Sigi Schmid will return as Sounders head coach in 2016

Sigi Schmid will return as the head coach of the Sounders in 2016.

Sigi Schmid will return as the head coach of the Seattle Sounders in 2016, club general manager Garth Lagerway announced at the annual Alliance Meeting on Thursday.

“Let me put something to bed: Sigi is our coach,” Lagerwey said. “Sigi will be our coach. Sigi is my coach.”

Schmid, 62, is Major League Soccer’s winningest coach. In seven seasons with the Sounders, Schmid has reached the postseason each year and earned five major trophies. 

His career record as a MLS coach is 222–153–111.

This season, the Sounders went 15–13–6 and finished in fourth place in the Western Conference, before being eliminated by FC Dallas in the conference semifinal last weekend. 

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“I actually think our coach did one of his best coaching jobs this year, because I probably would have hanged myself,” club owner Joe Roth said Thursday. “It was a very, very difficult year to coach this team, given all the injuries and the ups and downs. I thought he did a great job.”

Schmid, who was named the Pac-12 men’s soccer coach of the century for his time at the helm of UCLA’s program, is a member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame.

- Kayla Lombardo