Head coach Albertin Montoya will proceed to guide Bay FC as they put together for his or her first sport of the NWSL season on March 15 regardless of Montoya being the topic of an investigation into the conduct of the membership’s teaching employees.
Not less than two formal complaints had been filed towards Montoya in 2024, accusing him of fostering a poisonous office and bullying. Eight gamers from the 2024 season, Bay’s inaugural marketing campaign, are now not with the crew due to Montoya’s habits, in accordance with the San Francisco Chronicle. The league introduced the impartial third get together investigation shortly after the Chronicle’s investigative report was printed.
“He is at the moment the top coach,” a spokesperson stated Friday throughout an interview with Bay’s CEO Brady Stewart and COO Jen Millet in New York. “We’re going by way of the investigation and we are going to do what we have to do. We do not have a timing on it.”
Per the Chronicle’s reporting, the primary criticism towards Montoya was revamped the summer season and reached possession in addition to different membership leaders. The second was made after the conclusion of the 2024 season by way of the NWSL nameless reporting mechanisms.
Stewart confirmed that she noticed the primary criticism and backed up the Chronicle’s report that the membership employed a 3rd get together to analyze the declare. Stewart stated there was “no proof” of the bullying allegation lodged towards Montoya and, when requested about his present employment standing, described the foundation explanation for the criticism as a communication challenge.
“I feel it is essential to notice that these points which have been raised are all associated to communications challenges,” Stewart stated. “After all, the league is trying into this, as you noticed [Friday] morning, and we’ll completely cooperate with the league and help any suggestions from the league.”
The participant who made that criticism “felt focused by private feedback directed by Montoya towards her throughout assessment conferences” and “started to endure nervousness assaults on the considered going to coaching,” per the Chronicle.
As an alternative of any apparent disciplinary actions, Bay as an alternative “supplied [the coaching staff} with resources to improve” their communication skills, Stewart said, and the resources included executive coaching and expertise in one-on-one interactions. The second resource corresponds directly with the results of a mandatory league-wide midseason survey, which found that “some players have requested one-on-one meetings that have been denied,” per the Chronicle.
Stewart said they only learned of the second complaint this week after the Chronicle reached out the club for comment and said the club does not have access to reports filed through the NWSL.
The investigation into Montoya’s conduct comes just a week after Graeme Abel, a former U.S. women’s national team assistant coach, resigned as the team’s scouting director. Abel was hired only a week earlier, but the announcement of his employment brought attention to abuse allegations against him while he was the women’s soccer coach at the University of Oregon. The Oregonian published a report on the topic in April 2024 in which Abel was accused of “throwing objects, harsh language, and threats to kick [players] off the crew or revoke their scholarship.”
The allegations towards each Montoya and Abel have pressured questions on Bay’s hiring and participant security practices, and doubtlessly these imposed by the NWSL. The Bay officers selected to not reply a query about whether or not or not the Oregonian’s report got here up throughout the course of that led the membership to make use of Abel, however Stewart defended their processes.
“What I’d say is Albertin has a 30 yr historical past on this sport,” Stewart stated in protection of the membership’s hiring practices. “I feel we are able to say that speaks for itself. I’d additionally say we’re based with the perfect being a player-centric membership, and, frankly, our tradition and our values say that there isn’t a room for poor habits inside our membership. We additionally observe the entire league mandates and processes to the T, if no more, so I’d say we’re completely going to proceed to try this.”
Outdoors of the stories, neither Stewart nor Millet stated they heard complaints from gamers about Montoya’s conduct, one thing they attributed to their roles on the enterprise finish of the membership, in addition to geography. Their places of work are in San Francisco, whereas the gamers educated and performed in San Jose throughout the 2024 season.
The executives stated they have been unable to stipulate subsequent steps from the membership as a result of they solely realized concerning the second criticism towards Montoya earlier within the week, however that the membership plans to cooperate totally with the NWSL’s investigation.
Montoya’s capacity to proceed along with his work within the midst of an investigation is in contrast to different NWSL coaches who’ve confronted disciplinary motion since a league-wide counting on abuse in 2021. The NWSL has normally been the one at hand down suspensions, as they did within the case of ex-Orlando Satisfaction head coach Amanda Cromwell, who was positioned on administrative go away in June 2022 for acts of retaliation earlier than she was fired that October.
For his or her half, NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman backed the league’s personal processes shortly after confirming that an investigation into Bay’s teaching employees was underway.
“We stay centered and are very assured within the system and course of that we put in place popping out of the joint investigation and all the pieces we agreed to with the Attorneys Basic is in place and is underway and being carried out and in some ways confirmed all of the systemic reform that we did on our personal and in partnership with the Gamers’ Affiliation,” NWSL commissioner Jessica Bermain stated in a press convention earlier on Friday.
