Why Sporting KC has ‘never been in this situation before’ with coaching search
Sporting Kansas City co-principal owner Mike Illig found himself in a strange place Tuesday, explaining the organization’s decision to move on from its manager.
Since 2010, Peter Vermes had held the position of head coach, as well as several others, for KC’s Major League Soccer club. Earlier this week, the team announced that Vermes was out, with longtime assistant Kerry Zavagnin becoming interim boss.
Sporting KC simply didn’t operate like other MLS clubs when it came to coaching stability. More than a third of the league’s 30 coaches are in their first season with their respective teams.
Vermes arrived on Kansas City’s staff in 2006, when the team was known as the Wizards, and the same year that founder Lamar Hunt sold the team to Cerner co-founders Neal Patterson and Cliff Illig.
“We’ve never been in this situation before,” Mike Illig said Tuesday. “Peter is all we’ve ever known. Here we are, with our first head-coaching change.
“I’m learning through this process. We’ll take our time, get it right. I want to see what’s out there.”
Sporting KC is winless in six MLS games this season, and 13 straight dating to last year. That prompted this week’s change, an ongoing process that will be guided by two search firms and a wide reach.
“We are going to run a global search alongside (Zavagnin), and he’ll be thrown into the mix,” Illig said. “I’ve told him it’s his job to lose.”
But Illig said he’s “been inundated with amazing candidates and agents, so I’m looking forward to running the process.”
Vermes wore several hats for the organization over the years while he was coaching. Now, Sporting KC will redefine the position.
“Peter was a unicorn, in that he literally had his hand in every single aspect of what we call ‘the Sporting player enterprise,’” Illig said. “So, it’s going to take a little while to unravel that. It’s unrealistic to look for someone to do the all-encompassing job.”
Zavagnin and Vermes came to Kansas City together as players in 2000 and were teammates on that season’s MLS Cup championship team. Zavagnin had been part of Sporting’s staff with Vermes since 2009.
His first game running the club solo is Saturday at Children’s Mercy Park against St. Louis.
“He’s carries great respect among the group,” Illig said. “It’s not a rinse-and-repeat with the Peter way. It’s up to him to create his own identity for how he wants the culture of the club and team to exist.”
Illig emphasized in a meeting with the team’s players that the season’s objectives won’t change with a new leader. Sporting KC stands 0-5-1, last in the Western Conference, and owns the worst record in MLS.
At least for now.
“They’re ready for the challenge,” Illig said. “It’s a new season. It begins today.”
This story was originally published April 1, 2025 at 4:16 PM.