The Sounders have removed the interim tag from coach Brian Schmetzer’s title and hired the Seattle native on a full-time basis, the club’s collective ownership group announced Wednesday night at its Alliance Annual Business Meeting.
Schmetzer helped engineer Seattle’s midseason turnaround almost from the moment he took over for longtime coach Sigi Schmid on July 26. At that point, the Sounders were 6-12-2 and 10 points out of the Western Conference playoff berths. Under Schmetzer and after the arrival of transformative midfielder Nicolas Lodeiro, Seattle went 8-2-4 to close the regular season and won a home playoff game on the final day of the campaign.