The report also provided more details as to how Riley was allowed to continue coaching in the NWSL, despite being fired for cause by the Thorns following the aforementioned abuse allegations. Former NWSL commissioner Jeff Plush, in an email to then USSF president Sunil Gulati, USSF CEO Dan Flynn and USSF general counsel Lisa Levine, conveyed his understanding that Thorns president of soccer Gavin Wilkinson told the Western New York Flash that Riley was "put in a bad position by the player," and that Wilkinson would "hire [Riley] in a heartbeat."
ESPN previously reported that Wilkinson had given the Flash a positive job referral for Riley. He was hired by the club in early 2016. Although Plush, Gulati, Flynn and Levine all had received Shim's detailed complaint -- and Plush and Levine received a 2015 Thorns report -- none appeared to provide the Flash with additional information.
ESPN also reported that later, when Riley was in contention for the managerial position for the U.S. women's national team, Thorns owner Merritt Paulson told North Carolina Courage counterpart Steve Malik it would be "a good idea" for Riley to withdraw. The Yates report details how following "at least fourteen conversations among eleven people at the Federation, the League, the Portland Thorns, and the NC Courage, Riley publicly withdrew himself from consideration." But during those conversations, USSF chief legal officer Lydia Wahlke never conveyed a report that Riley had a "relationship with a Portland player to the League, others at the Federation, or the Courage.
The report found that three organizations -- the Chicago Red Stars, the Portland Thorns and Racing Louisville -- didn't fully cooperate with the Yates investigation, despite public statements to the contrary.
"The Portland Thorns interfered with our access to relevant witnesses and raised specious legal arguments in an attempt to impede our use of relevant documents," the report read. "Racing Louisville FC refused to produce documents concerning Christy Holly and would not permit witnesses (even former employees) to answer relevant questions regarding Holly's tenure, citing non-disclosure and non-disparagement agreements it signed with Holly. The Chicago Red Stars unnecessarily delayed the production of relevant documents over the course of nearly nine months."
