Coaches and Managers

Subterms

    More stories

    • 125 Shares139 Views

      in Soccer

      M.L.S. Playoff Preview: An L.A. Derby and More Questions Answered

      by

      Major League Soccer’s playoffs have reached the conference semifinals as the league sprints to finish before the World Cup.Major League Soccer is in a hurry to crown its champion this season, with its final set for Nov. 5 — just over two weeks before the World Cup opens in Qatar. The final sprint, which begins with four quarterfinals this week, includes some marquee matches that will offer some players a final opportunity (or two or three) to impress national team coaches before the final rosters for the World Cup are due in mid-November.This year’s playoffs feature two previous M.L.S. Cup champions (the Los Angeles Galaxy and New York City F.C.) and two teams (Austin F.C. and F.C. Cincinnati) that are making their first appearance in the postseason. But the postseason also has tracked closely with regular-season results: The top four teams in the Western Conference are still alive, as are four of the top five from the East.Philadelphia and Los Angeles F.C., which earned first-round byes by finishing first in their conferences, will enter the postseason at last on Thursday: Philadelphia faces F.C. Cincinnati, and L.A.F.C. hosts its crosstown rival, the Los Angeles Galaxy.On Sunday, New York City F.C., the league’s defending champion, will play C.F. Montreal, and F.C. Dallas will meet Austin F.C. in an all-Texas affair.The conference semifinals, which are single-game elimination matches, start on Thursday and will wrap up on Sunday. The conference finals are scheduled for Oct. 30, and the M.L.S. Cup final is set for Nov. 5 — the earliest date for the game in league history. The final will be played at the home of the finalist with the best regular season record.Read More on the 2022 World CupLavish Spending: No expense has been spared in putting on a show in Qatar. But the tournament is a feeling that money can’t buy, our soccer correspondent writes.United States: The American men’s soccer team has cycled through strikers during the qualifying period. It needs to settle on one before heading to Qatar.Brazil: As the team begins its quest for a sixth World Cup, it appears to have the resources needed to succeed — though Neymar still shoulders much of the load.Sticker Shock: In Argentina, the prospect of Lionel Messi’s last World Cup has helped feed a white-hot market for a beloved collectible, featuring long lines, surging prices and, briefly, government intervention.Here’s a quick catch-up of where things stand.The Battle of Los AngelesL.A.F.C., which won the Supporter’s Shield for posting the league’s best regular-season, will begin what it hopes is a home-field run to M.L.S. Cup on Thursday night, when its hosts the crosstown Los Angeles Galaxy at Banc of California Stadium. The venue has been a formidable challenge for visitors this season: L.A.F.C. went 13-2-2 there this season.L.A.F.C.’s first playoff test, though, like all games in the teams’ nascent rivalry, brings the potential for fireworks. The last time the two Los Angeles teams played against each other in a playoff game was in 2019, when L.A.F.C. won, 5-3, in one of the highest-scoring playoff games in M.L.S. history.Gabriel Pereira and New York City F.C. will be playing away from Yankee Stadium for as long as the Yankees remain in baseball’s playoffs.Mark Smith/USA Today Sports, via ReutersRoad Team F.C.New York City F.C. is trying to become the first team to win consecutive M.L.S. Cups since the Galaxy did it in 2011 and 2012. But unlike L.A.F.C., its path to the final — for now — looks to be a road trip.As long as the Yankees remain alive in Major League Baseball’s playoffs, N.Y.C.F.C. will be unable to play on its regular home field at Yankee Stadium. That proved to be little trouble in the first round, when the team beat Inter Miami, 3-0, at Citi Field in Queens. On Sunday, New York City F.C. will head to Montreal for a conference semifinal.In the quest for another title, N.Y.C.F.C. will count on their pair of Brazilians, Gabriel Pereira and Héber, who each scored eight goals in the regular season, and the potential of a return from injury of Talles Magno. Those three, and midfielder Santiago Rodríguez, have helped fill the offensive hole left by the midseason departure of last season’s leading scorer, the Argentine striker Valentín Castellanos, who joined the Spanish side Girona F.C. on a loan in July.N.Y.C.F.C. has been led since June by an interim coach, Nick Cushing, who took over after Ronny Deila left to join Standard Liège in Belgium. The team wobbled badly after the change, losing seven of nine games in August and September, but it closed the season with three straight wins.Montreal, meanwhile, might be the hottest team in the league: It has lost only once since July.Jesus Ferreira of F.C. Dallas was named this season’s M.L.S. young player of the year. The playoffs can serve as an audition for him to play for the United States in the World Cup.Jerome Miron/USA Today Sports, via ReutersFinal World Cup AuditionsFor some players, the playoffs offer more than just a shot at the M.L.S. Cup title. A number of players also are playing knowing that national team coaches will be watching.One player looking to lock down his spot — and some playing time — ahead of the World Cup is the 21-year-old forward Jesus Ferreira of F.C. Dallas. Ferreira, who was just named this season’s M.L.S. young player of the year, led Dallas with 18 goals in 33 games. He is in contention for a striker role for the United States, but a poor showing in a friendly against Japan in September didn’t help his case. A good run of playoff form, however, might help restore his confidence, and his place in U.S. Coach Gregg Berhalter’s plans.Another American hopeful is N.Y.C.F.C.’s goalkeeper Sean Johnson, who posted 14 shutouts during the regular season and started every game for New York. Johnson has an outside shot at making the roster and going to Qatar, even if he is not likely to be starter.Ismaël Koné, a 20-year-old midfielder for Montreal, is looking to earn a spot on Canada’s national team, which will be returning to the World Cup for the first time since 1986. Koné scored two goals and had five assists for Montreal during the regular season, and he scored a key goal in Montreal’s 2-0 victory over Orlando City in the first round of the playoffs. More

    • 113 Shares179 Views

      in Basket

      Celtics Shake Off N.B.A. Finals Loss With Season-Opening Win

      by

      A tough loss to Golden State ended Boston’s championship hopes last season. The lessons from that series are already showing.BOSTON — The Celtics talked an awful lot in training camp about the value of experience. Last season, they got loads of it by surviving a brutal start, and by ousting intergalactic celebrities in the early rounds of the playoffs (Kevin Durant, Giannis Antetokounmpo) before advancing to the N.B.A. finals.The process made them tougher and wiser, with a reservoir of resilience that may have equipped them to handle the news, essentially on the eve of camp last month, that their coach, Ime Udoka, had been suspended for the season for violating team policies. His sudden absence could have been disruptive.Instead, the Celtics seemed to rededicate themselves to their singular goal of winning a championship. Why not them? Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown are two of the league’s brightest stars. The team’s supporting cast includes Marcus Smart, last season’s defensive player of the year. And if Joe Mazzulla, the team’s 34-year-old interim coach, is daunted by the task ahead of him, he hardly showed it Tuesday night as the Celtics opened their season with a 126-117 victory over the Philadelphia 76ers.“These guys have been through a lot together,” said Mazzulla, whose players celebrated his first career N.B.A. coaching win by dousing him with water.Brown shot 14 of 24 from the field on Tuesday, a key to Boston’s strong performance. The Celtics shot 56.1 percent for the game.Cj Gunther/EPA, via ShutterstockThe last time the Celtics played a meaningful home game was back in June, when Golden State’s Stephen Curry gave them the business — yes, the business — in Game 6 of the N.B.A. finals. Curry left Boston with another championship, and Tatum and Brown were left to contemplate how they could take the next step.“We both had bad summers after losing to the Warriors on our home floor,” Brown said. “Having to answer for it all summer long — it was tough. So going into this season, we kept all of that in mind.”On Tuesday, Brown and Tatum each scored 35 points to eviscerate the 76ers, who have title dreams of their own. Brown shot 14 of 24 from the field, while Tatum shot 13 of 20 and grabbed 12 rebounds. The Celtics used their speed to run the 76ers off the parquet floor, outscoring them by 24-2 in transition.“I think the group that was together last year knew how they wanted to approach this year,” said Malcolm Brogdon, who scored 16 points off the bench in his Celtics debut after they traded for him in July. “And I think playing with pace was one of the things they wanted to improve.”It can be easy to read too much into training camp and season openers. Most teams have high hopes. Optimism runs amok. The Celtics are no different. For weeks, the players have expressed confidence in Mazzulla, who joined the Celtics as an assistant in 2019 and whose only previous head coaching experience was at Fairmont State, a Division II program in West Virginia.For now, at least, Mazzulla has gotten the players to buy into his message — by striking that delicate balance between being demanding of them while giving them the freedom to do what they do best, Brogdon said. The Celtics appear determined to play hard and play fast. Catch them if you can.Their opener against the 76ers was an immediate litmus test.Joe Mazzulla, the Celtics’ interim coach, had been an assistant coach with the team since 2019.Maddie Meyer/Getty Images“I’m not sure what you learn,” Doc Rivers, the coach of the 76ers, said before the game. “Opening night is its own beast. Guys have worked all summer to show not only us but everyone what they’ve done, what they’ve worked on. And as a coach, you want to make sure they don’t show everything — because they may not be ready to show that.”Remember: The Celtics were 18-21 at one point last season before they found their footing under Udoka. With that in mind, plenty can happen between now and June, or even between now and December.“It’s just one game,” Brown said.For the players this season, there will be constant reminders of the franchise’s illustrious past. On the team’s home court, silhouettes of the number 6 fill both lanes — a homage to Bill Russell, the iconic Celtics center who died in July. Tuesday’s game was preceded by a ceremony to honor him that included remarks from Brown — “Our gratitude is endless,” he said — and a new work by Porsha Olayiwola, Boston’s poet laureate.The Celtics wore special jerseys embroidered with 11 diamond patches, a nod to the 11 championships that the team won with Russell. And the script on the front of the jerseys was said to be inspired by the aesthetics of Slade’s Bar & Grill, which Russell owned in the 1960s. In their pregame huddle, the Celtics reminded one another to “honor the man” with their work that evening.The Celtics made some modest changes over the summer, trading for Brogdon and signing a twilight-era Blake Griffin, both of whom received big cheers when they entered the game in the first quarter. Griffin immediately endeared himself to the crowd by grabbing two offensive rebounds on his first possession.The Celtics opened the season with several tributes to Bill Russell, the franchise icon who died in July. He wore the No. 6, which has been retired across the N.B.A. in his honor.Charles Krupa/Associated PressThe entire team was surprisingly sharp, committing just 11 turnovers while shooting 56.1 percent from the field. They were also without Robert Williams, their starting center, who underwent knee surgery last month, and they should be even more fearsome when he returns.In his absence, a conga line of teammates took turns mixing it up with Joel Embiid, Philadelphia’s All-Star center. Early in the third quarter, Embiid got tangled up with Smart, who said he stopped himself from escalating the situation. (Again, meet the older, wiser Celtics.)“It’s maturity,” Smart said. “I could’ve cracked his head open, but I didn’t.”In the waning seconds, as the crowd began a familiar chant — “Let’s go, Celtics!” — Mazzulla allowed himself to savor the moment.“When they’re cheering for you,” he said, “it means you’re doing something right.” More

    • 100 Shares169 Views

      in Basket

      What to Know About the New NBA Season

      by

      Much of the conversation around the league the past few months hasn’t been about basketball.The N.B.A. will begin a new season Tuesday under a cloud of scandals and drama that has distracted from the basketball and that has challenged the progressive image the league has long cultivated.“I think right now the best thing that can happen is the season start on the court,” said Chris Mullin, a Hall of Fame former player.Last season’s finals teams — Golden State and Boston — are navigating internal crises. Two teams in top media markets — the Nets and the Los Angeles Lakers — are trying to integrate their stars.And a situation in Phoenix has brought the league’s leaders and image under scrutiny. The majority owner of the Suns and the W.N.B.A.’s Mercury, Robert Sarver, was found to have used racial slurs and engaged in sexist behavior over many years, but the league’s punishment — a $10 million fine and one-year suspension — was immediately criticized by players and fans as being too light. Soon, under public pressure, Sarver said he would sell the teams.Though there are still many things for fans to be excited about, such as a new rule to speed up games and the improved health of some injured stars, several issues are lingering as the season gets underway.Here’s what you need to know:How will Draymond Green’s punch affect Golden State?Suns owner Robert Sarver’s misconduct casts a shadow.Celtics Coach Ime Udoka’s suspension is a mystery.The trade rumors of the summer aren’t over yet.A new rule and stars’ returns could up the excitement.How will Draymond Green’s punch affect Golden State?Golden State’s Jordan Poole, left, and Draymond Green, right, played together Friday for the first time since an altercation during practice this month.Jeff Chiu/Associated PressAfter defeating the Celtics in six games to the win the N.B.A. championship in June, Golden State looked poised for a strong campaign in pursuit of a repeat. Then TMZ posted a video of forward Draymond Green punching his teammate Jordan Poole during a practice this month.“I don’t think anyone could watch that and not say that it’s upsetting,” said Mullin, who spent most of his 16-year career with Golden State and is now a broadcaster for the team. “It’s unacceptable behavior.”After Green was fined and agreed to stay away from the team for about a week, Golden State welcomed him back and publicly put on a “Nothing To See Here” face. Green apologized privately and publicly, and Poole said Sunday that they would coexist professionally.What to Know: Robert Sarver Misconduct CaseCard 1 of 7A suspension and a fine. More

    • 125 Shares99 Views

      in Basket

      Boston Celtics Coach Ime Udoka Rose Fast and Fell Hard

      by

      Weeks after the Celtics abruptly suspended Udoka for the season, it’s still not entirely clear why. Some who have known him are struggling to make sense of the situation.Boston Celtics Coach Ime Udoka is at the center of one of the most perplexing situations in the N.B.A.Only a few months after he led his team to the brink of a championship, the Celtics suspended him for a year under mysterious circumstances, leaving the team in turmoil just weeks before the start of a new season. An interim coach has taken over, but confusion has taken hold: No one is saying publicly what happened, and people who know Udoka are wondering how he — a well-respected former player who used to work for FedEx — could be in this much trouble.“It’s unfortunate,” said Martell Webster, one of Udoka’s former N.B.A. teammates. “But rules are rules, and when you sign a contract and you’re on salary, you’re saying that you agree to the rules.”The Celtics have said only that they were suspending Udoka for the 2022-23 season for unspecified “violations of team policies.” According to two people with knowledge of the situation who were not authorized to discuss it publicly, Udoka had a relationship with a female subordinate.After the suspension was announced Sept. 22, Udoka, 45, released a statement to ESPN that said, “I want to apologize to our players, fans, the entire Celtics organization, and my family for letting them down.”The actress Nia Long, with whom Udoka has a young son, asked for privacy in a statement to TMZ.Udoka, center, coached the Celtics to the Eastern Conference’s second-best record last season after they struggled for several months.Nick Wosika/USA Today Sports, via ReutersUdoka’s influence in basketball goes far beyond the Celtics, and even beyond the N.B.A.The youngest of three siblings, Udoka grew up in Portland, Ore., where financial hardship was a way of life for his family. His father, Vitalis, was a Nigerian immigrant who worked long hours as a laborer. His mother, Agnes, would huddle with her children around a gas oven to keep them warm whenever the electricity was shut off at their apartment, according to the Boston Globe.One constant for Udoka, though, was basketball. He hopscotched around as a college player, enrolling at Eastern Utah junior college and the University of San Francisco before he spent his final two seasons at Portland State, where he was known for his stout defense before a knee injury ended his senior year. He developed a reputation for tenacity and a strong work ethic.“Ime was incredibly driven to excel at basketball,” said Derek Nesland, one of Udoka’s teammates at Portland State. “He only knew one way to play. And that was really with everything he had.”Nesland met Udoka as a teenager but became close with him in college. He kept in touch with Udoka after they both left the program, as did other teammates. Even from a distance, the news that Udoka had become a head coach in the N.B.A. was something to celebrate, even though it wasn’t a surprise.“We actually had a group text chat with a lot of our guys that played with him,” Nesland said. “And you had a lot of players who had never rooted for the Celtics in their lives were now all of a sudden Celtic fans, just for Ime. And we all wanted to see him succeed.”Udoka was not selected in the N.B.A. draft after college and joined the Fargo-Moorhead Beez, a minor league team in North Dakota. A few weeks into the season, he hurt his knee again. He spent months doing odd jobs that included loading boxes for FedEx, then toiled for several years on pro basketball’s periphery in the N.B.A.’ s developmental league and on European teams.Toward the end of the 2005-6 season, Udoka signed with the Knicks and appeared in eight games — enough time for him to impress Isiah Thomas, then the team’s general manager: Thomas told Udoka that he would make a good coach someday.Kumbeno Memory, one of Udoka’s closest friends, said in an interview last season that Udoka told him about the conversation with Thomas. “And he was like, ‘I know I’m being a good mentor to some of the younger guys, but am I really cut out to be a coach?’ ” Memory said.The following season, Udoka signed with the Portland Trail Blazers and got similar feedback from Nate McMillan, then the team’s coach. Webster, one of Udoka’s teammates that season, said in an interview last week that Udoka was a total pro: early to practice, always prepared.“He was really like a coach on the court,” Webster said. “He wasn’t spectacularly athletic or anything like that, but he always knew how to play the game, and he knew that his mind for the game needed to supersede having athletic ability.”Udoka spent the next four seasons with the San Antonio Spurs and the Sacramento Kings. He was also moonlighting as an A.A.U. coach in the Portland area with Memory and another childhood friend, Kendrick Williams.In an interview last season, Udoka said he learned to coach players as individuals at the A.A.U. level. The job, he said, was not one size fits all. Gregg Popovich, Udoka’s coach in San Antonio, also drove that message home.“How you could coach one guy and what you could say and how you could say it was totally different,” Udoka said. “Pop would talk about the relationship part, and that was what it was — especially at that age. Gaining their trust and showing how much you care about them.”By 2012, Udoka was out of the N.B.A. and playing in Europe again. After a few months with UCAM Murcia, a club in Spain, he joined some friends in Las Vegas to watch the N.B.A.’s summer league. He was about to turn 35 and wondering whether he wanted to go back overseas for another season.One afternoon, Popovich called to offer him an assistant coaching job with the Spurs.“I remember it being a really hard decision, and we’re sitting there talking for hours about it,” Mike Moser, who came to know Udoka through his A.A.U. team, said in an interview last season. “Finally, he decided: ‘I’m going to take it. I’m going to do it. I’m going to coach.’ And I remember being so surprised. But I’ll never forget it.”Udoka spent seven seasons as an assistant in San Antonio. One of those seasons resulted in a championship. Udoka also had one-season stints with the Philadelphia 76ers and the Nets before the Celtics hired him in June 2021 to his first head coaching job.Many of his A.A.U. players have remained loyal to him, and vice versa. Two of them, Moser and Garrett Jackson, now work in player development for the Celtics. Jackson was among Udoka’s earliest hires last season, and Moser joined the Celtics this season.Now it’s unclear whether Udoka will return to the team.Celtics guard Marcus Smart, right, expressed support for Udoka during the team’s media day last month. Smart was named the defensive player of the year last season.Andy Lyons/Getty ImagesHe had surprising success in his first season, leading a team of rising young stars to the N.B.A. finals, where they lost to Golden State in six games. And though several players have supported him while expressing uncertainty about what led to his punishment, the team’s ownership has been less reassuring. Wyc Grousbeck, the Celtics’ majority owner, said the team had not decided if — or under what circumstances — Udoka would be welcomed back.With so little publicly known about why he was sent away in the first place, it’s difficult for fans, and even those who have known him, to make sense of the situation. A representative for Udoka did not respond to a request for comment. Joe Mazzulla, 34, one of Udoka’s assistant coaches, will be the interim head coach this season.“There are certain people you run across in life where you could expect this to happen,” said Nesland, Udoka’s college teammate. “I didn’t with him. I can’t imagine what’s going on behind the scenes.” More

    • 125 Shares99 Views

      in Soccer

      Abuse in Women’s Soccer Left Players With Nowhere To Turn

      by

      A report on dysfunction in women’s soccer showed that abuse of players in the National Women’s Soccer League was “an open secret.” Players had nowhere to turn.The New York Times is investigating abuses in soccer. Share your experiences with us in the form at the end of this article.The women’s professional soccer players felt as if they were caught in a vise.They could speak up and tell the leaders of the National Women’s Soccer League about coaches who abused their authority and even coerced players into sex — and get ignored.Or silently endure abuse so as not to damage a nascent league and harm the fight for equality on the pitch and beyond.There seemed to be no way out.Players would raise concerns, but the teams, the league and the United States Soccer Federation would either minimize them, blame players for trying to harm the league, or ignore the stories altogether.In 2015, a player decided she needed to tell her story of abuse at the hands of one of the most prominent coaches in the game. But she found the prospect so frightening — and potentially damaging to her career — that it took her six years to come forward. “I just wanted to not rock the boat,” she told investigators.Her approach was “Just do what they expected me to do so I could continue” playing, she said.That quote distills a dynamic at the heart of a lengthy, stomach-churning report produced Monday by Sally Q. Yates, the former deputy U.S. attorney general hired to investigate claims of misconduct and abuse of N.W.S.L. players. Yates found a troubling history of abuse in the sport, from youth leagues to the professional ranks. The voices of powerful female athletes were either cast aside or diminished. Too often they felt they had nowhere to turn. Coaches controlled careers and held nearly unfettered sway.One of those accused coaches, Paul Riley, was so highly thought of that he’d once been a candidate to lead the U.S. women’s national team.In nearly 300 pages, the report details behavior to which we are in danger of becoming inured, given the number of similar stories emerging in sports. The specifics should sicken anyone who cares about human rights, the struggle for women’s equality and the place sports should have in a healthy society.For example, the report notes that Riley’s controlling and sexually aggressive behavior was considered by many to be an “open secret” in the league. Riley did not respond to calls asking for comment when the report was released.Paul Riley on the field during a match between the Portland Thorns and North Carolina Courage. His mistreatment of players was “an open secret,” according to an investigative report.Adam Lapierre/The Oregonian, via Associated Press“Witnesses from each part of the professional landscape — players, a coach, an owner, an assistant general manager — recalled hearing stories about his ‘relationships’ with specific players, or just generally that Riley ‘sleeps with his players,’” the report said.Yet little was done.Of course many players kept quiet. It is hard to go against authority and power when you are just trying to survive and keep playing the game you love.This whole ugly story is about power.Who has it, and who does not. Who wields it with wisdom. Who can’t seem to help using it to dehumanize, belittle, abuse, cross every boundary of decency.It’s about the awful treatment female athletes — even some of the best in the world — must endure as they push for viability and respect.A single sentence from early in the report gives a startling summary and sets an ominous tone for all that is to come:“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.”You need read only a few pages to realize what the N.W.S.L. has been for years: a league with a culture that left players with almost no power. Stuck at the bottom, desperate to earn a living wage and advance their sport, many were easily preyed upon and exploited.The N.W.S.L. became a perfect hunting ground for abusers.As Yates tells it, the league began in the shadow of a gold medal performance by the United States women in the London Olympics of 2012. It was put together on a shoestring budget and started quickly to take advantage of a surge in the public interest.Safeguarding the athletes was never paramount. The league had no anti-harassment policy, anti-retaliation policy or anti-fraternization policy.Everyone knew what was at stake. The N.W.S.L.’s predecessor league had failed amid legal battles with a team owner who had reportedly bullied and threatened players, according to the report.As a society, we’ve done a terrible job supporting women’s sports, and the way the N.W.S.L. must scrape through to survive is the fruit of that neglect. Throughout its history, many players in the league have made roughly the same as frontline McDonald’s or Walmart workers — minimum salaries stood at $22,000 a year until a recent change increased the amount to $35,000. Players were left vulnerable in practically every way.Cue the coaches whose abuse reads like a horror show. Just one example: Christy Holly, formerly of Racing Louisville F.C.According to the report, Holly invited a player to his home to review game film. He ended up showing the player pornography and masturbating in front of her. On another occasion, the report says, he lured her to his home again on the pretext of watching game footage. This time he groped the player’s genitals and breasts each time the film showed she made a mistake. Reached by a reporter, Holly declined to comment.Christy Holly, left, coaching during a Racing Louisville F.C. game against the Chicago Red Stars in 2021.Tim Nwachukwu/Getty ImagesCue the ownership and league administration that coddled such behavior. Riley was eventually fired for his habit of coercing players into sex, according to the report. Yet the Thorns failed to disclose to the league or the public exactly why he was terminated.And when the Western New York Flash subsequently hired Riley, the report says, the Thorns owner Merritt Paulson congratulated the Flash’s president. “I have a lot of affection for him,” Paulson said of Riley, the report notes.One of the most prominent team owners speaking warmly about a coach like Paul Riley is obscene. Paulson and other senior leaders of the team on Tuesday removed themselves from team operations while the league and the players union investigate.What a horrific mess. We can only hope the league will live up to its promises to reform. Hiring a new commissioner appears to be helping. Calling for and publishing the Yates report is a good first step in the league’s self-examination.Still, as recently as the spring of 2021, according to the report, the league received four complaints about Riley. The report states that it largely ignored the complaints, and indeed, that then-Commissioner Lisa Baird was “actively trying to keep Riley from resigning over his anger about the postseason schedule.”The N.W.S.L lost its moral compass and protected those who held all the power. It must start living up to its professed values and treating its talented athletes like they matter. Right now, until real change happens, they don’t.The Times has reported extensively about abuse in sports and now wants to hear stories from current or former soccer players, at any level, who endured verbal, emotional or physical abuse at the hands of a coach or sports administrator. We won’t publish any part of your submission without contacting you first. If you prefer to share your story anonymously, please visit our confidential tips page.Were you a soccer player, or the parent or guardian of a soccer player, who was abused by a coach? Share your story. More

    • 113 Shares99 Views

      in Soccer

      Takeaways From the Report on Abuse in Women’s Soccer

      by

      The report focused on three coaches who have been accused of abuse and criticized the inaction of leaders at U.S. Soccer and the National Women’s Soccer League.A report published Monday detailed “systemic” verbal abuse and sexual misconduct by coaches at the highest levels of women’s soccer in the United States, and found that leaders in the United States Soccer Federation, the National Women’s Soccer League and throughout American soccer had failed to act over the years on reports from players.The report was commissioned by U.S. Soccer, which asked Sally Q. Yates, a former U.S. deputy attorney general, and the law firm King & Spalding to lead an investigation after news media reports documented accusations of sexual and verbal abuse against N.W.S.L. coaches.The report focuses on three coaches — Christy Holly, Paul Riley and Rory Dames — highlighting a history of sexual misconduct allegations against them and executives’ failure to investigate and act on the accusations. It also warned that girls face abuse in youth soccer.Riley and Dames did not respond to requests for comment Monday, and Holly declined to comment. Holly spoke with investigators and denied some, but not all, of the claims made against him. Through his lawyer, Dames declined to speak with investigators. Riley agreed to provide written responses but never did.Here are six takeaways from the report:Christy HollyHolly was fired as the coach of Racing Louisville F.C. last year, during the team’s inaugural season, with minimal public explanation from the team. While accusations against Riley and Dames had been detailed in news media reports, the accusations against Holly were not publicly known.Christy Holly, left, was coach of Racing Louisville F.C.Getty ImagesThe report found that Holly’s misconduct while coaching Louisville included sexual contact, inappropriate text messages, abuse of power and retaliation. In one instance, Holly invited a player to his home to watch game film but instead masturbated in front of her and showed her pornography. While watching game film with the player on a separate occasion, Holly groped the player’s breasts and genitals whenever the film showed she had made a mistake.Holly also sent the player nude pictures of himself and asked her to send sexual pictures of herself to him, according to the report. The player said that she felt “guilted” and “forced” to send photos. The player told investigators that “Holly constantly reminded her to ‘loosen up,’ telling her that having ‘fun’ with him would improve her performance on the field.”Paul RileyAnother narrative in the report centers on Paul Riley, who was fired from the North Carolina Courage last year. The report found that Riley had “leveraged his position” to coerce at least three players into sexual relationships.“Paul Riley’s abuse was prolonged and wide-ranging,” the report said. “It spanned multiple leagues, teams and players. It included emotional misconduct, abuse of power and sexual misconduct.”Paul Riley was coach of the North Carolina Courage.Getty ImagesOne player said Riley made sexual advances toward her on several occasions. In one instance, the player said, Riley asked her to watch game film in his hotel room. When the player arrived at his room, she said, Riley answered the door wearing only underwear and told her to get on the bed. The player said she left once she realized that there was no game film on the television.“I just didn’t feel safe,” the player said. “I didn’t enjoy playing. It was a bad situation.”Rory DamesThe report also details accusations against Rory Dames, who resigned from the Chicago Red Stars last year and was also coach of the Chicago Eclipse Select youth soccer team. It found that he created a “sexualized team environment” at the youth club that “crossed the line to sexual relationships in multiple cases, though those relationships may have begun after the age of consent.” It also said that he verbally abused his players and that he joked about the age of consent for sexual activity.Rory Dames was coach of the Chicago Red Stars.Getty ImagesOne player who played for Dames on the Eclipse team said that on one occasion, Dames offered her a ride home from practice and asked her questions about sex. The player said that Dames “wouldn’t take me home until I answered the questions.”The report also said that it was not uncommon for Dames to spend time alone with girls from youth teams without another adult present, including in their childhood bedrooms.Lack of oversightThe report also detailed how allegations of abuse or misconduct were often not fully investigated. When they were, the accused coaches later had opportunities to coach elsewhere. The report found that several investigations across the league “failed to successfully root out misconduct.”After the 2015 N.W.S.L. season, one player reported Riley’s sexual misconduct to the Portland Thorns, where he was then coaching, and the league. The Thorns conducted an investigation that lasted one week, and Riley was promptly terminated from the team. But the Thorns did not inform their players, other teams or the public about the reason for Riley’s termination. Riley was later hired by another women’s league team.The report said that several players tried to raise concerns about Dames over the years, including in 2014, 2015 and 2018. A report by the United States Women’s National Team Players Association in 2018 prompted Lydia Wahlke, U.S. Soccer’s chief legal officer, to hire outside counsel to investigate Dames. By October 2018, the investigation had found that Dames created “a cycle of emotional abuse and manipulation” at the Chicago Red Stars. But Wahlke did not share the findings with the Red Stars or the N.W.S.L.One player said she had realized that reporting Dames’s conduct “was a lost cause.”Youth soccerThe investigation did not directly examine youth soccer in the United States, but the report found several instances of verbal and sexual abuse of players.“The culture of tolerating verbal abuse of players goes beyond the N.W.S.L.,” the report said. “Players also told us that their experiences of verbal abuse and blurred relationships with coaches in youth soccer impacted their ability to discern what was out of bounds in the N.W.S.L.”One example cited in the report details an anonymous complaint that Riley had created an “unsafe environment” in his F.C. Fury Development Academy girls’ program and that a coach in the program had “inappropriately touched a minor player.” The person making the complaint said that Riley had not reported the incident and expressed “fear of reprisal from Riley for speaking out,” adding that Riley is “known to be vindictive to anyone who crossed him.”RecommendationsAmong its recommendations, the report said that teams should be required to disclose coaches’ misconduct to their leagues to ensure that the coaches cannot move freely from one team to another, and that the N.W.S.L. should be required to meaningfully vet its coaches and investigate allegations of misconduct.The report also recommended that the N.W.S.L. conduct an annual training for players and coaches on issues of misconduct and harassment, and that teams designate an individual responsible for player safety.The report also advised U.S. Soccer to examine whether it should institute other measures in youth soccer to protect young players. More

    • 113 Shares179 Views

      in Soccer

      Report Details ‘Systemic’ Abuse of Players in Women’s Soccer

      by

      A yearlong investigation found U.S. Soccer executives, N.W.S.L. owners and coaches at all levels of American soccer had turned a blind eye toward years of reports of abuse from players.One coach called in a player to review game film and showed her pornography instead. Another was notorious at the highest levels of women’s soccer for alternately berating his players and then quizzing them about their sex lives.A third coach coerced multiple players into sexual relationships, behavior that one top team found so disturbing that it fired him. But when he was hired by a rival team only a few months later, the original club, which had documented his behavior in an internal investigation, said nothing. Instead, it publicly wished him well in his new post.Those details and others fill a highly anticipated investigative report into abuse in women’s soccer that found sexual misconduct, verbal abuse and emotional abuse by coaches in the game’s top tier, the National Women’s Soccer League, and issued warnings that girls face abuse in youth soccer as well.The report was published Monday, a year after players outraged by what they saw as a culture of abuse in their sport demanded changes by refusing to take the field. It found that leaders of the N.W.S.L. and the United States Soccer Federation — the governing body of the sport in America — as well as owners, executives and coaches at all levels failed to act on years of voluminous and persistent reports of abuse by coaches.All were more concerned about being sued by coaches or about the teetering finances of women’s professional soccer than player welfare, according to the report, creating a system in which abusive and predatory coaches were able to move freely from team to team at the top levels of women’s soccer.“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,” Sally Q. Yates, the lead investigator, wrote in the report’s executive summary. “Abuse in the N.W.S.L. 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.”Read the Report on Abuse in Women’s SoccerAn investigative report commissioned by the United States Soccer Federation found sexual misconduct, verbal abuse and emotional abuse by coaches in the National Women’s Soccer League. It also issued warning signs that girls face abuse in youth soccer as well.Read Document 319 pagesLast year, U.S. Soccer commissioned Yates, a former deputy attorney general, and the law firm King & Spalding to look into the sport after reports in The Athletic and The Washington Post detailed accusations of sexual and verbal abuse against coaches in the women’s league. After the news media reports, and after games were postponed as furious players protested publicly, league executives resigned and were fired. Within weeks, half of the 10-team league’s coaches had been linked to allegations of abuse, and some of the world’s top players had recounted their own stories of mistreatment.Cindy Parlow Cone, the U.S. Soccer president and a former member of the national team, called the findings “devastating and infuriating.” Cone said there are “systemic failures within soccer that must be corrected,” and that the federation would immediately implement a number of the report’s recommendations.A National Women’s Soccer League game between Gotham F.C. and the Washington Spirit last October.Monique Jaques for The New York TimesThe report made a lengthy list of recommendations that it said should be adopted by U.S. Soccer, and in some cases the women’s league, including making a public list of individuals suspended or barred by U.S. Soccer, meaningfully vetting coaches when licensing them, requiring investigations into accusations of abuse, making clear policies and rules around acceptable behavior and conduct, and hiring player safety officers, among other requirements.The report also raises the question of whether some team owners should be disciplined or forced to sell their teams, as it recommended the league “determine whether disciplinary action is appropriate for any of these owners or team executives.”Even with so much of the worst abuse publicly known, the Yates report is stunning in how meticulously it details how many powerful soccer officials were told about abuse and how little they did to investigate or stop it. Among those whose inaction is detailed are a former U.S. Soccer president; the organization’s former chief executive and women’s national team coach; and the leadership of the Portland Thorns, one of the league’s most popular and best-supported teams.“Teams, the league and the federation not only repeatedly failed to respond appropriately when confronted with player reports and evidence of abuse, they also failed to institute basic measures to prevent and address it,” Yates wrote. She added that “abusive coaches moved from team to team, laundered by press releases thanking them for their service,” while those with knowledge of their misconduct stayed silent.In a statement, the women’s league said in the report, and an investigation it is undertaking with the players’ union, “will be critical to informing and implementing systemic reform and ensuring that the N.W.S.L. is a league where players are supported, on and off the pitch.” The players’ union said in a statement that players who had spoken to investigators “have shown profound courage and bravery, and we stand with them.”The national team players association released a statement saying it was “dismayed” that some clubs and U.S. Soccer staff “impeded the investigation,” and urged U.S. Soccer to implement the report’s recommendations. National team players largely did not respond publicly to the report, as they were on a plane to London for a match against England as the report was released.The report said the sport does little to train athletes and coaches about harassment, retaliation and fraternization. It noted that “overwhelming” numbers of players, coaches and U.S. Soccer staff members remarked that “women players are conditioned to accept and respond to abusive coaching behaviors as youth players.”From left, Rory Dames, Christy Holly and Paul Riley.Getty ImagesWhile the report details complaints made about several coaches, it focuses its narrative on three: Paul Riley, Rory Dames and Christy Holly. The accusations against Riley, who last coached the North Carolina Courage, and Dames, who coached the Chicago Red Stars, have been well documented in news media reports. The accusations against Holly, who was abruptly dismissed as coach of Racing Louisville F.C. last year with little explanation, have not been aired publicly before.Holly spoke with investigators and denied some, but not all, of the claims made against him. Through his lawyer, Dames declined to speak with investigators. Riley agreed to provide written responses but never did.Riley and Dames did not respond to requests for comment Monday. Holly declined to comment.Holly sexually coerced a player, according to the report, by inviting her to his home for what he said was a session to watch game film. Instead, he showed the player pornography and masturbated in front of her. Another time, according to the report, after calling in the player again under the pretense of watching game film, Holly groped the player’s genitals and breasts each time the film showed she made a mistake.While coaching in the women’s league years earlier, the report also found, Holly drew complaints of verbal abuse and mistreatment and had a relationship with a player “that caused a toxic team environment.” Yet little vetting of his past occurred as he moved from job to job.The report found that Riley “leveraged his position” as a coach to coerce at least three players into sexual relationships while working previously in a different women’s soccer league, and it said that investigators received “credible reports of sexual misconduct with other players” that were not detailed in the final report.Dames, a longtime youth soccer coach, fostered a “sexualized team environment” that included speaking to youth players about their sex lives, according to the report. That environment “crossed the line to sexual relationships” in multiple cases, which the report says “may have begun after the age of consent.” Dames also screamed at and belittled players, and joked about the age of consent for sexual activity.Portland Thorns fans lit a smoke bomb last November as part of a protest of the sexual misconduct scandal in the league.Steve Dykes/Getty ImagesIn the cases of all three coaches, the report found, the women’s league and U.S. Soccer officials, as well as individual team owners and executives, were repeatedly made aware of complaints of inappropriate behavior but largely did nothing to address them or prevent them from occurring elsewhere.Sexual misconduct allegations were brought against Riley each year from 2015 to 2021, for example, and an anonymous player survey in 2014 also identified Riley, then coaching the Portland Thorns, as verbally abusive and sexist. The survey results were seen by U.S. Soccer and league officials, and feedback was distributed to the Thorns owner Merritt Paulson.In 2015, after the Thorns conducted an investigation, Riley was terminated. But the team said publicly that it had chosen not to extend his contract, and Riley was not disciplined. When he was hired by another team months later, no one from the league or the federation — which at the time effectively ran and bankrolled the league — provided his new team with any of the complaints or information used to substantiate his termination by the Thorns.Players also complained about Dames for years, beginning in 2014, when they told Sunil Gulati, then the U.S. Soccer president, and Jill Ellis, then the women’s national team head coach, that Dames had created a hostile work environment with the Chicago Red Stars, according to the report. Dames was also called abusive by his players in anonymous surveys, and in 2018 he was investigated after another prominent player complained. Yet while a U.S. Soccer investigation into that case substantiated many of the complaints, the report was not distributed throughout the organization or to the league or the Red Stars, and Dames was not disciplined.Jeff Plush at a news conference in 2017.Craig Barritt/Getty Images for LifetimeIn addition to detailing the behavior of several prominent coaches and the inaction of others, the report also took note of individuals and organizations who were not forthcoming or who actively tried to stymie the investigation — even as some publicly said they were cooperating.Jeff Plush, who was the commissioner of the women’s league from 2015 and 2017 and is now the head of U.S.A. Curling, did not respond to the investigators, the report said. Dan Flynn, the retired U.S. Soccer chief executive, responded only to written questions and would not sit for an interview.The Thorns, meanwhile, “interfered with our access to relevant witnesses and raised specious legal arguments” to impede the investigation, according to the report. Racing Louisville F.C. declined to provide documents about Holly’s tenure, and told investigators that current and former employees could not speak about him because of nondisclosure and non-disparagement agreements the team had signed with Holly when he was fired.The Chicago Red Stars also delayed production of documents for months.Rectifying the problems identified in the report will be difficult. Soccer in the United States is run by a number of organizations — federations, professional leagues, youth clubs and state soccer organizations — that have overlapping authority, a tangled web that the report suggested may have played a role in reports of abusive behavior going unheeded.And the revelations may not be over. A separate joint investigation by the women’s league and its players association has not been completed, and the report also did not investigate youth soccer, even as it made clear that the investigators believe abuse is prevalent there as well.“The roots of abuse in women’s soccer run deep and will not be eliminated through reform in the N.W.S.L. alone,” investigators wrote. More

    • 138 Shares199 Views

      in Soccer

      6 Takeaways From the Report on Sexual Misconduct in Women’s Soccer

      by

      The report focused on three coaches who have been accused of abuse and the lack of action by leaders at U.S. Soccer and the National Women’s Soccer League.A report published Monday detailed “systemic” verbal abuse and sexual misconduct by coaches at the highest levels of women’s soccer in the United States, and found that leaders in the United States Soccer Federation, the National Women’s Soccer League and throughout American soccer had failed to act over the years on reports from players.The report was commissioned by U.S. Soccer, which asked Sally Q. Yates, a former U.S. deputy attorney general, and the law firm King & Spalding to lead an investigation after news media reports documented accusations of sexual and verbal abuse against N.W.S.L. coaches.The report focuses on three coaches — Christy Holly, Paul Riley and Rory Dames — highlighting a history of sexual misconduct allegations against them and executives’ failure to investigate and act on the accusations. It also warned that girls face abuse in youth soccer.Riley and Dames did not respond to requests for comment Monday, and Holly declined to comment. Holly spoke with investigators and denied some, but not all, of the claims made against him. Through his lawyer, Dames declined to speak with investigators. Riley agreed to provide written responses but never did.Here are six takeaways from the report:Christy HollyHolly was fired as the coach of Racing Louisville F.C. last year, during the team’s inaugural season, with minimal public explanation from the team. While accusations against Riley and Dames had been detailed in news media reports, the accusations against Holly were not publicly known.Christy Holly, left, was coach of Racing Louisville F.C.Getty ImagesThe report found that Holly’s misconduct while coaching Louisville included sexual contact, inappropriate text messages, abuse of power and retaliation. In one instance, Holly invited a player to his home to watch game film but instead masturbated in front of her and showed her pornography. While watching game film with the player on a separate occasion, Holly groped the player’s breasts and genitals whenever the film showed she had made a mistake.Holly also sent the player nude pictures of himself and asked her to send sexual pictures of herself to him, according to the report. The player said that she felt “guilted” and “forced” to send photos. The player told investigators that “Holly constantly reminded her to ‘loosen up,’ telling her that having ‘fun’ with him would improve her performance on the field.”Paul RileyAnother narrative in the report centers on Paul Riley, who was fired from the North Carolina Courage last year. The report found that Riley had “leveraged his position” to coerce at least three players into sexual relationships.“Paul Riley’s abuse was prolonged and wide-ranging,” the report said. “It spanned multiple leagues, teams and players. It included emotional misconduct, abuse of power and sexual misconduct.”Paul Riley was coach of the North Carolina Courage.Getty ImagesOne player said Riley made sexual advances toward her on several occasions. In one instance, the player said, Riley asked her to watch game film in his hotel room. When the player arrived at his room, she said, Riley answered the door wearing only underwear and told her to get on the bed. The player said she left once she realized that there was no game film on the television.“I just didn’t feel safe,” the player said. “I didn’t enjoy playing. It was a bad situation.”Rory DamesThe report also details accusations against Rory Dames, who resigned from the Chicago Red Stars last year and was also coach of the Chicago Eclipse Select youth soccer team. It found that he created a “sexualized team environment” at the youth club that “crossed the line to sexual relationships in multiple cases, though those relationships may have begun after the age of consent.” It also said that he verbally abused his players and that he joked about the age of consent for sexual activity.Rory Dames was coach of the Chicago Red Stars.Getty ImagesOne player who played for Dames on the Eclipse team said that on one occasion, Dames offered her a ride home from practice and asked her questions about sex. The player said that Dames “wouldn’t take me home until I answered the questions.”The report also said that it was not uncommon for Dames to spend time alone with girls from youth teams without another adult present, including in their childhood bedrooms.Lack of oversightThe report also detailed how allegations of abuse or misconduct were often not fully investigated. When they were, the accused coaches later had opportunities to coach elsewhere. The report found that several investigations across the league “failed to successfully root out misconduct.”After the 2015 N.W.S.L. season, one player reported Riley’s sexual misconduct to the Portland Thorns, where he was then coaching, and the league. The Thorns conducted an investigation that lasted one week, and Riley was promptly terminated from the team. But the Thorns did not inform their players, other teams or the public about the reason for Riley’s termination. Riley was later hired by another women’s league team.The report said that several players tried to raise concerns about Dames over the years, including in 2014, 2015 and 2018. A report by the United States Women’s National Team Players Association in 2018 prompted Lydia Wahlke, U.S. Soccer’s chief legal officer, to hire outside counsel to investigate Dames. By October 2018, the investigation had found that Dames created “a cycle of emotional abuse and manipulation” at the Chicago Red Stars. But Wahlke did not share the findings with the Red Stars or the N.W.S.L.One player said she had realized that reporting Dames’s conduct “was a lost cause.”Youth soccerThe investigation did not directly examine youth soccer in the United States, but the report found several instances of verbal and sexual abuse of players.“The culture of tolerating verbal abuse of players goes beyond the N.W.S.L.,” the report said. “Players also told us that their experiences of verbal abuse and blurred relationships with coaches in youth soccer impacted their ability to discern what was out of bounds in the N.W.S.L.”One example cited in the report details an anonymous complaint that Riley had created an “unsafe environment” in his F.C. Fury Development Academy girls’ program and that a coach in the program had “inappropriately touched a minor player.” The person making the complaint said that Riley had not reported the incident and expressed “fear of reprisal from Riley for speaking out,” adding that Riley is “known to be vindictive to anyone who crossed him.”RecommendationsAmong its recommendations, the report said that teams should be required to disclose coaches’ misconduct to their leagues to ensure that the coaches cannot move freely from one team to another, and that the N.W.S.L. should be required to meaningfully vet its coaches and investigate allegations of misconduct.The report also recommended that the N.W.S.L. conduct an annual training for players and coaches on issues of misconduct and harassment, and that teams designate an individual responsible for player safety.The report also advised U.S. Soccer to examine whether it should institute other measures in youth soccer to protect young players. More