The Seattle Sounders made a major addition to their front office on Tuesday, announcing that Garth Lagerwey has joined the club as general manager and president of soccer.
Lagerwey comes to Seattle after spending over seven seasons as GM at Real Salt Lake. RSL qualified for the playoffs in all seven of Lagerwey’s full seasons in charge, winning MLS Cup in 2009 and coming within a hair’s breadth of bringing home a CONCACAF Champions League crown in 2011 and a second MLS title in 2013.
"I always said that if the best general manager was available, I would hire that person to replace me. I believe that Garth is that man," said Sounders FC owner and now-former GM Adrian Hanauer in a team press release. "This decision will allow me to focus more time on strategy surrounding the long-term future of our club."
Lagerwey will oversee all Sounders soccer business, working with head coach Sigi Schmid and technical director Chris Henderson to improve upon a 2014 season that saw Seattle win the Supporters’ Shield but again fall short in the MLS Cup Playoffs, losing to the LA Galaxy in the Western Conference Championship series.
Like Hanauer before him, Lagerwey assumes a position that is subject to fan vote every four years as part of the Sounders FC Alliance Charter.
"I'm really excited to join Sounders FC. I understand in coming here I am inheriting a trust, and in many ways I'm now a steward of that trust. It's not merely Sounders since 2009 -- it's Sounders since 1974," said Lagerwey in the release. "I am humbled by that responsibility and will do my best to live up to those communal expectations in managing Sounders FC as a generational entity that has been an integral part of people's lives for 40 years."
