Sally Yates – Page 2 – Syndication Server

Gavin Wilkinson, Mike Golub dismissed as Yates investigation fallout continues at Portland Thorns

Wilkinson and Golub are out as the shake-up around NWSL continues

Soccer in Portland won’t be the same after the Sally Yates investigation.

Gavin Wilkinson, the president of soccer for both the Portland Thorns and Portland Timbers, and the organization’s president of business Mike Golub were both dismissed Wednesday.

In a statement from both clubs, Wilkinson and Golub were “relieved of their duties with both clubs, effective today.” Merritt Paulson, the majority owner for both teams, stepped away from decision-making duties with the Thorns on Tuesday, along with Wilkinson and Golub, but less than 24 hours later, the organization took a further step.

The statement said that the organization’s general counsel Heather Davis — who had been given executive authority over the Thorns in yesterday’s announcement — is now the interim president of Peregrine Sports and will have the final say on business operations for both the Thorns and Timbers.

Karina LeBlanc will continue as the Thorns’ general manager, while Timbers technical director Ned Grabavoy will take charge of the MLS side’s soccer operations.

Amid the tumult of multiple investigations throughout the league, Portland fans have been calling for the ouster of Wilkinson and Golub for some time now. Supporter outrage grew after Wilkinson was reported to have given a positive recommendation of disgraced former coach Paul Riley despite having known of a complaint regarding attempts at sexual coercion and other abuse from ex-Thorns midfielder Mana Shim.

The move comes one day after Thorns and U.S. women’s national team captain Becky Sauerbrunn called for the dismissal of “every owner and executive and U.S. Soccer official who has repeatedly failed the players and failed to protect the players,” including those in Portland. Tuesday also saw Arnim Whisler, the owner of the Chicago Red Stars, relinquish operational control due to his own involvement in the investigation.

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Chicago Red Stars owner Arnim Whisler surrenders operational control after Yates investigation

Chicago is the latest club undergoing massive upheaval after the Yates investigation

Major change continues in the NWSL, with Chicago Red Stars majority owner Arnim Whisler reducing his role at the club.

In the aftermath of the investigation led by Sally Yates that has shaken the league to its core, Whisler released a statement via the Red Stars’ site on Tuesday, announcing that he has stepped down from the NWSL Board of Governors and will not have operational control of the team going forward.

“In the interest of the club and the players, and fans we serve, effective immediately, I will remove myself from my governance role within the NWSL board of governors and will hand over operational control of the club to our executive team in Chicago,” wrote Whisler.

It is not immediately clear who that executive team is. Curiously, Whisler was supposed to have already reduced his day-to-day role with the club, with the Red Stars’ CBO Vicky Lynch reportedly saying in February that she was “running the day-to-day” operation. The Red Stars’ site only lists Lynch and associate General Manager Michelle Lomnicki with job titles that could be recognized as those of club executives, while a section on team ownership lists a Board of Managers and Advisory Board Co-Chairs, but contains no indications of which owner would have a controlling share.

Whisler’s choice comes one day after the report from the lengthy investigation from Yates, the former U.S. attorney general, revealed findings that portrayed his inaction as the club’s controlling owner as a major factor in how Rory Dames — the subject of extensive allegations of abuse, sexual advances, usage of slurs, and other misconduct in the report — continued for years as Chicago’s head coach.

Dames was in place as Chicago’s head coach when NWSL began in 2013, and was retained until the end of the 2021 season, when he abruptly stepped down just a day before a Washington Post report detailing years of misconduct came out.

The Yates investigation found that complaints against Dames were filed with U.S. Soccer and/or the NWSL in 2014, 2015, and 2018, but that Whisler seemed disinterested in considering their merits. Whisler was also found to have never conducted a background check on Dames, and told investigators he had never had reason to take action against Dames despite the allegations over the years.

Ongoing turmoil around NWSL

Whisler’s step back came just hours after Portland Thorns owner Merritt Paulson said that he and club presidents Gavin Wilkinson and Mike Golub would relinquish decision-making power at the club, though in their case all remain employed and in their roles with MLS’s Portland Timbers.

The Yates investigation also contained disturbing findings about Racing Louisville coach Christy Holly, but as of now no executive has made a statement or been put on leave at the club.

Speaking from the U.S. women’s national team’s camp in England, Thorns and USWNT captain Becky Sauerbrunn called for the removal of “every owner and executive and U.S. Soccer official who has repeatedly failed the players and failed to protect the players, who have hidden behind legalities and have not participated fully in these investigations.”

NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman made a statement concerning the moves in Chicago and Portland shortly after Whisler’s move was announced.

“The NWSL is supportive of the important steps taken by the Portland Thorns and Chicago Red Stars today. As the league continues to evaluate the Yates report, I want to assure you that we remain committed to implementing reform and disciplinary action, both as a result of the Yates report and the NWSL/NWSLPA’s Joint Investigative Team’s findings,” wrote Berman. “The Joint Investigative Team is working towards concluding their report by the end of the year, and we will not interfere with that process, as the findings of that investigation will offer important input from our players.”

“While it will take time, we are fully prepared to take the necessary steps to protect the health and safety of our players, staff and other stakeholders in order to create the league that our players, fans, partners and staff deserve and expect.”

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Merritt Paulson temporarily steps away from Portland Thorns decision-making duties

Paulson, Gavin Wilkinson, and Mike Golub are, for now, no longer making Thorns decisions

One day after the deeply troubling revelations in the Sally Yates investigation into abuse and misconduct in the NWSL, Portland Thorns owner Merritt Paulson has temporarily stepped aside from decision-making duties at the club.

In a statement released Tuesday on social media and on the club site, Paulson said that until findings from the joint NWSL/NWSL Players Association investigation are released, he — along with president of soccer Gavin Wilkinson and the club’s president of business operations Mike Golub — will relinquish active control.

“I have told the NWSL that I will be removing myself effective today from all Thorns-related decision making until the joint investigation, which we are fully cooperating with, is released,” read the statement, which was authored by Paulson. “Gavin Wilkinson and Mike Golub will do the same. All Thorns related decisions until that time that any of us would have made will now be handled by Heather Davis, our General Counsel.”

While the Yates report revealed deep-rooted abuse and malfeasance at multiple clubs, its revelations about the Thorns undercut claims that the club had done all that it could in discussing Paul Riley, who had been fired by the Thorns after a complaint from Mana Shim about sexual coercion and retaliatory conduct, with the Western New York Flash.

Riley was fired by Portland following the 2015 season, but the announcement of that move positioned the choice as being mutual and included well-wishes for Riley on Portland’s behalf.

The Flash would go on to hire Riley in 2016, and he would remain in charge of the club when they relocated and became the North Carolina Courage. Riley was only terminated in 2021, after a report in The Athletic detailed years of misconduct.

Portland accused of not cooperating

In particular, the report says that Portland supplied the Flash with a glowing recommendation for Riley, including a comment to “get him if (the Flash) could,” and statements indicating that Wilkinson held Shim responsible for Portland having to dismiss Riley.

The Yates report also hammered Portland for impeding the investigation, citing an open letter Paulson wrote that promised transparency before detailing multiple instances in which investigators felt stymied by the Thorns as an organization.

“The Thorns’ lack of cooperation delayed our investigation,” said the Yates report, detailing a refusal to hand over documents, “specious arguments,” and attempts to either discourage witnesses from speaking to investigators, including the outright refusal of Golub to submit to an interview as issues it ran into while trying to look into the issues in Portland.

Wilkinson was for a time placed on administrative leave, but Thorns players said they “recognized (his) reinstatement” in January 2022, and his role as the club’s president of soccer means that Thorns GM Karina LeBlanc ultimately reports to him. In August, details from an investigation by the law firm DLA Piper said that they found no wrongdoing on Wilkinson’s behalf, though crucially, the law firm’s interview process did not include Shim or another witness.

Paulson and Wilkinson have long been the subject of consistent protests at Thorns and Portland Timbers matches, with banners and chants calling for Paulson to sell and for Wilkinson to be fired. Most recently, 107ist — the umbrella organization for both clubs’ supporters groups — posted a statement on Tuesday demanding that Paulson sell both teams, and that both Wilkinson and Golub be dismissed from their roles.

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Sauerbrunn says owners and execs who failed players ‘need to be gone’

Sauerbrunn did not shy away from calling out her own team’s ownership

Becky Sauerbrunn did not mince words when speaking to the media one day after the release of the Yates report.

“The players are not doing well,” the Portland Thorns and U.S. national team stalwart said on Tuesday. “We are horrified and heartbroken and frustrated and exhausted and really, really angry.”

The report by former U.S. Attorney General Sally Yates detailed “systemic” verbal and emotional abuse and sexual misconduct within the NWSL, as well as numerous authority figures who did not do enough to root out abusive coaches.

Among those figures were the owner and several executives within Sauerbrunn’s own team, the Portland Thorns. The Yates report details, among other ugly revelations, that only months after the Thorns fired their coach Paul Riley following an investigation into alleged sexual harassment, they recommended him for a new job.

The uproar over those revelations led Thorns owner Merritt Paulson, Timbers President of Soccer/GM Gavin Wilkinson (who doesn’t have a role with the Thorns anymore) and Thorns President of Business Mike Golub to temporarily step away from the Thorns on Tuesday.

That likely won’t satisfy many and it appears Sauerbrunn is among that group.

“It’s my opinion that every owner and executive and U.S. Soccer official who has repeatedly failed the players and failed to protect the players, who have hidden behind legalities and have not participated fully in these investigations should be gone,” Sauerbrunn said.

Sauerbrunn on Thorns ownership

Sauerbrunn was later asked to clarify whether she included Thorns ownership and executives in her demand for accountability.

“It includes everyone that has continued to fail the players time and time again, who didn’t take concerns seriously, who didn’t pass on information correctly, who have not participated in investigations — all of them,” she said.

“If people continue to fail the players, and they don’t comply with anything that gets asked of them or gets implemented because of these reports, then they need to be gone gone.”

Thorns ownership has been under fire for some time, with Sauerbrunn’s USWNT teammate Alex Morgan calling the team out last month after a report saying Paulson tried to prevent Riley from getting the USWNT head coaching job in 2019 in order to conceal the reason behind his departure from the Thorns.

Sauerbrunn concluded with her most pointed criticism of her own club’s leadership, calling their actions “abhorrent.”

“All I know is that the team that I play with and the staff, the technical staff and the medical staff — those people are good people,” the defender said.

“But the things that have happened above them in the front office as owners are abhorrent and it cannot continue. The fact that people were abused because things weren’t done well and right is inexcusable.”

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Yates report: Thorns recommended Paul Riley for new job after firing him for sexual misconduct

Thorns GM Gavin Wilkinson allegedly said he’d hire Riley “in a heartbeat”

Just months after the Portland Thorns fired Paul Riley following an investigation into alleged sexual harassment, they recommended him for a new job.

That is according to the investigation by Sally Yates into allegations of abusive behavior and sexual misconduct in women’s soccer that was released on Monday.

Riley was fired by the Thorns in 2015, but the reason for his termination was not revealed publicly. Within months he was coaching in the NWSL again with the Western New York Flash, which would eventually move and become the North Carolina Courage.

The allegations against Riley did not become public until 2021, when The Athletic published a story including on-record allegations of sexual harassment from Mana Shim, as well as accusations of sexual harassment and sexual coercion from another player, Sinead Farrelly.

Only then was Riley fired by the Courage, more than five years after he was hired.

Wilkinson would ‘hire [Riley] in a heartbeat’

The Yates report details an email from NWSL Commissioner Jeff Plush to U.S. Soccer CEO Dan Flynn, U.S. Soccer President Sunil Gulati, and NWSL General Counsel Lisa Levine while Riley was in the process of being hired by the Flash in early 2016.

First, Plush tells the trio “Western New York will announce Paul Riley as head coach on Friday. Not good news,” indicating that the entire group was aware of the possible consequences of Riley getting another NWSL job.

Plush then relays his “guess” that Thorns General Manager Gavin Wilkinson likely “helped” get Riley hired.

Plush adds that Wilkinson believed it was at least partially a player’s fault that Riley was let go, and that he would recommend the coach “in a heartbeat” for another job.

The excerpt reads:

In an email to Gulati, Flynn, and Levine, Plush conveyed his understanding that Gavin Wilkinson (Thorns General Manager) told the Flash that Riley was “put in a bad position by the player,” and that Wilkinson would “hire [Riley] in a heartbeat.” Although Plush, Gulati, Flynn, and Levine all had received Shim’s detailed complaint—and Plush and Levine received the 2015 Thorns Report—none appeared to provide the Flash with additional information.

The report also states the Flash received “positive recommendations from the Thorns” over Riley and were told to hire him if they could. The Flash added that Wilkinson said the investigation that led to Riley’s firing in Portland “resulted in no findings of wrong doing [sic].”

During the hiring process, the Flash sought and received information and positive recommendations from the Thorns regarding Riley. WNY Flash’s Vice President Aaran Lines spoke with the Thorns General Manager (Wilkinson). According to the WNY Flash, “the only negative reference made during the conversation was a comment from Mr. Wilkenson [sic] that Mr. Riley did not mesh well with all of the personalities in the locker room.” The WNY Flash also reported that Wilkinson “referenced only one incident with a disgruntled player but indicated that an internal investigation resulted in no findings of wrong doing [sic] against Mr. Riley and the investigation was otherwise closed. His comment at that time was to get him if we could

The Yates report also makes it clear that U.S. Soccer was warned two more times about Riley after he was hired by the Flash, once in 2018 and once again in 2019.

ESPN reported last month that Thorns owner Merritt Paulson told Courage owner Steve Malik in 2019 that Riley should withdraw from consideration from the USWNT job, which would have helped conceal the real reason for his departure from the Thorns.

The Yates report also detailed the Thorns’ resistance to fully cooperating with the investigation.

“The Portland Thorns interfered with our access to relevant witnesses and raised specious legal arguments in an attempt to impede our use of relevant documents,” the report says.

Paulson is still the owner of the Thorns as well as the Portland Timbers of MLS. Wilkinson was removed as general manager of the Thorns last year but still serves the same role for the Timbers.

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Yates report reveals new and horrifying details about ex-Racing Louisville coach Christy Holly

Racing Louisville fired Holly “for cause” in 2021 but failed to disclose any other details

Racing Louisville fired head coach Christy Holly “for cause” in August 2021, but revealed little else about why he was let go.

But on Monday, U.S. Soccer released Sally Yates’ full investigation into abuse in American women’s soccer, which revealed new and horrifying details about Holly’s abusive behavior while in charge in Louisville, and previously at Sky Blue FC.

Crucially, it also details the failure of the Racing Louisville organization to assist with Yates’ investigation, saying that it blocked current and former employees from speaking to investigators due to nondisclosure and nondisparagement agreements signed with Holly.

The report contains a 30-page section on Holly alone, detailing abusive behavior that dated back to his time coaching Sky Blue FC from 2016 to 2017 after three years there as an assistant.

Holly was let go from Sky Blue due to “verbal abuse” and his “relationship with a player,” but those details were never made public and allowed him to be hired as Racing Louisville head coach in 2020, two years after U.S. Soccer hired him to work with the USWNT.

Holly’s abusive behavior in Louisville

The Yates report details a series of disturbing incidents between Holly and Erin Simon, at the time a player for Racing Louisville.

The report says Holly requested a one-on-one film session with Simon in April 2021. At that session, the report states Holly “told [Simon] he was going to touch her ‘for every pass [she] f––– up.’ He did.”

Holly “pushed his hands down her pants and up her shirt,” the report states.

“She tried to tightly cross her legs and push him away, laughing to avoid angering him,” the report continues. “The video ended, and she left. When her teammate picked her up to drive home, Simon broke down crying.”

Simon reported the incident to a team chaplain, who eventually informed Racing Louisville leadership.

After leadership was informed, Holly texted Simon: “I’ve been fired for an inappropriate relationship with you.”

But the Yates report states that because the true reason behind Holly’s termination was not made public, he could have potentially been hired by another team.

“As a result, Holly’s misconduct has remained largely unknown, including to anyone who might seek to employ him as a coach,” the report says.

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U.S. Soccer releases Yates report detailing ‘systemic’ abuse in women’s soccer

Yates details a number of disturbing incidents and systems that covered for abusive coaches

U.S. Soccer has released the full independent investigation by Sally Q. Yates into allegations of abusive behavior and sexual misconduct in women’s professional soccer.

The report states that abuse was pervasive and systemic at the highest levels of women’s soccer in the United States, and includes new details about disturbing incidents involving several former coaches in the NWSL.

Former U.S. Attorney General Yates was brought in by U.S. Soccer in October 2021 following a series of allegations of abuse and sexual misconduct against multiple NWSL coaches.

“Our investigation has revealed a league in which abuse and misconduct—verbal and emotional abuse and sexual misconduct—had become systemic, spanning multiple teams, coaches, and victims,” Yates said in her report.

“Abuse in the NWSL is rooted in a deeper culture in women’s soccer, beginning in youth leagues, that normalizes verbally abusive coaching and blurs boundaries between coaches and players. The verbal and emotional abuse players describe in the NWSL is not merely ‘tough’ coaching.”

The 173-page report not only reveals specific incidents of abuse but also details how power brokers within the game opted to protect themselves instead of root out abuse in the game.

Yates says that NWSL and U.S. Soccer “appear to have prioritized concerns of legal exposure to litigation by coaches …. over player safety and well-being.”

“[T]hey also failed to institute basic measures to prevent and address it, even as some leaders privately acknowledged the need for workplace protections,” the report continued. “As a result, abusive coaches moved from team to team, laundered by press releases thanking them for their service.”

U.S. Soccer’s recommendations

“This investigation’s findings are heartbreaking and deeply troubling,” said U.S. Soccer President Cindy Parlow Cone in a statement. “The abuse described is inexcusable and has no place on any playing field, in any training facility or workplace.”

In response to the report, U.S. Soccer’s offered three recommendations:

“The Federation will immediately 1) establish a new national Office of Participant Safety, 2) publish soccer records from SafeSport’s Centralized Disciplinary Database, and 3) mandate a uniform minimum standard for background checks for all U.S. Soccer members,” U.S. Soccer said in a statement.

The full Yates report can be read HERE.

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Sally Yates investigation into sexual misconduct in women’s soccer nears completion

The former U.S. Attorney General began the investigation nearly one year ago

U.S. Soccer has announced that its investigation into abuse and sexual misconduct in women’s soccer is nearing its conclusion, and the full report will be published in early October.

The federation brought in former U.S. Attorney General Sally Yates to lead the investigation, which began last October after a series of allegations about abusive coaches in the NWSL.

In a statement released on Monday, U.S. Soccer said:

“Last October, U.S. Soccer retained Sally Q. Yates of King & Spalding LLP to lead an independent investigation into allegations of abusive behavior and sexual misconduct in women’s professional soccer. That investigation is nearing its conclusion. U.S. Soccer will publish the full report by early October, following the completion of the investigation.”

Five coaches in the NWSL were either fired or resigned in 2021 amid claims of inappropriate behavior. Perhaps the most high-profile of those departures was Paul Riley, with The Athletic publishing an article featuring on-record claims of sexual coercion from two of Riley’s former players.

Yates said in a statement this February that her mandate would be broad, meaning she wouldn’t just investigate the perpetuators of abuse but the systems and people that enabled them.

“The scope of our investigation is broad,” Yates said. “We are investigating not only allegations of misconduct, but also the factors that may have contributed to, perpetuated, or concealed abuse.

“Our mandate is to find the truth and make recommendations to ensure that going forward, players are treated respectfully, wrongdoing is uncovered and addressed, and players are protected from harassment or retaliation.”

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