The 2022 USL League One Coach of the Year most recently led the Kickers to their third playoff appearance in four seasons
TAMPA, Fla. – USL League One announced that Richmond Kickers’ Chief Sporting Officer and Head Coach Darren Sawatzky is nominated for the league’s Coach of the Year award.
This marks Sawatzky’s second Coach of the Year nomination after previously earning the award in 2022 after the Kickers captured the 2022 Players’ Shield for winning the regular season.
Under Sawatzky’s leadership, the club earned a 2024 Young Player of the Year nomination for 18-year-old Richmond native Griffin Garnett and two 2024 All-League Second Team selections for Richmond native Simon Fitch and Nil Vinyals.
In the 2024 regular season, the Kickers earned their third playoff berth in four seasons as the Roos ripped off a six-match unbeaten streak and closed out the season 4-1-2 with four matches coming against fellow 2024 playoff teams.
Sawatzky was named USL League One Coach of the Week in Week 13 after the Kickers earned a 2-1 home victory on July 3rd over second-place Forward Madison on national television. Tied 1-1 going into stoppage time, the Kickers scored in the 11th minute of second-half stoppage time to win at the death.
The Kickers’ coaching staff earned recognition for their continued commitment to developing the next generation not only on the training pitch but also on matchday. Rostered players under 20 years of age played a combined 2,676 minutes in the regular season alone.
Garnett signed his first professional contract at 17 in August 2024 after playing 19 of 21 available matches at the time on a USL Academy Contract. Garnett is the third Kickers teenager to make the jump after Landon Johnson and Beckett Howell both signed pro deals from the Academy in 2023.
USL Academy goalkeeper James Sneddon (18) started the final stretch of the Kickers’ season – including the club’s playoff quarterfinal match at top-seed Union Omaha – earning a 4-2-2 record with three clean sheets between the pipes.
Gabe Cox and Noah Hiort-Wright, who also signed USL Academy contracts in the preseason to protect their college eligibility, went on to feature as true freshmen this Fall at Division I schools Furman University and The College of William & Mary, respectively. They joined former Kickers’ Academy players Ty Johnson (UNC), Damian Gallegos (VCU), and Eli Mumford (Pitt and UNC Charlotte) to play D1 soccer after competing in the Kickers’ pro environment.
Darren Sawatzky, Richmond Kickers’ Chief Sporting Officer and Head Coach said:
“We are very proud of the project we are working on here at the Richmond Kickers. We want to develop young players and give them a platform to develop, to perform, and to excel as we chase the post season and hardware. This process takes time and patience. The veteran players led well in the final couple of months of the season, and our young players stepped up to chase the postseason. We are not happy that we are now watching the playoffs rather than competing in them, but we are proud of this group of players and their persistence to chase excellence.
“The recognition for our coaching staff is appreciated and we are grateful that people recognize what we are working to build here. Both Dom and Eamon built incredible teams and have had amazing seasons. Their recognition by the teams in our league is deserved and we wish them the best.”
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