One MLS coaching legend added another to his staff on Tuesday, as the LA Galaxy announced that head coach Sigi Schmid has hired Dominic Kinnear as an assistant. Kinnear’s duties with his new team began on Tuesday as well.
A two-time MLS Cup champion and Supporters’ Shield winner with the San Jose Earthquakes and Houston Dynamo, Kinnear most recently led the Quakes but was fired on June 25. His addition to the Galaxy’s staff gives LA two of the winningest coaches in league history, with Schmid’s MLS-best 228 career wins and Kinnear’s third-best 166 (former LA coach Bruce Arena, now in his second stint with the US national team, ranks second on that list with 202 wins).
“Dominic’s resume speaks for itself as one of the most successful coaches in MLS history,” said Schmid in a club release. “He is a successful and experienced coach who will provide a great deal of value to our staff and our players. He is highly regarded throughout our league and we are thrilled to add both a coach and person of his caliber to this group.”
A US international during his playing days who ended his club career in MLS with San Jose and the Tampa Bay Mutiny, Kinnear entered coaching as an assistant to Frank Yallop with the first incarnation of the Quakes in 2001, helping them win the 2001 and 2003 MLS Cups. He took the reins when Yallop departed to coach the Canadian national team in 2004 and led the Quakes to the 2005 Supporters’ Shield before the franchise relocated to Houston.
There, he steered the Orange to back-to-back league titles in 2006 and 2007. The Dynamo also reached the 2011 and 2012 MLS Cup finals, falling to the Galaxy on both occasions. After the 2014 he returned to his native Bay Area to rejoin the Earthquakes, but was unable to lead the club to the postseason in his two full seasons in charge.
