ESPN journalist Kathleen McNamee joined Nathan Murphy on The Football Show to discuss the allegations against North Carolina Courage coach Paul Riley.
Riley has been accused of sexual coercion by several former players spanning multiple teams and leagues since 2010.
Meg Linehan and Katie Strang reported the story for The Athletic.
On Wednesday, Riley responded to a list of 23 questions from The Athletic about his alleged conduct with an email in which he stated that the majority of the allegations are 'completely untrue.' He wrote: 'I have never had sex with, or made sexual advances towards these players.' He said he sometimes socialized with players and occasionally picked up bar tabs, 'but I do not take them out drinking.'
Kathleen McNamee elaborated further with Off The Ball.
"There have been a number of high profile incidents over the year in the NWSL that a lot of people have said there needs to be some sort of culture change. There's almost this fear in the States because they've had two failed leagues that it's hard for players to come forward and even harder for other people.
"There's almost this idea of 'We want the league to succeed and we don't want something else to take it down'.
"But even this week this is the second story that has broken. Richie Burke who was the coach of Washington Spirit has been completely banned from the league for similar allegations of emotional abuse. Basically, just behaviour that shouldn't be accepted in the league.
"This seems to really have been the thing that's kind of broken the whole story wide open. You have major US Women's national team players like Alex Morgan saying she was sickened by it."
Mana and Sinead, we support you and are in your corner. I am sickened and have too many thoughts to share at this moment. Bottom line: protect your players. Do the right thing @NWSL https://t.co/7TGymLLrvn
— Alex Morgan (@alexmorgan13) September 30, 2021
Riley had been investigated in 2015 but the case was closed and couldn't be reopened.
"That power dynamic is so off.
"What you would see a lot in NWSL is that particularly these male coaches getting opportunity after opportunity to coach teams even after these allegations hung over them. They were always these unspoken secrets where people kind of knew about them, but there was never those people able to come forward and actually make the allegations in the first place.
"I think this is really going to be a reckoning for the league and a chance for them to look at themselves."
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