Gabarra steps down as Sky Blue FC coach

Jim Gabarra, Sky Blue FC's coach and technical advisor since 2013, is no longer with the team and will reportedly take the head coaching job with the Washington Spirit.

Although no official word has come from the club, sources say players and staff were notified this morning.

This was first reported by Dan Lauretta in the Equalizer this morning. Gabarra will replace Mark Parsons as the Spirirt's coach. Parsons stepped down last week and was named the coach of the Portland Thorns FC, replacing Paul Riley.  The move would put Gabarra closer to home in Maryland. His wife, Carin, is the head women's coach at Navy.

Gabarra coached in all three versions of the United States' professional women's soccer leagues.

Gabarra has ties to Washington, D.C., having coached the Washington Freedom in the now defunct Women's United Soccer Association (WUSA) in 2001. He coached the team until the league folded in 2003, twice leading them to the final but never winning it. Gabarra stayed with the Freedom as coach when the team competed in the W-League and again when they entered the Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) league in 2007.

He resigned in 2010 and became the head coach and technical director of Sky Blue FC in 2011 in the WPS  franchise.  In his three years with the NWSL franchise, Sky Blue FC made the playoffs the first year and did not qualify the past two years.

He is married to Carin (Jennings) Gabarra, a former US Women's National Team player, and a member of the first Women's World Cup championship team in 1991, where she was named MVP of that tournament.