Lorne Donaldson Out as Head Coach of Chicago Stars FC

The club parts ways with Head Coach Lorne Donaldson after 1-5 record to start 2025

Former Chicago Stars Head Coach Lorne Donaldson (Credit: Chicago Stars)

The Chicago Stars announced today that the club has parted ways with Head Coach Lorne Donaldson 2 months into his second season with the club.

First assistant coach Masaki Hemmi will take over as interim head coach while the club searches for a permanent replacement.

"We are grateful to Lorne Donaldson for the culture, respect and sense of self-belief he helped build within our squad. We appreciate his work and wish him the best for the future," said Chicago Stars General Manager, Richard Feuz.

Donaldson joined the club in 2024 after serving as the assistant and then head coach of the Jamaican Women’s National Team, helping lead them to two consecutive FIFA Women’s World Cup tournaments. During his stint as head coach, Donaldson lead the team to the 2023 Women’s World Cup, where Jamaica defeated Panama and were competitive against teams like Brazil and France. The team became the first Caribbean nation to advance to the round of 16 of the tournament.

What Happened in 2024?

After the team finished 12th and last in 2023, the club spent the offseason attempting to replace a head coach, hire a general manager, and sign players to a roster that had lost key players such as defenders Casey Krueger and Tierna Davidson in free agency. Donaldson was hired in December of 2023 just prior to the 2024 NWSL draft and came in while negotiations were already under way with free agent players.

47 days after the announcement of Donaldson’s hiring, the Chicago Stars announced the hiring of Richard Feuz to fill the club’s vacant general manager position in February of 2024. (You’d think you’d want a GM to hire their own head coach, no?)

Prior to Feuz, the GM duties were put upon assistant general manager Babett Peter.

During her stint at the helm, the club had re-signed defender Taylor Malham, midfielder Cari Roccaro, and forward Mallory Swanson. The club also traded their 3rd overall pick in the 2024 NWSL draft for defender Sam Staab, and drafted Leilanni Nesbeth, Jameese Joseph, Bea Franklin, Hannah Anderson, and Celia Gaynor with their remaining picks. The club also signed defenders Natalia Kuikka, Camryn Biegalski, Maxi Rall, and midfielders Shea Groom and Chardonnay Curran, as well as goalkeeper Sydney Schneider to contracts during the offseason.

With Feuz assuming command of the helm in February of 2024 and Donaldson in charge of the on-field product, the club signed preseason non-roster invitees Nadia Gomes and Ally Cook to contracts, as well as four of their five draft picks. The club also released Jill Aguilera and Sam Fisher prior to the start of the 2024 season.

During the 2024 NWSL season, the club announced contract extensions to long-time goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher, defender Sam Staab, rookie defender Hannah Anderson, and forward Jenna Bike. The club also signed two international players, Canadian midfielder Julia Grosso and Brazilian forward Ludmila.

The club also traded forward Penelope Hocking to Bay FC for a $350,000 in cash to be paid out over two season. This money likely helped secure the contracts of Ludmila and/or Julia Grosso.

Now, onto the play on the field. In his first season with Chicago, Donaldson’s squad finished 8th on the table with a 10-14-2 record and claiming the final spot in the NWSL playoffs. The Stars were eliminated from the playoffs in a 4-1 loss to the future NWSL Champions, the Orlando Pride. While the club never dipped below the playoff line in 2024, the team’s final 4 matches of the year were all losses, including that loss in the opening round of the playoffs.

The second half of the season was also highlighted by the loss of Sam Staab, who sustained an achilles injury during the Summer Cup in July.

The loss of Staab saw the rise of Hannah Anderson’s development at center-back, but the club’s woes in the midfield were the biggest stain on their season. Donaldson’s choice to bench midfielder Julia Bianchi, who lead the team in assists and produced consistent goal-scoring chances with her ability to take stellar free kicks and corners. The constant rotation of starting players was also indicative of the coaching staff’s inability to find consistency in player chemistry.

The club played relatively well at times and earned a handful of wins against clubs that did not end up making the playoffs in 2024, while only earning 8 points off playoff-bound teams (wins against Bay FC and Portland Thorns, and one draw against both Orlando Pride and KC Current).

Overall, the season looked fine on paper for a club that just lost star players, hired a new GM, and appointed a new head coach. But the results in the second half of the season exposed a lot of poor decision-making by the coaching staff, whose vision on the field didn't seem to align with the from office’s player signings.

What Happened in 2025?

Chicago’s offseason was highlighted by the elimination of the NWSL Draft after the league and the NWSLPA signed a new collective bargaining agreement. This left the front office with only their skills of selling Chicago as a desirable destination to free agents and college players looking to go pro.

A couple of factors that clubs can utilize to draw in free agents, and now college players, include training facilities, the product on the field, stadium atmosphere and location, and of course money, all of which are things Chicago has fallen behind in when you look at the rest of the league.

The Stars just became the primary tenants of Seat Geek’s training facilities this season, which helps the club in some ways, but the tools that facility provides are lacking compared to the newly built ones around the league.

The club’s on field product also leaves much to be desired when it comes to attracting top free agents. The on-field tactics are boring, outdated for this league, and have players out of their natural positions on a weekly basis. I can’t see why top talent would subject themselves to that style of play where the idea is to play defense first and then transition down the field as quickly as possible. That used to work in this league, but not anymore.

Chicago has also had one of the worst locations for a stadium and attendance at said stadium’s matches for several years now. The club’s leadership has of course stated they are looking to build a soccer-specific stadium of their own, but without details on that plan’s future, it’s hard to use as a selling point.

Now, when it comes to how the club performed in the area of signing players for the 2025 season, they were able to bring in a former NWSL Champion defender/midfielder Maitane, signed Santa Clara’s Mana Hayashi, 17-year old Micayla Johnson, and goalkeeper Halle Mackiewicz. Not the biggest of splashes for an offseason, but with the club having already added top international talent in Grosso and Ludmila in the middle of last season, but a huge contract extension for Swanson, I’m not sure how much they could offer to top-tier free agents around the league or overseas. Obviously, we don’t know who they tried to sign and why those players, if any, decided to go elsewhere. The club also signed collegiate players Justina Gaynor and Catherine Barry after being invited into camp as non-roster invitees.

The club parted ways with free agents Tatum Milazzo, Julia Bianchi, Maxi Rall, Sydney Schneider, Ally Cook, and Sophie Jones, while retaining Sarah Griffith, Nadia Gomes, Alyssa Naeher, and Camryn Biegalski.

The offseason moves and the beginning of training camp was overshadowed by the announcement that Mallory Swanson would not be joining the club due to personal reasons at the start of training camp and has not made an appearance for the club since that announcement. Swanson was coming off a season where she produced seven goals for the club, but had just lead the U.S. Women’s National Team to a gold medal in the 2024 Olympics. Her absence has been felt, as the team has only amassed three goals over the course of six matches this season.

The club started off 2025 with a 1-5 record, which has lead to the departure of Lorne Donaldson. The team continued to struggle with finding an identity under Donaldson. While the team chemistry off the field looked great, it didn't seem to translate to on the field play early on. The season started with a 6-0 thrashing by the defending NWSL Champions in Orlando. The team was without Ludmila, due to suspension, and Natalia Kuikka after she was injured during the international break. The match saw Nadia Gomes, a short-term contract player, start over players will full contracts in Ludmila’s absence. Midfielder Bea Franklin was also converted to center-back in the absence of the injured Sam Staab, who was brought into the match later as a midfielder. Sound like confusing decisions yet?

The rest of the season has been marred by a lack of goal-scoring, more players playing out-of-position, and substitutions which were deemed “tactical” that never worked out. This has been the case under Donaldson’s tenure. Just look at the most recent tactical substitutions and you can formulate your own opinion on if they made sense or not.

To his credit, Donaldson had some of these players playing better defense than we’ve seen out of this club in a while, but the amount of defending having to be done over a sustained 90+ minutes was always too much for these players to handle. The more an offense is pressuring your backline, they’re bound to score eventually, while the offense could never get anything going to give defenders a break from the onslaught of pressure.

The club’s only win this season came from a 2-1 win over Bay FC, who cut the 2-0 lead to one in the second half on a penalty kick. Chicago has conceded five PKs and four own goals during the 2024 and 2025 seasons. Both statistics usually come from the defense being put under too much pressure.

The club has also lost 12 of their 16 home matches during Donaldson’s tenure. The inability to win on your home pitch is not easy for fans to watch. Prior to 2023, Chicago had been in the top 5 for home wins in the league dating back to the founding of the league in 2013.

Jameese Joseph and Ludmila have been the only players to produce goals, scoring a combined three over six matches this season. Joseph assisted on both of Ludmila’s goals in her brace against Bay FC. These goals came from Donaldson’s offensive style of getting the ball over the top of the defense to speedy forwards who can put the ball in the back of the net. While this style worked in the NWSL for a long time, goals like these are not sustainable over the course of an entire season. The Stars being shut out four times this season is all the evidence you need to see that.

LT’s Expanded Opinion

I think the removal of Lorne was inevitable this season. His vision for the club on the field never seemed to line up with the front office’s vision for the club. Bringing in a head coach before hiring a GM to build the rest of the team was already a flawed plan. Not to mention that the assistant GM had already began building a team of their own before brining in someone to be their boss and without a head coach to collaborate with until the draft in 2024.

Lorne will now be seen as a transitional coach. One who came in at a time where the club needed positive energy and a healthy environment. Now, the front office can hire someone whose vision aligns with their own, or at the very least, bring someone who can compliment the styles of the players currently on the roster.

What’s Next?

The Chicago Stars have begun their search for a new head coach, while naming first assistant coach Masaki Hemmi to the interim head coaching position.

Hemmi joined the Stars from the United Soccer League club, New Mexico United, where he served as director of player personnel and first assistant coach. In 2021, Hemmi joined INAC Kobe of the WE League in Japan as an associate head coach to help with player development prior to the Tokyo Olympics. He also started his coaching career at Real Colorado, where he worked with Lorne Donaldson, which is likely why he was selected to be Donaldson’s first assistant coach.

Choosing Hemmi to replace Donaldson in the interim is interesting due to their connection, but we’ll have to wait and see just how much different a Hemmi Stars squad looks compared to Donaldson’s. Ella Masar was tapped to be Chicago’s interim head coach when the club fired head coach Chris Petrucelli prior to the conclusion of the 2023 season. Masar remains on staff, as far as we are aware.

Front Office

General manager Richard Feuz is meeting with the media Thursday afternoon. Stay tuned to redstarsreport.com or our Discord Community for quotes from the press conference.