As FC Tucson tries to earn the first postseason berth of its USL League One era, it will face its past — in a way — on Saturday night at Kino North Stadium.
When they take the field for the 7 p.m. kickoff, the club will see the Richmond Kickers on the other side of the center stripe and coach Darren Sawatzky in the opposing dugout.
That’s the same Darren Sawatzky who roamed the home dugout two years ago at Kino.
The 48-year-old Seattle native was known for his all-black outfit when leading out FC Tucson in its inaugural USL League One season. He managed the club to an 8-11-9 record in his lone season in the Old Pueblo. That year, the team managed 33 goals and gave up 41 in 28 matches.
He was 5-4-5 at Kino. In November of 2019, he parted ways with the club and was named the head coach and sporting director for Richmond a month later.
RELATED: FC Tucson and Head Coach Darren Sawatzky Part Ways | Richmond Kickers Name Darren Sawatzky Head Coach
The next season, Sawatzy took over the reins of the Kickers and guided them to an 8-6-2 mark and a fourth-place finish in the COVID-19-shortened season in 2020. This year, Sawatzky’s Kickers are 11-9-7 with 40 points.
Sawatzky declined to comment specifically on the return to Tucson, relaying that "he and the team were just focused on growing this week as a group and just playing the game."
FC Tucson sits 10-10-7 (37 points) and can move past Richmond in the final playoff seeding with a win Saturday.
Sawatzky was at the helm when FC Tucson won its first professional match, a 3-1 victory over Orlando City B in Florida, on March 30, 2019. He coached the club to its first home USL League One triumph, a 2-0 victory over Lansing Ignite FC, at Kino North Stadium on April 30 of that year.
He played at collegiately at the University of Portland, and was an eighth-round pick of the New England Revolution in the inaugural MLS Super Draft in 1996. He bounced around as a player until 2004, and subsequently coached at the high school, college, PDL, indoor and national levels over 18 seasons before moving from the Pacific Northwest to the Southwest for the 2019 season.
It was during his time in Washington as a coach that Sawatzky guided a Seattle Sounders U23 team to playoff wins over FC Tucson in 2012 (the USL PDL Western Conference semifinal, which was the first playoff match in FC Tucson history) and 2015 (the PDL Western Conference final at Kino North Stadium).
On Saturday night, it will again be all to play for, like in those playoff matches, and he will be back on the visitors side.
As FC Tucson tries to earn the first postseason berth of its USL League One era, it will face its past — in a way — on Saturday night at Kino North Stadium.
When they take the field for the 7 p.m. kickoff, the club will see the Richmond Kickers on the other side of the center stripe and coach Darren Sawatzky in the opposing dugout.
That’s the same Darren Sawatzky who roamed the home dugout two years ago at Kino.
The 48-year-old Seattle native was known for his all-black outfit when leading out FC Tucson in its inaugural USL League One season. He managed the club to an 8-11-9 record in his lone season in the Old Pueblo. That year, the team managed 33 goals and gave up 41 in 28 matches.
He was 5-4-5 at Kino. In November of 2019, he parted ways with the club and was named the head coach and sporting director for Richmond a month later.
RELATED: FC Tucson and Head Coach Darren Sawatzky Part Ways | Richmond Kickers Name Darren Sawatzky Head Coach
The next season, Sawatzy took over the reins of the Kickers and guided them to an 8-6-2 mark and a fourth-place finish in the COVID-19-shortened season in 2020. This year, Sawatzky’s Kickers are 11-9-7 with 40 points.
Sawatzky declined to comment specifically on the return to Tucson, relaying that “he and the team were just focused on growing this week as a group and just playing the game.”
FC Tucson sits 10-10-7 (37 points) and can move past Richmond in the final playoff seeding with a win Saturday.
Sawatzky was at the helm when FC Tucson won its first professional match, a 3-1 victory over Orlando City B in Florida, on March 30, 2019. He coached the club to its first home USL League One triumph, a 2-0 victory over Lansing Ignite FC, at Kino North Stadium on April 30 of that year.
He played at collegiately at the University of Portland, and was an eighth-round pick of the New England Revolution in the inaugural MLS Super Draft in 1996. He bounced around as a player until 2004, and subsequently coached at the high school, college, PDL, indoor and national levels over 18 seasons before moving from the Pacific Northwest to the Southwest for the 2019 season.
It was during his time in Washington as a coach that Sawatzky guided a Seattle Sounders U23 team to playoff wins over FC Tucson in 2012 (the USL PDL Western Conference semifinal, which was the first playoff match in FC Tucson history) and 2015 (the PDL Western Conference final at Kino North Stadium).
On Saturday night, it will again be all to play for, like in those playoff matches, and he will be back on the visitors side.
