Former Tennessee soccer player Rhian Wilkinson resigns at Portland Thorns players' request

Former Tennessee soccer player Rhian Wilkinson's stint as the Portland Thorns coach was a short one.

Wilkinson resigned from her position Friday, only weeks after leading the Thorns to their third National Women's Soccer League championship in her first season as head coach. The decision was made at the request of players after Wilkinson was investigated and cleared by the NWSL and NWSLPA investigative team for her conduct as head coach.

In Wilkinson's statement Friday, she said she reported herself to Portland's human resources department because she and a player had expressed feelings for each other, though they never acted on them.

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"My actions were investigated by the League and the Player's Association by the joint investigative team in an effort to make sure all Portland players were safe and that the power imbalance between myself and the player had not impacted our professional relationship," Wilkinson said in her statement. "After a thorough investigation during our play-off run ... I was completely exonerated of any wrong doing."

The investigation concluded that there was no evidence of coercion or abuse of power.

“The Portland Thorns and Coach Wilkinson followed all League processes and policies and fully cooperated with this investigation,” NWSL Commissioner Jessica Berman said in the club's statement. “The joint investigative team conducted a thorough investigation that resulted in a finding of no violation of League policies.”

Wilkinson said she and the player cut off all communication outside of work prior to Wilkinson reporting herself. She went on to say that Thorns players had found out about the situation before Wilkinson could inform them. She said the "narrative regarding my actions has now taken on a life of its own, and as a result I can understand that the Portland players feel hurt and have to deal with another non-soccer relation situation.

"The result of this being that the players have asked for my resignation, and I have agreed to it."

Portland has been at the center of investigations by former attorney general Sally Q. Yates and the NWSL and NWSLPA over the last year for the misconduct of former coach Paul Riley.

Wilkinson acknowledged the importance of investigations and reporting within the league. The NWSL has been through a reckoning since August of 2021 when the first of many allegations against coaches across the league were reported.

“The investigative process and player and staff willingness to use human resources and league reporting is critically important,” Wilkinson said. “If the women’s game is to avoid further power imbalances and player abuses, these systems must be used and there must be trust in the process and its results. We must keep highlighting these processes.”

Wilkinson's resignation came a day after Portland Thorns owner Merritt Paulson — who has owned the team since the league's inception in 2013 — announced he is putting the team up for sale. Paulson stepped down from a decision-making role in October after the Yates report was released and two other executives were fired.

But Paulson has faced mounting pressure to sell the team because of the Yates report detailing how the Thorns mishandled complaints about Riley's misconduct when he coached the team in 2014-15.

This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Portland Thorns coach Rhian Wilkinson resigns at players' request