Diaz through the middle to crown it for Seattle.
00:00:25
Speaker
The Sounders rule the region.
00:00:58
Speaker
what was the thought process in terms of who you decided to use and who you didn't? Ever since Salazar Hart wrote a commentary that we didn't take the overcome seriously.
Sponsorship by Full Pull Wines
00:01:18
Speaker
This episode of Nos Arietes is sponsored by Full Pull Wines, a Seattle-based wine retailer and proud sponsor of Nos Arietes since 2011. Full Pull was founded in 2009, is based in Seattle, and is owned and operated by longtime Sounder supporters.
00:01:32
Speaker
They offer the best boutique wines of the world to members of their mailing list, with special focus on their home, Pacific Northwest.
00:01:42
Speaker
Yeah. yeah Well, we are now now I can say, hey, Nico. Yeah. I know. I know a lot of things. Oh, no.
00:01:53
Speaker
All right. Well, ah first off. I do this all the time with him. Yeah, he knows. yeah I mean, you should see some of the B-roll. Look, I'll tell you the story. You can keep this on You can actually use this. We use this. Okay. look, Kev's had a tough upbringing. I mean, he's got Alex, you know, who can be a mean boss.
00:02:12
Speaker
And he's got to word Matt. And Matt can be like, you know, he's a big bear. Well, he's a big bear. you know, big teddy bear sometimes. I mean, he's got really thick skin, but then there's Kevin, a nice kid, you know, he's, you know, whatever, but he's had some challenges as he's coming up.
00:02:29
Speaker
And if he ever makes it as, uh, you know, PR with, i don't know what your exact title is, but as officer press officer, if he ever makes it, in MLS stardom or and NBA or NFL or wherever his ceiling is, it's going to be because of this week here in Marbella.
00:02:50
Speaker
Wow. He has knocked it out of the park with hey with our owner, with me. I mean, he's got it. All the details have been dialed in. He's he's got content going back to America. i mean, he...
00:03:06
Speaker
He's going to get the game streamed if they they're... but we have if they're b ble I mean, this will be the week that in his memoir, yeah it's going to say, i remember this. And he managed to get Sounder at heart out to Marbella for the first time.
00:03:24
Speaker
To be greeted by this wonderful weather. Well, well you guys brought this shitty weather. No, wait no I heard that this was a going on all the time. It's Noah's fault. should have brought a rain jacket.
00:03:35
Speaker
Yeah. It's Seattle. I don't buy Actually, you're correct. And Christina and I never
Team Dynamics and Obed Vargas' Impact
00:03:41
Speaker
walk with umbrellas. Yeah. i mean, that's for... That's for tourists. Yeah, that's for tourists. Exactly.
00:03:47
Speaker
Well, ah this has been a very news-filled few days. Oh, yeah. What was your this is not necessarily for the for the Q&A. Maybe it will make it in there.
00:04:00
Speaker
But what was your what was your sort of feeling around the whole Obed Vargas thing? And that was like a ah whirlwind unto itself. ah Well, I got a lot of thoughts. There's a rumor that he might even make the bench ah for this game here coming up oh on Friday.
00:04:17
Speaker
Breaking news. You got to dig into that. Yeah. um Look, I felt for Craig because you know there was a lot of work that went into that sale.
00:04:29
Speaker
You know, was on, off. There were other teams interested. There were obviously the whole Mexican side of things. And, like, I'm not privy to all the details, but I do know there was a lot of interest in Obed. But what's serious interest? And what's kind of just conversational interest? What what is that? And how did he sort through and sift through, you know, all of the, you know, because agents out there are putting stories out there and, you know, other teams are...
00:04:58
Speaker
getting little tidbits and they throw stuff out there. Some of your reporters might've thrown some stuff out there, you know, and Craig had to negotiate all of that. And look, to be fair, the deal for me is absolutely win-win. Yeah. Because it's Obed's boyhood club. Okay.
00:05:20
Speaker
Is he going to really make an impact and start or is he going to get loaned out? that's That's kind of irrelevant because, you know, he's at his boyhood club and he has an opportunity to actually make an impact and at the place where he really wanted to go. So that's a storybook ending on his side of things. Yeah. And then our side of things, mean, look, i people can say, well, he was worth 10 million or whatever.
00:05:45
Speaker
He's worth what the market paid for him. Okay. And we've got a hefty sell-on fee. And Craig worked hard to negotiate because they were negotiating back and forth for, you know, 72 hours straight.
00:05:58
Speaker
I mean, he was back in England, you know, so he could be on this timeframe. And, you know, we were on the phone with each other every couple hours. Adrian, whenever he got up at 4.30 in the morning was, you know, talking to me and Craig. So it was ah it was a hard deal to get across the finish line, but we looked pretty good.
00:06:21
Speaker
As a club that developed a player. Found the player too. like the i think I think that's another thing that yeah that hasn't always been appreciated is that here's a kid who came from a...
00:06:32
Speaker
A club no one knew about in Alaska, and it was Sounders coaches who identified them and brought them into the system. Jeremiah, thank you for that reminder because I was going way on a different track, but thank you for bringing me back down.
00:06:44
Speaker
ah That's Henry Browner and Wade Weber and all of the staff, you know Mikey Morris, all those guys. I mean, he's moved on, of course, but you know those guys found him.
00:06:55
Speaker
And they also found Osaze de Rosario. And Henry's got a knack of finding these players that you, who's surprised, opened some eyes at camp, you know, we find these players that come. So the scouting department- You're super noming, me, is what you meant. Yes. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, I got it. I just don't want to be embarrassed.
00:07:14
Speaker
Because I can't pronounce his name. Yeah, no, it's okay. You said it pretty good. Okay, good. So anyway, so back to the story, the Sounder story, it's great for us. I mean, it's such a big deal that we could develop this kid.
00:07:26
Speaker
And i'm look, Brecky has a needs, deserves a lot of credit for putting that kid where he's at today because they used to, after road trips,
00:07:38
Speaker
They'd come back, they'd sit next to Precky, they'd watch the film. Precky was doing the work with the midfielders, how we rotated, how we changed into 3-2. And you know there was a lot of work put in by the coaching staff, scouting staff, everybody, and for Craig and Adrian to to bring the deal home in ah in a positive way for us.
00:07:57
Speaker
ah I just think the whole thing is a success story. No, I think you can look at it realistically as an organizational success. And sure you can go every step of the way every step of the way This is a kid who you guys identified, you brought through, played for Defiance, played for the first team for several years, got a lot of opportunities.
00:08:16
Speaker
And people can say, what do they want about the actual sale number? The end of the day, you guys moved a player on to one of the biggest clubs in the world. Yeah. Not many clubs do that.
00:08:28
Speaker
No, I mean, i and I look again, like to make this too much about Obed, but I've been saying that this is one of the most significant moves of a player in MLS to, because he's not going on loan first. I mean, he's going, he's training with the first team right away. I mean, like you said, if he ends making his debut with the first team, I think there was only two or three players who went directly from MLS to a club of this caliber. Yeah. Meaning one of the top teams in the top leagues.
00:08:56
Speaker
You got Tim Howard going to Manchester United way back when. Alphonso Davey going to Bayern Munich. That's the most recent one. really, everyone else first made a step to a club, a lower
Brian Schmetzer on Team Culture and Coaching
00:09:08
Speaker
stature club, or they went on loan first. A selling club or something. Right, exactly. Yeah, I get it.
00:09:13
Speaker
I get it. And so it's a, I think it's an amazing success story. I hope you feel. Happy for the kid. Yeah, absolutely. And I Super ah Yeah, absolutely. Well, to get. his His teammates are proud of him. Everyone he we talked to seemed extremely happy for him.
00:09:27
Speaker
ah You know, I think there's there is going to be an element of we knew that guy when. a lot. i mean, especially for these guys known him since he was 13, 14 years old. Yeah, for sure. I say this all the time. I i coach Clint Dempsey.
00:09:40
Speaker
like I mean, that's- Exactly. Might be on my gravestone.
00:09:47
Speaker
All right. So that actually is a good transition into into this part of it. You know, you're you're going into your 10th full season as the Sounders head coach. ah I have to imagine that when you took this job in 2016, 10 years was not necessarily on my radar on your radar. But what do you what do you think has led to allowed you to do this for as long as you have and to be as successful as you have been?
00:10:11
Speaker
I think you could look at it in three different ways or three different reasons why. ah a number one, we again, we have a stable club and a stable boss. So I'm appreciative of Adrian's, you know, keeping me around even, you know, back to the USL days and and all of that. I would say that I've had really good players.
00:10:32
Speaker
I would say that my timing, because a lot of times in life, it's right place, right time, you know, and so I was a beneficiary of coming in and it wasn't just Nico Lodero.
00:10:44
Speaker
Obviously, he was a big part of it in 2016. Yeah. He came and, you know, kind of changed some things. It was a spark and all of, we all know that story. But if you look at the rest of the locker room, who I had in that locker room, i mean, that was a good freaking team. Yeah.
00:11:00
Speaker
That was a seriously good team. I just kind of rearranged the pieces and, you know, did a couple, you know, different messaging and, you know, and stuff like that. And, you know, it worked.
00:11:11
Speaker
So, the Final part is the coaching, the coaching aspect. I think I've had great assistance. I've had plenty of help, but I think my ability to kind of, you know, each group each year is a little different.
00:11:27
Speaker
And I think I'm not a systems-based coach, but And I think that's where maybe i was able to kind of flex a little bit here, change a little bit here, adapt a little bit here. And not just the players and the playing style and all that, but listening to new ideas again, back to my coaching staff. Cause look, Ante and Ezra were different than Jimmy and Gonzo. That's different than Freddie and Precky. And Tommy's been maybe my one constant. I mean, he's the conscience that's he's on my shoulder, sitting on my shoulder all the time. It's like, okay, Tommy, what am I going to do here?
00:12:02
Speaker
Okay, well, it's the Sounders or nothing. you know Tommy's always in my ear about blue and green forever. So I've had a ah wide range of opinions come across and I listen to them.
00:12:17
Speaker
It's not like I'm stuck with one type of, you know this is how we have to do it. And I think in our league, in MLS, I mean, look, Peter Verme certainly had a lot of success being a systems-based coach, and there's other coaches that have success.
00:12:33
Speaker
But our league is too fluid. There's too many rules. There's, you know, players. I mean, look, even FC Miami. I mean, look what he did. i mean, he took Suarez out of the lineup, or maybe Suarez kicked himself out the lineup, put two young guys on top of Messi. He changed his lineup after the loss in the League's Cup, and they took off.
00:12:54
Speaker
And so being flexible in kind of how you play, i think is critical. Now, again, ah okay everybody can go back to, to to yeah what's his name from from Columbus?
00:13:08
Speaker
Nancy. Wilford Nancy. ah You know, he was my assistant-based coach and he had, you know, of good success. But for me, in my environment, I think change has been necessary.
00:13:21
Speaker
And I think change has done me some good. You know, one of the things last year that we asked you about was how this was the most attacking oriented team you had. And you made a comment at one point saying, this is how I've always wanted to play. And I'm curious, was that a was it a line or is can you unpack that a little bit for me? Is that true? Well, we always want to score goals and entertain the fans. ok I mean, that's always been part of what Joe Roth, I mean, yeah another guy that has helped me and I still keep in touch with Joe.
00:13:50
Speaker
I mean, he and I email back and forth after games and conversations sometimes are good, sometimes are challenging, but, you know, he's still a supporter of the team and ah he always wanted to entertain the fans. Yeah.
00:14:02
Speaker
And we do too. I mean, it's not like these guys, you know, work their butts off just to defend for 90 minutes. They want to have fun. They love when it's toka toka and they're they're feeling it and you get a bunch short passes and you can play over here and then short passes and go and you score. i mean, everybody loves that.
00:14:21
Speaker
yeah But I also imagine one of the reasons that coaches i think are especially that are around for a long time or more as defensive coaches is because there is a element of control you have cede when games are more open and it seemed like at times last year you were a little bit more willing to allow games to be or and games got open whether or not you allowed it or not i didn't like it i didn't like that I mean, you asked me about what I wanted and how I like to play and scoring goals.
00:14:52
Speaker
My pragmatic German side is, of course, risk averse. You know, be risk averse. And, okay, what happens if you send five guys up here? Who's going to cover back here? Of course, that comes into play. And I am a firm believer of defense wins championships. I'm i'm a firm believer in that because that's what...
00:15:11
Speaker
happened with me. ah But it's also, you know, that's, it's also a balance. I thought in 2024, we got the defending nailed. I mean, we were good defensively.
00:15:23
Speaker
i mean, you know, that the, the lost LAFC in the playoffs, you know, Mwanga gets behind us one time. She's but one time and they score but we you know Jordan had a breakaway early earlier than the longest I mean but we were lights out defensively that year and then last year Last year, I mean, we were good, good offensively. Even in 2025 when we lost to the Galaxy, we were super good defensively.
00:15:57
Speaker
So we tried to we tried to kind of bring our attacking up and, you know, I'm not going to sit there and blame it completely on like the defensive side of things. I think what we did is we so we gave up too many goals on set pieces. Yeah. And, you know, second balls out of set piece situations.
00:16:18
Speaker
And also some lapses in concentration is what really, I think, was our undoing. mean, look, I can bring this up because everybody was witness to us, but, you know, the two games before the Club World Cup, the team was distracted.
00:16:32
Speaker
Yeah. And those are points that we dropped. And, you know, the points that we gave up by my total, based on my memory, I think it was, we dropped eight points from winning positions or positions where we were going to collect points. Eight points puts us ahead of Minnesota.
00:16:52
Speaker
Maybe even up to third or second. i yeah I don't have the table in front of me. And those lapses in concentration, Jeremiah, is what it was instead of an overall collapse. Yeah, I'm right. I'm right. I didn't turn into a bad defender. Right. New didn't turn into a bad defender. He just got a silly red card in Vancouver. I mean, it was like those moments that unraveled us.
00:17:17
Speaker
Yeah. I mean, I think that those... yeah You can look at the LA Galaxy game as an example where you guys had, you're up late in that game and at home, you're up 2-0 going into second half. Yeah.
00:17:31
Speaker
There's a lot of games. Right. A lot of games like that. on First game of the year, Charlotte. Right. Never should have given those up. There's two points. Right. 3-0 at home against the Rapids. Yeah. and that Not to bring up sort of points. Well, but no, you're right. You can bring up whatever you want because it's true. I mean, that's the and it's those are the facts and I'm trying to explain the facts as best I can.
00:17:54
Speaker
Yeah. Well, you know, you're known to share ah a good bottle of wine, a good glass of wine with
Coaching Staff Dynamics and Philosophies
00:18:01
Speaker
fellow coaches. What makes a good, like when you, like when do you know you you found a good one? You found a good drinking partner in the coaching staff?
00:18:10
Speaker
When do I know that? Yeah. When do you, like what makes a good, a good. ah Well, I've had one since day one with Tommy. Okay. Well, actually it wasn't, I mean, he came to me in 2005, I think. So I had a couple of years at the USL, but yeah.
00:18:23
Speaker
you know Look, we've had we've had a great staff and you know Ziggy was a good drinking partner in the sense that he'd take us out and you know he'd pay for some meals and he'd love to go into... there was ah There was an Austrian restaurant in Kansas City that we would go to and we'd have Wiener Schnitzel and beer and then there was the German deli that was in RSL and then you know i don't know if this is the right place or moment in the story to tell us, but, you know, talking about drinking and having a beer, you know, Grant Clark has been with us for, you know, bolt down right the whole time since 09. And he, he's got a ton of stories and kind of the three of us, you know, me, uh, Tommy and, and Grant, we've, we've, we've, I mean, we drink a lot of beer.
00:19:12
Speaker
We drink a letter red wine. ah But Tommy does dry January. Okay. So he's waiting till tomorrow. He'll drink the last day of our preseason camp. Okay. And he's got enough he's got enough willpower to do that.
00:19:27
Speaker
Grant and I, we don't care what time year it is. We'll... Especially when you're in Spain, right? Yeah. Well, we we actually had a really nice bottle of Northern Spanish red the other night at dinner with all the coaches. And man, it was good.
00:19:42
Speaker
Really good. And cheaper. cheap A lot cheaper. A lot cheaper. We bought some beer last night. it is a little embarrassing how and much more affordable it is. oh yeah. Yeah. yeah Yeah. Well, you can blame that on someone.
00:19:55
Speaker
Yeah. I think that's ah that's a fair point. ah You know, both the the coaching staff and the He just went right past it. He didn't want to go. to aid You want to go? Yeah. yeah Let's talk about tariffs.
00:20:11
Speaker
yeah Yeah, we're going to stick this on. OK, OK. So, you know, this team has been remarkably stable, both on the the coaching staff and the roster. And I tend to think that that is sort of a in some ways it's a self-fulfilling product. Like if you have a good team, it's easier to keep them together.
00:20:30
Speaker
But what do you think? leads to the cohesiveness of the of the group and does that you know what are the the benefits and and drawbacks even of having so many players and and coaches who really know each other well benefits and drawbacks and how did it happen um let's start with it how did it happen i mean look again when i started in 2016 even when we started in 2009 you know ziggy uh you know ziggy ah put out some strong messages about the team and how he felt it was important to be a group.
00:21:08
Speaker
You know, you're always more successful with, you know, a bunch of players that that that work together, fight together, then, know, 11 individuals, that's common sense.
00:21:20
Speaker
ah You know, my spin on things is partly due to some of my own personal ah experience as a player. And I told these guys the other night, you know, because there's a couple of new guys, we have a couple of new guys, and I was talking to them the other night, and they I can get out my stories because Christian and Jordan just switch off because they've heard it for, you know, 10 years.
00:21:40
Speaker
ah But, you know, when I was a player and when we signed contracts, look, it's professional sports. And so at the beginning of the year and i had a contract, I made sure that I made a commitment to that group of players for the the entire year. And there were years where I wasn't happy midway through the year. I wasn't playing enough or I wasn't, you know, the coach didn't like me or, you know, I had to fight or I thought something was unfair whatever. But my commitment to my teammates never wavered.
00:22:15
Speaker
And I waited till the end of the season to go into the front office and say, okay, well, this didn't go well and I'd like to change this or can we do something?
00:22:25
Speaker
And that's my belief. And when these guys sign up and sign a contract for the Seattle Sounders, they have to make the same commitment. Because they're their their lives, their careers are very short.
00:22:41
Speaker
I mean, it's a very short career. it's You can play 15 years, but what's that what's that in the scheme of things if you live to your 80? It's a short short amount of time. And 15 years is even a really good career. I mean, that's that's a long time if you can get it to 15.
00:22:56
Speaker
And so in those years, you have to make sure that you do everything humanly possible to be successful in your career. And as I just explained before, you can't do it on your own.
00:23:11
Speaker
And so the two things, if you add those two things up, you need to make sure that you're committed to your teammates for an entire season. Then if you don't like the situation you're in, then you can go and you can, you know, you can go into Craig's office or Garth's office and move on or whatever you want to do. But that's the expectation that I have for these guys.
00:23:30
Speaker
Then you couple that with, character. It's a, it's a, you know, everybody throws that word around, but we have really good characters. And Craig and I, when we hire people for the, on the technical side of things, you know, we, we'd rather pick a person that we feel has really top character.
00:23:51
Speaker
And maybe there's another candidate over here that might be a little bit more qualified or have some more experiences, but we don't, you know, we don't see him as, you know, kind of fitting into what we want to have in our culture, we'll go for this guy all the time.
00:24:05
Speaker
And that's paid off handsomely for us. i mean, Adam Santifani is one of the one of the best examples. he's He is the best fitness coach in the league, my opinion. i've been I've been through a lot. I've seen a lot of them. We've had guys that worked in a in the EPL, yeah two of them.
00:24:23
Speaker
And Dave Tenney has a great record and Sean and everybody that's come before him. But Adam is top. I mean, he's really good. And why is he? Because he's humble. He works.
00:24:33
Speaker
He cares about the players. He cares about the team. He's good for the environment. So that to me is why sometimes if you keep good people around, you can be successful.
00:24:48
Speaker
And the drawbacks, I mean, yeah, sometimes it was... You bring a big player in, it shakes up the groove. Most recently in our situation, it's been we've removed a player or the player has gone. Like Nico, we didn't remove Nico, but that just...
00:25:07
Speaker
fell apart, the negotiators fell apart, so he left. Same with Raul. We didn't renew his contract. And sometimes when you remove things, it has the same impact as bringing someone in.
00:25:20
Speaker
So in that sense, there's a little part of me that thinks, you know, we've been stable, we've been successful, you know, the fans want a new shiny toy, but sometimes those other little factors...
00:25:34
Speaker
can still give you an edge in certain moments. And certainly, you know, certainly we saw that in the, in the leaks cup. Thank you for listening to the sounder at heart podcast network, which now includes no study at this loving scorchers and the cooler guild. Although this podcast is free, it's only made possible to our paid subscribers plans start as low as $30 a year and allow us to remain independent and mostly ad free. subscribers get access to all our written and podcast content, including a full text RSS feed and a mostly ad free podcast feed that includes every show in one spot. If you really like what we're doing though, I'd encourage you to sign up at our higher tiers, which include all sorts of various perks. The most popular of those is our members only discord or the real Sounders sickos hang out. I know I've called this group, the smartest, funniest and best informed Sounders fans in the world, but it's more than the rough equivalent of a Sounders Mensa meeting. Discord is where we make things happen. Like, for real. You know the promotion the Sounders ran that offered fans the opportunity to trade in their messy jersey for a Paul Rothrock one? That originated in our community. You'll not only be the first to know about stuff, but you also have a semi-direct line to the movers and shakers at the Sounders organization. If you want to be one of the totally normal people who occupy the Sounder at Heart Discord, just become a supporter of Sounder at Heart. Anyway, thanks for listening, and go Ders.
00:26:55
Speaker
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Speaker
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00:27:57
Speaker
Well, you know, two of the players that you that are those types of players, I think Paul Rothrock and Stephen Fry are players who were out of contract at the end of last year. And then after even though you knew they were going on a contract, you had them both show up to this Washington Legends of Soccer ah event that you hosted.
00:28:14
Speaker
Was there any did you have any doubts about bringing them in when they were so close and like that being an awkward situation? And do you think that that ended up playing any role in them ultimately deciding to come back?
00:28:25
Speaker
ah I was more worried about Paul than Steph. I mean, look, Steph wanted to continue his career. you know he's getting He's getting up to it. ah you know We didn't want him to leave. There was negotiations in the background starting from when the season was over, ah but we hadn't we didn't have a deal on the table.
00:28:46
Speaker
And Paul was different because Paul had a tremendous year. And look, he turned down a lot of money. He left a lot of money on the table to stay with this club. And so I was really concerned that he was going to be gone.
00:29:01
Speaker
But I am thrilled. i mean, I'm tickled that he would, you know you know, put values in what he wants to accomplish with this club and some of his experiences that he's had. He wants to continue those.
00:29:14
Speaker
i mean, um' I couldn't be... more impressed with his commitment to this team, the fans, everybody. And do, don't know, when you find a player like, like those, and when guys who you keep them, you just, I mean, you just have to Christian and Jordan, those were easy, but you know, there was offers early on for Christian and, you know, Jordan went to, you know, play in other places, but he was always going to come back. Uh, uh,
00:29:43
Speaker
I mean, look, i can i can I can open up this can of worms. I mean, we wanted to keep Nuhu. hey I mean, look, we've had some challenging conversations with Nuhu because, you know, when he was young, he was certainly fiery and he had emotions and, you know, he was a little immature. But now look what we have.
00:30:02
Speaker
We've got a mature captain of the Cameroonian national team. And, you know, i was a little concerned about that. I was like worried he was going to come into camp and he had a big head and everything. But... He's been great.
00:30:12
Speaker
And he's been a leader. He's like coach's dream. So I'm happy that we re-signed him. I don't know that I was expecting to hear new who's been a coach's dream in this interview. with So far. it's It's been two weeks.
00:30:27
Speaker
he got to Well, I got to Spain. it It's been a week. okay Maybe it's a little short. but Okay. because So far, so good. So far, so good. we're Happy to hear that. So, you know, you ever since you took over from Siggy in 16, but before that, you had a couple opportunities to do something else. Yep.
00:30:47
Speaker
If you, you know, knowing what you know now, If you were to take what you knew, what you learned under Siggy and sort of and your time here and tried to, what do you think you can translate? Because so much of what you have here feels like it's specific to Seattle.
00:31:04
Speaker
But what do you think you could have exported to somewhere else? What kind of what like what if if someone's asking what's the magic? How do I make this happen? How do I replicate this in somewhere else? Hate to lose. Never quit.
00:31:17
Speaker
Fight for your teammates. Build culture. i mean, look, I was in Montreal. It was a little soon. I think that was 20. It was 2012, 2011. I don't know. I wasn't ready yet, but I did it because I had a friend, ah Nick, and he he he was a technical director at the time. And I took the interview, but I don't know if I was ready there. But with Dallas, when it came around, Fernando Clavio was a technical director down there. God rest his soul. He was a great man.
00:31:47
Speaker
ah and I felt I could have replicated some of the things that made me successful up here. ah You know, and it had to do with relationships because I trusted Fernando because we coached together, we played together. I mean, I went to coffee with that guy every morning. Sea right? Well, sea dogs, but before that, San Diego Soccers. ah So we lived right next to each other.
00:32:11
Speaker
And Martha and and my wife and the kids and everybody, we all got along. And so I trusted Fernando. And so trust as to who hires you and who can fire you is certainly important in professional sports.
00:32:26
Speaker
But I think that
00:32:31
Speaker
And look, they're simple things. I mean, I've i've been around at a lot of leadership conferences and, you know, I like the five dysfunctions of a team. And, you know, there's lots of things that you can read about building culture, 10 ring, know, all that sort of stuff.
00:32:45
Speaker
And a lot of that stuff is common sense stuff, but it's the how, and it's the when. Sometimes it's when you say something, timing, the timing.
00:32:58
Speaker
almost is more important than the words that you use. Like if a guy's pissed, you can't talk to him about, well, you know, I think you need to do this and this and blah, blah, blah. You just got to let him blow off some steam. Let him, you know, let him swear at you or you know, get pissed and come back the next day. And you say, okay, well now let's talk tactics. And I think my job as more managing people because again, Freddie, Brecky, you know, Gonzo, those guys did a li lion's share of the coaching and my ability to manage people. I'm very confident i in, in that.
00:33:38
Speaker
I know I can manage people. I know I can get the best out of people. So yeah, I mean, it could happen somewhere, but just so happens I don't want to, and you know, I'm coming to the end of it anyway. So it'd be a big stretch because I don't want to be want to be coaching in my 70s.
00:33:57
Speaker
Well, ah you know, one of the things that you have, I think, sort of turned into maybe it was already is always there, but this idea that the club is a relationship between the the fans and the team, I believe is how how you say
Fan-Team Relationship and Player Acknowledgment
00:34:12
Speaker
it, right? It's one of my favorite, favorite comments.
00:34:15
Speaker
And what, I mean, how do you go about continuing to feed that and not sort of, because that does seem like it's sort of your... your norths star well no it just seems like that's what informs a lot of this other stuff and and and and what do you have to do to keep to make sure it's not just a slogan but that it's something that you are feeding because it is something that is only really meaningful if it's like if it's real right yes so the players get it when some of the players and some of the players
00:34:47
Speaker
don't do the walk around the lap after a loss and they go right to the stadium. And I have done this a few times, not many, but a few.
00:34:58
Speaker
ah march into that locker room and I wait till everybody gets back in and I'll point it you know pointed out and I say, you motherfucker, you fucking you better get your, that will never happen again. You will walk around and clap. Those people pay your salary.
00:35:15
Speaker
And I'll say it just like that. And they know I'm serious. I don't use that very often. You know, I haven't had to, but in the right moment I will, because it is important for us to acknowledge the fans that are in the building, especially the away fans.
00:35:30
Speaker
I mean, those people pay a lot of money. they they They, not that I'm in discounting the home fans, but the fans, I mean, they travel a long way and they come here to see you guys win and support you.
00:35:42
Speaker
And there's no way I'm ever going to let them not acknowledge those people. And it's those little moments that they know that I'm serious. They'll hear the sound bites. They'll understand. I'll talk about it. I'll talk about the importance of the Cascadia Cup.
00:35:58
Speaker
I'll tell the stories of you know when I was doing ah clinics back in the day with Andy Cherlin and Freddie Hamill and you know, Andy Cherland on the microphone and he's talking about me and Freddie doing some ball juggling, you know, and Andy's like going, Hey, isn't that a big round of applause for Brian and Freddie? And if you want, you can throw some money too. And then all a sudden there's, all a sudden there's nickels and dimes and quarters coming out on the basketball court. Cause we're in the auditoriums usually. And the,
00:36:31
Speaker
teacher was, the principal came out and says, you can't, yeah kids, you can't throw money onto the floor. And we had all these experiences about connecting with people who happened to, you know, i don't know if we turned them into sounder fans, but there's touch points. I mean, the yeah the kids used to love that.
00:36:51
Speaker
Going back to those those those appearances, so we were the youngest people on squad, me and Freddie, and Andy was kind of you know the local kid, but he wasn't you know wasn't a big player, so we were the ones that got all the school assemblies.
00:37:04
Speaker
But man, we had we had a routine, and it was great, and the biggest cheers we got where we, you know, we, at the end of all our tricks and things, we'd we'd scrimmage. We'd scrimmage the boys and we'd scrimmage the girls. And then sometimes we'd scrimmage the sixth graders.
00:37:24
Speaker
You know, we'd get the sixth graders out there and they thought they were pretty good or if we were in... you know junior high, the ninth graders, and that was even harder for us because you yeah you pick like six kids or eight kids in junior high, they're pretty good, right? So we had to work a little bit more. But the biggest thing that got everybody going is Andy would say, okay, so now we're going to play the teachers. Okay.
00:37:50
Speaker
And the kids, they'd be going wow yeah like this. And the teacher didn't want to come out there, but some of them did. And there was the occasional teacher that might've played a little bit. And then Freddie would nutmeg him and the kids would be screaming. And we'd have, yeah it was like hilarious. But those kids came home to their parents probably and said, oh my God, the sounders are here. And they played the teachers and the teachers didn't win. you know Just stuff like that is why i guess I say You know, those are the stories that I haven't told a lot.
00:38:23
Speaker
You know, it's always the carnations and the traditions and all that. But those are some of the best touch points that I've had with fans in my career as a sounder.
MLS Trends and Sounders' Strategy
00:38:32
Speaker
Well, you know, another recent story, sort of folk hero situation was last year heading into the League's Cup final. You may, you use that line, you know, they got messy and we got Paul Rothrock and we got Jackson Reagan.
00:38:45
Speaker
How, A, how premeditated was that line? And B, did you have any real conception, the sort of like folk hero moment you were kind of creating there?
00:38:57
Speaker
Not at all. I'll tell you this story. Thank you for asking that because it's one of my newest favorite stories. So we had just beaten LA and we fly back and sit in a dinner and Christine is there.
00:39:14
Speaker
We're having a glass of wine and I'm like going, sweetie, I mean, we're playing Messi. I mean, we're we're we're we're playing Miami and they've got Suarez and they've got Busquets and And she's like going, well, who are those guys? I'm like, sweetie, sweetie, they are the best. but They've got Jordy Alba. He's the best left back ever. i mean, he's the best left back ever. And I'm going on and on about how we're how I was excited to play Miami in the final. And she finally looks at me.
00:39:45
Speaker
She finally stops me and says, stop being a fan boy. And I just went. Oh, okay. And she goes, you yeah you need to you need to start talking about our boys. You need to talk about Jackson and you need to talk about Christian. and You need to talk about Paul. and you need to Stop being a fanboy.
00:40:05
Speaker
And so she is just like, set me straight, right? And so the very next day a training, you know, it was our first day back and somebody puts a microphone in front of me and goes, well, the question was,
00:40:19
Speaker
What do you think? I mean, you're playing against Messi, you're playing against FC Miami, some of the best players in the world. And Christine is just in my head. And so i I blurted out. I said, well, yeah, they got Messi or whatever, but we got Paul Rothrock and we got Jackson and we got Andrew whatever. And it just, because Christine was telling me, you stop being a fanboy.
00:40:41
Speaker
So it was just you channeling Christine. Yeah. It was just one of those moments where you know behind every successful man is a you know good woman. Absolutely. And that is, i mean, it is kind of amazing how much of a life that took on. I mean, when he scores that goal, that has to be a almost out of body experience for you. that Out of body. That it is a. Because we can see the angle, you know, where we sit on the bench. Right. You know, we can we can see the angle. So we see the ball, Alex, you know, missed pass, but you see Paul, you know, he's a sneaky fucker and he comes in there, he comes in there and then he hits it with his left and he goes in the far corner and the place just erupts.
00:41:19
Speaker
I mean, it's just, you can't get any better than that. No. And I've listened to it after. Afterwards? like Because subbed them off. And you guys had, like, words for Sardau. I can't remember, Noah. I really can't remember.
00:41:32
Speaker
ah But I'm sure it was just congrats because the kid deserved it. I mean... He may never be subbed out of a game in the 89th minute ever again in his life, but I'm happy that I could. In front of 70,000 people? In front of 70,000 people. i don't know if that's going to happen again, and I was happy that I could do that. Yeah, absolutely. So you're kind of that that moment, that game, I think.
00:42:00
Speaker
Is sort of a a preview, though, and in a lot of ways that we're now in a precipice of a time where money and big players are playing an even bigger role in MLS than ever before. And it seems like it's sort of a runaway trend at this point yep that the league is just going to get bigger and more.
00:42:17
Speaker
wo And the Sounders are still sort of doing it differently. yeah ah Not sort of this sounders are we are doing it. You're doing it differently. How how do you go? How do you keep up with that? How do you keep from, you know, maintaining who the sounders are?
00:42:34
Speaker
Which is both being competitive, but also being a team that's got that's built different than other teams. Well, we have to, a number one, get our DPs right, you know, because when we spend the money, they have to be, you know, they have to be good. And I think we did so far throughout our career. And look, Pedro, he fits the mold because he's such a nice kid. He's such a great kid in the locker room. I feel sick to my stomach sometimes thinking about that game in New York.
00:43:04
Speaker
You know, should I have played? I'm not, you know, the freak accident, you know, the grass. Was it the grass? You know, just his injury because he was going like this because he was rough start.
00:43:16
Speaker
Okay. Rough start. But he was going like this. And we needed that because he would have been a star. He is a star. He's going to come back, but you know it's it's challenging.
00:43:27
Speaker
And so we have to get our DPs right. We have to maintain the culture, the character, the never quit. We have to continue to try and evolve tactically. think, look, Mossoski scored 18 goals.
00:43:42
Speaker
masssassi scored eighteen goals You know, I think Oba got 18 one season or 17 or whatever. yeah You have to find diamonds in the rough. ah You got to play good defense.
00:43:55
Speaker
Got to have a great goalkeeper. You know, Jaimar is getting a little older. So, you know, Jaimar, how we going to replace him? mean, we need to start doing some, you know,
00:44:06
Speaker
Two-year plan, one-year plan, two-year plan. Craig and I have already started to talk about some of those things because look, even look even Jordan and Christian are sneaking up there. Albert's sneaking up there. So we have to be very good about the players that we select that fit.
00:44:21
Speaker
Yes, of course, who we are, what we are and all of that. And then make sure. And again, and i think that's been one of our strengths as ah as a coaching staff is we can maximize players potentials by giving them opportunities, by coaching them well, by getting to understand that the collective is always stronger I mean, Paul might be the perfect example because like Paul on another team, I'd be willing to bet if you asked him, that might've been one of the, you know, one of the reasons why he didn't want to move was because he fits here.
00:44:56
Speaker
You know, when Jackson was coming up for renegotiation, you know, couple of years ago or year. Well, yeah. A year a half. 2025. Yeah. Well, his contract wasn't up, but we were trying to write yeah get him ah get him a new deal because he deserved more money. you know And his agent was saying, well, someone's going to play you know this.
00:45:17
Speaker
I looked at Jackson. I said, you know what, Jackson? You fit this culture. You're from this area. And the way we play at three two absolutely highlights your strength because you got Nuhu on one side, you got Yaimar on the other, and you got the ball at your feet.
00:45:34
Speaker
Go somewhere else. Go to Portland. mom Scratch that. I never said that to him. ah You know, go to San Jose it's going to pay you more money or go to Dallas who's going to pay you more money. They might not play that way.
00:45:48
Speaker
And you never know. So sometimes bird in hand.
00:45:55
Speaker
So we got to get our stuff right. We got we we got to get our players. We got to nail our signings and then, you know, we got to keep evolving as a staff and, you know, keep the culture going.
00:46:07
Speaker
You think you can't, you it's not an impossible task. as yeah we're saying I don't think so. Look, it's getting harder because look who my Miami signed. Right. I mean, it remind it scares me a little bit. and i know there's some guardrails, but reminds me a little bit of the NASL.
00:46:21
Speaker
mean, Miami's like Cosmos. I mean, they they Cosmos had Pelé and Beckenbauer and Carlos Alberto's and all that. And Miami has Messi and now they have butra and a drama. I mean, they got everybody.
00:46:37
Speaker
So it's a little scary, but, you know, we'll see. Well, you know, you're 10 years into this. No one's trying to push you out or anything. Some of your readers. Maybe some of them, but...
00:46:49
Speaker
You seem to be able to, you you seem to be at a point now where you're going to kind of, how I don't care. Well, you don't care. Yeah. But what do you want to be? care about all your readers. What do you want to be? But what do you want to be remembered at? What do you, want what do you think you're, when it's all said and done, what do you want people to be saying about the Sounders during the Brian Schmetzer? That I left the club in a better spot.
00:47:09
Speaker
And when I got here and I think I'm going to push that back all the way to 2002, you know, because it's not fair to Zig. You know, he really pushed the club in a a great launch.
00:47:22
Speaker
So I'm not going to compare myself to him. But, you know, when we started, when Adrian and I started in 2002, I want to make sure that we've left the club in a better spot.
00:47:33
Speaker
And I think we have in many ways. Yeah, almost every way. It almost has a way. But I mean, it's been long. It's been hard. There's been challenging moments. There's still going to be challenging moments. ah But, you know, we're we're doing the best we can to treat people.
00:47:51
Speaker
You know, Adrian and I, when we first started, it was like we under-promised and over-delivered. It was kind of our mantra because we had to you know, right away cut salaries right away in 2002.
00:48:03
Speaker
And that stuck with me, you know, Bart Wiley and, you know, some of the conversations we had early on with some of the players, Scott Jenkins and Eddie and Leighton all those guys. I mean, those weren't easy conversations yet.
00:48:17
Speaker
I mean, had to cut some guys' salaries. And in return, we said, you know what, we're going to cheat you good.
00:48:25
Speaker
Well, Brian, that's ah I think a good place to end this conversation on You've been wonderful. Always love being able to do these things with you. It's been a little bit. i feel like it's been a little bit. Yeah.
00:48:36
Speaker
Well, we can Noah said he was going to buy me a glass of wine at the bar. Yeah. Oh, nice. So after dinner, i'm going to order the most expensive, and it's probably going to be 35 euros. Yeah. So it's not going to break it's not gonna it's not going to break the bank. A lot of Sperger's audience will be. Yeah. Okay. Well, you get some sound bites maybe. or Get your phone out, and you might get some sound bites for your clear podcast. Yeah. So, uh-oh. Oh, yeah, you should come. yeah We get the tea meal. Oh. And we're watching film.
00:49:08
Speaker
um okay. I mean, we'll come watch film. yeah Well, you guys actually should watch film at some point. We should. I agree. We would love to get... you know we I was told I needed to ask about getting the full 22 on one of these days.
00:49:23
Speaker
The all 22 video. All Yeah, the it. you launch So you you want to see everything that we yeah prior to matches we was painting about Yeah, like a medium-to-loss section type situation. At least one, you know, I can do a lot. Okay. There's some, you know what? ah But if there is a chance, yes, I can, you know what I could do is I could probably set up something where, you know, Freddy, because he's good as gold. I mean, Freddy's great. He does the pregame film.
00:50:00
Speaker
and then, know, you know We could probably do that. And then we'd play the game and then I do the post game review.
00:50:11
Speaker
and then, you know, after the game's over, maybe a day later, I could tell you what I told the team. Maybe we can look at something like Oh, well, I like that idea. Well, Brian. Educate some of ex exact readers. Exactly. Get, yeah. Real and real education.
00:50:25
Speaker
vel You don't know what you're looking at. That's what I need sometimes. That's definitely what looking at. know, everybody's entitled to their opinion. I mean, i get it. I mean, it's it's it's so easy to, you know, do this, type something on it. I get it.
00:50:40
Speaker
But everybody is, if, look, if they buy a ticket or if they buy your magazine or they subscribe to your site, they can have an opinion as long as they keep it respectful. Absolutely. I mean, keep it respectful. ah You know, some discourse, some conversation, some, you know, disagreement is not a bad thing. It's just when it goes to the levels that it is in this country right now, then it then it's then it's not good. And we can have a whole other of conversation about that anytime you want. Yeah.
00:51:07
Speaker
All right. We'll have that when when you guys get back from dinner and I'll be sitting right there with- Now we're talking. A bottle of wine for you. There we go. There we go. All right. Well, Brian, thank you for doing this.
00:51:19
Speaker
ah Always a pleasure. And it was worth it. This was worth it coming to Spain to be able to hang out and ah it is only inside. Well, yeah. Let's hope that the- oh let's hope It seems like it's getting worse, weirdly enough. Well- Look, we've had nights like this, this trip so far where it looked like this and in the morning it kind of cleared up. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed. All right. Well, thank you, Brian. yeah
00:52:13
Speaker
Let's go at Sounders.