Some NWSL Teams Hired Unqualified Coaches. Elite Women Athletes Paid The Price

The US Soccer/NWSL Player Abuse Report. What does it mean? What do we owe these elite female athletes? Where do we go from here?

There is a LOT to unpack here. US Soccer sanctioned a “Division 1 Professional League,” meaning an elite league for the world’s best players. But, simply did not enforce even the most minimal standards when teams hired clearly unqualified coaches and executive staff. Once these guys (the completely unqualified coaches were ALL guys, as far as I can tell) got hired and did the same crazy/rapey stuff they had been doing to local tweens, the owners, league officers, federation, media talkers, and professional staff, people largely tried to pretend it was not happening.

They threatened/blackmailed the elite athletes, who are the league’s only real asset. They punished players who spoke up, destroying their careers, uprooting their lives, and attempting to make them unemployable in the sport to which they dedicated their lives to. It is disgusting, disappointing, and predictable. There’s no excuse for it not to be totally preventable going forward.

Yates focuses on three coaches who were serially sexually abusive to both staff and players. The stories follow a pattern. These men immediately began victimizing women when they were hired. Players and staff courageously complained even as their peers are threatened, blackmailed, and/or intimidated to stay silent with professional consequences, as well as the message that any whisper of scandal could destroy the entire league, ending women’s pro soccer in the US.

Despite the best efforts of abusers and their enablers, a drumbeat of complaints reached various levels… team owners, US Soccer leadership, NWSL’s revolving door of executives, and prominently Lydia Wahlke, US Soccer’s Chief Legal Officer. All these folks consistently buried reports of possible criminal conduct and clear sexual harassment.

When predatory behavior became undeniable, and teams fired the coaches, the misconduct was covered up. Owners actively supported these coaches moving to other teams in the league. The federation and league offices did nothing to interfere with this process.

Interestingly, although most NWSL coaches have been highly qualified, with records of success at elite levels in the US or abroad, all three of the coaches in the report were not. None of these men had experience coaching women beyond the youth level prior to the NWSL hiring them. No organization with a functioning hiring process EVER vetted these coaches. They’ve been consistent in their actions throughout their careers.

It is truly offensive that with a huge pool of elite college and international professional coaches at their disposal, a group of owners who can ONLY function with the blessing of the US Soccer Federation choose to hire local youth coaches rather than professionals comparable to the athletes they employ. There is NO analogous issue in men’s soccer. Even at the beginning, MLS never made indefensible hires like these.

It is important to realize that fans and players objected to these guys in real-time. Obviously, they had no business doing these jobs. Yet they were not only hired but were also protected at the expense of the professionals they were supposed to inspire to higher levels of performance.

Although Yates asserts that her report is complete, she also points out that NWSL teams and significant individuals who refused to cooperate at all or limited their cooperation repeatedly impeded her investigation. Her report in no way is a complete assessment of illegal and abusive behavior within the league. There can be no reckoning without a full accounting.

Finally, the US National Team coaching staff, including Jill Ellis, were clearly complicit in protecting these abusers. They discriminated against players who came forward and spread rumors that the player(s) put the coach in a terrible position. In other words, they “slut-shamed” players in the service of allowing coaches to continue abusing women.

They actively worked to hide information. So, there was no way for concerned players, executives, or union representatives to “connect the dots” in real time.

There is no quick fix to this culture of intimidation and NWSL player abuse. It is going to have to start with real accountability for the involved folks. This will be politically difficult (or impossible?).

Similarly, any reference to SafeSport as a solution is not serious. SafeSport exists to protect the IOC and its affiliates from legal responsibility. It does not protect athletes. If we see the same folks in the same positions talking about needing change, it will be a moment for consideration of mass action either to encourage congressional oversight or some other outside form of accountability.

The USOC forced US Gymnastics to shut down and reconstitute itself, which may be part of a solution here. Players are going to have to take on a burden that is not only manifestly unfair. They are also going to have to be the people who hold their bosses accountable.

With the support of the USWNTPA and NWSLPA, they will need to establish a database outside of official channels, complete with enough evidence to make sure that no pro club can hire one of these guys and remain viable.

They will also have to come together to make sure owners are no longer free to hire completely unqualified and unvetted staff. It is a balancing act. You want to include young coaches and give people opportunities. But owners of large youth soccer clubs without experience at higher levels of the women’s game should NOT be getting their first opportunities in a serious pro league.

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