Former NWSL coach Craig Harrington received a two-year suspension from the league in January for his inappropriate conduct and sexual comments toward players.

Just weeks later, he was hired by a Chicago youth club as the director of coaching, The Athletic reported Friday.

While Harrington has since been fired by the youth club, that he was hired at all exposes the continued cracks in the systems meant to ensure player safety at all levels of soccer, even in the wake of the NWSL’s wide-reaching misconduct investigations.

The NWSL’s misconduct report outlined misconduct allegations against Harrington, who served as head coach of the Utah Royals in 2020, and as an assistant coach for the Chicago Red Stars in the previous two seasons.

In the report, two NWSL players recalled an instance at a bar in which an intoxicated Harrington made sexual advances toward them and said, “I need to have sex with someone tonight who’s not my wife.” He also made comments on more than one occasion about players’ looks and bodies, the report stated.

The former coach denied such allegations, stating that he “never made comments about players’ physical attractiveness and never sexualized players.” The NWSL and NWSLPA joint investigative team, however, “did not find his denials to be credible when viewed against the accounts of multiple other witnesses,” according to the report.

The NWSL handed down a two-year suspension for Harrington, which banned him from coaching in the league until at least January 2025.

Soon after the suspension, youth club Chicago Empire FC hired Harrington “as an independent contractor” in late January. In the hiring process, the club obtained a “clean NCSI (National Center for Safety Initiatives) background check and certification of his U.S. Center for SafeSport training,” as well as confirmation that his coaching licenses were in good standing with the U.S. Soccer Federation and the Illinois Youth Soccer Association, director of operations Matt Tunis told The Athletic.

On April 25, Empire FC received notice from the Illinois Youth Soccer Association that Harrington’s membership had been suspended, at which point the club terminated his contract, Tunis said.

“At no time since February has Mr. Harrington been listed on either the SafeSport or U.S. Soccer risk management list of ineligible, suspended or disciplined individuals,” Tunis continued in his statement to The Athletic. “Nonetheless, Chicago Empire FC’s top priority is the safety and well-being of its players and staff.”

However, U.S. Soccer confirmed to The Athletic that Harrington was added to the federation’s risk management list following the NWSL’s announcement of his suspension in January.

Chicago Red Stars general manager Michelle Lomnicki knew of Harrington’s role with youth club Chicago Empire FC. The club fired her Friday for failing to inform club leadership of the information.

The Chicago Red Stars have fired general manager Michelle Lomnicki for neglecting to inform the team of a suspended NWSL coach’s employment by a local youth club.

Lomnicki knew of the Harrington’s employment at a Chicago youth soccer club as director of coaching, The Athletic reported Friday.

Harrington, who worked as an assistant coach for the Red Stars from 2018-19 and as the head coach for the Utah Royals in 2020, is serving a two-year NWSL suspension for inappropriate conduct and sexual comments made to players. He was fired from his role with the youth club in April.

The Red Stars terminated Lomnicki just four months after her promotion to general manager in January.

“Yesterday the Board of the Chicago Red Stars ended Michelle Lomnicki’s employment immediately after learning about a lapse in judgment to not share important information with club leadership,” the team said in a statement.

According to a Red Stars source, the club did not know about Harrington’s role until they were contacted by The Athletic. The Red Stars felt the trust between the club and Lomnicki had been broken.

Lomnicki is connected to Chicago Empire FC, the club that employed Harrington, through her husband Wes Lomnicki, who is Empire FC’s sporting director.

The now-former Red Stars general manager also was listed as a female technical and performance consultant for Empire FC until early May. But in a statement to The Athletic, Lomnicki said that she had “ceased all youth contracting or club coaching as of January 2023,” when she was promoted to general manager of the Red Stars.

“My performance consultant role with Chicago Empire involved being a reference for girls in the club as they dealt with items such as competitive anxiety or college recruiting,” she continued. “I had no role in any hiring decisions for the club.”

Chicago Empire FC was the “first-ever youth affiliated club” of the Chicago Red Stars, according to an April 2019 announcement that has since been deleted from its website.

The affiliation had ended in November 2021, a spokesperson for the Red Stars told The Athletic. But the youth club’s website still had references to the Red Stars as of May 1, 2023.

Before Lomnicki became general manager for the Red Stars in January 2023, she worked as associate general manager since January 2022, and before that as the club’s director of youth camps and clinics since 2020. She also played for the Red Stars for their first three years in the NWSL, from 2013-15, and also in 2009 when the team was part of the WPS.