TORONTO — Garth Lagerwey’s favorite career advice came in 2007 when he was plucked from his job as a corporate lawyer at the prestigious Washington D.C. firm of Latham & Watkins to become general manager of Real Salt Lake, the worst team in MLS.
Lagerwey, a former MLS goalkeeper, was full of energy and big ideas, but he was just 34. Team president Dave Checketts, who himself had once been the youngest GMs in NBA history at age 28 with the Utah Jazz, sat Lagerwey down for a lesson learned through his own trials.
“The only mistake you can make,” Checketts told Lagerwey, “is pretending you know what you’re doing.