The Sounders yesterday formally announced the hiring of Real Salt Lake Senior VP/Soccer Operations & GM Garth Lagerwey as GM & President of Soccer, and in doing so, they "nabbed one of the most respected front-office minds" in MLS, according to Matt Pentz of the SEATTLE TIMES. Lagerwey "assumes control" of the team's soccer operations from former GM and current minority Owner Adrian Hanauer, with the latter "shifting focus to the club’s business operations." Hanauer said, “This decision will allow me to focus more time on strategy surrounding the long-term future of our club.” Lagerwey's role as GM "is pretty self-explanatory -- the brand-new position of president of soccer less so." Lagerwey said, "President of soccer is probably a little bit grandiose. It means that I’m running everything." Pentz notes that is everything from "working with the salary cap to bringing the minor-league Sounders 2 into the fold ... from youth development to the Jan. 15 SuperDraft, to which Lagerwey will devote his first few weeks on the job" (SEATTLE TIMES, 1/7). In Tacoma, Don Ruiz notes with Lagerwey’s contract with RSL expiring last week, he "looked for a club where he could more fully control soccer operations." Lagerwey: "We created a club in RSL that was competitive on and off the field, and we built an academy and we had our vision on how to do things. I think it will be a pretty cool challenge now to see if I can do it on a much bigger scale. The Sounders is a larger club. They have a lot more revenue. They have a lot more tools. They have a lot of talented people. They have a lot of assets, and a good manager, a good leader, can hopefully incorporate all of those assets and have everybody pulling together" (Tacoma NEWS TRIBUNE, 1/7).
