Youth soccer coach secretly hired by Chicago club during NWSL suspension

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.
The club, Chicago Empire FC, was a youth affiliate club of the Chicago Red Stars until 2021 and has ties to Michelle Lomnicki, who was the NWSL club’s general manager until she was fired on Friday morning.
Harrington’s relationship with Chicago Empire FC extends back to the 2019 NWSL season.
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.
The lack of empowerment across the youth landscape mirrors what the NWSL faced for a decade, and there are currently not the resources available or centralized collection of data to even be able to identify patterns of misconduct.