Portland Thorns and Timbers owner Merritt Paulson knew of alleged non-sexual abuses by former Thorns coach Paul Riley but did not act on the information, and executive Gavin Wilkinson blamed a player who accused Riley of sexual misconduct for “putting Riley in a bad position,” adding that he would “hire (Riley) in a heartbeat.”
The revelations are part of a damning account, released Monday by the U.S. Soccer Federation, following a yearlong investigation into alleged misconduct and abuses across the National Women’s Soccer League. The investigation revealed that Paulson and Wilkinson not only enabled, but also vouched for Riley, who was allowed to coach professional women’s soccer from the time he was fired by the Thorns in 2015 until after his alleged misdeeds were exposed in 2021 — even though U.S. Soccer and the NWSL knew details of a 2015 Thorns internal investigation into his termination.
The U.S. Soccer investigation, led by former U.S. Attorney General Sally Yates, labeled this an institutional failure on the part of U.S. Soccer and the NWSL, and also determined that Paulson, Wilkinson and the Thorns bear significant responsibility — and even that the Thorns interfered in its investigation.
A Thorns spokesperson told The Oregonian/OregonLive that the club will “provide comment upon reading the report later today.”
Riley is accused of sexually coercing and harassing players Mana Shim and Sinead Farrelly as coach of the Thorns. He was fired for cause by the Thorns in 2015, and the reasons for his dismissal were not immediately made public.
Yates’ investigation found that Paulson knew of other alleged, non-sexual abuses as early as 2014, but did not act on the information. It also found that in a conversation with the Western New York Flash — after Riley and the Thorns parted ways — that Wilkinson blamed Shim for “putting Riley in a bad position” and said that he would “hire (him) in a heartbeat.” Riley was soon hired by the Flash, which later relocated and became the North Carolina Courage.
“In 2014, after Riley’s first season as head coach of the Thorns, the NWSL issued an anonymous player survey in which players identified Riley as ‘verbally abusive,’ ‘sexis(t),’ ‘destructive’ and stated he ‘s--- on (the) players every day,’” U.S. Soccer’s report reads. “The survey results were shared with NWSL Executive Director Cheryl Bailey, USSF President Sunil Gulati and (CEO and secretary general) (Dan) Flynn, but no one provided them to the team and no action was taken.
“That same year, national team players reported to Gulati and Jill Ellis, national team head coach, that Riley ‘created a hostile environment,’ and ‘belittle(d)’ and ‘verbally abuse(d)’ players. The feedback was distributed to Flynn, Lisa Levine (NWSL general counsel) and Bailey. Bailey distributed the feedback to the Thorns’ owner and president, but no action was taken in response to those comments either.”
Riley’s abuses first came to light in a report by The Athletic in October 2021, which sparked multiple investigations, including that of U.S. Soccer.
Its report concludes that while the Thorns’ 2015 investigation did not address “the most serious” of Shim’s allegations — which included persistent and unwanted sexual advances and retaliation from Riley when she asked him to stop — the team’s internal investigation at the time made several conclusions before Riley’s eventual termination for cause:
“That Riley sent ‘inappropriate texts,’ served alcohol to players, invited ‘a player to his hotel room,’ and danced ‘with a player and touch(ed) her while doing so,’ among other things,” the report said. “Although the (Thorns) terminated Riley, it announced publicly that it had elected not to renew his contract and thanked him for his service. The Federation and the League did not discipline Riley (whether by suspending his license or otherwise) or prevent him from coaching in the NWSL. Nor did the Federation separately inform his youth club of his conduct.”
Many failures on the part of the Federation and NWSL are outlined in extensive detail in the report. But the Thorns organization’s public characterization of its own involvement in Riley’s continued employment in women’s soccer — particularly the role Wilkinson played — appears to have been misleading.
“In an email to Gulati, Flynn, and Levine, (then-NWSL commissioner) (Jeff) 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.”
Ostensibly, because U.S. Soccer officials failed to convey the nature of allegations against Riley, the Flash had to rely on Wilkinson’s alleged characterization of the situation — that Shim put the coach “in a bad position.”
A more recent internal examination of the situation by the Thorns, conducted earlier this year by law firm DLA Piper — the findings of which were obtained and detailed by The Oregonian/OregonLive — concluded that Wilkinson did not discuss the reason for Riley’s firing at all with the Flash because he was advised not to.
U.S. Soccer’s findings fly in the face of that assertion.
What’s more, the Thorns also interfered in U.S. Soccer’s investigation, the report said.
“Certain teams did not fully cooperate, notwithstanding public statements to the contrary,” U.S. Soccer’s report reads. “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.”
U.S. Soccer concluded that teams, including the Thorns, used misleading news releases thanking coaches for their service even though they had been privately fired for “abusive misconduct.”
“In addition, when contacted by teams considering hiring the departed coach, some teams compounded the obfuscation by downplaying the coach’s misconduct,” U.S. Soccer’s report said. “Even where the federation and/or the league was aware of the misconduct, it typically did nothing to correct the team’s inaccurate description or minimized the coach’s misconduct. For example, the Portland Thorns, the federation, and the league failed to ensure Riley’s conduct was accurately disclosed to Western New York Flash or North Carolina Courage.
“Certain teams also cloaked information about coach misconduct in attorney-client privilege, non-disclosure agreements, and non-disparagement clauses. For example, the Portland Thorns vigorously attempted to prevent our investigation from using the 2015 Thorns report — which had been in USSF’s possession since 2015 — on the grounds that it was protected by attorney-client privilege and common-interest privilege, despite all evidence to the contrary.”
UPDATE (10:43 a.m. PT): According to the investigative report, Paulson also sent an email to the president of the Flash after the club’s hiring of Riley in March 2016. “Best of luck this season and congrats on the Riley hire. I have a lot of affection for him,” Paulson wrote.”
UPDATE (10:57 a.m. PT): Per the report, one Thorns player recalled that Wilkinson would jokingly ask her “why can’t you just stop being a b----” when she would ask him for something. Players also recalled “Paulson making inappropriate comments, including trying to talk with a player about Hope Solo’s nude pictures.” The Thorns “strongly deny” the allegations, per the report.
UPDATE (4:34 p.m. PT): Shim, Farrelly and Erin Simon — who accused former Racing Louisville coach Christy Holly of sexual assault — shared a joint statement:
“There have been too many years of inaction and too many empty promises made while players suffered at the hands of the league. No one involved has taken any responsibility for the clear role they played in harming players. — not the teams, not the league, and not the federation. They chose to ignore us and silence us, allowing the abuse to continue.
“It is time for action, accountability, and change. Owners who have driven a culture of disrespect, who are complicit in abusing their own players, have no place in this league and should be removed from governance immediately. This will be the first of many necessary steps to finally hearing our voices and keeping our players safe.”
Read the full U.S. Soccer report here.
-- Ryan Clarke, rclarke@oregonian.com, Twitter: @RyanTClarke