Garth Lagerwey (born December 12, 1972) is a retired American

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player who played five seasons in

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

as a

goalkeeper In many team sports which involve scoring goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or intercepting o ...

. He became the general manager of

Real Salt Lake Real Salt Lake, often shortened to RSL, is an American professional soccer franchise based in the Salt Lake City metropolitan area. The club competes as a member club of Major League Soccer (MLS) in the Western Conference. RSL began play in 20 ...

in 2007 and stayed with the club before departing in 2015 for

Seattle Sounders FC Seattle Sounders Football Club is an American professional men's soccer club based in Seattle. The Sounders compete as a member of the Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). The club was established on November 13, 2007, and began ...

, where he served as general manager and president of soccer for seven years. Lagerwey joined

Atlanta United FC Atlanta United FC, commonly known as Atlanta United, is an American professional soccer club based in Atlanta that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference. Founded in 2014, Atlanta United began pl ...

as its president and CEO in November 2022.

Youth

Lagerwey grew up in

Elmhurst, Illinois Elmhurst is a city mostly in DuPage County and overlapping into Cook County in the U.S. state of Illinois, and a western suburb of Chicago. As of 2021, the city has an estimated population of 47,260. History Members of the Potawatomi Native A ...

, a suburb of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, and played club soccer with the Chicago Magic. He attended York High School, where he was a two time all-state soccer goalkeeper. After graduating from high school in 1990, he moved to Germany and signed with

SC Freiburg Sport-Club Freiburg e.V., commonly known as SC Freiburg () or just Freiburg, is a German football club, based in the city of Freiburg im Breisgau, Baden-Württemberg. It plays in the Bundesliga, having been promoted as champions from the 2. Bund ...

, spending a season with the reserve team before returning to the United States. Lagerwey entered

Duke University Duke University is a private research university in Durham, North Carolina. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco and electric power industrialist James ...

and played on the men's soccer team from 1991 to 1994. He graduated in 1995 with a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in history.

Playing career

In 1993, Lagerwey spent the collegiate off-season with the Raleigh Flyers in the

USISL United Soccer League (USL), formerly known as United Soccer Leagues, is a soccer league in the United States and Canada. It organizes several men's and women's leagues, both professional and amateur. Men's leagues currently organized are the ...

. He then played the 1994 season with the

New Orleans Riverboat Gamblers New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

, also in the USISL. In 1995, he signed with the

Hampton Roads Mariners Hampton may refer to: Places Australia *Hampton bioregion, an IBRA biogeographic region in Western Australia *Hampton, New South Wales *Hampton, Queensland, a town in the Toowoomba Region *Hampton, Victoria Canada *Hampton, New Brunswick *Hamp ...

. In February 1996,

D.C. United D.C. United is a professional soccer club based in Washington, D.C. that competes in the Eastern Conference of Major League Soccer, the top tier of American soccer. Domestically, the club has won four MLS Cups (league championships), four Suppo ...

selected Lagerwey in the 15th round (150th overall) of the

1996 MLS Inaugural Player Draft The MLS Inaugural Player Draft, held before Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United State ...

. United then traded him to the

Kansas City Wiz Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the we ...

in exchange for

Jeff Causey Jeff Causey (born October 19, 1971 in Manassas, Virginia) is a retired American soccer goalkeeper who spent six seasons in Major League Soccer. He later served as an assistant coach at the collegiate and professional levels. College soccer Caus ...

. Lagerwey was Kansas City's starting goalkeeper for much of the season, playing 23 games. In 1997, he moved to the

Dallas Burn Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

where he played only ten games over two seasons before being waived on October 31, 1998. In 1997, the Burn sent him on loan to the

Hershey Wildcats Hershey Wildcats were a professional soccer team, based in Hershey, Pennsylvania, United States, that played in the USL A-League between 1997 and 2001. The team was owned by Hershey Entertainment and Resorts Company. The team played in Hersheypar ...

and in 1998, he went on loan to the Gamblers. The

Colorado Rapids The Colorado Rapids are an American professional soccer club based in the Denver metropolitan area. The Rapids compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Founded in 1995, as part of the Anschutz Corporation, la ...

selected Lagerwey in the November 1998 waiver draft, but was waived on February 23, 1999. He then signed with the

Miami Fusion The Miami Fusion was a professional soccer team based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. They played in Major League Soccer (MLS) for four seasons, from 1998 to 2001. Announced in 1997 as one of the league's first two expansion teams, their best seas ...

where he played mostly as a backup, but still entered 18 games to replace

Jeff Cassar Jeff Cassar (born February 2, 1974) is an American soccer coach and former goalkeeper who last coached Real Salt Lake of Major League Soccer. Playing career Cassar played college soccer at Florida International University, where he was roommat ...

during injury spells. The team waived him at the end of the 2000 season. Lagerwey retired from playing in 2000, having made 51 appearances in his five-year MLS career.

Media and law

In 2000, Lagerwey became a guest columnist with ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...

'' while playing in Miami. He graduated from the

Georgetown University Law School The Georgetown University Law Center (Georgetown Law) is the law school of Georgetown University, a private research university in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1870 and is the largest law school in the United States by enrollment and t ...

in 2004 and was hired as an attorney with

Latham & Watkins Latham & Watkins LLP is an American multinational law firm. Founded in 1934 in Los Angeles, California, Latham is the second-largest law firm in the world by revenue. As of 2021, Latham is also one of the most profitable law firms in the world ...

. Lagerwey also worked as a television and radio commentator for

from 2001 to 2007 and later the

New England Revolution The New England Revolution is an American professional soccer club based in the Greater Boston area that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), in the Eastern Conference of the league. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having compet ...

Management

On September 19, 2007,

(RSL) announced Lagerwey was hired as the team's senior vice president and general manager, reuniting with Duke University teammate

Jason Kreis Jason Clarence Kreis (born December 29, 1972) is an American soccer coach and former player who currently serves as an assistant coach for MLS club Inter Miami CF and as head coach of the United States under-23 team. He coached Orlando City S ...

, who had been named head coach in May. He was hired by

Dave Checketts David W. Checketts (born 1955) is an American businessman and sports executive with a career spanning four decades. Checketts has served in c-suite roles or been owner of some of the most iconic brands in their respective industries, includi ...

through his attempt to sell a stake in the

St. Louis Blues The St. Louis Blues are a professional ice hockey team based in St. Louis. The Blues compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference. The franchise was founded in 1967 as one of the s ...

hockey team, which was handled by Latham & Watkins. At 35 years old, Lagerwey became the youngest general manager in MLS. RSL went on to qualify for their first playoffs and win an MLS Cup title in 2009. The club then finished as runners-up in the

2010–11 CONCACAF Champions League The 2010–11 CONCACAF Champions League was the 3rd edition of the CONCACAF Champions League under its current format, and overall the 46th edition of the premier football club competition organized by CONCACAF, the regional governing body of N ...

and

MLS Cup 2013 MLS Cup 2013, the 18th edition of Major League Soccer's championship match, was a soccer match which took place on Saturday, December 7, 2013 between Sporting Kansas City and Real Salt Lake at Sporting Park in Kansas City, Kansas, United States. ...

. Lagerwey left RSL in December 2014 after seven seasons and moved to conference rivals

amid other offers from MLS clubs. He was retained by club members in their 2018 and 2022 votes by large margins. Since 2015, the Sounders have won two

MLS Cup The MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Cup Playoffs. The game is held in November and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Conference ...

titles and the

2022 CONCACAF Champions League The 2022 CONCACAF Champions League (officially the 2022 Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League) was the 14th edition of the CONCACAF Champions League under its current name, and overall the 57th edition of the premier football club competition org ...

. In 2022, Lagerwey won the Best Executive Award at the World Football Summit. On November 22, 2022,

announced that it had hired Lagerwey as its president and CEO, replacing

Darren Eales Darren Eales (born 6 August 1972) is an English sports executive who currently serves as Chief Executive Officer of Premier League club Newcastle United. He was previously a footballer who played both collegiately and professionally in the U ...

after his departure for

Newcastle United F.C. Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

The announcement came a week after Lagerwey was retained by a vote of Sounders club members.

References

External links

Sounders FC staff profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lagerwey, Garth 1972 births Living people American expatriate soccer players American soccer players Duke Blue Devils men's soccer players Association football commentators Association football goalkeepers Virginia Beach Mariners players Hershey Wildcats players Sporting Kansas City players Miami Fusion players FC Dallas players New Orleans Riverboat Gamblers players Raleigh Flyers players SC Freiburg players USISL players Soccer players from Illinois Major League Soccer players MLS Pro-40 players USL Second Division players A-League (1995–2004) players Major League Soccer executives People associated with Latham & Watkins Atlanta United FC non-playing staff