From Fairfax, VA, Jill Ellis showed her love for soccer at an early age back in her native country, England. While opportunities to play organized soccer were not available to girls in the U.K., Ellis would quickly show her talents once in Virginia. As part of Robinson Secondary School’s varsity team, she captained the side to a VHSL State Championship in 1984, and later that summer would help lead the under-19 Braddock Road Bluebelles to a National Championship. Ellis would go on to play for William and Mary women’s soccer as a forward, scoring 32 goals during her four-year tenure and being named third-team All-American after the 1987 season. She helped the Tribe to the NCAA tournament in all four seasons, including a trip to the Elite Eight in 1987. Her impact on the game would continue from the sidelines. Following stints as an assistant coach with North Carolina State University, University of Maryland, and University of Virginia, Ellis spent the next 14 seasons as an NCAA Division-I head coach with Illinois (2-seasons), and UCLA (12 seasons). During that time, she compiled a record of 248-63-14. With UCLA, she led the Bruins to 8 NCAA College Cups, including seven in a row (2003-2009) and won six straight Pacific-10 Conference titles from 2003-2008, and earned NSCAA National Coach of the Year in 2000. While a D-I head coach, Ellis began work with the United States Soccer Federation. In 2008 and 2012, Ellis served as an assistant coach when the USA won two Olympic gold medals. In 2014 was named head coach for the U.S. Women’s National Team, having previously served as interim coach in 2012. Over the next 5 years, Ellis would lead the USWNT to unprecedented levels of success, winning back-to-back Women’s World Cup Championships in 2015 and 2019, becoming just the second head coach in FIFA World Cup history, men’s, or women’s, to accomplish that feat. She was named FIFA Women’s World Coach of the Year in both 2015 and 2019. She retired from the USWNT in 2019 with a record of 106-19-7 (wins-ties-losses). In 2021, Ellis was appointed Team President for San Diego Wave F.C. in the National Women’s Soccer League, a role she still holds to this day. She has previously been inducted into the U.S. Soccer Hall of Fame (2023).
