Head coach Albertin Montoya will continue to lead Bay FC while preparing for their first match of the NWSL season on March 15, despite the fact that Montoya is the subject of a study into the performance of the club’s coaching staff.
At least two formal complaints were submitted against Montoya in 2024 and accused him of promoting a toxic workplace and bullying. Eight players from the 2024 season, the inaugural campaign of Bay, are no longer with the team because of the behavior of Montoya, according to The San Francisco Chronicle. The League announced the independent investigation of third parties shortly after the Chronicle research report was published.
“He is currently the head coach,” said a spokesperson on Friday during an interview with Bay’s CEO Brady Stewart and Coo Jen Millet in New York. “We will go through the research and we will do what we have to do. We don’t have any timing on it.”
According to the Chronicle report, the first complaint against Montoya was submitted in the summer and reached property and other club leaders. The second was made after the end of the 2024 season by the NWSL anonymous reporting mechanisms.
Stewart confirmed that she saw the first complaint and supported the Chronicle report that the club hired a third party to investigate the claim. Stewart said that there was “no evidence” of the accusation of bullying against Montoya and described when he was asked about his current labor status, the main cause of the complaint as a communication problem.
“I think it is important to note that these problems that have been addressed are all related to communication -challenges,” said Stewart. ‘Of course the competition is investigating this, as you saw [Friday] Morning, and we will absolutely cooperate with the competition and any recommendations of the competition. “
The player who laid that complaint “felt the target of personal comments focused on her during assessment meetings” and “started to undergo anxiety attacks in the idea of going to training,” according to the chronicle.
Instead of obvious disciplinary actions, “instead” provided [the coaching staff} with resources to improve” their communication skills, Stewart said, and the resources included executive coaching and expertise in one-on-one interactions. The second resource corresponds directly with the results of a mandatory league-wide midseason survey, which found that “some players have requested one-on-one meetings that have been denied,” per the Chronicle.
Stewart said they only learned of the second complaint this week after the Chronicle reached out the club for comment and said the club does not have access to reports filed through the NWSL.
The investigation into Montoya’s conduct comes just a week after Graeme Abel, a former U.S. women’s national team assistant coach, resigned as the team’s scouting director. Abel was hired only a week earlier, but the announcement of his employment brought attention to abuse allegations against him while he was the women’s soccer coach at the University of Oregon. The Oregonian published a report on the topic in April 2024 in which Abel was accused of “throwing objects, harsh language, and threats to kick [players] Withdrawing outside the team or their exhibition. “
The allegations against both Montoya and Abel have forced questions about the recruitment of Bay and safety practices of players, and possibly those imposed by the NWSL. The Bay officials chose not to answer a question about whether or not the report of the Oregonian emerged during the process that the club led to employ Abel, but Stewart defended their processes.
“What I would say is that Albertin has a 30 -year history in this sport,” said Stewart to defend the club’s recruitment practices. “I think we can say that this is speaking for ourselves. I would also say that we have been founded with the ideal that a player -oriented club is, and to be honest, our culture and values say that there is no room for bad behavior within our club. We also follow all competition mandates and processes to the T, if not, so I would say that we will definitely do that.”
Besides the reports, neither Stewart nor Millet said that they heard complaints from players about the behavior of Montoya, something that they attributed to their roles to the business end of the club, as well as geography. Their offices are in San Francisco, while the players trained and played in San Jose during the 2024 season.
The managers said they were unable to outline the next steps of the club, because they only heard about the second complaint against Montoya earlier in the week, but that the club is planning to fully work together with the research of the NWSL.
The ability of Montoya to continue with his work in the midst of a study is different from other NWSL coaches who have had disciplinary action, because a competition takes into account abuse in 2021. The NWSL is usually the one who was in the case of June-return near the Reder’s neighborhood. That October.
For their part, NWSL commissioner Jessica Berman supported the competitions of the competition shortly after he confirmed that an investigation into Bay’s coaching staff was underway.
“We remain focused and have very confidence in the system and the process that we have been established from the joint investigation and everything we have agreed to the lawyers -general is present and is underway and is implemented and confirmed in many respects all the systemic reforms that we have made ourselves and in collaboration with the player’s association,” NWSL Commissioner said earlier on a single commissioner. press conference.