Women’s sports are soaring, but the Stars are stumbling
It’s never a good sign when a team changes coaches a second time before starting the second half of its season.
That’s where the Chicago Stars sit after announcing Tuesday that interim coach Masaki Hemmi was leaving “to pursue other opportunities.” Hemmi replaced the fired Lorne Donaldson on April 30. Former Stars forward Ella Masar is being promoted to interim coach from assistant coach for a second time, the first coming in 2023.
The coaching carousel gives us a good indication of where the Stars are as a franchise, and the timing couldn’t be worse.
Women’s sports have never been more popular, and women’s teams have never had a better opportunity to grab fans’ attention. Fox is broadcasting the UEFA Women’s Euro soccer championships this week, and ESPN has plenty of women’s matches at Wimbledon to show. They just won’t include the defeated Coco Gauff like ESPN might have hoped.
Look what the WNBA did this week, announcing it is adding three expansion teams. The NWSL just added two teams for this season.
Granted the NWSL doesn’t have its Caitlin Clark, a must-see player who has grabbed the attention of fans and sponsors alike, or even the Chicago Sky’s Angel Reese. But there are talented, interesting players in the NWSL. They just aren’t playing for Chicago this season.
The Stars have done nothing the last few years to join the growth in women’s sports nationwide. Since longtime coach Rory Dames resigned in 2021 amid reports of verbal and emotional abuse of Stars players, the franchise has foundered, this year’s rebranding from Red Stars to Stars notwithstanding.
The Stars have, however, joined the list of Chicago pro teams asking for government help building a new stadium. The 20,000 seats at SeatGeek Stadium in Southwest suburban Bridgeview have been far more than the Stars have needed; a large high school football stadium might do. A team spokesman opted not to share the team’s average home attendance this season.
Presumably the Stars would love a 5,000- or 10,000-seat stadium somewhere near downtown Chicago. The KC Current in 2024 opened the first stadium built just for a women’s sports franchise, a privately funded 11,500-seat home that cost $140 million.
At least the timing of this coaching change is good. The Stars don’t play again until they host Gotham FC on Aug. 1 because the NWSL has a lengthy break in the schedule to accommodate international competitions. Masar will have time to talk to the players and figure out what direction to take the team in.
There’s almost nowhere to go but up, the Stars (1-9-3) sitting 13th on a 14-team table with a minus-17 goal differential. They were in that 14th-place slot when Hemmi took over for Donaldson, so there’s been a little improvement.
Masar doesn’t have much to work with, though, just as Hemmi and Donaldson didn’t. U.S. National Team forward Mallory Swanson will miss the season while pregnant, and goalkeeper Alyssa Naeher, a fellow national teamer, was put on the 45-day injury list Tuesday. She’s been out since suffering an “upper extremity injury” against the KC Current on May 24. There’s no word on when the 37-year-old Naeher might return.
With Swanson and Naeher out, there’s nobody on the roster to make fans pay attention. Ludmila leads the Stars with 4 of their 10 goals this season.
Hopefully, if there’s a third Stars coaching change this season, it’s to add a permanent leader, one with a winning pedigree. And hopefully some better players follow the new coach to Chicago.
While there’s still time to seize the moment.
Daily Herald Sports Editor Orrin Schwarz can be reached at oschwarz@dailyherald.com.