In a continuing sign that the 2018 LA Galaxy are doing almost everything to deny the simlar fate as 2017, the club officially announced the addition of Kurt Schmid as the team’s Director of Player Personnel and Scouting. Previously, Kurt Schmid held a similar position with the Seattle Sounders and has now rejoined his dad, Galaxy Head Coach Sigi Schmid, as the Galaxy attempt to pull out of the nose dive they entered last season.
Kurt Schmid will focus directly on the Galaxy and LA Galaxy II by scouting and identifying talent at multiple levels across the globe. That includes scouting collegiately, nationally, and internationally for players the Galaxy can then sign for the USL or MLS sides.
In addition to those primary duties, Kurt Schmid will also be involved with the technical staff with regards to player evaluation, interacting with agents, and handling MLS communications and Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) compliance.
He was considered a valued asset at the Sounders since joining their ranks in 2009. Sounders General Manager Garth Largerway was a huge fan of Kurt Schmid’s and relied upon him for many roles.
Speaking to Goal USA, about Kurt Schmid, Lagerway said “This is a guy that should be a general manager in the league at some point. His knowledge of players is encyclopedic. He is a great employee, man, because he’s proactive. We send him all over the world scouting and he comes back with good information.
“He’s a guy who internally helps me with the salary cap, so he’s a numbers guy and a data guy as well, and I really value his judgment. He’s really been an important part of it, and you know people look at me and say, ‘Wait, Kurt Schmid’s still working there?’ And I’m like, ‘I can’t do without him, man.'”
Kurt Schmid had originally played soccer at Wake Forest and UCLA and was part of the 2002 Bruins side that earned an NCAA Championship.
After college, he began his coaching career at South High School in Torrance, Calfornia. He then moved on to be an assistant coach at Saint Mary’s College and then held the same position at UC Irvine in 2007 and 2008.
After finishing dead last in the league in 2017, the Galaxy have now made several changes to both coaching and scouting. With Sigi Schmid now in charge of player personnel decisions, and former General Manager Pete Vagenas being demoted back to his VP of Operations, the addition of Kurt Schmid will bolster the scouting division that was once headed by Technical Director Jovan Kirovski.
In addition, Sigi Schmid has added goalkeeping coach Oka Nikolov and assistant coach Junior Gonzalez to his coaching staff while Former Galaxy goalkeeper coach Daniel Gonzalez is no longer with the club. Sigi Schmid had previously added former Houston Dynamo and San Jose Earthquakes head coach, Dominic Kinnear to the coaching staff.
“Our focus needs to be on getting things right and making the right decisions, and building our roster so that we have the opportunity to do that,” LA Galaxy President Chris Klein told LAGalaxy.com. “If our focus is on being excellent then I believe that we’ll get to where we need to go. Going through that process with someone (Sigi Schmid) that has done that not at just one place, but everywhere he’s gone gives us a tremendous of confidence going forward.”
Now it will be up to both Schmid’s and the rest of the Galaxy staff to put together a competitve team for 2018. With rivals LAFC taking up residence in downtown Los Angeles, the stakes have never been higher.