Major League Soccer
Roger Espinoza joins Sporting KC as Assistant Coach
Retired midfielder Roger Espinoza is Sporting KC’s newest addition to Peter Vermes’s staff ahead of the 2025 MLS season.
Roger Espinoza is back to being a mainstay at Children’s Mercy Park, but this time he’ll be supporting from the sidelines.
The club announced on Wednesday that Espinoza has joined the coaching staff as Professional Development Coach and first team assistant coach. He will be responsible for working across the first team, Sporting KC II and the Sporting KC Academy, as well as taking a leading role in the development of young players across the club and player pathway development between the three stages.
Espinoza retired from playing professional soccer last summer after a 16-year career, 14 of which were spent with Sporting Kansas City. He ranks second in club history with 399 appearances while placing third in starts (330) and minutes (29,162).
Sporting KC is still searching for another assistant coach for the first team. The club also announced two new hires to its first team technical staff—Performance Scientist Casey Metoyer and Assistant Team Administrator Kate Deakins. Sports Performance Coach Colby Fell and Assistant Athletic Trainer Payton Jensen have also earned promotions to the first team technical staff after working with SKC II and the SKC Academy, respectively.
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Cool. He knows the way to the bottom of the table as well as anyone. More hires based on name and not competency.
What was SKC’s worst finish with Roger?
He won multiple trophies. Played in the EPL. He has his coaching badges and was generally considered to be a key locker room guy getting new players welcomed and up to speed.
what makes you think he’s incompetent?
I know this Champions League tourney is super early, but do most other teams have a full roster and coaching staff. Just seems slapdash.
It’s not that early; our regular season opens this weekend. The most accommodating take is that Burns and PV have been scrambling to clean up the mess left by years of ownership neglect, and can’t do everything at once. Still feels awkward.
Roger was there coaching on the sidelines during preseason, if that makes you feel better. Not sure why they held the announcement (probationary period? Finishing all his credentials?) He’s been working on his coaching credentials for some time.
ETA: coach Roger https://www.reddit.com/r/SportingKC/comments/1iipru9/coach_roger_espinoza/
Yeah, it probably does. I WANT to be excited about this season, which is finally seeing some changes, but they are up against it with the season starting today.
They called him a guest coach when we asked about Espinoza. SKC love to be secretive though.
I get kcwookie’s worry about the insular nature of Sporting’s hires, but I think this one is much different. Roger has been such strong glue for the team that he brings a ton of social capital into this role. And, like others have said, he’s been working on his coaching license for a while. I really like this move. If only we could’ve kept Benny as well.