With back-to-back World Cups, Jill Ellis cemented her place in USWNT lore.
The United States Women’s National Team cannot be in a higher place than it is now.
Winning its second straight World Cup, doing so with a swagger unlike anything that has been seen in women’s soccer and boasting a slew of personalities, the USWNT’s reputation as the gold standard in women’s soccer is basically set in stone.
The person that has overseen this run of success over the last five years has been head coach Jill Ellis. Her record since taking over the USWNT speaks for itself; 102-7-18 heading into Saturday’s match against Ireland at the Rose Bowl, two World Cup titles, an Algarve Cup and two SheBelieves Cup titles, her credentials are impeccable. So when Ellis announced on Tuesday that she would step down after the team’s victory tour in October, the announcement sent shockwaves.
“Jill has done so much for this team and the sport,” Samantha Mewis said. “We’re really proud of her and happy for her, and there will be some big shoes to fill.”
One might wonder why now. Her reputation among the best managers in women’s soccer is rock solid, and the Olympics are just 11 months away. However, when you look back, a decision like this shouldn’t be all that surprising. Ellis has been a part of the USWNT program since 2008, when she was hired as an assistant to Pia Sundhage and helped lead them to the Gold Medal at that year’s Olympic Games in Beijing. Ellis has also managed numerous youth teams and had two separate stints as the head coach of the senior team prior to her getting the job full time. Given all that, plus Ellis’ desire to spend more time with her family, one could understand the desire for some time off.
“I just felt he timing was right,” Ellis said of her decision to step down later in the year. “The timing was right for the next head coach, the timing was right from a personal level with my family.”
The position of the USWNT when Ellis took over was not the same as it is now. While the team was still regarded as one of the top teams in the World, the team was in a state of turmoil. The US had finished seventh in the Algarve Cup in 2014 and head coach Tom Sermanni was fired. Ellis coached the team for two games following Sermanni’s dismissal, both wins, and on May 16, 2014, Ellis was given the job full time.
Ellis’ appointment was not met with much fanfare, and her stint as head coach at UCLA gave some fans a reason for concern. While she had built a powerhouse at UCLA, she was never able to win the College Cup. Ellis however started to quell those concerns, first by winning the CONCACAF Championship in October 2014 to qualify for the 2015 World Cup, then winning the 2015 Algarve Cup five months later.
Still, when the US kicked off its World Cup campaign in Winnipeg, not many people knew what to expect. The US won its group and defensively became a juggernaut, shutting out its opponents for four straight games. It was the fifth game that the US got another shutout that the narrative around Ellis began to change, as the US won a tense 2-0 semifinal match with fellow powerhouse Germany that sent the US to the final, and the US finally reclaimed the World Cup with a 5-2 rout of Japan in Vancouver. Ellis was recognized as the FIFA Coach of the Year for Women’s Football.
Things however did not go swimmingly for Ellis following the World Cup win. The very next year, the US was knocked out of the Olympics in Brazil in the quarterfinals, the first time that it had failed to advance to the gold medal game. After a subpar performance in the Tournament of Nations in 2017, questions swirled about her job security, but a meeting with Ellis, the players and then-US Soccer president Sunil Gulati most likely saved her job. Since then, Ellis has won 39 games, gotten five draws and lost only once, which was capped off with the recently concluded World Cup.
“You always think about medals and matches as it relates with this team, but it is more than that,” Ellis said. “The moments that truly make you feel, those are the moments you remember. It was seeing the video of Sammy Mewis’ parents celebrating, it was seeing Carly score in a fourth World Cup, those are really special moments. All of it together is amazing.”
Looking back, it was certainly a wild ride for Ellis and the USWNT. It was filled with all sorts of highs, starting with the two World Cups, and some lows. Still there is no doubt about Ellis’ place in USWNT history. What made Ellis stood out was her ability to manage the massive personalities on the team and still get results.
“When I look at the team and how it was run, it’s hard for me to imagine that any program in any sport would have this level of meticulous details controlled,” Christen Press said. “Jill was able to do that because she was in the system before she was the head coach and everything flourished around her and with her.
As the USWNT prepares for these last few matches with Jill Ellis, you can’t help but look back at the state of the program prior to her tenure and where she will leave it once her tenure ends. Granted things always didn’t go smoothly, but there’s no doubt that the program is in a much better place today, and that should make things easier for the next manager.
“The world is open for her to do whatever she wants,” Backy Sauerbrunn said. “Ending it on a win and a World Cup win back to back, its historic and for her, its a great way to bookend her senior coaching career.”
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