Edna Mahan. Katie Brennan. Sky Blue.
Governor Murphy’s soccer team is once again in hot water, Save Jerseyans, after the release of a report into abuse inside the National Women’s Soccer League, and anyone familiar with the Murphy Administration can’t help but notice a pattern…
U.S. Soccer commissioned the investigation by Yates and the law firm King & Spaulding after former NWSL players Sinead Farrelly and Mana Shim came forward with allegations of harassment and sexual coercion dating back a decade involving former coach Paul Riley. Their account was published by The Athletic in September 2021.
The investigation focused on three former coaches: Riley, Christy Holly of Racing Louisville FC, and Rory Dames of the Chicago Red Stars.
Before heading to Louisville, Holly was the head coach of Murphy’s team, Sky Blue FC (now known as NJ/NY Gotham FC). And Yates’ report painted a less-than-flattering picture of his time with the club:
Holly rose from relative obscurity as a volunteer reserve-team coach at Sky Blue Football Club (“Sky Blue”) to become the team’s Head Coach in 2016. His tenure was short-lived, however, as his time was plagued with complaints of verbal abuse and mistreatment (“paranoid, ultraaggressive, short-tempered, nasty, mean, patronizing, humiliating,” “angry, disorganized, erratic,” and “abrasive on the sidelines”) and allegations of a relationship with a player that caused a toxic team environment. Ultimately, Holly was asked to leave the club abruptly, midseason, because of his “verbal abuse” and his “relationship with a player.” Publicly, however, the club stated the team and Holly had “mutually agreed” to part ways and thanked him.
