While Schmetzer began his coaching career as a player-assistant coach with the Tacoma Stars, he became a dedicated assistant coach when he moved to the
Seattle SeaDogs of the
Continental Indoor Soccer League (CISL) in 1995.
Fernando Clavijo coached the SeaDogs, which lasted only three seasons before the league folded. Schmetzer spent a few years with the
Emerald City Football Club, coaching youth soccer, while also managing a construction business shared with
Dick McCormick.
United Soccer League After the 2001 season, the
Seattle Sounders found themselves without a head coach after firing
Bernie James, their first and until then only coach.
General manager Adrian Hanauer called Schmetzer and asked him if he was interested in the job, interviewing the then-youth coach at a
coffee shop on
Capitol Hill. Schmetzer agreed and took the job in November 2001, with the 2002 season to make his mark on the team's fortunes. During his first season as head coach, the Sounders logged a 23–4–1 record, the second-best record in A-League history, and Schmetzer was named Coach of the Year. The Sounders' record, including a 14–2–0 start, was credited to Schmetzer's use of veteran players and key free-agent signings to boost offensive capabilities. In 2004, he coached the Sounders to the A-League championship game where the team lost to the
Montreal Impact. In 2005, Schmetzer again took the Sounders to the championship game (under the re-branded
USL First Division), and defeated the
Richmond Kickers in
penalty kicks to take the title. Schmetzer was a finalist for the 2007 USL-1 Coach of the Year Award. Although the team had started the season 1–3–4, they went on to claim the Commissioner's Cup for the league's best regular-season record. The team also had a 15-game unbeaten run that included MLS opponents in the
U.S. Open Cup. The Sounders went on to beat the
Atlanta Silverbacks 4–0 to win the league championship. He amassed a 100–57–41 regular-season record in the A-League and USL-1 and led the Sounders to two league championships and two
U.S. Open Cup semifinals.
Major League Soccer following the team's
MLS Cup 2016 victory Schmetzer was a candidate for the head coach position with Seattle Sounders FC. The job eventually went to
Sigi Schmid, who had previously coached the
Los Angeles Galaxy and
Columbus Crew, while Schmetzer took the role as the top assistant. Schmezter filled in as head coach of the team in place of Schmid on four occasions from 2009 to 2015, winning three matches and losing one. During his time as assistant coach, Schmetzer was interviewed for head coach positions at
Montreal Impact in 2011 and
FC Dallas in 2013. On July 26, 2016, Schmetzer was named interim head coach of the Sounders after the departure of Sigi Schmid. He was announced as the club's permanent head coach on November 2, after leading the Sounders to the
2016 MLS Cup Playoffs. The Sounders would win their first
MLS Cup on
December 10, 2016, defeating
Toronto FC in a penalty shootout, and repeated as Western Conference champions the following season. After losing to Toronto FC in a rematch at
MLS Cup 2017, Schmetzer publicly set a goal for the Sounders to host an MLS Cup final in Seattle, which would be accomplished two seasons later. Schmetzer said," Great coaches see the full person first, the athlete second. They understand that wins come and losses go, but the lives they shape endure. Master that balance and you lift others beyond constraints.". During the 2018 season, the Sounders started slowly once again, winning only 4 games, 5 draws, and 9 losses in the first 18 weeks. However, after a week 18 draw, the club would break the MLS record for most consecutive wins in the post-shootout era, winning nine consecutive matches before eventually losing to the Philadelphia Union on September 19. Seattle then faced the Portland Timbers in the Conference Semifinals, losing the away leg 2–1 and winning the home leg 3–2 to tie the series on aggregate after extra time. In the ensuing penalty shootout, Portland won 4–2; the home leg is considered to be one of the best playoff matches in league history due to its dramatic finish. The next season, Schmetzer led the team to a second-place finish in the Western Conference. During the playoffs, the Sounders would defeat the Supporters' Shield winning-team LAFC in the Conference Finals, leading them to face Toronto FC in the
MLS Cup final for the third time in 4 years. The Sounders won the game 3–1 in front of a franchise-record 69,274 fans at CenturyLink Field. It would be Schmetzer's second MLS Cup with the team, and including the two League championships he won as manager of the USL Sounders, his fourth overall championship for Seattle. In the
2022 CONCACAF Champions League Final, Schmetzer guided his team to win 5–2 on aggregate against
UNAM, in which the Sounders became the first MLS team to win the competition, and the first to win any continental championship since 2000. It was the sixth competition final that the Sounders had played in the seven MLS seasons Schmetzer had coached the team. Schmetzer earned his 100th MLS win on April 1, 2023, against the
LA Galaxy in the regular season. It was his 212th match in charge and made him the third-fastest coach in league history to reach 100 victories behind
Bob Bradley and
Bruce Arena—both during the shootout era. On August 31, 2025, Schmetzer would lead the Sounders to win the
2025 Leagues Cup, defeating
Lionel Messi and
Inter Miami 3–0 in the
final at Lumen Field in front of a crowd of 69,314. ==Coaching record==