A day after trading star Sam Mewis, NC Courage names its new head coach
A day after trading away one of their most familiar faces, the North Carolina Courage promoted another familiar face as their new manager.
Forced to trade away star midfielder Sam Mewis on Monday rather than lose her for nothing in this month’s National Women’s Soccer League expansion draft, the Courage on Tuesday announced that longtime assistant coach Sean Nahas will replace the disgraced Paul Riley, who was fired in September after a player-abuse scandal at a previous coaching stop came to light.
Nahas, who had served as interim coach since Riley’s firing, has been with the team since it moved to North Carolina in 2017 and has been a youth coach with what is now NCFC Youth since 2004.
Last month, the Courage also fired assistant coach Scott Vallow, who had worked with Riley both with the Courage and at his previous stop with the Portland Thorns, where the allegations of inappropriate behavior arose. Riley was one of several NWSL coaches to be fired as the league was suddenly forced to reckon with a player-led revolt against abusive coaches.
“We are excited for the future of the Courage with Sean at the helm,” North Carolina Courage owner Steve Malik said in a statement. “Sean is a player-first leader who aligns with our vision of providing the very best resources for our players to improve and reach their highest potential.”
Mewis, who has made 83 appearances for the U.S. Women’s National Team, spent most of the past two seasons playing for Manchester City in England’s Women’s Super League. She played only five matches for the Courage this summer after returning from England in May because of the Summer Olympics and a knee injury. She moved with the Courage from western New York in 2017 and was a critical part of the team’s two NWSL championships.
The Courage could protect only one of their two players allocated from the national team and chose forward Lynn Williams over Mewis, in part because of the return the Courage got from the Kansas City Current for Mewis: Defender Kiki Pickett and the rights to former Florida State star Malia Berkely. Berkely is the two-time ACC defensive player of the year who is playing for Bordeaux in France. The teams also swapped first-round draft positions.
“With the upcoming expansion draft, which allows clubs to only protect one allocated player, we were put in a position to make some difficult decisions,” Courage general manager Curt Johnson said in a statement. “It was important to proactively seek trade partners as opposed to wait and lose an allocated player for little in return.
“These conversations resulted in this trade. Sam is a fantastic player and even better person. We know she will go on to do incredible things in the next chapter of her career and we are grateful to her for the impact she has made throughout her time with the Courage. She will certainly be missed.”
This story was originally published December 1, 2021 at 12:25 PM with the headline "A day after trading star Sam Mewis, NC Courage names its new head coach."
