Sigi Schmid has been fired by the Seattle Sounders. Though he was perhaps the architect of the MLS Sounders, Schmid was nevertheless viewed by ownership as failing with the team sitting second to last in the Western Conference. Does that open a door to Schmid moving to Minnesota?
[The following is an act of pure speculation. I have not even bothered to inquire yet about the possibility of this move, but let’s entertain the idea.]
I’ll briefly summarize why Sigi Schmid might come to Minnesota United. First, he is a proven winner. While he never won the MLS Cup with Seattle, he took home four Open Cup trophies and a Supporters’ Shield. Before that, he won the CONCACAF Champions Cup, another Open Cup, two Supporters’ Shields, and MLS Cup twice. Quite simply, there is no more experienced and proven coach in MLS, aside from Bruce Arena.
As in Seattle, if Schmid came to Minnesota, he could similarly start from (almost) scratch with a rabid fanbase. However, this is where things start to fall apart. While it’s still unclear just where Minnesota will fall in terms of league spending, it will most certainly not be in the Seattle Sounders tier. I cannot see the owners of Minnesota United splashing $8 million a year for a Clint Dempsey. Schmid would likely view coming to Minnesota as a step down.
More importantly, the Loons have a coach: Carl Craig. The Loons, in fact, have a coach who is — dare I say — more beloved than Schmid was at his peak for Seattle. Though fans cannot understand more than 38% of what he says through his Geordie accent, they feel Carl Craig is one of them — a punk rocker who loves soccer and speaks his mind.
But let’s imagine that somehow Manny Lagos convinces Carl Craig to take an assistant role under Schmid or does the unthinkable and fires him (think pitchforks, Manny). Schmid would walk into a team currently fighting in the NASL. Is Schmid going to step into a team in a lower league and fight it out for a trophy while he’s trying to build a new MLS franchise? Unlikely.
Another scenario would see Schmid come in as the MLS coach and Carl Craig as the lame duck coach of the NASL team, but this would not only be a terrible decision for the team, but disrespectful to Carl Craig.
Rumors (or wishful-thinking) have already linked Schmid to Atlanta United (Editor’s note: both the Minnesota and Atlanta teams are named “United,” but they are not, in fact, the same team.) (Editor’s note to the Editor’s note: there is another team in MLS named DC United, which is, in fact, neither Minnesota nor Atlanta. This is all very confusing, we understand.)
The Atlanta rumors make far more sense than Minnesota. Atlanta is building from scratch, needs a manager, and looks to want to spend good money. Schmid would be taking on one of the “prestige jobs” of MLS (better yet would be waiting for LAFC, but that’s a different story). So, with apologies to du Nord, who is the biggest Sigi fan on the planet, I think it is very unlikely Schmid comes to Minnesota.
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