Even before stars like Fredy Montero, Kasey Keller, Clint Dempsey and Stefan Frei put the Sounders on the Major League Soccer map, the team’s defining acquisition had been a German-born head coach with a penchant for winning games.
Siegfried (Sigi) Schmid, who died Tuesday in Los Angeles at age 65, had just guided the Columbus Crew to the 2008 MLS Cup championship when the Sounders proceeded to poach him as their own. It wasn’t easy; the Crew filed tampering charges and claimed a vaguely-worded noncompete clause prevented Schmid from moving anywhere.
But a subsequent MLS investigation cleared the team of tampering and the Sounders paid the Crew a financial settlement on the noncompete clause to allow the two-time MLS Cup winner and Coach of the Year to join the Emerald City’s fledgling expansion franchise.