Everything we know about Garth Lagerwey's departure

As you might expect, we're still distressed about Garth Lagerwey's departure here at RSL Soapbox. But through the dismay, we've managed to cobble together what we know about the situation.

So, Garth's gone?

He's gone. We at RSL Soapbox have had the report independently confirmed that everyone had confirmed.

Where's he going?

Taylor Twellman (ESPN) and Brian Straus (Sports Illustrated) both reported that Lagerwey is on his way to Seattle Sounders, although it's not clear exactly what role he would take.

Why's he going?

Lagerwey has been decidedly particular in stating his desires over the last year as we grasped at his contract status. He wanted a more prominent role somewhere, and he was holding out because he wanted to explore his options. It was reported that Lagerwey's contract included a stipulation about being able to hold discussions with other teams if it was for a presidential role.

Why didn't we just make him president?

Real Salt Lake already has a president in Bill Manning, who has been a very good executive at the club. He's under contract for at least the next six months, but probably longer.

Who should we blame?

The popular strategy has been to blame Dell Loy Hansen, Real Salt Lake owner, and that's certainly an easy approach. The buck stops with him, and so he's always going to get more of the blame than those at other organizational levels.

Was it about money?

Not if you believe what everybody around the situation has said. From the beginning, Lagerwey and Hansen have both been firm in their statements that this wasn't a situation about money. Sure, we could've pulled a dump truck filled with $100 bills up to Lagerwey's house and just started emptying it until he said yes, but it wouldn't really be a great approach. He'd probably still say no.

What was it about, then?

Opportunity. Garth Lagerwey is ambitious, and that's been a mark of his career to this point. He didn't arrive at Real Salt Lake as a previously successful general manager. He didn't arrive in MLS as a successful goalkeeper. He didn't go to law school as a lawyer. All this seems obvious, but Lagerwey hasn't had anything handed to him, and he's worked hard to end up where he is.

Why did we get a large television instead of signing Lagerwey?

Dell Loy Hansen is — shall we say — rich. Stinking rich. He's one of the richest people in Utah. If we accept that Garth Lagerwey didn't leave for money, this is a question without any grounding in reality.