Red Stars one of three organizations that failed to fully cooperate with abuse investigation, report reveals

NWSL owners and executives knew emotional and sexual abuse permeated the league and did nothing about it, an independent investigation found.

The investigation, conducted by former U.S. Deputy Attorney General Sally Yates, yielded a scathing over 150-page report that was released Monday. It detailed the failings of the National Women’s Soccer League and certain team owners, including the Red Stars’ Arnim Whisler, to protect players.

In Chicago, accusations of emotional and verbal abuse at the hands of former coach Rory Dames dating to 2014 were repeatedly dismissed by Whisler. Less than 24 hours before a report was published by the Washington Post last November detailing claims of abuse, Whisler allowed Dames to resign.

Three months later, when Whisler spoke to the media for the first time since the Post’s report, he claimed that the decision was made in consideration of the players. He also claimed that the concerns brought to him by players and staff were not on the level of abuse. Every time he heard a complaint, he felt comfortable continuing to employ Dames.

Yates’ report not only negated Whisler’s claims, it released new details of Dames’ abuse, including calling Black players thugs and players from Kentucky and Ohio trailer trash. One player who was interviewed recounted an experience in which Dames texted her to meet him in his hotel room to receive her per-diem funds.

When she arrived at his door in the morning wearing a long-sleeve T-shirt and pajama shorts, the player said Dames looked her up and down and said, “Nice shorts.” Shortly after, he texted her: “I was not joking; you looked really good. Natural beauty is the best beauty.”

According to the report, soon after Dames began coaching in the league, several players raised concerns, including Christen Press in 2014. The U.S. national team star reported to then-U.S. Soccer Federation president Sunil Gulati and then-national team coach Jill Ellis that Dames “created a hostile environment,” verbally and emotionally abused players, made sexist and racist remarks and retaliated against her and other players when they spoke out.

Press’ concerns were relayed to Whisler, who claimed that national team players wanted the league to “shut down” and had an “axe to grind” with Dames, who offered to resign. Whisler refused to accept his resignation, according to the report.

Among the 37 pages of the report dedicated to investigating Dames’ abuse was a section detailing claims against him from the youth-soccer level. In March 1998, the Arlington Heights Police Department opened an investigation into Dames after a report that he touched one of his Eclipse youth soccer players inappropriately on her thigh.

In April 1998, a Department of Children & Family Services caseworker completed an investigation and made a determination that the allegations against Dames were “unfounded,” according to the report. Dames went back to coaching.

After the Post’s report on Dames, he resigned from coaching at Eclipse and has been removed from the team’s staff page, but his wife, Sarah, is still listed as the team’s chief financial officer. Questions about whether Dames still owns the club have gone unanswered.

In the report, one player shares the only reason for participating in the investigation is in hopes of Whisler’s removal from the league.

The investigation was commissioned by U.S. Soccer after the Athletic published allegations of harassment and sexual coercion involving former NWSL coach Paul Riley in September 2021. But the ousting of five male coaches in 2021 pointed to a widespread problem that was detailed in the report.

Whisler loved to tout the Red Stars as the longest-tenured NWSL franchise. When he finally released a public statement last year after the claims made against Dames, it was laced with self-adulation.

He vowed accountability, but Yates’ report also found that the Red Stars’ organization was one of three that failed to fully cooperate with the investigation.

Yates’ report concluded with recommendations that highlighted a need for transparency and accountability. But the NWSL is operated by its owners, so changes such as the removal of owners who cultivated toxic work environments and allowed abuse to fester for years will be difficult to implement.

“No organization took ownership over player safety,” the report said.

In the few instances in which coaches’ behavior was examined, the investigation found it was more in line with checking a box than taking protective measures.

Because teams did not disclose misconduct, coaches such as Riley were able to move from team to team, the report found. The USSF has limited authority to sanction coaches, owners and league executives in the NWSL, putting the responsibility of holding people in power accountable with the league itself.

“I’ve talked to [NWSL commissioner] Jessica Berman quite a bit,” U.S. Soccer president Cindy Parlow Cone said. “Our goals are aligned.”

The Red Stars have not responded to the Sun-Times’ request for comment.