Former Utah Royals head coach Craig Harrington was found to have been employed by a Chicago youth soccer club as director of coaching despite being in the midst of a two-year NWSL suspension for inappropriate conduct and sexual comments made to players. Chicago Empire FC hired Harrington in late January, following both the findings of the NWSL/NWSLPA joint investigation released in December, as well as his suspension announced on January 9.
Considering the public nature of the NWSL reckoning about coaching misconduct and coverage of the sanctions earlier that month, how was Harrington still able to be hired by a youth team that same month?
Chicago Empire FC’s place in the landscape of U.S. youth soccer may hold part of the answer. The club’s hire of Harrington illustrated how layers of organizations above an average youth club, each with their own often autonomous policies concerning risk management, can combine to form a web of regulations with no minimum standards so complex that decisive action is all but impossible.
On top of all these layers is SafeSport. The independent nonprofit organization was created by Congress as part of the Protecting Young Victims from Sexual Abuse and Safe Sport Authorization Act of 2017 – legislation enacted following the reports…
