NSCAA News: World Cup Winning Coach, Jill Ellis, Named 2015 NSCAA Honorary All-American
U.S. Women’s National Team head coach Jill Ellis has been named the 2015 Honorary All-American by the National Soccer Coaches Association of America.
The NSCAA Honorary All-America award is presented to a person who, throughout their career on and off the field, has brought particular distinction to the sport of soccer. Ellis will be recognized on Saturday, Jan. 16, 2016 at the NSCAA All-America Luncheon at the 2016 Convention.
Due to prior obligations with the Women’s National Team training, Ellis will accept her award by video. John Daly, current women’s coach at the College of William & Mary and Ellis’ coach during her collegiate playing career there, will accept her award in January on her behalf.
“I wish I could be in Baltimore to accept the award in person, but of course, the pursuit of the next challenge on the field waits for no one and we have an important training camp in Los Angeles to prepare for Olympic qualifying,” Ellis said. “I remember accepting my All-American award as a player back in the olden days and it still means a lot to me, so to be recognized by the NSCAA, which has done so much great work for coaches and players over the years, is a tremendous honor.
“To have John Daly accept the award on my behalf also means a great deal to me, as well as he certainly had a major impact on my coaching and my life. It was an amazing year for women’s soccer in the USA and I’m really proud of our players and staff for all the work they put in to become World Cup champions.”
NSCAA CEO Lynn Berling-Manuel said, “Coach Ellis’ leadership helped the U.S. Women’s National Team succeed in one of its toughest World Cup’s ever. It’s a great pleasure to get to honor her for an entire career of soccer excellence.”
Ellis was named the U.S. Women’s National Team head coach on a permanent basis in May 2014, and a little over a year later, led the United States to the 2015 FIFA World Cup Championship title. It was the Women’s National Team’s third overall World Cup title, and the first since 1999.
Ellis was named US Soccer Development Director in 2010, and served as interim head coach in 2012 and again in 2014. In her 45 matches leading the Women’s National Team, Ellis’ record is 34-2-10 overall.
Ellis was also an assistant USWNT coach in 2008, and again from 2011-12. From 2000 through 2010, she also coached the U.S. U-21 and U-20 U.S. Women’s National Teams.
Prior to her work with the U.S. Women’s National Team, Ellis was head women’s coach at UCLA for 11 seasons. She led the Bruin program to eight NCAA Final Four appearances and six straight Pac-12 Conference titles (2003-08). Ellis was named NSCAA NCAA Division I Women’s Coach of the Year in 2000, and when all was said and done, finished with a 229-45-14 coaching record at UCLA. Along with her two seasons as head coach at Illinois, Ellis’s all-time head college coaching record stands at 248-63-14.
Before her assent to collegiate head coach, Ellis was an assistant coach at NC State, Maryland, and Virginia.
Ellis did not play organized soccer until her family moved from Portsmouth, England, to the United States in 1981. She was the captain of her high school squad at Robinson Secondary School in Fairfax, Virginia, and won the state championship in 1984. She went on to play a William & Mary as a forward from 1984-87. She was named an NSCAA All-American in her senior season.
Ellis has previously served as a member of the NSCAA Coaching Academy staff.
