Chicago Stars interim coach Masaki Hemmi to depart team, leaving club with third coach this season

A weird season for the Chicago Stars is about to get weirder. The club announced Tuesday in a statement that interim head coach Masaki Hemmi will be leaving "to pursue other opportunities."

The Stars did not clarify why Hemmi is departing, but said that the coaching change will take place on Thursday. Assistant coach Ella Masar will take over as Chicago's second interim coach this season.

Hemmi, who joined Chicago as an assistant coach in 2024, took over as interim head coach in April after the Stars fired Lorne Donaldson. Donaldson was let go one month into the season, after just over one year with the team.

Now, at the halfway point of the season, the Stars will be on their third coach in as many months — though a permanent coach may be coming sooner rather than later. In the statement announcing Hemmi's departure, Stars president Karen Leetzow said that the club is "well underway" in the coaching search, saying that they have narrowed the pool and "expect to appoint a new head coach soon."

"While we have a lot of building ahead, we look forward to turning the page to the second half of our season and starting a new chapter for the team," Leetzow said.

It's just the latest change in what has become a strange era for the Stars. After finishing in last place in 2023, Donaldson, formerly the coach of the Jamaica women's national team, was hired and led the team to an unexpected playoff berth last season.

But this season, the Stars have once again struggled mightily. Chicago fired Donaldson after the Stars lost five of their first six games, getting one win in April. However, the club still hasn't won a game since then, heading into the July international break with a 1W-3D-9L record and sitting in second-to-last place.

With only 10 goals, Stars have the lowest number of goals scored in the league (worse even than the league-worst Utah Royals, who have a worse goal differential but have scored 11 goals). Part of Chicago's offensive struggles are due to the absence of the club's primary offensive threat, Mallory Swanson, who is out for the season while pregnant with her first child.