Paul Rothrock’s road back home

RENTON — It’s taken years and stops in Indiana, Washington D.C., Toronto and Tukwila; time in lower leagues; lots of introspection; and an incredible amount of work, but Paul Rothrock is finally home in Seattle as a more fully-actualized version of himself. It’s no fluke that he’s arrived at this point, and although he may still climb even higher, his hero’s journey up to this moment has helped him to become a key part of a strong Sounders side.

“I feel proud about it,” he says. “I think it’s been quite the journey, and the journey has ultimately been the best thing for me, and the best part of my development.”

A former Sounders Academy player who grew up in Seattle’s Capitol Hill neighborhood, Rothrock played in college after the academy, first at Notre Dame then at Georgetown where he helped win the program’s first NCAA title, then entered the 2021 MLS SuperDraft. He was selected 63rd overall, a point in the draft where some teams had already opted to pass rather than pick. Suffice it to say, no one selected after him has enjoyed anything like the success he’s currently experiencing. Heading into the regular-season finale against the Portland Timbers on Saturday, Rothrock has 8 goals and 4 assists across all competitions and is a nearly written-in ink starter.

“I’ve come in under-looked on pretty much every single team I’ve ever been on,” Rothrock says, describing how he’s been perceived throughout his career. “I’ve never been the highly recruited prospect that’s coming in.”

Despite an impressive if not eye-catching youth career he struggled to get meaningful minutes during his two years at Notre Dame, not even playing as a freshman. Following his sophomore year at Notre Dame, Rothrock transferred to Georgetown where he had 13 starts — as many starts as he had appearances for the Fighting Irish the season before — in 24 appearances, and scored 4 goals and had 7 assists in 1,003 minutes as he helped the Hoyas win their first ever NCAA title. He followed that up with 2 goals and 4 assists in 809 minutes during an abbreviated 2020 college season.

For all that he showed during those two years at Georgetown, Rothrock was selected in the third round by Toronto FC then signed with TFC II in May 2021 and spent the better part of two seasons there. He was signed to two short-term loans with the TFC first team and made his MLS debut on May 8, 2022 as a last-minute sub in a 1-0 loss against the Vancouver Whitecaps, but Toronto never seemed to have any first-team plans for him.

Feeling a sense that he’d hit a road block, he reached out to then Tacoma Defiance head coach Wade Webber, who had coached him with the Sounders Academy, to see about an opportunity. That offseason he signed with the Defiance, returning home, but without any promises beyond getting a chance to keep playing in a familiar environment.

Rothrock now admits that he was starting the question the road he’d taken.

“I think in some of those moments: when, you know, Toronto didn’t pick me up, Toronto didn’t take me to first-team preseason and I’m a 23-year-old on a second-team roster. Then at Tacoma I’m 24 years old living at home … There’s a lot of times where I kind of asked myself, ‘what am I doing?’”

Playing at home proved to be the platform he needed. He had 7 goals and 5 assists in 1,633 minutes with Defiance. At times he was training as a fullback, while playing on the wing, because there he thought it might make ease a move to the first team.

Along the way he got the chance he’d been wanting. That included scoring in both of his U.S. Open Cup appearances and providing a match-winning goal against the Houston Dynamo in his first MLS appearance with the Sounders. It was enough to earn an MLS contract that August, but not enough to garner more than the 33 minutes with the first team. In the 2024 preseason, Rothrock performed well but still wasn’t quite breaking into the team.

“Paulie Primetime” got his breakthrough this summer. Having come on as an early sub for Alex Roldan in the June 15 match against Minnesota United at Lumen Field, Rothrock provided the insurance goal in the 57th minute making it 2-0. He followed that up with the goal to start the comeback as he played all 90 minutes of the 2-2 draw with the Houston Dynamo in the following game.

“Some of these moments this year have really made it feel like it’s all been worth it,” Rothrock reveals. “It’s been really fun, and I haven’t – I didn’t quite realize how enjoyable and fun it would be to be playing in my hometown city, for my hometown team and being a hometown kid. It’s been awesome!”

Following that game head coach Brian Schmetzer addressed his team in the locker room. After praising Stefan Frei for recording his 109th MLS clean sheet in that game and sharing some words for a goal celebration and Alex Roldan’s injury, Schmetzer turned to praise Paul Rothrock.

“Rothrock came on and did a tremendous job. Not just because you scored, but because you were ready. And why was Paul ready?” Schmetzer is seen asking on the video shared by the club’s social media team. “Why was he ready? Because he [expletive] trained all the last two weeks. Even since you’ve – actually, to be fair to you: since you’ve been at the club. That [expletive] kid trains hard every [expletive] day. And so he was ready.”

On the one hand, that’s high praise from Schmetzer, a coach who above almost all other things prizes the kind of hard work that Rothrock has made one of his hallmarks. That may even be one of the differentiating factors when comparing him to other players, and it’s clearly allowed him to make the most of the opportunities he’s gotten.

There’s another side to that compliment, though. Not so much when it comes from Schmetzer, but when fans and pundits describe Rothrock —even when they’re trying to be complimentary — it can be reductive.

The hard work is easy to see. However long he’s on the field, Rothrock gives everything he can for every second he has. But in a way that’s not totally dissimilar from how Schmetzer is often discussed as a manager, focusing on the easy to identify strength means people miss a lot of the rest of what makes him so effective.

“You’re not gonna see me and say, ‘he’s the best in the team at finishing,’ or ‘he has the best first touch’ or ‘he’s the fastest,’” Rothrock said, describing his own game. “But I think through all those categories what I do try and do – and I think this is true in other parts of life – I like to be good at a lot of the little things.”

One of the “little things” that Rothrock sees as one of his greatest strengths is that he likes to bond with the players around him.

“I like having those connections with different guys. When I’m going into a game, whether it’s with Reed Baker-Whiting, or Albert [Rusnák], or Nouhou my thought process going in is, like, ‘How am I going to make that connection good with each other?’ How am I going to make Reed have a good game, and me have a good game, and Albert have a good game if that’s our triangle,” Rothrock explained. That’s something that can be easily under-appreciated, especially as it means that how he shows up can vary from game to game. “Sometimes that’s going to look like we’re on an away game and the job at-hand is can we at least get a clean sheet, and my primary focus is on that.”

Rothrock’s ability and desire to connect is plainly visible in even the shortest interaction with him. Beyond his desire to connect with his teammates in games, maybe the best example of his ability to find and grow through connection comes from his blossoming relationship with fellow former Defiance player Georgi Minoungou. Although coming from very different backgrounds and paths to the team, and despite a language barrier, the two players formed a powerful bond as they pushed each other to reach new heights. They did it all with smiles on their faces. First in MLS Next Pro, and now in MLS where they’re creating and celebrating goals together.

In a team that has to some degree suffered from the decrease in João Paulo’s ability to act as a force multiplier, it’s no surprise that there’s been an improvement in the overall performance with someone else on the field who is so devoted to making sure the players around them are able to be their best.

In his 23 appearances since that Minnesota game, Rothrock has put in 7 goals and 4 assists across all competitions for the Sounders. In about 1,800 minutes this season, he’s averaging .60 goal contributions per 90 minutes, a level of production that may not be elite but is the kind of reliable production that any coach would be happy to have. He’s managed it by a remarkable level of consistency, having scored or assisted in 9 of 23 appearances during that stretch. Add the pair of penalties he’s won and it’s no wonder that Rothrock is a fixture in Seattle’s XI. That production didn’t come out of nowhere, either. Looking back at his career, when given the opportunity to play he’s had a similar level of production or better at Georgetown, in USL League One and MLS Next Pro with TFC II, and with Tacoma Defiance before breaking through with the Sounders.

“I know that if I’m at a level long enough I’ll rise to the level and adapt to the level.”

Now he’s back in Seattle, and not just playing but thriving at the highest level he’s reached so far in his career. Once a nearly forgotten player, he’s recently been on a bit of an interview circuit. He’s not taking any of it for granted.

“I think that my experience away was really great for me to understand how much I love this place, and what I love about the club.” Living and playing in environments that were so far removed — both physically and culturally — provided Rothrock with an opportunity to better know himself.

“I was on the East Coast for a while, like 6 years or so, and I really didn’t feel comfortable,” he said. “I didn’t feel – something kind of felt off a little bit. And I think in the same way at the other clubs that I was at, especially at Toronto, I didn’t feel that they were valuing the same things that Seattle valued.”

Life after being chosen in the MLS draft was particularly tough.

“In Toronto I learned a lot about myself in that moment; it was a really lonely time,” Rothrock says. “I was pretty much living alone in club accommodations and I didn’t know a single person there. So for me it was trying to develop a whole friend group and learning the city. I had a lot of times where I would, post-training, get on my bike and ride through the neighborhoods and get to know them. It was a difficult time, but a good time for me to understand who I was and now I feel like I’ve come back here and had that time to get a sense of who I am and a sense of self, and that’s allowed me to flourish here in a different way, and in my adult life here.”

He’s taken that sense of more fully knowing himself and allowed it to show in his understanding of his own game, as well as his willingness to show off more of his own skill. You can see it when he eyes up an opposing player for a nutmeg, when he pulls off a bit of skill to evade a defender and get free down the sideline, or when he comes in off the left wing to fire a shot that seems to more and more reliably find the back of the net each game.

You can literally see it off the field, as well. Week after week, Rothrock showcases a remarkable sense of style when he arrives at Lumen Field ahead of Sounders home games. The way he sees himself personally and in his game is reflected in his approach to his clothes and style as well.

“I think my style is comfortable, it’s soft, and it’s a piece that I can wear for a number of different things. So I don’t have a lot of clothes,” he explains. “I hope it doesn’t look like that, but I just mix and match enough that it kinda looks like I have some different clothes.”

One way or another, it seems like a safe bet that Paul Rothrock is going to continue finding new ways to make the most of what he’s got.