San Jose Earthquakes hire Gavin Wilkinson as president after MLS 'restorative' clearance, without NWSL involvement
Quick summary
The San Jose Earthquakes have hired Gavin Wilkinson as their new president following a 'restorative' clearance from MLS, a process conducted without the NWSL's participation.
Full article
Attributed to original sourceThe Portland club, which oversaw the Thorns and Timbers, fired Wilkinson in 2022 two days after the Sally Yates report went public.
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What happened
The San Jose Earthquakes have appointed Gavin Wilkinson as club president, concluding a months-long vetting process led by MLS. Wilkinson, who previously served as a top executive at the Portland Timbers, had been previously disciplined by MLS in connection with the Yates report investigating systemic abuse and misconduct in women's soccer. The 'restorative' clearance process — used by the league for several figures implicated in the report — was carried out without formal NWSL involvement, a notable detail given the league's direct connection to the original investigation. The hire is likely to draw renewed scrutiny given Wilkinson's past and the broader reckoning around accountability in American soccer governance.
Chance analysis
San Jose's decision to bring in Gavin Wilkinson as president — a figure previously disciplined in connection with the Yates report findings on abuse in women's soccer — puts the Earthquakes back in the national spotlight for off-field reasons. The fact that MLS cleared Wilkinson through its restorative process while the NWSL sat this one out matters because it underlines how separate the two leagues remain on accountability questions, even though they share a governance umbrella and a tangled executive pipeline. For San Jose fans and the wider American soccer audience, this hire is a credibility test: it asks whether a club-owned process, even one rubber-stamped by MLS, can be trusted to resolve the reputational questions that follow a figure like Wilkinson.