Sunil Gulati introduced interim coach Jill Ellis as the head coach for the U.S. Women's National Team on Friday, just 40 days after U.S. Soccer announced Tom Sermanni would be relieved of his coaching duties. She was chosen over Tony DiCicco, the last U.S. WNT coach to win a World Cup and Tony Gustavsson, head coach of Tyreso FC in Sweden.
Ellis, 47, certainly has an impressive resume. She has over 25 years of coaching experience at both the college and international levels.
During her 12 year stint at the University of California, Los Angeles, Ellis led the Lady Bruins to an incredible eight NCAA final four appearances. She was named the 2000 NSCAA National Coach of the Year after leading them to a final four appearance in just her second season as head coach.
Ellis was also the assistant to former U.S. WNT coach Pia Sundhage. When Sundhage left in 2012, it was Ellis that stepped in as interim head coach. Ellis has also been the Development Director for the U.S. Soccer Federation since 2010.
With qualifying for the 2015 Women's World Cup just a few months away, hiring Ellis was definitely a smart choice. She is already very familiar with the players, meaning there will be little transition. As far as the future, Ellis has already been in a position in which she coached and developed young college players. The future seems to be in good hands.
Ellis understands the great pressure she is under from not only Gulati and his staff, but from the fans as well. She knows that anything less than a World Cup victory is unacceptable. U.S. Soccer believes Ellis could end the U.S. WNT's World Cup trophy drought that began in 1999. 16 years is far too long for a program of this caliber to not have won a World Cup.
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