Paul Rothrock finds purpose on hometown Seattle Sounders | OneFootball

By Charles Boehm

Almost every professional athlete can identify a moment when the dream began to feel real, when their vision of making it to the big time became attainable.

For Paul Rothrock, who helps lead Seattle Sounders FC into Matchday 12's Walmart Saturday Showdown vs. San Diego FC (10:30 pm ET | Apple TV), it certainly wasn’t the day he got drafted.

“I wasn't even watching,” the winger told MLSsoccer.com this week, recalling the January afternoon when he was selected by Toronto FC out of Georgetown University with the 64th pick (third round) in the 2021 MLS SuperDraft. 

“I was in my boxers, cleaning my room. I had watched the first round, because I had one or two teammates who were going to go in the opening round. That season at Georgetown, I was a bit more of a role player … I just didn't think I had enough to show for myself at that point.”

Rothrock had only spent one year in the Sounders Academy as a schoolboy – “I was always a little undersized, and under-recruited as well,” he noted – so a homegrown contract wasn’t in the offing, which further drove home his parents’ emphasis on a university education.

Rothrock’s first weeks as a pro weren’t particularly auspicious, either. He felt compelled to finish coursework for his college degree before reporting to Toronto, then picked up both hand and ankle injuries almost immediately after debuting for the Reds’ second team.

“I did two years in Toronto, had some brief stints with the first team there,” he said. “If I'm really reflecting on it, I don't think I was really ready for the professional game at that point. I wasn't ready for the league. I don't think my habits were good enough. I didn't think I had a clearly defined purpose at that point.

“I actually had most of my family telling me there's never a good time to quit, and that I should stop. I just felt like there was more left in it for me.”

"We have Paul Rothrock"

Not even he would have dared guess where he’d be today: The leading scorer on one of MLS’s top teams, a beloved cult hero for one of the league’s biggest fan bases and a rising star still exploring, even at age 27, just how high his ceiling in the game might be.

“I don't really think of myself like that. I don't think of myself as a guaranteed starter,” Rothrock mused. “I'm more thinking on the week-to-week, month-to-month stuff. Like, how my performances have been; am I getting better at things? I think the competition makes me better, too.

“I feel like I really have to earn it here.”

Then there’s the whole Messi thing.

It’s a story that almost instantly enshrined itself in the Sounders’ substantial lore. Speaking to reporters ahead of Seattle's Leagues Cup final vs. Inter Miami last August, head coach Brian Schmetzer was naturally asked about the psychology of facing Lionel Messi and the rest of the Herons’ big names. In a calculated response he later credited to the influence of his wife Kristine, the veteran manager reeled off a list of Seattle’s lesser-known but highly effective regulars in reply.

“Messi is arguably the best player the world has ever seen,” he said. “But we have Paul Rothrock, and we have Jackson Ragen, and we have Snyder Brunell, and we have Andrew Thomas, and we have Pedro [de la Vega]. We’ve got good players too.”

The quote struck a chord among Sounders supporters fiercely proud of their team, its rich local roots and the culture lovingly crafted around it over several decades. The club cleverly seized on the hubbub by launching a jersey exchange at Lumen Field, where fans could swap a Messi Miami jersey for a Rothrock replacement in Rave Green.

“I just remember that morning, seeing my phone blow up about it,” said Rothrock with a laugh. “‘Alright, pressure’s on, coach!’ I appreciated that moment too, because Schmetz doesn't heap on praise easily, and I think it was a real moment of trust for him. And I think the quote really got taken a little bit out of context – in the interview, he's talking about six or seven guys. He just says my name first, and I think people clip that, and then it became a meme.

“As a player, you really appreciate when a coach does something like that, and takes a step out there, and puts their faith in you publicly and whatnot. Schmetzer has done that a few times for me.”

Seattle love

Paulie Primetime walked the walk, scoring the late exclamation point on a rousing 3-0 Seattle victory, kissing his Sounders badge before exuberant celebrations with his teammates. Not bad for a guy who had to transfer out of Notre Dame to find playing time, and grind at the MLS NEXT Pro level to earn his shot in MLS.

“Those are things that you just never dream of, right?” said Rothrock this week. “I never thought I was going to play Messi as a kid. I remember in high school, I used to sit in the film studies room and watch – there's this one YouTube video called, like, ‘Messi, God Amongst Men.’

“I used to watch it almost every day during my junior year of high school. And then we’re playing against him in a final at Lumen Field. Yeah, cool moment.”

That might be the closest thing to an I-have-arrived milestone for Rothrock, whose slow-burn career trajectory has featured just about everything except overnight success. He points to an old saw that’s inspired him: ‘Inch by inch, life's a cinch. Yard by yard, life's hard.’

“I have really been a big believer of that,” he said. “Over time those little gains that you're making within your process, they come to pay off, and it might not come in that next week, but it comes six, eight weeks down the line. There's even been some plays this season where I've felt that way, like, wow, that was stuff I've been working on.”

Hometown loyalty

That cup final strike might well have been his parting gift to Seattle. Because those were the final months of Rothrock’s contract, and after a breakout 2025 with five goals and nine assists across all competitions, he had ample options both across MLS and abroad as a free agent. Opportunities for not only a bigger paycheck, but a new identity.

“At Seattle, they know me as ‘the Tacoma guy,’” Rothrock said, alluding to Tacoma Defiance, the MLS NEXT Pro side where he proved himself in 2023. “And there was an opportunity in the offseason to choose a fresh start, where I was entering into the club at a different stature, at a higher level.

“There were options that had a higher ceiling in some other capacities, career-wise.”

Yet there were powerful intangibles on the other side of the ledger.

Rothrock considers himself a family-and community-oriented person. He’s one of five siblings – the rest are sisters – a split that, along with a childhood admiration for Johan Cruyff inculcated in him by his grandfather, led him to pick 14 as his jersey number – and believes he needed the grounding of home to achieve his breakthrough.

“Guys who I know who have had long and successful careers really have a sense of purpose in this, and have a sense of self,” he said. “I was a late bloomer physically, but also a late bloomer in finding myself, finding my purpose in the game.

“Entering into free agency,” Rothrock added, “I got to choose what mattered. I feel really, really blessed that I get to be in Seattle and represent something a little bit bigger than myself here.”

Finding joy

It was Seattle where he got his second chance, starting with Defiance boss Wade Webber, one of several former Sounders who coached him in his youth. It was Seattle where he felt like part of something bigger, a true, multi-generational soccer community.

“What was the story that I wanted to be able to tell when I was finished with this?” pondered Rothrock. “I remember talking to Jimmy McAlister. He's an old Sounders legend here; he's a guy who coached me since I was really little here, who saw me come up through the ranks of youth soccer here.

“He was just like, ‘there's no better place to play than in your hometown, no matter what.’ There's something about that that really clicked for me, where I was like, I'm not going to get what I have here anywhere else. … My life feels really rich here, and I still feel like there's a lot for me to strive for.”

He got engaged to his partner, Lucy, earlier this year. He’s popular enough to have a local sportswear company make t-shirts with his face splashed across the front, larger than life-size, with proceeds benefitting the Northwest Immigrant Rights Project. He’s earned the trust of his coaches and teammates, and now that he’s got a taste of trophy hoists from Leagues Cup, he aspires to win an MLS Cup for his hometown.

In Seattle, he’s found his why. In a word? Joy.

“If you watch me play, you can probably see when I am ticking and I'm being the best version of myself,” he explained. “I'm playing with a big smile on my face. Things are fun. Things kind of come off light off my back, and I would say I’m bringing joy to myself, bringing joy to my community.”

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