An NWSL coach resigns after inappropriate relationship with a player left the team's trust 'irrevocably broken'

• Portland head coach Rhian Wilkinson resigned weeks after leading the Thorns to an NWSL title.
• Wilkinson and defender Emily Menges confessed feelings for one another during the season.

Rhian Wilkinson resigned as head coach of the Portland Thorns just 34 days after leading the franchise to its league-best third National Women's Soccer League title.

The first-year head coach parted ways from the controversy-embroiled club because she "lost the locker room" due to concerns regarding the nature of her relationship with one of the team's stars. According to a report from The Athletic's Meg Linehan, Wilkinson and defender Emily Menges expressed feelings for one another via text message during the final stretch of the 2022 NWSL season and spent one-on-one time together on several occasions.

Both parties insist that there was "no physical relationship" between them. Still, the coach — who formerly competed in the league herself — eventually reported the situation to Portland's human resources department.

But one Thorns player told Linehan that "Wilkinson and Menges did not have any intent to self report." Instead, "they got confronted and then they reported," the unidentified player said.

Portland's staff passed the information it obtained from Wilkinson over to the NWSL itself. And through an ongoing joint investigation into abuse and misconduct across the entire NWSL, the league and NWSL Players Association began a fact-finding expedition into the player and coach's conduct.

Menges is on the board of the NWSLPA, which has been intimately involved in the broader joint investigation into misconduct throughout the league. The NWSLPA did not respond to Insider's repeated requests for comment. It remains unclear whether Menges will continue to serve on the board and if she recused herself from the investigation into Wilkinson's conduct.

Three weeks after the inquiry into their relationship began — and just after the conclusion of the 2022 season — Wilkinson was "cleared of any wrongdoing," per a statement from the Thorns.

"The Portland Thorns and Coach Wilkinson followed all League processes and policies and fully cooperated with this investigation," NWSL Commissioner Jessica Berman said in the statement. "The joint investigative team conducted a thorough investigation that resulted in a finding of no violation of League policies."

Those findings left others in Portland "feeling unsettled." After the investigation's conclusion, a group of anonymous Thorns players wrote a letter to Berman and the league's chief legal officer to express their "concerns regarding the relationship," which they noted "are not solely focused on potential policy and ethical breaches that may have occurred but also on the player's personal safety."

"As you know, there are several potential power imbalances that are created when a coach fraternizes with a player, not only due to the impact of the relationship on the player's professional status, but also because of the potential age difference between coach and player, as well as the coach's status as an authority figure," the letter read. "And, we also know that these power imbalances exist regardless of gender or sexual orientation."

Portland has a dark history of abuse within its franchise. The NWSL's series of scandals first began with the Thorns, whose front office covered up then-head coach Paul Riley's array of misconduct — including sexual coercion of several players.

It's no surprise, then, that Portland's current players would be wary of the franchise's handling of such an investigation. Though the group acknowledged in its letter that "the investigation found no legal wrongdoing," they still "believe that an ethical standard has been breached."

"As a result, we no longer feel safe working with the staff member in question," the players said of Wilkinson. "A locker room is one of the most intimate workplace settings in the world and requires an extraordinary level of trust in order to function properly.

"Unfortunately, we believe the trust in our locker room has been irrevocably broken, creating an extremely triggering environment for those players on the team who have been victimized by authority figures in the past, and making it impossible for them to feel safe and perform to their full potential," they added.

Wilkinson and Menges both spoke to Linehan on the record for her report, and both insisted that there was "no imbalance of power" between them. But regardless of whether there was perceived imbalance in their relationship, the fact that Wilkinson was Menges' superior and that her employment was within Wilkinson's purview necessarily suggests otherwise.

The group of players also voiced concerns about potential retaliation if Wilkinson were to stay on as Portland's head coach given her "control over our playing time and contract status."

"In fact, we believe that employees of the club are already being threatened with potential retaliation since we have come forward with our concerns," they wrote. "Staff who have been informed of the investigation and its outcome were told that if they're uncomfortable moving forward working with or under the coach involved then they should seek employment elsewhere."

The franchise is also facing change at its highest level. Longtime owner Merritt Paulson announced he'd be selling his stake in the club, after coming under pressure to divest after a U.S. Soccer investigation revealed his knowledge of — and inaction against — Riley's abuse. The team now finds itself with a divided locker room and in need of a coach and a new owner.