‘He made me hate soccer’: Players say they left NWSL’s Spirit over coach’s verbal abuse

It wasn’t very long into her rookie season with the Washington Spirit before Kaiya McCullough became terrified to make a mistake.

Throughout training and scrimmages last year, McCullough said, the team’s now-former coach, Richie Burke, screamed at her, and he didn’t stop. Anything could set him off, she said, prompting him to unleash a torrent of threats, criticism and personal insults on McCullough and her teammates. Read More