Fan fury helped Sporting KC do right thing, but controversial hire was baffling
For all the vetting of its own and the trust it put into the search led by Nolan Partners, a sports executive recruiting firm, Sporting KC suffered from bewilderingly uncharacteristic lapses in hiring the disgraced Gavin Wilkinson for a high-profile front office position.
Perhaps most curiously — and pivotally, as it happens — a club that prides itself on its substantial fan engagement was somewhere between tin-eared and oblivious when it came to anticipating the voice of the people. Among those simmering were The Cauldron and South Stand supporters, Sporting’s two largest fan organizations.
With the outrage lingering and the stigma hovering over an eight-day period, Sporting abruptly reversed itself on Friday with the announcement it had “mutually agreed” with Wilkinson “to release him.”
While that doesn’t expunge the distressing decision to hire him in the first place, a decision that still bears more scrutiny, it does reflect an organization that paid heed to its faithful.
A cynic might figure it was largely a business decision, and maybe it was to some degree. But I think it was more about waking up and doing the right thing when it came to the ramifications of hiring Wilkinson.
He was fired in Portland 15 months ago after investigations that rocked the NWSL found that he’d endorsed for another job a coach, Paul Riley, he’d fired because of a player’s allegation of sexual misconduct in 2015. That was among several other troubling assertions about Wilkinson, who at his introductory news conference was at times contrite but also rationalizing enough to dismiss several documented allegations as based on untrue “hearsay.”
Whether Wilkinson is deserving of a fresh chance, as the theme of his introductory day went, depends on what you do or don’t believe about both his actions and his remorse. But I’m glad that’s no longer the immediate concern of Sporting, its fans and the Kansas City soccer community.
If you’re like me, though, you’re still reconciling that this action came only after the considerable prompting of fans and the media, which spent virtually the entire introductory news conference for Wilkinson cross-examining the hire. No one was more probing with questions and in the work than The Star’s Sam McDowell, who wrote an important and insightful column about it that day.
So, yes, it’s great that this has been waved off.
But it remains disconcerting that Sporting in the first place arrived at the disconnected decision it still has on its ledger, even after Wilkinson’s departure was announced in a prepared statement Friday from principal owner Mike Illig.
“In making this difficult decision, we want to first acknowledge the passion of our fans, our community of supporters, our partners and our stakeholders,” Illig said, per the statement. “Together, they comprise our deeply valued Sporting family. Our action today demonstrates our longstanding, unequivocal respect for their voices, and the belief that we are all stronger when we listen to one another.”
While adding that Sporting had conducted “a diligent and exhaustive process” that “was grounded in the deeply held principles and standards we have adhered to since the day we acquired the team,” Illig added:
“That said, the impassioned response from our fans reinforced to us a fundamental philosophy that has driven us since Day One: To honor and protect our valued relationships. It is in that spirit that we take this action today, reflective of our abiding appreciation for our unrivaled SKC fans and our Kansas City community.”
The community, in fact, also was dealt a jarring blow by this.
The Beautiful Game, after all, never has been more prominent or prosperous here.
Preparations continue for the momentous task of being a 2026 FIFA World Cup host city, including the accompanying opportunities to have several foreign base camps established in the region. And the KC Current organization is weeks away from opening what is believed to be the world’s first stadium purpose-built for a women’s professional team.
The last thing this historic movement, a movement Sporting helped spur, needed was all the goodwill and momentum broken by this yet-inexplicable and unsettling own-goal.
Nicely done, Sporting fans, and a reassuring response by Sporting, even as the initial choice remains baffling.
This story was originally published January 19, 2024 at 12:52 PM.