{"id":258881,"date":"2026-08-21T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/21\/disgraced-portland-thorns-president-gavin-wilkinson-hired-by-the-mls-san-jose-earthquakes-the-gist\/"},"modified":"2026-08-21T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T00:00:00","slug":"disgraced-portland-thorns-president-gavin-wilkinson-hired-by-the-mls-san-jose-earthquakes-the-gist","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/21\/disgraced-portland-thorns-president-gavin-wilkinson-hired-by-the-mls-san-jose-earthquakes-the-gist\/","title":{"rendered":"Disgraced Portland Thorns president Gavin Wilkinson hired by the MLS\u2019 San Jose Earthquakes | The GIST"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div><span class=\"copy-container-module--small--f809b\"><em>Content warning: This section mentions abuse.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>The GIST:<\/strong> The MLS\u2019 San Jose Earthquakes hired former Portland Timbers and Thorns president Gavin Wilkinson as a consultant earlier this month, a move that garnered considerable controversy as Wilkinson was previously ousted from the NWSL following the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thegistsports.com\/article\/8b51c71b-c6b0-4358-a33a-94397cbe5112\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">damning 2022 Yates report<\/a>. Buckle up.<\/p>\n<p><strong>\u23ea The history:<\/strong> The Yates report detailed systemic verbal, emotional, and sexual abuse in the NWSL, with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thegistsports.com\/article\/279e9d3d-9b69-4e27-b3fe-85cc3b1bf741\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">multiple coaches<\/a> named, including former Thorns manager Paul Riley. Wilkinson was fired from Portland\u2019s MLS and NWSL clubs in 2022 after the report found that he <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/soccer\/story\/_\/id\/49660962\/bay-fc-blasts-san-jose-earthquakes-hiring-gavin-wilkinson-2022-yates-report-firing#:~:text=While%20Wilkinson%20wasn%27t,for%20that%20post\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">mishandled sexual misconduct allegations<\/a> against Riley. Also of note, in 2021, Wilkinson failed to report a domestic violence incident within his team, a violation of league policy.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The San Jose hiring isn\u2019t the first time Wilkinson\u2019s been back around soccer. He briefly worked for MLS\u2019 Sporting Kansas City in 2024 until his contract was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/5214227\/2024\/01\/19\/sporting-kc-gavin-wilkinson\/?unlocked_article_code=1.61A.2OIC.kJigHex6vvzW&amp;source=athletic_user_shared_gift_article_copylink&amp;smid=url-share-ta\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">mutually terminated<\/a> following fan backlash.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\ud83d\ude20 The response: <\/strong>The NWSL\u2019s Bay FC, who share a stadium with the Earthquakes, condemned Wilkinson\u2019s hiring on Wednesday, saying, \u201cWe stand with the players, survivors and advocates who have worked tirelessly to make soccer a safer and more inclusive place.\u201d<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Additionally, the Earthquakes\u2019 official supporter group <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DbwoVSuPR6y\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">blasted their team<\/a>, writing, \u201cWilkinson\u2019s repeated failure to prioritize the safety of women and hold abusive people accountable makes him unfit to work for the San Jose Earthquakes organization.\u201d Good riddance.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<p><script>\n  !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s){if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\n  n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;\n  n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\n  t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window,\n  document,'script','https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n  fbq('init', '1716705275141133'); \/\/ Insert your pixel ID here.\n  fbq('track', 'PageView');\n      <\/script><script async defer src=\"https:\/\/platform.instagram.com\/en_US\/embeds.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thegistsports.com\/article\/disgraced-thorns-president-hired\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Content warning: This section mentions abuse. The GIST: The MLS\u2019 San Jose Earthquakes hired former Portland Timbers and Thorns president Gavin Wilkinson as a consultant earlier this month, a move that garnered considerable controversy as Wilkinson was previously ousted from the NWSL following the damning 2022 Yates report. Buckle up. \u23ea The history: The Yates [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":258882,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6805],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-258881","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-womens"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=258881"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/258881\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/258882"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=258881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=258881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sports.runfyers.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=258881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}