TUKWILA, Wash. — Brian Schmetzer almost couldn’t make it through his media scrum on Thursday.
The newly announced head coach of the Seattle Sounders was visibly choked up and needed a moment to compose himself. He left the scrum to greet Seattle soccer legends Alan Hinton, Jimmy Gabriel and Dave Gillett, who showed up to offer their congratulations and support for Schmetzer’s hiring.
“They’re really, really good guys,” Schmetzer said through plenty of emotion. “All of them. They’re part of our history, so it means a lot.”
Thursday was Schmetzer’s first day in charge with the interim label lifted, though it was business as usual at training.