U.S. women’s coach leaving her post

Ellis guided Americans to back-to-back titles at World Cup during tenure

Jill Ellis, the soft-spoken English-born coach who restored the United States to its position as the preeminent force in women’s soccer, is stepping down as coach of the women’s national team, less than a month after leading the Americans to their second straight Women’s World Cup title.

Ellis, 52, plans to coach the team through its coming victory tour before leaving the post, U.S. Soccer said in a statement Tuesday afternoon. That valedictory tour will begin Saturday with a friendly against Ireland at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif. Games in Philadelphia and St. Paul, Minn., will follow at the end of the summer, with the final two to come in the fall.

“The opportunity to coach this team and work with these amazing women has been the honour of a lifetime,” Ellis said in a statement released by U.S. Soccer.

Ellis’ 2-0 victory over the Netherlands in the World Cup final July 7 was her102nd as the U.S. coach, in 127 games. (She will add to both totals during the team’s coming victory tour. Her current record with the program is 102 wins, seven losses and 18 ties.)

Ellis is the only women’s coach to have won two consecutive World Cup championships. She directed the Americans to their third world title — the team’s first since 1999 — in Canada four years ago, quieting persistent critics of her coaching methods and lineup selections, and then repeated the feat in France in early July with a virtuoso performance in which her players did not lose a game. In fact, Ellis’ teams never lost a game at the World Cup: They were 13-0-1 over the last two tournaments, outscoring their opponents by 40-6.

Her tenure coincided with a tumultuous time for the women’s team, which included national anthem protests by star forward Megan Rapinoe; a multi-year battle with U.S. Soccer over pay equity that led the players to file a federal gender discrimination lawsuit earlier this year; and, most recently, a Twitter feud between Rapinoe and U.S. President Donald Trump in the middle of the World Cup.

Ellis navigated it all by using the same methods that made her an effective coach: She stayed out of the fray, expressing support for her players at all times while avoiding antagonizing her bosses at the federation. In many ways, her tactics mirrored her coaching style; she gave her players a wide berth to express their views and their personalities in exchange for professionalism and excellence on the field.

“I’m really fortunate to have an incredibly professional group of women,” Ellis had said on the eve of the World Cup, when she was asked if the team’s fights with the federation had placed her in an awkward position as a federation employee.

“The players understand that we support them, that we have their backs on and off the field, and we have to be this way. It’s just natural when you come together and go off to try to accomplish something incredibly huge.”

Ellis has served as national team coach since 2014, but her association with the program goes back nearly two decades.