It was a massive weekend in the UWS in Central Texas. San Antonio Athenians played FC Austin Elite in a battle between two of the hottest clubs in the league with important playoff implications. While both clubs were missing some of their key players, it was a match everyone paying attention to the UWS playoff race was looking forward to. While the two clubs struggled through a tough match that ended in a 0-0 draw, a whole new story was breaking on social media, one that would overshadow any game result.

Released onto social media the same day as the club took the field was a statement from the FC Austin Elite players. Included in the post were complaints about the recent termination of the coach of the club, allegations against club GM Danny Woodfill, of “disrespect,” “workplace misconduct,” and “abuse.” The statement included an announced player boycott, both of the match that night but also “the remainder of the season, to take a stand against Woodfill’s actions.” It ended with a call for the league “to take action and preventative measures to protect current/future players and coaching staff from workplace discrimination, harassment, abuse and bullying.”

While it might seem natural to want to focus on the teams headed into the playoffs, this is a much larger story than soccer. With the statement in hand, Protagonist Soccer staff attended a Zoom meeting where former FC Austin Elite players and ex-coach Christiane Lessa told their side of the story. The players requested anonymity, worried about potential retaliation. This issue of women fearing to speak out is common in women’s soccer, as seen in the NWSL where players who have in the past endured abuse at the hands of teams and predatory coaches have over the last year spoken out.

One thing we want to make clear, when the term harassment is used based on current society our thoughts immediately go to sexual misconduct. I want to make it clear that was never a factor in this scenario. The players are specifically pointing to workplace harassment and bullying behavior.

Christiane Lessa was hired in April 2022 to build the FC Austin Elite program. She responded to a job description with an advertised salary of $75,000. In an ensuing conversation with GM Danny Woodfill, Lessa verbally agreed to take a pay cut at $60,000. Based on this agreement, she packed up her life in Florida, left a good situation, and moved to Texas where she was given room and board in Danny Woodfill’s house. Lessa shared she requested a formal contract several times and never received one. She was set up as a W-9 employee, which made her essentially a contract employee, a freelancer. This is not uncommon in lower league soccer.

Lessa stated she received varying payments of $600-1200 in Cash App and by check. In her time as coach for FC Austin Elite, she was paid approximately $3,000, far below the agreed to terms of $5,000 per month. She did highlight that she received room and board in Woodfill’s home that he shared with his wife. She agreed to this until funds came in, knowing the challenges facing semi-pro teams.

It should be stated that it’s good business for a team that touts themselves as being professional to have an agreement, contract, or offer letter in place to protect both parties. Any agreement would have established clear expectations for both parties of what was expected to be delivered. Typically, if something is advertised, there is an expectation that you can deliver.

That brings us to last week, when Coach Lessa was fired on Wednesday, June 29th, for “failure to meet objectives, failure to build a program, and creating a negative environment.” Every GM has the right to terminate a staff member of the team, especially if said staff member is not working out. What seems unusual, though, is that the termination was done in the middle of the season with 3 games and the playoffs left and at the time of Lessa’s termination, Elite was ranked first in UWS Southwest Conference and fifth in the nation. This seems to be a main criterion of a head coach – WIN! Coach Lessa was winning, so her termination left many, including the players, with more questions than answers.

A member of the FC Austin Elite Board and their Players’ Council shared that a conversation was NOT had with them prior to terminating Coach Lessa. Typically Players’ Councils are created to have these conversations before major decisions that impact players are made. Without a conversation with the Players’ Council it leaves room to wonder, where did Woodfill receive information about Lessa’s negative environment? Terminating a coach, one that was well-liked by players, could be considered a major decision.

When Woodfill fired Lessa, her housing was immediately revoked and she was asked to leave the Woodfill home. The only alternative for Coach Lessa, on such short notice, was to sleep in her car. It was relayed to Protagonist Soccer that when she tried to cash a $200 check from Elite, it bounced. (Editorial note: this particular story has been disputed by Woodfill.)

Texas is a right to work at-will state. Any employer can fire any employee for any reason at any time in Texas. Wrongful termination is often difficult to prove and requires sufficient evidence. Was Woodfill in his right as an employer to terminate his coach, Lessa? Yes. He acted in a perfectly legal manner. The question remains: was this fair and ethical? That’s up to the public to decide.

When Woodfill shared with the team that he fired Head Coach Lessa, the players said they voiced their disagreement and told Woodfill that they loved having her as their coach and approved of the direction she was taking the team. Woodfill pointed to several commitments that Lessa did not fulfill. A large point of the termination was that Lessa failed to build a program, specifically pointing to failure to hire additional coaching staff. This specific point was discussed with her in her termination conversation and in the player’s meeting. Both groups point to the insufficient funds to pay the current coach and the players as promised as a logical reason that Lessa should not be held responsible for this.

Austin Elite squad photo from June 10th. Photo credit: FC Austin Elite social media.

On the call, the players voiced that most of them had been promised something when they joined FC Austin Elite: housing, regular access to a gym, a food stipend, a salary, even payment for doing various odd jobs for Woodfill and Elite.

Agreed to terms are usually shared with clear understanding and mutual expectations. In this scenario, there were promises made, both verbally, via text, or email, but never in a formal agreement or contract. The situation becomes a “he-said-she said-they said.” The fact sits plainly that not just one player claims they were promised payment, but multiple players claim that Woodfill promised them compensation in one form or another. At one point, corroborated by multiple players on the call, Woodfill promised that all ticket sales from home games would be paid to the players.

A house was obtained by Woodfill in which players, up to seven at a time, lived in. Woodfill would occasionally stock the house with groceries and also gave the players a $400 grocery stipend for the entire house. But then, he told them they ate too much. He also often entered the house without warning or notice, which made the players living there uncomfortable.

Players left jobs and teams to come play for Elite based on these promises of compensation. It also must be stated that if any player received payment for playing for Elite, it would have major implications for any NCAA-eligible player on the team, regardless of if said NCAA-eligible player was paid themself. According to the NCAA, “student-athletes may not play on or accept compensation or expenses of any kind from a professional team.” The NCAA defines a professional team as a team that either declares itself a professional team or pays at least one of its players. Such rules would be well-known to someone like Woodfill, regardless of if it’s his responsibility or duty to educate players on NCAA eligibility rules or not. He should clearly have communicated these to his college eligible players to allow them a fair chance to make a choice if they want to have their eligibility at risk.

Due to the secretive nature of the promises, players did not speak to each other about compensation and therefore didn’t know what their fellow players were promised—each player thought their situation was singular. Rather than go public when they were ultimately not compensated, they stayed silent out of fear of rocking the boat. Sadly, a very normal situation in women’s soccer. Lessa’s termination would change that, however.

On the Zoom call, players shared with Protagonist Soccer staff anecdotes of how there was pressure to perform. Woodfill would come by the team house unannounced and let himself in. One girl injured in a game was encouraged to find alternative housing since she wasn’t playing any more. While not posted publicly, it was well-known among the players that playing for other teams in the offseason was grounds for dismissal. Woodfill frequently made unprofessional comments about other teams, coaches, and players. Themes of coercion, threats, and bullying were apparent in the players’ statements. They all shared stories of how Woodfill would remind them that he’s “on the UWS Board” and “they need him.”

The players also recounted discriminatory comments and jokes made by Woodfill. He asked Black players, “Can you swim?” He repeated the inappropriate joke to others multiple times. When several Hispanic players shared their goals of playing for a specific professional team, his response was, “They don’t want short brown players, they have enough of those. They want tall white players.”

All of these instances made players uncomfortable, and Woodfill had created an environment where they weren’t empowered to report his actions, especially to UWS where their GM was on the Board and had connections. But once Coach Lessa was terminated, the players began talking to each other. In a moment of mutual concern, they began discussing what each had been promised by the club.

As the players shared their frustrations, they felt that Woodfill’s actions, his harassment, and his empty promises had gone on long enough. They banded together to create a workplace strike. With the big weekend matchup between SA Athenians and FC Austin Elite just hours away, most of the players decided to sit out of the game. Instead of taking the field in an important match, they chose to write a public statement, hoping to bring attention to the situation. Empty promises were the unifying force behind the action. First Woodfill’s words, then the treatment of the players, and now the firing of Coach Lessa was the final straw.

The UWS made a statement in the wake of the players’ allegations and promised to conduct an investigation. It took two days for FC Austin Elite to make its own, which stated that Danny Woodfill had voluntarily stepped down and that Elite would comply with UWS’ investigation.

- Danielle Gawronski