San Diego Wave condemns ‘defamatory’ statements by ex-employee who alleges toxic work environment, former players speak out

Hours after a former employee’s post went viral, San Diego Wave has condemned the employee’s claims of a toxic work environment.

In a statement posted on social media Wednesday afternoon, Wave called the allegations “false and defamatory.” San Diego also said it plans to “pursue all available legal avenues to appropriately address this matter.”

The statement was in response to a social media post from Brittany Alvarado, a former video and creative manager on the team. In the post, which had nearly 500,000 views on social media when Wave posted its response, Alvarado alleged that Wave had a toxic work environment where female employees were discriminated against. Alvarado also alleged that the environment was fostered by Wave President Jill Ellis. (Alvarado also posted the allegations on Instagram, where it has more than 1,600 likes.)

Ellis served as the head coach of the U.S. Women’s National Team from 2014 to 2019, leading the team to the 2015 and 2019 Women’s World Cups. In 2021, Ellis was announced as the Wave’s first club president, a year ahead of the new team’s inaugural season.

Alvarado, who joined the club in August last year, resigned in early June after what she described as “an environment in which there was abusive behaviour among her [Ellis’] subordinates were allowed to flourish” because of Ellis’ “narcissistic personal agenda.”

“The treatment we endured under club president Jill Ellis has drastically changed our lives and destroyed our mental health,” wrote Alvarado, who called for Ellis to be removed.

In its statement, Wave called the allegations, including those against Ellis, “categorically false.”

Alvarado’s post included a screenshot of an email she said she received after her firing. In the screenshot, a Wave employee (whose name Alvarado had blacked out) called her “the most pathetic person I’ve ever met” and said they were “ecstatic.” [sic] that you are no longer with the club.” The San Diego Wave said in its statement that the email was “fabricated.”

Another former employee, freelance photographer Jenny Chuang, backed Alvarado’s statement, saying in a post on X that she was under suicide watch during her time with the Wave in 2022 due to a decline in her mental health. According to social media, Chuang appears to still be covering the Wave for the NWSL but is no longer directly affiliated with the club.

“It breaks my heart that nothing has changed in the past two years,” Chuang wrote.

This isn’t the first time Ellis has come under fire. Former USWNT player Sydney Leroux criticized Ellis’ behavior in July 2020, shortly after the coach stepped down from the national team. In an interview with “The Crack Podcast,” Leroux said the team won the 2015 World Cup, and possibly the 2019 World Cup, “in spite of” Ellis’ leadership.

“She’s not good for people’s mental health, that’s for sure. The best thing was for her to go,” Leroux said.

Leroux also supported Alvarado on social media on Wednesday afternoon.

Leroux wasn’t the only player to speak out Wednesday. Stars Carli Lloyd and Alex Morgan took to social media to discuss the situation, as did Bernadette O’Donnell, the team’s former senior communications manager. O’Donnell said that after moving across the country for her dream job and working for the Wave, she “had no hope for my life and most of the time didn’t want to live.” She said she was fired shortly after talking to her boss about the situation.

The former USWNT coach was also named multiple times in the Yates Report, an investigation released in October 2022 that revealed significant abuse and sexual misconduct within the NWSL and women’s professional soccer. According to the report, several USWNT players reported ongoing abuse by coaches within the league to Ellis and then-U.S. Soccer president Sunil Gulati, but nothing came of the allegations until the publication of the Yates Report in 2022.

Ellis also played a role in the hiring of Christy Holly, one of the coaches most scrutinized in the report, to a role on the USWNT staff after no background or reference checks were conducted. Holly was accused throughout the report of repeated sexual misconduct and verbal and emotional abuse.

As a result of the report, four coaches (including Holly) were permanently banned from the league, while others received suspended bans, while several clubs were heavily fined for their roles in the alleged systematic abuse. Ellis received no punishment.

The news also comes just weeks after Ellis unexpectedly fired Wave head coach Casey Stoney in June. Stoney, an outspoken coach who led the expansion team to the 2023 Supporters Shield in its second season, was fired after a seven-game winless streak. Despite the recent struggles, the move came as a major surprise to the NWSL community.