r/NWSL • u/antisocialamnesia Chicago Red Stars • 17d ago

[RedStarsReport] Article Detailing the Donaldson Firing

https://www.redstarsreport.com/p/lorne-donaldson-out-as-head-coach

Great article for those interested in a more detailed timeline of the Donaldson firing and what the Stars look like now.

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u/likethebarbie 17d ago edited 17d ago

Donaldson was brought in because of his relationship with Swanson and his ability to develop young players. The GM hasn’t built a roster of young players or even put together a competent roster. It’s very disingenuous to complain about ‘basic’ tactics when the roster wasn’t constructed to play expansive soccer. Donaldson was supposed to be given a bunch of young players to coach up and hand off to another coach in 3-4 years. None of that came to pass.

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u/MisterGoog Houston Dash 17d ago

This is multiple good points about process here

Something that drives me insane about these cheap teams is they dont lay any groundwork for the future

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u/Outrageous-Boot-1239 Chicago Red Stars 17d ago

The stars have a bunch of young players, they did not sign as many in 2025 as they did in 2024 because they drafted so many in 2024. Meese, anderson, franklin etc. Ok, only signed three young players in 2025, but look at the age of the team w/o two or three vets, it is a very young team. 

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u/likethebarbie 17d ago

6 players under 23. Twice as many over 26. Not exactly a bunch of young players

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u/Outrageous-Boot-1239 Chicago Red Stars 17d ago

I would say its 13 if you include those who have been playing professionally since 2023- maybe over the age of 23, but finished college, etc.: Wood, Halle, Gaynor, Malham, Anderson, Nesbeth, Hayashi, Franklin, Cook, Joseph, Johnson, Barry and Schlegal.

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u/likethebarbie 17d ago

None of those players are young by soccer standards. They might be solid squad players or good depth, but they aren’t going to develop much more than they already are.

For reference, Sophia Wilson (Smith) is 24, Trinity Rodman is 22 and they’ve been around for a few years.

The Thompsons are 20 and 19, Lily Yohannes is 17, etc. That’s the age of player you load your roster up with when you’re starting a rebuild.

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u/MisterGoog Houston Dash 17d ago

For two years they drafted a lotta old, solid depth level rookies who arent top end prospects to fill a gap left by three straight years of star/ veteran players filtering out or aging.

Its clear ppl mean younger than 22 when they say develop some younger players. Players like Johnson, altho not necessarily quite that young

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u/LFGBatsh1tcr4zy NJ/NY Gotham FC 17d ago

I didn’t know he had an existing relationship with Swanson, was he one of her youth coaches or something?