SEATTLE -- By any measure you want to use, Seattle Sounders head coach Sigi Schmid is one of the most successful and decorated coaches in the history of American soccer.
Just name your criteria.
Is it wins? With Seattle’s 2-0 triumph over the Houston Dynamo on Aug. 10, Schmid clinched his 200th MLS regular-season victory and now boasts 207 for his career. That’s the most in the history of the league.
Trophies? He has them in bundles. Since 2000, Schmid-led clubs have won five US Open Cups, three Supporters’ Shields, and one CONCACAF Champions Cup title. He has two MLS Cups -- one with the LA Galaxy in 2002 and another with the Columbus Crew in 2008 -- and his current Seattle squad is knocking on the door, if they can get past the Galaxy in the Western Conference Championship on Sunday (9:20 pm ET; ESPN).
Individual accolades? There are plenty of those too. Schmid was the MLS Coach of the Year in 1999 and 2008, and he's a nominee again this year. And this isn’t even taking into account his time as the head coach of UCLA, where he became one of the most successful collegiate soccer coaches of all time, leading the Bruins to national titles in 1985, 1990 and 1997 during a stretch where the Bruins made 16 consecutive postseason appearances.
Schmid has established himself in the pantheon of US soccer as much more than just a successful coach. He is an icon, one of the transcendent figures in the history of the American game at both the college and professional levels.
All of this would hold true if he retired today. It would probably still be true if he had retired five years ago.
But Schmid isn’t slowing down. In fact, at 61, he’s charging harder than ever. He is still front and center in MLS, coaching a Seattle team that won 20 games,
a US Open Cup
and
the Supporters’ Shield in 2014
and is contending for an MLS Cup.
Schmid also doesn’t figure to be winding down anytime soon. With the year the Sounders put together this season, many believe that he deserves to be considered for a contract extension to keep him at the helm in Seattle for the foreseeable future.
So, what drives an American soccer icon at a point in his career? Why continue to put yourself through the rigors and the grind of the long and arduous MLS schedule when your contributions to the sport are already considered to be set in stone?
On a fundamental level, Schmid says his love for competition and winning make it easy for him to stay driven. Past achievements are immaterial when you consider what can still be accomplished if he keeps going.
“Losing motivates me,” he says. “Winning sustains me.”
- Get more Seattle Sounders news at SoundersFC.com
But coaching is about more than that for Schmid. Winning is the payoff – and it’s a good one. But the true joy can be found in the process. No matter how long he does it, the feeling of watching a team come together and discovering its true potential over the course of a season full of obstacles is something that doesn’t get old.
It can’t get old. Every team has its own entirely unique and fascinating identity, filled with its own set of personalities, triumphs and adversity. Every season has its own story. The feeling that Schmid gets from being a part of these journeys is always fresh. It can only be topped by the feeling he gets from winning itself.
“The biggest fun in coaching is still seeing players develop,” Schmid says. “For me, when I see players grow and develop and improve there’s a special joy in that. Being around the locker room, being around the banter. It’s still a lot of fun. It’s fun to come out here every day.”
The status he has achieved and the path he has taken to get there is far different for Schmid than it is for legendary coaches in other sports in America. The sell-out crowds, star players and media fanfare that come with coaching the Sounders are a far cry from what once was, to say the least.
Schmid began as an assistant at UCLA in 1977, decades before legitimate mainstream recognition was even close to the radar for soccer in America. He wasn’t in it for the glory or the money, and there wasn’t a lot to be had on either front.
The game has evolved greatly in the US since then, but Schmid's approach is the same. Players who know him best say he's demanding but honest, and he immediately commands respect from the players in his locker room.
“You want to take in absolutely everything he says,” Seattle forward Lamar Neagle says. “You learn the most from it. It’s not every player that gets to learn under coaches of that stature. It’s kind of crazy that he’s still thought of like that while he’s still coaching. Usually it’s afterward.”
Schmid isn’t afraid to call players out, but he’s also a master at picking his spots. Many players have said that if Schmid does call them out, it’s almost a badge of honor.
It means he respects you.
“Sigi's the type of guy where if he's yelling at you, it means you’re doing something right,” Sounders forward Chad Barrett says. “If he never yells at you, it means you're probably not doing something right. At least when he's yelling, you know he cares."
Barrett, who also played for Schmid on the United States Under-20 team, has said his coach’s straight-shooting demeanor is one of the biggest factors that creates the mutual respect he has with his players.
“When I was with the [U-20 team], he was one of the first coaches that I played with that was just always really straight with me no matter what,” Barrett said. “The fact that he’s always been that way with me is something I can respect about him.”
As the Homegrown Academy and youth development systems become an increasingly integral part of the game in the US, Schmid’s role as a mentor for young players has become even more pronounced. Forward Sean Okoli, a Homegrown rookie, said the opportunity to study under a coach of Schmid’s stature is a big factor in his development as he tries to learn how to take on the many rigors that come with being a professional athlete.
“I think Sigi helps me out in ways that a lot of coaches didn’t in the past,” Okoli said. “He’s always been looking out for me. He’s taught me how to get through hard moments on my own.”
But while Schmid values what his players say of him, he says he doesn’t concern himself too much with the idea of his legacy. Getting to make a marked historic impact on something is rare for any profession, and it's been an opportunity that has exceeded anything he could have imagined when he started coaching.
He is aware of how much luck and good fortune he experienced that has made his current situation possible. Schmid could very well be an accountant right now, the job that he used to hold before coaching the Bruins became a full-time gig.
“I really don’t think about it that much,” Schmid says of his ultimate place in the history books. “The only thought I ever remember really giving to it is when I first started coaching at UCLA when I took the job full-time. I said, ‘Look, if within three years I don’t do something successful I’ll probably go back to being an accountant.’
“I could never be the coach of a .500 team. I wouldn’t have been happy. [The UCLA job] became full-time in ’84 and we won the championship in ’85. After that I said, ‘OK I’ll stick with it for a while.”
Now, the only question that remains is how much more hardware Schmid can add to his trophy case before the time comes for him to call it quits.
Even with two already to his name, Schmid wants another MLS Cup and he wants it badly. The mantra he has preached to his team this whole year is that he wants them to be greedy. The US Open Cup isn’t enough. The Supporters’ Shield isn’t enough.
He wants all of it.
“[The MLS Cup] means a lot to this franchise,” Schmid says. “The personal things are great. I’ll look back at that after I retire. But to be able to accomplish a cup this year would be a dream season. [A treble] would be something that no MLS team has ever done before. That’s something that would be unique and special.”
That’s the history that Schmid does care about making, the driving force and burning motivation that still fuels him, even after everything he has managed to accomplish. Even with the history he has already made, there’s always room for more.
And once again, the joy that Schmid feels over the course of this already successful season has to do with the story his team is writing for itself as much as it does the end results – whatever they may be.
“[Winning is] something that always connects the group to each other,” Schmid says. “It’s something you can look back upon afterward and say ‘Hey, that was us.’ And you realize the journey that it took to get there.”
