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Jillian Anne Ellis (born 6 September 1966) is an English-American
soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
coach and executive who is currently the president of
San Diego Wave FC San Diego Wave FC is a National Women's Soccer League expansion team that began play in 2022. The team is based in San Diego, San Diego, California. The team is owned by Ron Burkle. The team is the San Diego area's first women's professional soc ...
. Ellis coached the United States women's national soccer team from 2014 to October 2019 and won two FIFA Women's World Cups in 2015 and 2019, making her the second coach to win consecutive World Cups. She stepped away from being USWNT’s head coach in October 2019 and currently serves as an ambassador for the United States Soccer Federation, with her focus being on working with the federation to help raise the number of women in coaching. She has also served as head coach for various college and United States national youth teams over her career.


Early life and playing career

Ellis did not play organised football until her family moved to the United States in 1981, as there was no organised football for girls in the UK in the 1970s. She captained the Robinson Secondary School team in Fairfax, Virginia to the 1984 state championship and won the under-19 national title with the Braddock Road Bluebelles the same summer. She went on to play as a
forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...
at William & Mary from 1984 to 1987, when she was named third-team All-American. She scored 32 goals during her four seasons at the school.


Coaching and administrative career

Ellis has a USSF Pro coaching licence; with coaching experiences that includes multiple stints for the under-20 and under-21 national teams, and an impressive record as a UCLA Bruins coach. She is the Development Director of United States Soccer Federation. She served as assistant coach of the women's national team, head coach of a number of women youth teams, and was the interim coach of the senior women's national team in 2012, and for 2 matches in 2014. She was appointed the permanent head coach of United States women in May 2014.


College coaching

Ellis served as an assistant coach for three universities: at Maryland for three years, 1994–96; at Virginia for one year, 1996–97; and at NC State for another three years, 1988–90. As an assistant coach at N.C. State, Ellis helped the NC State secure the 1988
Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Associa ...
title and an NCAA Women's College Cup appearance. Ellis headed the Illinois women's soccer program for two years, 1997–1999. In 1998, she brought the Fighting Illini to a 12–8 record and a first-ever Big Ten Tournament berth. Ellis led UCLA to eight NCAA Women's College Cups, including seven in a row from 2003–2009, and won six straight
Pacific-10 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS; formerly Division ...
titles from 2003–2008. She finished her time in Westwood with a record of 229 wins, 45 losses and 14 draws (229–45–14). She was the 2000
NSCAA The United Soccer Coaches (formerly known as the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)) is an organization of American soccer coaches founded in 1941. It is the largest soccer coaches organization in the world, with more than 30 ...
National Coach of the Year after leading the Bruins to the NCAA championship game in just her second season as head coach. Ellis has an all-time collegiate coaching record of 248 wins, 63 losses and 14 draws (248–63–14), compiled over 14 years with the Illinois Fighting Illini and UCLA Bruins.


National youth teams manager

Ellis was the head coach of the United States under-21 women's national football teams, coaching a team to win the Nordic Cup title at Germany 2000 and to Sweden's 2005 Nordic Cup. In another stint as youth team's head coach, she guided the U.S. under-20 women’s national team to the CONCACAF title in 2010 and to the
FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup The FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup is an international association football tournament, organized by FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association), for national teams of women under the age of 20. The tournament is held in even-numbere ...
in Germany.


National Development Director

Ellis was appointed by
U.S. Soccer The United States Soccer Federation (USSF), commonly referred to as U.S. Soccer, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and the official governing body of the sport of soccer in the United States. Headquartered in Chicago, the federation is a ...
as Development Director for the U.S. women's national teams in January 2011. The appointment, along with
April Heinrichs April Dawn Heinrichs (born February 27, 1964) is an American former soccer player and coach. She was among the first players on the United States women's national soccer team, and was captain of the United States team which won the first ever FIF ...
as Technical Director, marked the first time U.S. Soccer had appointed full-time positions to oversee the programs and development of national women's youth teams. As Development Director, Ellis interacts directly with coaches within the youth club leagues and guides the U.S. under-17, under-15 and under-14 teams.


National team manager

Ellis was a scout for the U.S. women's national team at the Sydney 2000 Olympics, and while coach of the UCLA Bruins Ellis also served as an assistant coach under Pia Sundhage for the gold medal-winning U.S. women’s national team at the
Beijing 2008 Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nati ...
.


2012 interim coach

Following Sundhage's departure on 1 September 2012, for
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
, Ellis (as women's national team program development director) served as the interim head coach until U.S. Soccer hired Tom Sermanni as the full-time head coach on 1 January 2013. Ellis's first appearances as head coach of United States women's national soccer team was against Germany, on 20 October 2012, at Bridgeview, Illinois, and on 23 October at
Hartford, Connecticut Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since the ...
. The international friendly matches were part of a series organized to celebrate the winning of the gold medal at the
2012 Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
. The first match finished at 1–1 and the second at 2–2. With a match against
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...
on 15 December 2012, Ellis completed her first stint as interim head coach of U.S. women's national team with 5 wins, 2 draws, and no loss.


2014 interim coach

On 6 April 2014, U.S. Soccer announced the firing of Tom Sermanni and re-appointment of Ellis as interim head coach of the United States women's national soccer team. As interim head coach in 2014, Ellis had a 3–0 win against China and a 1–1 draw with Canada.


2014 appointment as head coach

On 16 May 2014, U.S. Soccer announced that Ellis had been appointed as the national team's head coach on a permanent basis. Ellis's job as head coach was to qualify for the 2015 Women's World Cup and win the championship. On 5 July 2015, she coached the United States to a 5–2 victory over
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
to win the World Cup. Ellis was honored as 2015 FIFA World Coach of the Year for Women's Football on 11 January 2016. According to an investigation, Ellis was one of the USWNT leaders who did not take action after being told of a "hostile oachingenvironment" in 2014, and receiving in 2015 a player survey with "quite disturbing" allegations including sexual harassment. In 2016, the U.S. women's national team recorded five shutout wins to secure the
2016 CONCACAF Women's Olympic Qualifying Championship The 2016 CONCACAF Women's Olympic Qualifying Championship was the 4th edition of the CONCACAF Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament, the quadrennial international football tournament organized by CONCACAF to determine which women's national team ...
. However, the team struggled during the
2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...
, drawing against
Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...
in the group stage and eliminated to eventual silver medal winners
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...
— a team led by former national team coach Pia Sundhage — 4–3 on penalty kicks after drawing in regulation and extra time. The loss marked the first time that the U.S. women's national team did not advance to the gold medal game of the Olympics, as well as the first time that the team failed to advance to the semifinal round of a major tournament. The effort was further marred when U.S. goalkeeper Hope Solo called the Swedish team "cowards" for their defensive tactics. Ellis would later cite those comments as part of the reason why U.S. Soccer terminated Solo's contract and suspended her from the team. The U.S. women's national team won four subsequent international friendly matches (9–0 against Thailand, 3–1 against the Netherlands, and 4–0 and 5–1 in two matches against Switzerland). The latter two friendlies featured the largest squad turnover of Ellis's tenure as she brought in 11 uncapped players, started or played 6 of them, and left several regular players out of camp. Before the friendly against Thailand, Ellis asked U.S. women's national team midfielder Megan Rapinoe not to kneel during the pre-game performance of the
United States national anthem "The Star-Spangled Banner" is the national anthem of the United States. The lyrics come from the "Defence of Fort M'Henry", a poem written on September 14, 1814, by 35-year-old lawyer and amateur poet Francis Scott Key after witnessing the b ...
. Rapinoe had done so before matches with her
National Women's Soccer League The National Women's Soccer League (NWSL) is a professional women's soccer league at the top of the United States league system. It is owned by the teams and, until 2020, was under a management contract with the United States Soccer Federatio ...
team, Seattle Reign FC, prior to camp in support of other professional athletes' similar protests. Despite Ellis's request, she did not punish Rapinoe after the game. On 7 July 2019 she led the United States Women's National Team to win its fourth World Cup and its second consecutive. In the final match against Netherlands in Lyon, France, the team won 2–0. The 2019 World Cup Champion Team beat the world record for most goals in a tournament with 26 goals. She became not only the first manager to win two Women's World Cup titles in history, but also the first national team coach, men's or women's, to have won two consecutive FIFA World Cup titles since Vittorio Pozzo guided Italy's men's national football team to two consecutive titles in both
1934 Events January–February * January 1 – The International Telecommunication Union, a specialist agency of the League of Nations, is established. * January 15 – The 8.0 1934 Nepal–Bihar earthquake, Nepal–Bihar earthquake strik ...
and
1938 Events January * January 1 ** The Constitution of Estonia#Third Constitution (de facto 1938–1940, de jure 1938–1992), new constitution of Estonia enters into force, which many consider to be the ending of the Era of Silence and the a ...
. On 30 July 2019,
U.S. Soccer The United States Soccer Federation (USSF), commonly referred to as U.S. Soccer, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and the official governing body of the sport of soccer in the United States. Headquartered in Chicago, the federation is a ...
announced that Ellis would be stepping down as coach of the Women's National Team. She will remain with the team through the World Cup victory tour. Following her departure, she will continue to work with U.S. Soccer in the role of Ambassador.


Coaching record


Personal life

Ellis grew up in
Cowplain Cowplain is a village north of Waterlooville, Hampshire, England. With a population of 9,353 at the 2011 census, it makes up above 7% of Havant borough's population. It grew along the old London to Portsmouth road (the A3) on which the village ...
, a small village near Portsmouth on the southern coast of England and was a supporter of
Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...
. She attended Padnell Junior School and Cowplain School. Naturally athletic, she ran track and field, and played field hockey and netball, but did not play organized soccer as it was considered "unladylike" in 1970s Britain. She would, however, tag along with her brother Paul and play with the boys whenever they needed an extra player. Her father, John Ellis, a former
Royal Marines The Corps of Royal Marines (RM), also known as the Royal Marines Commandos, are the UK's special operations capable commando force, amphibious light infantry and also one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy. The Corps of Royal Marine ...
commando, was a longtime soccer ambassador for the British government, assigned to help create soccer programs worldwide, including in Trinidad and Tobago and in Singapore. In 1981, the Ellis family moved to Northern Virginia, where he founded Soccer Academy in Manassas. Her brother Paul also became a soccer coach, coaching area high school teams and serving as an assistant coach at George Mason before taking a full-time position at Soccer Academy Inc. Ellis earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature and Composition at the College of William and Mary in 1988. She was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree in 2016, and was inducted into
Omicron Delta Kappa Omicron Delta Kappa (), also known as The Circle and ODK, is one of the most prestigious honor societies in the United States with chapters at more than 300 college campuses. It was founded December 3, 1914, at Washington and Lee University in ...
as an alumni member at the College of William and Mary in 2019. She also did work towards a master's degree in technical writing at
North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest university in the Carolinas. The universit ...
. Her mother Margaret "was horrified", on learning of her plan to give up her lucrative job as a technical writer at Northern Telecom to work as an assistant coach with subsistence pay, while John advised her to "do something substantial" instead. Ellis lives in Palmetto Bay, Florida, a suburb of Miami, with her wife Betsy Stephenson, whom she married in 2013, and their adopted daughter Lily Stephenson-Ellis. Ellis, along with her parents and brother, are naturalized American citizens.


Honors

* Third-Team All-American in 1987 at College of William and Mary


Managerial honors

Collegiate As assistant coach of NC State Wolfpack: * 1988
Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate athletic conference located in the eastern United States. Headquartered in Greensboro, North Carolina, the ACC's fifteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Associa ...
title As head coach of UCLA Bruins: * The 2000
NSCAA The United Soccer Coaches (formerly known as the National Soccer Coaches Association of America (NSCAA)) is an organization of American soccer coaches founded in 1941. It is the largest soccer coaches organization in the world, with more than 30 ...
National Coach of the Year * Six straight
Pacific-10 Conference The Pac-12 Conference is a collegiate athletic conference, that operates in the Western United States, participating in 24 sports at the NCAA Division I level. Its football teams compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS; formerly Division ...
titles from 2003–08 United States Women As coach of youth teams: * Nordic Cup title at Germany 2000 under-21 tournament * 2010 under-20 CONCACAF title As assistant coach of senior team: * Beijing 2008 Olympic Gold medal As head coach of senior team: * 2014 CONCACAF Women's Championship (1st place) * 2015 Algarve Cup (1st place) *
FIFA Women's World Cup The FIFA Women's World Cup is an international association football competition contested by the senior women's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association ( FIFA), the sport's international governing bo ...
:
2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...
,
2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...
* 2015 CONCACAF Women's Coach of the Year *
2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...
,
2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...
FIFA World Women's Coach of the Year


See also

* Vittorio Pozzo, the first manager to win FIFA World Cup consecutively while coaching the same team. * 2010 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup squads *
2014 CONCACAF Women's Championship squads This article describes about the squads for the 2014 CONCACAF Women's Championship. Group A Guatemala The squad was announced on 30 September 2014. Head coach: Benjamín Monterroso Haiti The squad was announced on 8 Octob ...


References

Match reports


External links


U.S. Soccer coach biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ellis, Jillian 1966 births Living people United States women's national soccer team managers Pan American Games competitors for the United States English emigrants to the United States William & Mary Tribe women's soccer players American women's soccer coaches 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup managers Footballers from Portsmouth North Carolina State University alumni UCLA Bruins women's soccer coaches Illinois Fighting Illini women's soccer coaches Lesbian sportswomen LGBT association football players American LGBT sportspeople English LGBT sportspeople FIFA Women's World Cup-winning managers LGBT people from Virginia Female association football managers People from Palmetto Bay, Florida Women's association football forwards American women's soccer players Robinson Secondary School alumni 2019 FIFA Women's World Cup managers American Olympic coaches National Women's Soccer League executives English people of Scottish descent