Sounders coaching staff will apparently be back

It hasn’t drawn nearly the attention of Brian Schmetzer’s contract status or various player comings and goings, but the assistant coaches were also in a precarious position at the end of the 2020 season. That has apparently been resolved.

Speaking to KJR earlier this week, Sounders GM and President of Soccer Garth Lagerwey passingly mentioned that the “coaching staff has been retained, as well.” A Sounders spokesperson confirmed that a more formal announcement will likely be coming soon and while they wouldn’t specify if Lagerwey’s comment referred to all of the assistants, they did add that they were “not expecting any surprises.”

Reading between the lines a bit, that would point to the return of at least Gonzalo Pineda, Djimi Traore, Preki and Tom Dutra. All four assistants have been on Schmetzer’s staff since at least 2018 and Dutra has been with the Sounders since 2006, when they were a USL team. Of those four, Pineda was the one who seemed most likely to leave, as he had been among the finalists for the D.C. United head coaching job before they hired Argentinian Hernan Losada.