Why you should expect something different from Sporting KC under Kerry Zavagnin

In 2000, Peter Vermes and a young player were looking to make an impact on a new squad in Kansas City. Once traded for each other — years prior — the two slowly became friends.

Now, 25 years later, Vermes’ friend and one-time roommate Kerry Zavagnin sat down in front of media members for the first time as the guy in charge, replacing Vermes at the helm of Sporting KC in the interim.

Zavagnin thanked Vermes in his opening comments, just as Vermes thanked Zavagnin during his U.S. Soccer Hall of Fame induction speech.

“He’s a great friend and incredible mentor to me,” Zavagnin said. “His contribution to the club, the city and the game will not be forgotten. We thank him for the energy, the determination, the drive and everything he brought here.”

Zavagnin has played a part in nearly every single Kansas City Wizards and Sporting KC match since 2000, both as a player and coach. As a player, he won the MLS Cup and Supporters’ Shield in 2000, and the U.S. Open Cup in 2004.

As a coach, he sat on the bench as Vermes’ right-hand man through all the success and growth that made Vermes the longest tenured manager in MLS history. That included trophies not typically expected for a smaller market team and the development of infrastructure that led the way for MLS into its current times.

But all runs come to an end. And now, for at least the immediate future, Zavagnin will be tasked with getting Sporting KC back to its former glory.

“We are going to run a global search alongside (Zavagnin), and he’ll be thrown into the mix,” Sporting Kansas City co-principal owner Mike Illig said Tuesday. “I’ve told him it’s his job to lose.”

Zavagnin played a vital role in the club for a long time alongside Vermes. It’s natural for fans and others to wonder what difference, if any, there would be with their approaches.

Sporting KC, for nearly two decades, became synonymous with the “Vermes Way.”

But don’t sell Zavagnin short of being his own man, with his own ideas.

“If you’re not ready after 17 years as an assistant coach of what to do,” Zavagnin said, “you’ll never be ready to be a head coach.”

He continued.

“In studying and preparing for this moment, I think I’d like to explore some of the things that have been inside me,” Zavagnin said. “And ready to get out there in the form of a little more flexibility, a little more creativity and a little more innovation both on and off the field.

Zavagnin had a chance to be his own guy in the past. In 2021, he took the mantle for two matches while Vermes was away with COVID. A midweek short turnaround against San Jose left him without much of an opportunity to do some things his way. But over the weekend, Sporting KC went to Seattle for a Sunday night showdown in a prime “match of the week” slot.

Sporting stunned Seattle on the road, a 3-1 victory that never seemed in question. There were changes he made along the way, though, that left his own imprint on the match.

Zavagnin tells it like this:

Sporting KC was up 2-1, and Seattle threatened to get back into the game. He brought Ilie Sanchez off the bench. Sanchez was exhausted after traveling back from Spain to be with his family during a tough time. And Zavagnin sensed Sanchez’s fatigue right away.

“That was the shift,” Zavagnin said. “We had to bring another player next to him because he physically wasn’t ready, but we needed him and his mind in that game.”

So, Sporting subbed on Cam Duke to play as a second striker, and flipped the midfield triangle upside down, moving Remi Walter into a double pivot defensive midfield. Two minutes later, Duke scored the third and decisive goal.

“I can’t tell you that was a planned action,” Zavagnin said. “It was just an instinctive decision. And sometimes you get it right.”

Zavagnin’s first chance to implement some of his ideas is a rivalry match against St. Louis at Children’s Mercy Park on Saturday, April 5. It’s anticipated that a large number of St. Louis fans will make the trip up as they have in years past.

While Sporting players have worked on a few of Zavagnin’s principles, he also doesn’t want to throw too much change at players right away. So for now, things might look a little familiar. But that doesn’t mean they won’t change.

“We’re going to be different,” Zavagnin said. “And it’ll evolve over time.”

Daniel Sperry covers soccer for The Star. He can be reached at sperry.danielkc@gmail.com.