Embroiled in the Paris Olympic drone-spying scandal that has already cost Canadian women’s head coach Bev Priestman her job, Herdman resigned Friday as coach of Toronto FC.

With the scandal not going away, Herdman opted to step aside rather than have the matter around his neck like an albatross.

Canada Soccer announced July 31 it had retained Sonia Regenbogen from the law firm of Mathews, Dinsdale & Clark to handle the review of the Olympic incident “and subsequently, any related matters of a historic nature.”

A former Canada women’s and men’s coach, Herdman has been linked to a culture of spying within Canada Soccer. The fact that he did not speak to Regenbogen added fuel to the fire when the report finally came out.

Herdman declined to publicly address such allegations, citing the “integrity of the investigation.” But he maintained his record was clean at the Olympics and World Cups.