North Carolina Courage head coach Sean Nahas looks on during the warmups of the game against the San Diego Wave FC at First Horizon Stadium at WakeMed Soccer Park on August 2, 2025.

The North Carolina Courage dropped an NWSL bombshell Wednesday night, ending Sean Nahas' three-and-a-half-year tenure as head coach.

The timing raised eyebrows on multiple fronts: the NWSL has only just returned to play after a summer break lasting over five weeks, and North Carolina's last result — a 0-0 home draw with the San Diego Wave — was not especially egregious or notable.

Reporters and fans couldn't help but notice the brief, terse tone of the club's announcement, which landed in inboxes at 7:45 p.m. ET and read in full:

The North Carolina Courage have terminated the contract of Head Coach Sean Nahas, effective immediately.

The North Carolina Courage remain focused on the continued development of the team and maintaining a professional, competitive environment for players, staff, and supporters.

Meanwhile, the Courage trained in North Carolina before traveling for Friday's match against the Houston Dash, with Nahas posting an Instagram story showing him and soccer-side staffers smiling in a downpour after training.

It is fair to say that 2025 has been a disappointment for North Carolina up to this point, though not really up to the level where Nahas seemed to be in a hot seat. After finishing in fifth place in 2024, the Courage enter this weekend's matches in ninth place, level with NJ/NY Gotham FC for the final playoff berth but trailing on a goal-difference tiebreaker.

Perhaps more importantly, a massive offseason move to add U.S. women's national team attacker Jaedyn Shaw has not panned out, with the 20-year-old playmaker being dropped in favor of Shinomi Koyama in matches on either side of the break.

Still, it's fair to put the situation into perspective: had North Carolina defeated San Diego on Saturday, the club would be in seventh place instead, and in that scenario would be just three points away from a top-four spot (which would, at season's end, garner a home playoff game). While the Courage have struggled for goals, they have managed to post four shutouts in just 14 games.

Moreover, Nahas helped pick up the pieces in the aftermath of Paul Riley's dismissal in the wake of allegations of sexual coercion and other misconduct substantiated by the U.S. Soccer and joint NWSL/NWSL Players Association investigations that rocked the league in 2021 and 2022. The Courage had won the NWSL Challenge Cup on his watch in 2022 and 2023, and had qualified for the playoffs in the last two seasons.

All of which made Thursday's press conference with sporting director and chief soccer officer Dr. Ceri Bowley all the more strange. Nahas was fired seemingly out of the blue, and a predictably large contingent of national NWSL media joined the Courage's regular press pack in asking for answers.

What made this moment, after the break, the right time to make the move? "It was multiple factors that go into such a decision," said Bowley. "Clearly we're looking forward to finish the season strong. We're on the cusp of the playoffs, so our primary focus is to finish the season strong, and hopefully, at the end of it, achieve our goals."

What was the primary reason to make the change? "There's always a multitude of factors that are considered, and a multitude of factors were considered in this situation."

Was this a performance-based decision? "As I've said, there's a multitude of factors that go into such a decision, and there were multiple factors that were considered at this stage."

Time and again, reporters framed their questions with the timing and the club's history with Riley in mind, and time and again the same answer came back. Bowley and a Courage spokesperson used the phrase "a multitude of factors" 10 separate times, and referred to "multiple factors" three more times, offering nearly no information on what those factors might have been.

All the club was willing to provide in terms of clarity was to concede that Nahas was present at training on Wednesday, and that the club has "no cause" to link Nahas' dismissal to his missing matches earlier in 2025 with what was referred to as medical issue.

Bowley said that longtime assistant coach Nathan Thackeray will lead the team on Friday, but that "preparations for tomorrow night's game will not be any different to what we would usually do," and that fans shouldn't expect any major revisions in terms of system, game model, or personnel.

"I don't expect to see anything that looks remarkably different to what we always try to do," said Bowley, who underlined that the club had not yet shifted its focus onto a search for a new, permanent head coach. As such, no timeline has been set on a replacement, with Thackeray given the title of "acting head coach" for now. At least in terms of public posture, this major decision hasn't even been fully processed beyond a need to show up at Shell Energy Stadium with enough players and staff to fulfill NWSL gameday standards.

Beyond that?

"We're not discussing an internal process," said the Courage's spokesperson.

Note: This article initially stated that the Courage had trained in Houston on Wednesday. This was in error, and has been corrected.

This article originally appeared on Pro Soccer Wire: 'Multitude of factors' - NC Courage offer few details on Nahas dismissal

Reporting by Jason Anderson, Pro Soccer Wire / Pro Soccer Wire

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