North Carolina Courage chief soccer officer and sporting director Dr. Ceri Bowley said in a news conference on Thursday that “a multitude of factors” led to the firing of head coach Sean Nahas.
Nahas was fired from the NWSL club on Wednesday night. The club released a two-sentence statement about the decision at the time.
“This has been a very recent thing,” Bowley said. “And the club have acted in a way to take a decision based upon the multiple factors that come to light, that we make a decision in the best interests of the club moving forward.”
Multiple sources told ESPN that there are no current investigations into Nahas.
Sources said that the “multitude of factors” — a phrase that Bowley and a Courage spokesperson combined to use 13 times in Thursday’s news conference — included the team’s record, inconsistent play and a loss of faith in the direction of the team from management and some players.
North Carolina is 5-4-5 (W-D-L) this season and sits in ninth place, just below the playoff line. Bowley is new to his role as of April and recently settled into North Carolina. He oversees the coaching staff in his role.
Nahas had been the team’s head coach for nearly four years and was with the senior team in some capacity for the past eight years.
“The standards of this club are extremely high,” Bowley said on Thursday. “And it was felt that there were reasons that we needed to make the change in order to uphold the standards that we expect of the North Carolina Courage.”
Nahas was absent from three of North Carolina’s games in June “due to unforeseen medical reasons.” He returned to the sidelines for the team’s friendly matches in July and for the team’s first regular season game following the summer break, a scoreless draw at home against the San Diego Wave on Saturday.
A Courage spokesperson said in Thursday’s news conference that there was “no cause to say that the two [Nahas’ leave in June and his firing] were related.”
The spokesperson confirmed that Nahas was at training on Wednesday but both he and Bowley declined to comment further on the timeline of the decision.
On Wednesday, hours before the news of his firing, Nahas posted a photo of himself with the Courage staff at training. He also appeared on a local radio show to discuss the team’s road game against the Houston Dash on Friday.
Nahas did not respond to a request for comment.
Nathan Thackeray, the Courage’s assistant coach for the past eight seasons, will serve as acting head coach for the Courage, as he did in June. Bowley said there is no timeline for hiring a new head coach.
Under Nahas, North Carolina won the NWSL Challenge Cup in 2022 and 2023 before the format of the tournament was overhauled to a single game contested between the NWSL Shield winner and league champion.
Nahas took over as interim coach of the Courage in the fall of 2021 after the firing of Paul Riley following allegations of sexual misconduct against Riley in previous NWSL coaching roles.
Nahas became the Courage’s full-time head coach ahead of the 2022 season. North Carolina qualified for the playoffs each of the last two seasons, losing in the first round each time.
The Courage struggled out of the gate this season despite the blockbuster offseason acquisition of United States forward Jaedyn Shaw joining what was already a playoff team. North Carolina went winless in its first five games before climbing back up the table.
Nahas has been part of the soccer scene in the Raleigh, North Carolina, area for nearly two decades, including playing a prominent role in the Courage’s youth academy. Nahas’ brother, Damon, is the head coach of the University of North Carolina women’s soccer team and won a national title in 2024, his first season in charge.
Bowley only briefly spoke of Nahas’ tenure on Thursday:
“Sean gives his heart and soul to his profession. He’s like every head coach that wants to give everything to what his role is.”
