Sporting KC
Sporting KC announces coaching staff
New and familiar face in the new SKC coaching staff
Sporting Kansas City took another step towards the revamp of the club Tuesday when they announced the remainder of the club’s coaching staff. Raphael Wicky was introduced recently as Sporting KC’s newest head coach, and now his staff has been filled out. Edu Rubio and Dominic Kinnear have been added as assistant coaches. Roger Espinoza and Ash Wallace come back as assistant coaches. Darrin MacLeod has been promoted to the first team goalkeeper coach after serving as the goalkeeper coach for Sporting KC II over the past five years.
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Coach
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Role
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Raphael Wicky
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Head Coach
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Edu Rubio
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Assistant Coach
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Dominic Kinnear
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Assistant Coach
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Roger Espinoza
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Assistant Coach
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Ash Wallace
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Assistant Coach
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Darrin MacLeod
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Goalkeeper Coach
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Raphael Wicky – Head Coach
Raphael Wicky was appointed in early January and is waiting for the receipt of his P1 visa before fully taking over as Sporting KC’s fifth-ever head coach. Wicky has coached professionally in the Swiss league with both BSC Young Boys and FC Basel as well as the Chicago Fire. He also had succes at the youth level with the U.S. Under-17 National Team. Wicky also played proffesionally and had a handfull of games in MLS before transitioning to the coaching world.
Edu Rubio – Assistant Coach
Rubio is new to Sporting KC and MLS and is also waiting the receipt of his P1 visa before officially joining as Wicky’s assistant coach. The Spaniard has experience in the English Premier League as an assistant manager at West Ham United (2024-2025) and Wolverhampton Wanderers (2022-2023) under manager Julen Lopetegui and as a coach at Crystal Palace (2020-2022) under the leadership of Patrick Vieira and Roy Hodgson. Rubio also has experience in the youth ranks prior to advancing up to the EPL.
Dominic Kinnear – Assistant Coach
Dominic Kinnear should be familiar to Sporting KC fans. Kinnear joins as assistant coach but has an incredible amount of experience in MLS. He brings 25 years of coaching in MLS as both a head coach and assistant with stints at the San Jose Earthquakes, the Houston Dynamo, the LA Galaxy, and FC Cincinnati.
Kinnear has 54 caps for the U.S. Men’s National Team and nearly 250 professional appearances at various clubs, including the Colorado Rapids, San Jose Clash, and Tampa Bay Mutiny.
As an assistant with San Jose in 2001, he won a pair of MLS Cups in 2001 and 2003, and then Kinnear was named San Jose head coach in 2004, He led them to an MLS Supporters’ Shield in 2005 and earned MLS Coach of the Year honors.
Kinnear served as the Houston Dynamo head coach from 2005-2014, winning back-to-back MLS Cup titles in 2006 and 2007. Kinnear held various roles at the LA Galaxy from 2017-2020 before serving as an assistant with Cincinnati from 2022-2025, helping the team win their first Supporters’ Shield in 2023.
The battles between Kinnear’s Houston and Sporting KC in 2012 and 2013 were incredible and a big step for SKC to surpass on the way to the 2013 MLS Cup.
Roger Espinoza – Assistant Coach
Few Kansas City fans do not already know Roger Espinoza. He joined the staff in 2025 and is returning for his second year as an assistant coach with the first team. Espinoza was known for his gritty play and made every team he played on better. Espinoza played 14 years of his 16-year career in Kansas City. With three U.S. Open Cup titles and 10 appearances in the MLS Cup Playoffs for Sporting KC and a 2013 FA Cup Final with Wigan, he brings a ton of experience to the staff. He also made 52 appearances with Honduras.
Ash Wallace – Assistant Coach
Wallace has the longest tenure as part of the Sporting KC staff and is entering his 15th season with the club. Wallace first helped the club when helped the scouting of the Seattle Sounders ahead of the 2012 U.S. Open Cup Final. In total, Waallace has helped SKC win four major trophies. Previoously Wallace was a member of the Preston North End coaching staff and served as an opposition scout for Fleetwood Town in his native England.
Darrin MacLeod – Goalkeeper Coach
MacLeod takes the step up to the first team after coaching with Sporting KC II since 2021 and the Academy the year before that. He also played for the second team in 2017 and 2018. MacLeod also worked with the U.S. Soccer Federation in the development of the goalkeeping curriculum. MacLeod already has experience with three of the SKC’s four keepers when they have played with the second team.
Darrin MacLeod playing with the second team | Credit: Thad Bell
A few thoughts…
Wicky (and David Lee) has put together a good staff for his first season with Sporting KC. Rubio is an unknown but brings EPL experience. Kinnear has the experience to manage through the ins and outs of MLS and years as a coach. Bringing Espinoza and Wallace back brings a measure of stability and familiarity for returning players. Wallace is a smart coach, and Espinoza commands respect from veterans and is known for taking young players under his wing. MacLeod is a good GK coach and already has a relationship with most of the keeper corps.
Lee and Wicky still have a mountain in front of them to bring in players for the first team, establish identity, chemistry, and style. SKC II needs players and coaching staff as well.
Is this staff a good first step for the new season?
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I’ve worlds of respect for Dominic. This is an exciting hire. Plus prime Dominic had great hair.
Seeing Dominic and Roger in the mix already have me thinking about the future. Could either one of them be a future head coach? Both?
Too soon, I know. But they are already here.
Epic
Hope he never ran across Kitchener Leslie!
This is a shockingly different staff in terms of experience and voices – as far as new ideas being implemented this is great. Next question for me (maybe for a reporter who might see Lee?…) is what backroom changes have been made in terms of scouts or data analysts? I don’t have high hopes for on-field expectations this year, but club foundational repair is weirdly just as exciting.
I have asked each time we get to see him. The short answer is not much yet. I think he gave a timeline of 12 or 14 months to fully build those out. Focus has been on the coach, players, and the coaching staff. SKC II coach and assistant and gk coach and players is also rapidly coming up. Then he can focus on the other stuff.
Thank you for the update! I suppose having a roster of players will be beneficial…
I very much like the look of this staff. It seem to have a well balanced structure and an excellent pedigree.
Wasn’t Jake Peterson a scout for a while? Currently?
He is, and he is still there. One problem is that I think he was supposed to be focused on college and lower divisions domestically. The chief scout left and 2 out of 3 (or 3 out of 4) international scouts were missing also.
I’m not aware of any other options. The process is shambles.
Can we insert gifs here? There are some good ones showing dead horses being flogged.