When Jermaine Jones joined Central Valley Fuego FC as its coach last November, the pairing carried clear upside for the former U.S. men’s national team midfielder and the club. He had longed, sometimes publicly, for a chance to be a head coach, and Fuego needed a splash to gain fans and to reasonably compete in the third-division USL League One.

Yet nearly a year later, fractures between Jones and the club’s players have led to discipline for the coach that before now has not been publicized, and an investigation that revealed clear mistrust within the league’s ranks.

According to documentation reviewed by The Athletic, Jones was suspended through the end of the 2024 season following an independent investigation. The summary of that investigation said it had “substantiated” repeated instances of harassment, retaliation and hostility from Jones toward members of the team.

The United Soccer League Players Association (USLPA), which spurred the league to commission the investigation, also filed a separate labor complaint against the club in April, accusing the team of interrogating players about union activities and threatening to retaliate against them if they supported the union. The complaint with the National Labor Relations Board is being investigated, Kayla Blado, a spokeswoman for the agency, said Thursday.

Jones has not coached the team in a match since Aug. 30. Despite his absence, neither the club nor the league announced Jones’ suspension publicly. Given that the USL is not a single-entity league, its standard is for clubs to determine themselves whether to announce suspensions or fines.

The USL suspended Jones on Sept. 27, and notified him, the club and other involved parties. The investigation is closed and its findings and the punishment are final, the league said.

But in separate statements on Wednesday, the club and a lawyer for Jones sought to cast doubt on the findings. They said they were seeking for the coach to be reinstated, based on an audit of the investigation that was commissioned by the club.

Soroosh Abdi, Jones’ lawyer, said the audit found “both substantial and procedural shortcomings” that negated the investigation’s findings. “Jermaine Jones was subject to bias and unfair treatment by the USLPA,” Abdi said.

“We are hopeful he will rejoin the team before the season ends,” the club said.

The players union, like the league, said it considers the cycle “fully complete.” And it dismissed Abdi’s assertion that Jones was treated unfairly.

“The USLPA has not seen any findings by any process to substantiate this claim. The USLPA acted as we always do when individuals bring serious claims of misconduct to the organization: We take those concerns to the USL per the league’s safeguarding policies,” the organization’s executive director, Connor Tobin, said in a statement. “And then to the extent individuals request that we participate in an observational manner during investigative interviews to help safeguard against retaliation, we do so.”

The league, which has its headquarters in Tampa, Fla., declined comment as its employees braced for Hurricane Milton.

The audit concluded Monday. The club, the league and Jones’ agent all declined to provide its results to The Athletic. The union said it has not seen anything yielded from the audit.

“We have complete confidence in the integrity of this process,” the league said in a statement. “When matters are resolved, we focus on promoting accountability and personal growth, ensuring that all individuals involved have the opportunity to learn and improve.”

The Central Valley Fuego FC starting 11 before a US Open Cup match on April 2. (Maciek Gudrymowicz / ISI Photos / USSF / Getty Images)

Three active players and an employee of Fuego FC, speaking with The Athletic on condition of anonymity to protect their jobs, painted a stark picture of the club under Jones’ leadership. They described experiences of tension, fear and mental anguish since he joined the club, consistent with the summary findings of the league’s investigation, which were reviewed by The Athletic.

“It’s been nothing short of a complete catastrophe, and it’s so toxic,” the club employee said. “It doesn’t need to be like that.”

The league investigation was carried out by an outside law firm, Foley & Lardner, LLP. It determined that Jones had broken the league’s policies to safeguard players in six different ways. The breaches were described in the summary document in broad categories: national origin harassment, emotional misconduct, power imbalance, harassment, hostile environment and retaliation.

The investigation found repeat instances of each of the breaches, but the summary did not detail each allegation and did not include comments from anyone involved, including Jones. The investigation produced a deeper document separate from the findings summary, which includes testimony from the players who came forward with allegations. However, the club, the league, the players union and Jones’ agent declined to provide that document to The Athletic when asked for it.

Jones was suspended through the end of 2024, with Fuego’s final game scheduled for Oct. 26, and put on probation for the 2025 season.

In a statement, the players union said it feared the suspension was not severe enough.

“The violations by Jermaine Jones which have been substantiated by the third-party investigation show an extremely troubling pattern of behavior,” the union said. “We are concerned that the USL’s imposed discipline may not be effective in protecting players moving forward. It is our belief that the sheer number and severity of violations found by the investigators should be disqualifying and that players should not face the very real possibility of having to endure similar circumstances next season with Jones as head coach. The priority moving forward must be protecting player welfare and upholding dignity in the workplace.”

Jermaine Jones playing in a legends game at Daytona Soccer Fest on July 03, 2022. (Sam Greenwood / Getty Images)

When a recently retired player wants to enter professional coaching, the lower leagues are a natural launching point. Coaching in a lower division isn’t a walk in the park — any coach will tell you that their job is never so simple — but it provides nascent coaches a chance to organically grow a culture and refine their tactical identities further from the public eye than at the game’s higher levels.

There are obvious benefits for the clubs, too. Experience as a player can bring an instant credibility that makes a first-time coach look like less of a gamble. Some ex-players bring a celebrity status that can feel outsized at a lower level. Heading into 2024, Central Valley Fuego hoped that hiring Jones could provide it with a major boost.

Throughout his career, Jones played with a point to prove. After his boyhood club Eintracht Frankfurt repeatedly signed veterans instead of giving him a chance as a starter, Jones moved to Schalke 04 to prove his ability. When years of youth call-ups from Germany failed to build into an extended senior international career, he pivoted to playing for the United States, earning 69 caps for the USMNT from 2010-2017 under Bob Bradley and Jurgen Klinsmann.

By the time his career ended following stints with three MLS clubs, Jones had built a singular reputation: a determined midfielder who played with steely fixation.

“If you look at me as a player, you will look at the games and say, man, this guy is a savage, he hates losing,” Jones told Forty-One Magazine in 2023. “He would do everything to win a game.”

He added: “For me, it was important as a player. Now, going into coaching, it’s not about me.”

(Maciek Gudrymowicz / ISI Photos /USSF / Getty Images)

Central Valley Fuego FC was founded in August 2020 in Fresno, Calif., filling a void left by a previous team. Less than a year earlier, the locally beloved Fresno FC had left town after just two seasons in the second-division USL Championship. Fresno FC was competitive, but relocated about 150 miles west to Monterey, Calif., when it had issues securing land and garnering public financial support for a stadium.

The USL launched Fuego in Fresno as a third-division club. It was named in homage to a longtime local non-professional team, with local businesspersons Juan and Alicia Ruelas as the owners. Their son, Juan Jr., is also involved as managing partner.

Unfortunately, Fuego FC has struggled at the box office. League match reports put its average attendance at 674 fans per regular season game in 2024, with a limiting 1,000-person capacity at the Fresno State Soccer Stadium. For scale, every other team in the league averages at least 1,300 fans per contest.

The team’s performance hasn’t helped; it finished eighth out of 10 teams in its first season in 2022 and dead last out of 12 teams in 2023. With only a few games remaining this year, Fuego is again at the bottom of the League One standings.

Despite this, players have stuck with the club for a few key reasons. First, the checks always cleared, with the interviewed players saying they have never seen their pay delayed. Second, this level of the U.S. pyramid is notorious for roster churn, and finding stable footing at any club is a luxury. Third, some players expressed strong connections with the ownership group.

“We know it’s not always perfect,” one player said of club operations at the third-division level. “We used to always let it go, let it go. Jermaine took it to the next level.”

Only a few players headed into the long offseason after 2023 with a guarantee for this season, which is reasonably normal in the lower leagues. The players were surprised, however, when the club asked them to return for a scrimmage to impress the team’s newly appointed coach. The memo did not name the coach, and Jones was later introduced – he had clinched his first head coaching role.

But players pushed back on being called back to action early. Under the league’s collective bargaining agreement, players can’t be called back early unless their contracts are already guaranteed for the next season or unless they have revenue-generating game obligations. The scrimmage did not meet that bar and was canceled.

Before leading his new team in its first game under his guidance, Jones used a media engagement to question the loyalty of returning players.

In a February episode of the podcast “Kickin’ It,” Jones spoke with host Kate Scott and three of his former USMNT teammates: Clint Dempsey, Maurice Edu and Charlie Davies. Edu asked Jones if it’s possible, as a coach, to build unique and meaningful relationships with an entire team of players. Jones said it was possible, before quickly pivoting and saying he had cut “the whole team” besides four players when he started as coach at Fuego FC.

“Let’s make a plan. Get rid of all the guys, we don’t need them,” he said.

“I cut the whole team”

Jermaine Jones was not messing around when he joined Central Valley Fuego FC 😮

Kickin’ It is streaming NOW on Paramount Plus! pic.twitter.com/sMIYS7DMpA

— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) February 28, 2024

Jones also said that he suspected the returning players “had the other coach fired, so they would get me fired, too. I don’t need that.”

The host and Jones’ ex-teammates laughed at the candidness of his reply.

The joking tone belied the seriousness of the career implications for the athletes.

When asked why he kept any players at all, his answer was simple: “They were under contract.”

(Maciek Gudrymowicz / ISI Photos / USSF / Getty Images)

Players arrived for the preseason following the podcast’s release. Some entered with excitement about playing for an esteemed ex-player. They soon felt uncomfortable by the culture established by a famously competitive figure.

The Athletic’s interviews with Fuego personnel echoed some of the themes of the league’s investigation, including the substantiated categories of emotional misconduct, power imbalance, harassment, and a hostile environment.

The conversations made clear that players feared retribution for speaking too candidly about their experiences.

All three players interviewed claimed that, early in the season, Jones told players not to interact with the USLPA. Jones told them any issues should be handled with the team directly, they said. The interactions formed the basis of the labor complaint.

“He said we can’t talk to the players’ union, but that is our right,” said one player. “He can do just about whatever he wants to do to you. He can pretty much bully you, harass you — you will say nothing to nobody. You have to be quiet and take the harassment. If you do the right things as a club, you don’t care about getting involved with the players’ union.”

Players also said Jones repeatedly used his status as a notable ex-player to persuade players to side with him.

“He comes in here, saying he played for the U.S. national team, he’s powerful. He has friends in the federation and all over the place. He tells us that if he wants to destroy someone, he can destroy their careers,” one of the players said.

Jones also appeared to weaponize League One’s standing to assert superiority over his players.

“You know the funny thing? He said this is a s—– league,” one player said. “That’s what makes me mad. He said this is a s—– league, that we’re at the bottom of the pyramid. He said that he doesn’t even want to be here.”

Another player independently echoed that line. “This really hit me: he said if you’re 28 and still playing League One, basically you ain’t s—. You’re done. Coming from a man who’d never coached anywhere in his life.”

In the summer, Jones asked a player on the team to retire and to instead coach to open up an international slot for a prospective signee, according to the three players as well as the employee. When the player declined the coaching contract, he was frozen out of the first team, they said. That moment, along with others throughout the season, left many players struggling.

“They don’t even care about mental health,” one player said, adding: “Thank God there’s just one month left (of the season). It’s just too much.”

“Guys are afraid (to speak up), because this season is still on,” another player said. “People want a job. This man has threatened them that coaches have a union, they call each other. If any coach calls him about you, ‘imma tell them straight up you ain’t s—.’ To be honest, the experience has been horrible and traumatic.”

The situation seemed to take a turn as September came around, with Jones removed from the sideline once the USL commissioned the independent investigation and the law firm began conducting interviews.

However, Jones does not appear to have been entirely hands off as the investigation was conducted.

The players said Jones made decisions about the team even after he went on leave, as the investigation was happening. “In the first game after his leave, against Spokane (on Sept. 7), he was on the phone with one of the assistants,” one of the players said. “They took one player out, and the coaches confirmed it was Jermaine’s decision. So yeah, he’s still involved.”

The club and the league did not respond to a specific question about that assertion, which appeared to go against the outlines of Jones’ leave during the investigation.

After serving his suspension, Jones will be able to continue as the team’s coach for the 2025 season, pending a conversation with the league’s director of player welfare and safeguarding.

That said, Jones appears to be alerting other clubs to his availability, telling German outlet Sport1 in late September that he would be “a good addition” to Schalke’s coaching staff and offering his services.

No matter how Jones’ situation plays out, it’s an open question how many players from this season’s squad will be back.

“I don’t know how things are going to be, but I’m not happy here,” one of the players said, adding that he did not want to stick around in bad circumstances just to play. “I don’t know what next year is gonna be, and I don’t want to repeat the same mistake. It’s better to have a different environment than to try staying here.”

(Illustration: Meech Robinson / The Athletic. Photo: Leon Bennett / GA / The Hollywood Reporter via Getty Images)