All right, everyone, welcome to this week's edition of the Sounders FC podcast down here at the clubhouse. Steve Zakawani is not here today, but we do have Mr. Pete Fewing. Pete? Welcome to the podcast. I am honored to be with you, Bradley. Well, let's jump straight into this thing. Before we get into the nitty gritty of Pete viewing. We did have a game yesterday. We play a Louisville team that is a league below us and a team that we faced in the Open Cup last year, so a familiar squad.
And one that's been really, really good in USL championships. So it's a good test for the Sounders to now ease their way into next Wednesday. So what did you see yesterday in your experience? Well, I liked it. Coach, you kind of think, let's hope we thump a team that's in a league lower than us for Louisville. What a great opportunity. They want to make a mark. They want to make sure that.
they got on schmetz's radars craig weibel's radar uh seattle was just better uh in every facet they had to weather a little bit of the energy which is normal that louisville brought um fry covered anything that went into the box and they were good and then they were just clinical you know jimmy gabriel the late jimmy gabriel the great jimmy gabriel used to talk about partnerships and i like the partnerships that we have you got down the spine you've got
uh yamar and and reagan and then you have obed and christian and then you've got uh whether it's pedro or ferrera and and jordan so i liked it i thought it was really good i think i bet brian was a little bit disappointed that Louisville didn't give them more of a challenge because the four goals that they scored were just...
clinical but that's what you would hope but you probably want a little bit i bet brian want a little bit more yeah i think brian's probably looking at danny cruz the the other coach who's a phoenix boy who we grew up together and looking at him saying we need you to high press we need you to put us under pressure yes really
But there is that kind of give and take. Louisville gets a little bit out of this game, but it's more so it was for the Sounders. Yeah, and it's one where you go, okay, we're in the MLS and you're not. And you know it now and we know it now. We've had that when I was at Seattle U. We'd play a team. And I've had coaches kind of look over and say, sorry, you know, you're up five, nothing. And they're a D2 team and you're a D1 team. But I, but the goals were good goals, clinical goals, Pedro's.
diving header right the fact that he's in the middle of the box and the the ball into uh morris i love to see that one yeah yeah so two two from pedro um Could have been a third with that bicycle kick, but that deflection comes off. Yemar slots it in the back of the net and then one from Christian. And it could have been much, much more. And I think the Sounders took their foot off the gas just a little bit, which is fine. But they walk off unscathed. Jesus gets a good...
probably 60, 70 minutes in this one. Yeah. And now they're going to have to travel to a tough place next week. So all in all, a good day for the Sounders. Yes. And echoing, these are always fun games to come to because you get to talk to Craig, Sean. You get to talk to everyone on the roster. So Sounders.
getting geared up we're ready to go uh the season I mean we could sit here and preview it all day long but you're just going to hear a broken record yeah so but we want to get into to Pete um the origin story of of pete because we've talked a lot yeah um But I still think there's more to uncover. And I think that the fans obviously love listening to you on the radio. They love all the interactions. And obviously, you love the Sounders. Yeah, absolutely. Why? Why?
Why? Well, I was one of those, Ken, thanks for those nice words. I was one of those kids in the stands, like Brian, you know, in 74. I could name a hundred easily, a hundred NASL Seattle Sounders. Those guys were my heroes growing up. Dave Gillett.
And Jimmy Gabriel and Davey Butler and Arphon Griffith was a phenomenal player. Tony Chersky, Barry Watling, goalkeepers, right? John Rowland, all those guys, they were heroes for us, right? And I'm born in the U.S. mom was from manchester she was a city fan and and my dad was from bath and they came over in what they called the brain drain which was all the engineers coming to the u.s to go work for boeing so um
What year was that, Pete? They came in 60 and I was born in 62. So I'm the youngest of six and four were born in England and one in Canada. And then they went England, Canada. my dad worked for a company there playing company and then ended up that folded avro it was called and then they came to the to seattle so i got lucky in that regard and then i grew up in the right neighborhood right because soccer and when we were young
In our neighborhood, soccer became a thing, right? And hey, we're going to go play soccer. I had no idea what it was. And this is a funny thing and it never happens anymore. I can't imagine it happening. The coach I played for. the first team, Hans Klein, and his two twin sons.
who i happen to is not to not to go off the rails here but i happen to meet them the day they were born my six-week checkup they were born and my mom introduced us and uh we met in kindergarten we the three of us uh played together
all the way to the university of washington and their and their dad was our coach the entire time we even played literally uh baseball and we're a couple games from williamsport um uh as well but so i i grew up a sounder fan and i mean we went to a ton of the games went to all
games we were season ticket holders somewhere in this building is the receipt from 1975 it's in mint condition and it's got my mom and dad's name on it with the sounder logo and maya mendoza took it from me when she saw it i haven't seen it since but uh but yeah we were and i stuff i have this is great we um i have three beer steins that were in a box that were in a box for 20 years my dad was a heavy smoker
So they were covered in tar, which is just hilarious. Yeah. And I had to clean them and I gave one to Wade Weber and he loved it and he drinks his coffee out of it. And I gave one to Brian. and brian just took it and said yeah thanks and he just put it behind the desk and i was like hey if you don't want that i'll i'll take it but i still have you know a good amount of memorabilia from those days and i always wanted to be a sounder uh and then i ended up
Man, I ended up coaching Pepe Fernandez's kid, Tony Chersky's kid, Jimmy McAllister. I just talked to Jimmy McAllister, you know, NASL Rookie of the Year. Stocksy's kid, won a national championship with four. uh of sounders kids and those guys were my heroes right tommy jenkinson stevie played for us and and um so you played through high what high school did you go to highline high school i'm sure you remember this 1981 state champs yeah of course it's on my wall
I'm sure it is. It was our first year as a varsity team. It was our senior year. We won the whole thing. It was fun. So you played there and then? and then i went to green river community college because i was a dead average player i had a bad injury i had a hairline crack in my neck playing oh oh my god yeah on a frozen field i went to hit a volley and the ball got deflected so in midair i twisted and tried to stay up longer to lay the ball back and when i landed my neck snapped
And I had two discs that were fused together at birth. We didn't know that, you know, I was born that way. So they just cracked. And so I sat for a year, wore a brace, Philadelphia neck brace from my lips to my, you know, sternum. Do you have any pictures? I don't. I bet I do. I worked for it. I'm serious. I worked for a year. And then maybe it got my head up because all of a sudden I became a one and two touch player. Right.
and i finally made the state team after that injury and then from the state team i got on the uw i got a uh scholarship to play at washington i loved playing there i played there two years and then i left to sign the big pro contract with fc seattle which in hindsight was less money than i was making as a college student on my scholarship right
So I played six years for Seattle and then we folded, but I loved it. You know, we got to play with some of those Sounders. Where were those games held? Memorial Stadium. It was awesome. We played Man City. at memorial stadium play the u.s national team santos which is pele's old team schmidt scored both goals we beat santos two to one uh junior was playing for them right and jeff durgan who's a tacoma guy national team captain
they called him the original Rambo. He two footed somebody and they said, we don't want to play. We're on vacation. We don't, and we're playing at Memorial stadium. It's Astro turf, right? It's a four foot crown. Right. And so, uh, and it's football lines and, and. immediately off the field is asphalt. So if you get... Yeah, my high school plays there. It's terrible. It is terrible. It's due for a reno.
right? It is. And yet it's an iconic stadium. That's where I watched the Sounders play. They used to have gondolas that would go from what is now climate pledge through the stadium. Yeah. And then, you know, they had these, uh, they had roller coasters.
said that click click click click click and you know hearing that i mean it gives me goosebumps hearing the national anthem there and uh you know we played canada 86 they went in the world cup uh in mexico and we must played canada three or four times at memorial at memorial i picked jerry gray come off a broken leg and man it was dumb i i shouldn't have done that but yeah
so what what is your most fond memory about that time then is it a college memory is it a professional memory is it watching is what what is the from that like time gap let's say like the 70s 70s into Yeah. Watching the Sounders and then like starting to get some interaction with them. So you're heroes, right? And back then people weren't nearly as accessible with social media or appearances and all that. So I went to a camp at Highline Community College.
dave gillett was there and he was my coach and i love dave gillett dave gillett is an awesome human being super funny um we'd have a break at camp and he'd go off and uh there was a little hill and he'd sit on the hill and smoke a cigarette so of course Old school. Do you remember the first time you walked into Memorial? I remember. What that felt like? Yeah, I do. I do as a kid. I mean, because I was probably 74. That's.
so i was a young buck i was probably eight nine ten something like that um but i remember you know playing for seattle like we played dundee from scotland which was our first game and the sounders folded there was such energy that had died but there was still a core group that wanted to see professional soccer live and so when we got to start again like i remember getting a brown paper bag full of gear and brad full of gear meant uh
I think three pairs of socks, two pairs of shorts and three t-shirts and a gray sweatshirt. And I got teary-eyed. Of course. And I still have my first check. And to clarify, Keely, we made 250 bucks a game.
And we were supposed to make 500 a game. And they cut it before the season started because season ticket sales. We already got you signed up. No backing out now. Yeah. And I threatened to ask to be traded to Portland, which wasn't paying their players. And I knew they weren't. So they're like.
Yeah, it was fun. So, but I just loved it. I felt really lucky. Stocksy, Jeff Stock, who is a great pro and went straight out of high school. He just said, don't worry about the money, just play. Just have fun. So, and the locker rooms at Memorial Stadium. Yeah. The smell in there, you get in there? Oh, yeah. That smell, I don't know how you would describe it. And I don't know if it's botulism or basinite or... Some black mold in there.
for sure it kind of reminds me of like um like an rfk stadium in dc yes where it's just been there forever you know that there's rats living there there's mold but it it is so iconic yes that
you those memories stick out in your head because when you're playing you think man i'd like something nice and brand new and then you step away from the game you don't really remember the nice and new locker rooms you remember the old ones that have like that smell it's like your grandma's house yeah yeah right
You know it. Times 10. Yeah. And then even 50 years later, you can walk into, for me, a casino and smell cigarettes. And then it transports me back to my grandma's house. Isn't that great? And those are the memories that I remember the most. Kind of the ones where you're kind of suffering almost. Yes.
Yes, yes. And playing right under the Space Needle. Space Needle was built the year I was born. So I have an affinity to it. I met my lovely wife in the elevator. I was going to ask about that. I know this story if you want to go into it. It's a great story. And I was 24.
She didn't like this anymore, but she was 30 and I was living at home with my mom and dad and just sold my Pinto station wagon. She lived on a, I was wearing, I had a mullet kind of. Of course. I wasn't good enough to have a real mullet, but I.
It was a pseudo mullet. And I... got in the elevator and by the time we got to the top i was like i'm gonna marry she was in navy blazer yellow blouse tote pants i got shorts and a t-shirt i'm with a youth group on a youth group outing and every time we passed her on the observation deck i would run
and then hey oh there she is again yeah you're here yeah fancy seeing you here exactly and so then on the fourth time she was with a little boy fourth or fifth time she didn't have a wedding ring on i just uh she said hey this isn't my son he's my nephew i thought
uh he did well in the spelling test so i told him he could go wherever he wanted and so i thought she was interested yeah very wrong very wrong bad read uh and so she went down the elevator i uh i said well let's go find her i'm gonna ask her out i'd never done that and um
uh i saw the priest who was with us on this youth group outing and he i said father i met the woman i'm going to marry and he said where is she and i said i don't know and he poked me in the chest you go find her so um so i did got her card called her for a month she lived on a houseboat on lake union
Drove an Audi with a car phone in it. No cell phone. Big baller. Yeah, for sure. He made me move out of my mommy and daddy's house before we got married. And we're on like 36 years. Yeah, buddy. We have a great marriage. But you know what? Here's the deal. And I tell my players this when I was coaching, the skills you learn and the competition you learn on the field transferred everything else. That was all about me competing to get my wife. And she wouldn't let me know.
she lived keely this is a good one you're married now so you don't have to worry about this but we had to meet on the university bridge for the first six days she wouldn't she wouldn't let me know where she lived she wouldn't get in my car God, I wonder what experiences she had before meeting you. That's another podcast. All the other creepy Petes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I was the fourth guy to ask her to marry her in one calendar year.
Geez. Wow. And one was a Nordstrom's model and came to the wedding. And when we came down the aisle, I said, was that the guy? And she goes, yeah. And I go, she's gorgeous. All right. Back to the soccer. One thing I've been curious about is. I only know the ownership group that is Adrian. Yeah. But you've been through a lot of iterations and seen a lot, read in the papers, whatever it may be, been around a lot of different ownership groups. Yeah.
When you were playing, who was that ownership group that, especially with FC Seattle, right? Yeah, it was Bud Greer. And God bless Bud Greer. And he's still alive, soccer player. And he got, and he was a Pepsi. guy and a grocery store guy and a steinway piano guy Those were his businesses. And he just said, I'm going to bring soccer back. He was going to buy the Sounders, but they were, they were dying and the league was dying. So he said, okay, I'm going to hold off. It was a money pit, right?
And then he started this thing to replicate what they have in Europe, which is a main club and then a bunch of feeder clubs in Federal Way, Kent, Renton, Burien, you know, that kind of thing. And so, and Bud...
It was a really active kind of kindness or wanting to... build something special it wasn't i'm going to make a ton of money on this um there used to be a line during that era where they'd say hey you know how you make a a small fortune in professional soccer you start with a large fortune and then it dwindles and so he put together he brought um
man i played for bruce riock bruce rack was the first coach and bruce coached arsenal after he left us uh and he was phenomenal to play for he i still have a letter when he left i wrote him a letter thanking him and It's pretty long and I still have it. It's seven pages. He went back to England for his children's schooling.
um gregor and bruce jr and and then jimmy gabriel came in and i mean you're playing for a guy that you idolized right i love jimmy just great i got to work with him broadcasting you know and matt johnson was such a gregarious guy at the mic and was our host and he'd say Jimmy, you know, what'd you think? And Jimmy's like, yeah, good. Right. Good. But my first game, like we're Jimmy was the assistant with Bruce and we're playing Dundee and.
I'm really fired up. And Jimmy comes up to me and I've used this line a lot. And he's just like, you're going to do about me. I do it. You know? And I, and he was just telling me mentally, you gotta come out ready. And then from, so, so Bud Greer did a real solid for this community and kept.
the game going how many years was that uh it was seven in total i didn't play the first year i was still at washington and then i played the next six and then we yeah so seven years total and it was the highest level in the country outdoor indoor was where the money right indoor was big time at the time that's where the money was right yeah yeah
And that's where Precky was. Oh, yeah. Yes. I mean, Schmetz was playing indoor also, right? Yes. Yeah. Did you dabble in indoor? I did. It wasn't. It wasn't for you? No, no. Yes. Alan Hinton didn't think it was for me. Alan cut me. There was one year where I was good enough. And as a coach, I mean...
There was a year where I wasn't good enough. I tried out with, and this was great. I'm trying to think of his name, Keith Tozer. Keith Tozer? It wasn't Keith Tozer, but I said, I can't believe you're cutting me. I won all the races. And this was over the phone, dead silent. Right. Yeah.
Well, my dog can run, but he won't be on the team either. I love that. Isn't that great? You know what though? When like one door closes, another door opens. And I'm a big believer. And sometimes when a door shuts, it's for a reason. And look at your coaching career that you've had.
Thank you. Which wouldn't have happened. You're correct, Keely. If I played for the Stars. Now, I played six years for Seattle. My last three years of playing were my first three years coaching at Seattle U. So that was fun. But if I'd played for the Stars, you're 100% correct.
I would not have been able to coach. Right. It would have been a full, full, full-time sort of deal. Yeah, I could have done it. And the FC Seattle was a summertime league. And then it would, you know, it was so funny because I took over a team at CLU that... had eight losing seasons in a row. And my first year was the ninth losing season in a row. So these young guys come in and I'm.
whatever 24 25 26 i'm as fit as can be and i'm like come on we're going running yeah you're playing with them in practice you're telling them what it's actually like to be a pro not just a guy on the sideline yes who thinks they know and i'm getting called into the ad's office saying
practice was too long today right it was three hours and 50 minutes and i'm like well we had fun so um so keely you're right i totally agree with that well i hope you take this the right way but have you guys noticed when you have coaches who are former players are Former players who weren't necessarily the best, most athletic players, do they tend to make the best coaches because they've had to be so cerebral and they've had to sort of. Yeah.
I agree with that 100%. George Carl, Phil Jackson is another one, right? Role players. I was a role player. Steve Kerr. Steve Kerr, exactly. Yeah. And he was a really good role player. Yeah. But I think you're right. I totally, because I had to get the most out of it. I had to be really fit. I had to have a great attitude. I had a good left foot. When I was playing with FCCL, I took corners both left and right.
I'd take him left footed and, and, and people would say, are you left footed? And I know, but I want it to be as good. Bruce Riach, who Riach had a tremendous left foot. So, but you're right, Keely. I totally agree with that because I had to, and I loved it so much. that I would train till one, two, and three in the morning. And drove my parents crazy, but I would do that. And so if it comes too natural, too easy.
and you don't have to work for it you know there's a great one with reggie jackson he's the batting coach for the yankees and he's they're they're doing batting practice, right? And Reggie's like, no, no, no, just hit it. Give me the bat. And he hits three out of the park and he hands the bat back to the guy. Yeah, that's my dad trying to teach me math.
When I was in middle school. Just do it like this. Just be an athlete. How do you not see it? It just works like this. Yeah. Imagine being Michael Jordan trying to coach guys. Yeah. It just doesn't work. Magic at that. Thierry Henry.
You know, dabbling in coaching. And you know, because he's a great announcer and what they do on their program is they break down every play. It's like he knows exactly what's supposed to happen, but there's a very big difference in knowing it and doing it on the field.
But being able to relay that message. And I didn't understand that because when I was playing, a lot of the assistant coaches, Ante, Jimmy, guys like that were saying, oh, I got to go do my coaching license. And I was just like, why do you need to do it? coaching lessons. Especially at Jimmy.
As I've left the game and I've seen Andy go through the process and a lot of guys, Steve Lenhart, you know, Jimmy Conrad, all the guys are going back and getting their coaching license and they've all had such positive things to say about it. Yeah. And they were like, look, we thought the same way.
We knew everything. We had a PhD in soccer from playing. There's a very big difference in applying that to a group of kids or a group of professionals, especially at the top level, to get the job done and to be able to translate what... you are trying to relay them on the field. To be a college coach though, you don't have to go get a coach's license, right? It's something that you can do if you choose to do it. It's not a requirement like it has become.
at the professional race no you're correct i have my a license but i have from a long time ago right and i got my b license um uh so it's not a requirement but it certainly looks good on your resume but to your point like Steven Lennart, that's awesome that he's coaching. I loved him as a player. I know you're good friends. I don't know him. I met him at Ziggy's funeral.
I think it gives you a different perspective. And you know, to your point, Keely Schmetz would say he's, he's what you just said, right? Cause he was probably a role player. He was good and he was effective, but he got as much out of the game as he could. But yeah, when you go to those coaching schools, you start to think a little different.
You know, now you got to think about things like periodization and stuff that when you're a player, someone thinks that for you. So it helps you set up practice and what a progression looks like. And then.
i think brian's biggest gift is he's a man manager right he's had to deal with all these different personalities i mean think of the complexity of a college kid who's got a degree and a guy who left school at 12 and a and a guy who's 34 years old and he's got four kids and this is the most money he's going to make in his life and a young kid who's trying to make his way up you know or i can't imagine
the day when mls salaries come out what's the locker room like on that day when you know and your wife's saying hey evans is making 800 000 bucks and you know you got one more assistant he does and you're making 96 000 i mean that so all the The, the best coaches are the ones who can man manage and put the right guys in the right spot and motivate Sir Alex Ferguson. It was a great story that he, um,
Somebody was taken at coaching school with one of Sir Alex's players and they said that he ran a training session one day and it was a total joke, right? It was just like, what are we doing, right? But... In the locker room that week, he's like, Brad Evans, your grandfather laid the railroad tracks that are right outside this stadium. And he lost his pinky finger.
So you're playing for your grandfather today, right? And so he was a tremendous motivating factor. Yeah. And we all need it, especially. That's what I used to say before games. I used to have to tell the guys, I didn't have to tell them, but what I told him was. You have to play for something today. Figure out. I don't care. In front of the group, right? I don't care if you're playing for money, you're playing for family, you're playing for fame, you're playing. If you play for something. Yeah.
then you're intrinsically motivated by doing well on the field. Especially when things don't go well. It's that switch that you're able to flip to say, oh, if I don't do this, I got to get back on track. And I think that's vitally important message. What was the most difficult moment in coaching for you then? Because there's been a lot of great moments, right?
Is it a personal moment? Is it a loss? Yeah. I think the 99 season for us at Seattle U was tough. And the reason is so, and I love this. I feel very lucky and blessed about this part of the career. When I started it. at Seattle U in 1988. I think the first game we played was against the Northwest Bible college, right? Kirkland is now Northwest university. And, and we beat them 11, nothing. Right. And then my last year, 2020.
to my last year the first game of that season was playing notre dame at notre dame and we beat him you won that game yeah so then we were in division three for a couple years and then we went division two so we had a four-year window where we lost all our scholarship money right and then we come back now we have scholarships There's a team from Tacoma, Tacoma United, that won the national championship. We got about six or seven of their players. They come in as freshmen. They're better.
than our seniors and our juniors and our sophomores. So the apple cart got flipped. So our least experienced best players are freshmen and they just won a national championship. So they.
they're fat and happy they they think they've you know they're in covers of magazines right so so it was a really tough and my dad died the day before the season started my mom had died a couple years before so i was kind of in a spot where like i was in a bit of a fog right uh and trying to get the hierarchy right was not going to happen that year and i think we did okay but uh so that was a tough
year my last year was a tough year at seattle u we had guys that had been there a long time and sometimes you know six years and i think they got tired of listening to this voice and i don't blame them for that at all And, you know, we start out beating Notre Dame and, and we lost a couple of guys. We lost Levante Johnson to Syracuse.
Syracuse wins the national championship that year. We lost Hal Uteritz to the pros, right? Hal left here early, right? Yeah, drafted. Good for Hal. Great kid. And Lamonte, great guy. And so all of a sudden, our center back. and are attacking forward are gone and so and we had the toughest non-conference schedule in the country in my my last year so rpi yeah that's a that's always a tough one yeah
Is there a player that sticks out where in college you were certain that they were going to be a good pro? Yeah, yeah. And then it just, for whatever reason, just fizzled. Yeah. And you may have even had those conversations with Schmitz because you guys talk all the time. Yeah, yeah. to be telling when you're in college, like, hey, you need to look at this player, this player, this player, this player. Right, right. And he comes out and watches with Sean or whoever the GM is of the time.
But was there a player or two where you were like, this guy's going to be amazing? Yeah, Bobby McAllister. But Jimmy McAllister's kid. And I just talked to Jimmy. It gives me goosebumps. I talked to Jimmy this morning. Bobby was national player of the year. He's taking up golf now and he's striking a ball off the tee like a PGA pro and he's been playing for one year. Well, he could strike a ball. We were playing at SPU and the goalie was moving the wall and Bobby just took.
one and a half steps and bent it and it was in the back of the net before the goalie could respond same season Dominguez Hills Overtime, sudden death overtime. He hits a free kick to goal. He doesn't move. It hits the back stanchion, cruises across the back of the goal. He was phenomenal, but he'd had two ACLs. And so he sits down in my office after this and we win the national championship. We're undefeated. He scores 22 goals in 23 games, game winner in the final game winner in the semifinal.
So our left foot, right foot, he was just cunning. He was cunning. He was lethal. Kind of Rui Diaz three or four years ago as far as how quickly he'd get the ball off his foot. And I sit him down in the office and say, okay, where do you want to go? And he goes, no, I'm done. I'm done. I'm done playing. I've done two ACLs. He was getting a master's because of the ACLs. His academics got extended. So he got a master's from Seattle. He was getting a PhD right now. Wow. Great. And and he.
Uh, he just said, I don't want to, I'm done playing. I want to play with my kids on the other side. Here's the crazy one. And I did call Schmetz about this one. Cam Weaver. Yeah. Cam Weaver did not start on our Oh four national championship team, but he got nine goals.
And I didn't start him because, and this is man management, and I've told Alex this, it would have crushed Alex Chersky. So we had Chersky and McAllister up front. I think we were 4-4-2. And Cam would come off the bench. Well, Cam's 6-4.
four right you were teammates six four and uh maybe 195 pounds of all arms and legs so you know i can just imagine a center back saying oh thank god chersky's gone the canadian international and in comes the giant cam weaver and so when camp and then we had a nick mccluskey broke his leg uh in the last regular season game so cam started in through the ncaa tournament run um and and after the season i called schmetz and said
you got to sign him give him 500 bucks this was usl days i said give him 500 bucks and he goes well is he a forward or a center back and i said well i think he's a center back at your level he thinks he's a forward well he and romario tied in the usl with 38 points uh for a leading goal scorer and he was usl rookie of the year
And then he went to FK Haugeson for two years. And this is fun. I love it. I'm glad you asked this question. We're on the sideline and I'm subbing him in and we're in California. And I say, I look at him and go, you're going to play in the MLS someday.
And he says, what? And I'm what, five, eight, five, nine. He's looking down at me. And I said, yeah, you're gonna play in the MLS. And he said, why'd you say that? I go, I don't know. So. after fk haugusen i'm driving down adia through ballard i get a phone call and i'm like cam how's uh how's norway and he goes remember when you said i play in the mls i said yeah i just signed with the sounds of earthquakes
It was beautiful. And then he got traded because Dominic Kinnear needed a big post up forward. Houston. Houston. And gosh, who was the captain? Brian Ching.
Well, no, there was from the San Jose Earthquakes, Doyle was the captain of the U.S. National Team. John Doyle. John Doyle. And they were buddies, right? I used to play against those guys. And Doyle had... inverted wingers so he wasn't getting service in and and so dominic needed that and then cam doggone it i mean he had a great career he did i was so proud of him he played in two mls cup finals with houston he lost a
uh david beckham a couple times so yeah so there were guys that doyle our goalkeeper could have been a pro um That's a great story. He left, he came back. It's a story of reconciliation. And he was that goalie in 04 that won the national title, but he broke his wrist because Bobby McAllister smashed a shot and broke a bone in his hand. He played the rest of this. He wouldn't tell anybody.
So he could have been a really good pro goalkeeper. Yeah, yeah. You have to reflect on the soccer stories, have to come to mind first. And that's just a really proud moment to watch one of your players that you've coached. Yeah. was just a local kid in cam weaver and all of a sudden you know he's on the wall in here yeah certain places which is which is really really cool and guys that have stuck around um so that those usl days that's kind of when adrian
Yes. Took over. Yes. When did you first find out about Adrian and your kind of first interactions with him? Yeah, we were at a Seattle scores.
maybe fundraiser or information night seattle scores is an after-school program for kids that are free and reduced lunch the kids that don't matriculate into youth soccer you know when the two of you if you if you have kids someday you know okay you're five going to go play soccer but if you're from another country right you don't know the process so it was a cool program in that a they paid the teachers 25 bucks an hour which back then was a good amount of money and b the kids stayed on campus
and and so the bond between teacher and kids was different and a lot of them english was not their first language and so uh and it was a three-part program it was it was uh soccer And it was super cool. You know, he'd wear a jersey on. It's still going now. It is. And it gets a lot of kids that might not find their way into the Seattle Youth Soccer Association. And then it was.
poetry and community service and it was it's a national organization so adrian was sitting right behind me um and we introduced ourselves and we just sat there and listened and then he took over the sounders and i used to go this is a great one i used to I think we bought USL tickets for a dollar each for our soccer camp. Adrian would print them.
I'd go in there and Adrian's like, we need 850. Okay, hang on. And he's working the freaking printing machine to do it. I'm like, thanks, Adrian. And he and I, I was at training before they went to Spain. He came out and I was a little bit further away from the media gang and sitting with Gene. And Adrian and I talked for like 40 minutes and it was just.
two guys who i'm so proud of him and i'm so grateful to what he's doing i thank him i thank him all the time thanks for what you're doing he's like you want to buy the team you know it's not an easy gig right and he deals with so much you know and and then you know Gene, when Adrian came out, Gene, God bless him. He took about 20 steps away. And so it was just Adrian and I talking seriously, 40 minutes. And it was so much fun to catch up on everything. And then Brian comes over.
And now we're walk practices over and we're walking in and. The three of us are talking and then they start to talk and I'm like, all right, I'm out of that conversation. Remove myself. Yeah. Yeah. And so I, it's not easy being a coach in this league. It's not easy being an owner, but it, but both those guys, and you know, this, you both know this, they're stewards of the program.
They feel a responsibility for our community, right? Anything you want to leave us with today, Pete? I mean, we dove into the story. We talked about memories. We talked about, you know, college. But we do have a massive Sounders season coming up. We talked about Adrian and what he's been able to do. And we obviously have added the reign to the portfolio, which has expanded the Sounders footprint into the women's space and combining forces, which is really exciting.
exciting yeah um for this year i think to get a fresh start for everyone the new jersey is released today good um and this podcast will be released what tomorrow Probably early next week. Yeah, so we've got a great story to tell there next week about that jersey. So just talk to these fans about... this next season and how important it is. Yeah. I love, this is typical Seattle, the men and the women coming together to do it right and to do it the same level. Uh, it's title nine at the pro level.
Right. And, and Adrian's embraced that as well. And so I think that's marvelous. And I think that's what the city's about. I'm really excited. I was saying to Keely, I say, Hey boss, I I'm as excited about this season as I have been any, maybe it's cause I'm not.
coaching like i love traveling with the team and being a fly on the wall and watching how everything goes down uh i really like this group the depth is really good you know you look at the lineup yesterday and you think oh paul rothrock's not in there he played in the second game albert's not in there because he's got the quad uh there's some guys that georgie isn't in there i think we're a pretty darn deep
team kim key he's not here yet um and then we brian and our lovely wives and johnny hamill and his lovely wife the six of us have a dinner at christmas we go to this little italian place and wallingford and
The way it was set up, Patty, my lovely wife's across from Brian. I'm across from Christine. Johnny's across from... and marie so we're all having a great conversation about nothing it's a seinfeld episode right and uh and we just have a great time well patty gets up to leave the table for a moment i slide in front of brian
and johnny slides over and now you got the guys at one end and the women at the other end and now it's two different conversations and we dive into this team and this season and i'm saying dude you are going to be so busy and he i loved it i've said it i'm so glad to say it here he said i can't wait
I can't wait for these games. And I went, that's awesome. You're the right guy to be in charge. So I was really pleased. I mean, he was sincere. He's got no, he can, he's, I love it. He can be open with you. very we get i get sometimes when we do get together with our brides um i go oh man i hope i haven't said something to patty the bride said to me in confidence but she's my teammate as well so uh
So, yeah. And one funny story on our Christmas dinners, this is a great one. So it would have been 2018, MLS Cup Final.
right and we live in ballard and there's a great little place called picolino's on 65th same street we live on and i'm watching portland columbus in the final it starts at five we're meeting them at 5 30 for dinner so the maitre d knows we're coming and we're not in the bar but you can see into the bar it's open and the game's on the tv and brian's on my left christine's right in front of me tv's right behind her patty's on the right and so we sit there and the
he looks at the at the um tv and i kind of go no we're not interested and so he doesn't say anything so we have our meal this is a great one brian brought a sweater that he really liked and he had got up to leave the table for a moment came back saw his sweater in the mirror and he commented again i said you really you did a really nice job on that sweater and he was very proud of that so we have a great meal we go to leave i have the the the ring you
got for us in the broadcast booth brad i have the 2016 ring and someone asked for a photo so i pulled the ring out of my pocket and i go here you go hold the ring and he goes what are you doing with that and i said you know, the MLS final, but he didn't know. And then guess what? He's in the next two and he wins another one. So I love him. I'm super proud of him and this organization. I'm honored. I, like I said, I think.
I've told the boss here, Keely, so many times I can't wait for the season to start because it's fun working with you and Stevie and Jackson and Danny Jackson. We have a fun group. Yeah, we have a good time. We do, and we've got a great time. We have so much fun. Say that again? We said we have so much fun. We do. It's fun. It's a big honor. Yeah. Thanks for coming on. My honor. Welcome anytime. Yeah.
And we appreciate you. I mean, the wealth of knowledge, the storytelling, I think it's just vitally important to have that in this sort of ecosystem in the building. And just to tell the story of the Sounders and to remind people of what the Sounders once were, where they.
started yeah and then the different iterations right you were kind of in a completely different time that we often hear about the early early days from players 74 right um we don't really hear that often from those that are kind of in that middle picture there, that experience something different than those that came before them and the guys that came after. So we appreciate the storytelling. I'm happy to do it, as you know. Oh, I know. I know.
Road trips. That's what it's all about. Have a little dinner. Yeah. That's what we do. San Jose, this time I might even host you guys at my parents' house this year. Oh, I love it. That would be wonderful. Yeah, yeah. It's so much fun and we're lucky to do it. yeah we're lucky to get to do what we get to do and lucky to be around all those guys and um and i you know yeah i could tell you stories till the cows come home i did just deliver jordan morris and alex rodon
six pairs of nike socks for each of them because their socks were a disaster jordan's good for you socks were bad and i looked what would we do without you coach well i don't know it's such a it's a great group of young men too that's what i'm excited they're excited about it too this year this yeah i mean they've echoed
the same sentiment. So we're excited and we'll see you at the home opener. Yeah, I can't wait. See you at the home opener. So thanks for coming on. Thank you. And we'll talk to you next time, Pete. Thanks a lot, Brad. Thanks, boss. Bye.