What Darren Sawatzky's Departure Means for Richmond Kickers and Sporting Cascades

The Richmond Kickers announced the departure of Head Coach and Chief Sporting Officer Darren Sawatzky on Monday, June 15. The move comes during his seventh season with the club and amid a difficult run of results.

According to the club, 2027 expansion side Sporting Cascades FC triggered a buyout clause in Sawatzky's contract. He departs effective immediately to take on the head coaching role there, helping build the club ahead of its USL League One debut next season.

Sawatzky leaves as the longest-tenured head coach in USL League One and the only head coach to have worked in the league every season since its inaugural campaign in 2019. He spent that first season leading FC Tucson before joining Richmond ahead of the 2020 campaign.

During his tenure, Sawatzky led the Kickers to their first and only USL League One Players' Shield in 2022 and became the winningest coach in league history with 64 regular season victories. Richmond also reached the playoffs in 2021, 2022 and 2024 under his leadership.

Sawatzky also oversaw the development of several young players who went on to higher levels. Among them were defender Griffin Garnett, whom the club transferred to Hungarian top-flight side Ferencvárosi for a league-record six-figure fee, and Nick Simmonds, a Richmond Kickers academy product who broke into the first team before a standout season at the University of Virginia led to him being selected third overall in the 2026 MLS SuperDraft.

Assistant Coach Brian Ownby will serve as interim head coach for the remainder of the 2026 season, while Goalkeeper Coach Evan Munn assumes assistant coaching duties. The club has not yet announced plans to hire another assistant coach or a new sporting director.

Ownby joined the Kickers ahead of the 2026 season following the departure of former assistant Conner Cappelletti, who is believed to be working in a yet-to-be-announced role with Sporting Cascades.

A Richmond native, Ownby retired as a player following the 2024 USL Championship season after a lengthy career as a winger with Louisville City, Houston Dynamo, Pittsburgh Riverhounds and the Kickers.

The move marks one of the biggest coaching changes in USL League One history and raises important questions for both clubs heading into the second half of the season.

What Does it Mean for Richmond?

Sawatzky was in the final year of his contract and told us during the offseason that he believed his time in Richmond would likely end if the club failed to improve this season. With the midpoint of the campaign approaching, that improvement never materialized.

Outside of a brief three-match winning streak, the Kickers have struggled, sitting 14th in the table and winless in their last four matches. Heavy defeats on the road to Chattanooga and Corpus Christi only intensified calls from supporters for a coaching change.

This move, however, gives Richmond an outcome that may be preferable to simply waiting for Sawatzky's contract to expire. Rather than making a midseason dismissal, the club appears to have received compensation from Sporting Cascades through the buyout clause while gaining an immediate opportunity to move in a new direction.

It also gives Richmond a chance to evaluate Ownby over the remainder of the season before deciding whether to remove the interim tag. At the same time, the club must determine whether to replace Sawatzky with another dual-purpose Head Coach and Sporting Director or follow the growing league trend of separating those responsibilities into two positions.

What Does it Mean for Sporting Cascades?

Formerly known as USL League Two side Lane United, Sporting Cascades was originally scheduled to join USL League One in 2026 before its launch was delayed. With the announcement of its first head coach, however, the club now appears fully focused on a 2027 debut.

The delay is widely believed to have stemmed from an ownership change. Original majority owner Sat Dhinsa no longer appears to be involved with the club, which has since introduced Eugene native Bill Cornog as majority owner alongside longtime club leader Dave Galas as president.

For Sporting Cascades, Sawatzky brings one of the most experienced coaches in USL League One and a familiar face in the Pacific Northwest. A Seattle native, he played professionally for both the Portland Timbers and Seattle Sounders before moving into coaching.

He'll also have extra time to assemble Sporting Cascades' inaugural roster, giving the club an experienced talent evaluator before it ever plays a professional match.

His ties to the club's leadership run even deeper. Sawatzky coached the Seattle Sounders U-23s when they regularly faced Lane United, and later hired Lane United head coach John Galas—Dave's brother—as an assistant at FC Tucson.

John Galas had been set to become Sporting Cascades' sporting director before his passing earlier this year following a sudden recurrence of cancer.

That shared history made the move especially meaningful for Sawatzky, who said, "We plan to win games for Eugene-Springfield and the greater Oregon community while honoring the legacy of my good friend John and his amazing family."

In announcing the hire, Dave Galas pointed to Sawatzky's "integrity, passion, competitiveness, and track record of nurturing young talent and winning on the pitch" as the qualities that made him the club's first professional head coach.

What's Next for the Kickers?

Ownby's first test as head coach will come on Saturday, June 20th as the Kickers return home to face Fort Wayne FC.

The expansion side has been playing a bit above their expectations, currently in 8th place and without a regular season loss since March 28th.

The Kickers are without a win since May 9th, and have conceded 10 goals in their last four matches, while only scoring three.

With 21 matches left to play in the regular season, there's plenty of time for a turnaround, but at this point in the season, things have to start progressing if there is any hope to make it to the post-season.