Four-and-a-half months later, Real Salt Lake found its man.
Garth Lagerwey was introduced as the club's new general manager prior to Wednesday's game, months after Steve Pastorino resigned following the fourth game of the season back in early May.
"I'm pleased to announce after more interviews than I've done with any position, and interviews with people literally around the world, we've selected the next (general) manager of Real Salt Lake," said RSL owner Dave Checketts.
Lagerwey's official title is senior vice president and general manager, and like the head coach he'll be working very closely with, Jason Kreis, his qualifications are tough to measure in tangible terms. Besides his playing days as a goalkeeper in MLS from 1996 to 2000, Lagerwey's only connection to the league the past seven years has been as a color analyst for D.C. United's broadcasts on Comcast SportsNet.
Lagerwey believes that because of his playing and television experience he has connections with every team and virtually every agent in MLS.
His experience outside of soccer was just as intriguing to Checketts.
For the last six years Lagerwey has worked for the law firm Latham & Watkins, serving as an associate in the corporate department in Washington, D.C. He's been in management for the past three years, and Checketts truly believes he's the right man for the job.
"I found somebody who's absolutely passionate about the game, who's very smart about the game," said Checketts, who added that he wasn't interested in hiring a retread GM. "Garth has something to prove, and I believe he's the right guy at the right time."
Lagerwey played for Kansas City, Dallas and Miami during his five-year playing career. During his two years in Dallas he played with Kreis and while in Miami for two years he was teammates with current Real players Andy Williams, Nick Rimando and Kyle Beckerman. RSL's new GM believes that familiarity should help create a good working relationship all around.
Don't be mistaken; he's adamant that for Real to be competitive a lot of necessary upgrading needs to be done on the pitch. He also believes the mechanisms are in place to do so.
"This is a great time to come and be a general manager of this team. I am encouraged by the ownership, by the stadium, by our players character and by our outstanding coaching staff, and by the assets we have to make the team better. I'm a pretty lucky guy," said Lagerwey.
Ironically enough, Lagerwey wasn't one of the names on Checketts' original list of replacements. His first contact with Lagerwey was in a capacity completely outside of soccer. Checketts, who also owns the St. Louis Blues of the NHL, has been trying to sell a portion of the Blues in the past year to a local owner and Lagerwey's law firm has been instrumental in getting the deal done.
His next task is getting Real Salt Lake to the playoffs beginning in 2008.
E-mail: jedward@desnews.com