One of the greatest American coaches, ever, and one of the top college coaches of all time. His 1990 UCLA team could probably beat any college team in history. Even after spending almost 20 years in MLS, Sigi was still an advocate for the college game and the American player. RIP to a true champion and, by all accounts, a really nice guy.
Sigi Schmid. His like may never be seen again. Sandon, I could not easily find the roster of the fabled UCLA 1990 squad. I recall the Bruins visiting Zips for the home opener in 1989, a 0-2 spanking. The question on everyone's lips as we left, wide-eyed and slack-jawed, was "Who is that Cobi Jones guy?"
UCLA's 1990 team featured these 11 players, all of whom went on to play in MLS and many of them played abroad as well. Cobi Jones - 164 caps, 94, 98, 02 WC teams Joe-Max Moore - 100 caps, 94, 98, 02 WC teams Brad Friedel - 82 caps, 94, 98, 02 WC teams Chris Henderson - 79 caps, 90 WC team Mike Lapper - 43 caps, 1994 WC team Zak Ibsen - 15 caps Jorge Salcedo - 3 caps Billy Thompson - 1 cap Tayt Ianni - 1 cap Sam George - 0 caps Sean Henderson - 0 caps No college coach has had a greater influence on the USMNT in terms of developing and providing players than Sigi Schmid. Not Jerry Yeagley. Not Bruce Arena. Not Sasho Cirovski. Not Caleb Porter. Not any of his successors at UCLA. Besides the players listed above, ex UCLA players Paul Caligiuri, David Vanole, Paul Krumpe, Frankie Hejduk, Eddie Lewis, Greg Vanney (named but dropped because of injury), Carlos Bocanegra, Jimmy Conrad and Nick Rimando all made at least one World Cup roster. These players all played for Sigi at UCLA and got capped by the senior USMNT: Eric Biefeld, Dale Ervine, Tim Harris, Kevin Hartman, Jeff Hooker, Lucas Martin, Ante Razov, Matt Reis, Tom Silvas, Pete Vagenas, Sasha Victorine Add them together and its 29 USMNT players who played for Sigi at UCLA. In just 19 years. To put that in perspective, since Sigi left UCLA before the 99 NCAA season, UCLA has "only" produced 10 USMNT players and that's still one of the top producers in college soccer. I'm assuming, Akron and Maryland are close to that but I haven't looked it up. (The ten: Chad Barrett, Tony Beltran, Jonathan Bornstein, Reggie Cannon, Benny Feilhaber, Kamani Hill, Kelyn Rowe, Zach Wells, Marvell Wynne, Sal Zizzo)