After winning back-to-back World Cups, the coach of the US women’s team, Jill Ellis, is stepping away on a high note.
Ellis, who was born in England but is an American citizen, will stay on until October for an upcoming five-game victory tour of friendly games around the US before leaving the role she has held since 2014. Her contract expires on Wednesday, but Ellis declined an option which would have kept her at the helm for next summer’s Olympics.
“When I accepted the head coaching position this was the timeframe I envisioned,” Ellis said in a statement on Tuesday. “The timing is right to move on and the program is positioned to remain at the pinnacle of women’s soccer. Change is something I have always embraced in my life and for me and my family this is the right moment.”
Sources say the decision to step down came from Ellis, who is the first coach to win back-to-back World Cups in 81 years. At this year’s World Cup, which ended three weeks ago, the US dominated as they set a record for the most goals scored in one tournament.
Ellis will remain with US Soccer for another year in an “ambassador” role. After that, it’s unclear where Ellis can go. She was believed to be the highest paid women’s coach in the world. Sources have told the Guardian that Ellis wanted a new contract in the lead-up to this year’s World Cup, but US Soccer denied that and instead amended her deal to give her a raise, taking her salary from around $300,000 to $500,000.
One obvious landing place for Ellis would have been as US Soccer’s general manager, a role that was created in 2017 and has yet to be filled. But sources say Ellis is not in the running for the job. US Soccer said on Tuesday that a GM announcement “will take place soon”.
Tony Gustavsson, Ellis’s assistant coach and the man who could be seen giving the players instructions during games, also steps down. Sources tell the Guardian he has not decided on his next move and will take a break in his native Sweden.
Ellis, 52, took over the USWNT’s head coaching job in 2014 after the players pushed out coach Tom Sermanni. It wasn’t always easy for Ellis either. In 2017, a group of players approached US Soccer to raise concerns about her leadership and push for a coaching change.
Sources tell the Guardian that the players were concerned with dropped results and a lack of communication from Ellis, who would spring experimental roles on players with little warning. Some players felt they learned more about Ellis’s plans from what she told the media than what she told her own players.
But the team went into this summer’s World Cup united, with many players telling reporters that the 2019 team was the most tight-knit one they have ever been a part of. Some cited the rigor Ellis put the players through, cutting veterans and forcing them to win their spots back while giving rookies opportunities.
“In the past, the young ones have really had to earn it and sit on the bench for years before you get a few caps,” Becky Sauerbrunn said after this month’s World Cup final. “But Jill shook that up and said ‘No, I’m trying these players out even if it’s their first camp.’ We had to change our mindset. That changed the chemistry and we folded the young players in a lot earlier.”
Ellis, a native of a small town near Portsmouth in England, grew up at a time when football was banned for women in the UK. Ellis later moved to the United States where opportunities were better for female footballers.
“I truly think if I had stayed in England, I’m not sure I would be coaching,” she said during the World Cup in France. “What America gave me was a dream and the opportunity and ability to follow that path, which I really had never dreamed about. I just feel very fortunate to be here.”
England have progressed rapidly in the women’s game over the past several years but Ellis, who is a naturalized American citizen, has built a life in Florida with her wife and daughter. Ellis has also worked for US Soccer in various roles for the past two decades.
Now, with less than a year until the Tokyo Olympics, the USWNT are without a coach. After US Soccer announces its new general manager, a search for Ellis’s replacement will begin, the federation said.
