The Seattle Sounders have appointed Steve Cooke as their new academy director, Garth Lagerwey said during the most recent episode of Sounders Weekly. The veteran talent evaluator was first hired by the Sounders last year to be the academy’s head coach, and has an impressive resume that includes stops in England and at virtually all levels of American soccer.
Cooke got his formal coaching career started with Sheffield Wednesday’s academy during a time when they were a mid-table club in England’s top flight. He eventually moved to the United States in 1996 to take over as the coaching director for a Phoenix-based youth club and then to Las Vegas to head up an academy there.