The Orlando Pride have fired head coach Seb Hines, effective immediately, the club announced Monday. Assistant coach Yolanda Thomas has been appointed interim head coach.
“We want to express our gratitude to Seb for the dedication, leadership and professionalism he brought to the club during his time with us,” Caitlin Carducci, the team’s vice president of soccer operations and general manager, said in a press release. “He will always have a special place in our history for helping lead the Pride to levels it had never reached before.
“However, as we look toward the club’s long-term vision and future objectives, we believe that this is the appropriate time for a leadership change. We are grateful for all that Seb has contributed and wish him nothing but success in the next chapter of his career.”
Hines, 38, joined the Pride in 2020 as assistant coach. In June 2022, he was named interim head coach after Amanda Cromwell was suspended, then was promoted to head coach in November 2022 when Cromwell was fired.
He led Orlando to the NWSL Championship in 2024 when the Pride also won the league’s Shield award for having the best record and most points for the season. He was NWSL Coach of the Year that season. Hines made history as the first Black head coach to lead a club and to win a trophy in the NWSL.
His record with Orlando was 50-40-21. Goalkeeper coach Paul Crichton, who joined ahead of the 2023 season, is departing the club alongside Hines.
Orlando has struggled this season, going just 8-12-2 with 26 points after reaching the league’s semifinals last season. The Pride are 12th in the standings with eight matches left. Orlando has lost four of their last five matches, including a 2-1 defeat at home to Utah on Saturday night that marked Hines’ final match with the club.
The Pride have been flat on offense this year outside of forward Barbra Banda, whose 13 goals account for half of the team’s total. Haley McCutcheon has three goals but no one else has more than two scores. Sitting five points out of a playoff spot, Orlando has also played more games than several teams ahead of them.
It is the second in-season coaching change for Orlando’s professional clubs in 2026. Orlando City and head coach Oscar Pareja mutually agreed to part ways March 11.
A former defender in the English Premier League, Hines is a native of Wetherby, England, and first came to Orlando in 2015 and played three seasons with Orlando City SC in Major League Soccer before retiring.
Thomas assumes the interim head coach role after serving as assistant coach with the Pride since joining ahead of the 2023 season. While with the club, Thomas also served as head coach for the U-23 U.S. Women’s Youth National Team during two camps in 2025.
Before arriving in Orlando, Thomas coached Tulsa Soccer Club and Fortuna Tulsa of the Women’s Premier Soccer League, leading the organization to Franchise of the Year honors in 2019 and 2021 while earning 2019 WPSL Red River Conference Coach of the Year recognition.
The Pride return to action Sunday at home against the Houston Dash.