{"id":893,"date":"2020-03-17T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-03-17T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/reports\/the-big-interview-jill-ellis-american-dream\/"},"modified":"2025-12-15T05:12:22","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T05:12:22","slug":"the-american-dream","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/the-american-dream\/","title":{"rendered":"The Big Interview: Jill Ellis’ American Dream"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n
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\n Mar 17, 2020 <\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>Articles<\/a>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t

The Big Interview: Jill Ellis’ American Dream<\/h1>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\n \n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Category<\/div>\n Leadership & Culture<\/a> <\/div>\n
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https:\/\/leadersinsport.com\/performance-institute\/articles\/the-american-dream\/<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/section>\n\n\n
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Jill Ellis, the former Head Coach of the US Women’s National Soccer Team, on reaching the top of the world… twice.<\/p>\n \n \n \n

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The Big Interview brought to you in association with<\/p>\n

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Jill Ellis offers the Leaders <\/span>Performance Institute a friendly handshake with a warm smile of recognition.\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n
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By John Portch with Matthew Stone<\/h6>\n

\u201cHow are you?\u201d she asks. \u201cIt is good to see you again.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Just three days earlier, Ellis completed her 132<\/span>nd<\/span>\u00a0and final outing as Head Coach of the U<\/span>nited\u00a0<\/span>S<\/span>tates<\/span>\u00a0women\u2019s national team. A 1-1 draw with South Korea at Soldier Field in Chicago saw her finish with a record of 106 wins, 19 draws and seven defeats.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Her remarkable five-year stint takes in back-to-back\u00a0<\/span>Fifa<\/span>\u00a0Women\u2019s World Cup triumphs and Ellis departed as the\u00a0<\/span>most successful<\/span>\u00a0coach in the program\u2019s history.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a sense of feeling like it\u2019s a story written and it\u2019s a chapter closed and it\u2019s on to other things,\u201d an emotional Ellis said during her valedictory press conference, her voice breaking with tears in her eyes. \u201cBut it’s been an unbelievable journey.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That journey has now brought her back to London in her native England where this evening she will win the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2019 Leaders Sports Awards at\u00a0<\/span>South\u00a0<\/span>Kensington\u2019s Natural History Museum.<\/span>\u00a0Beforehand, w<\/span>e meet in the plush Hyde Bar at the Park Tower Hotel in nearby Knightsbridge.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The last time we met had, by coincidence, been at Soldier Field two years earlier when she attended first the P8 Summit [\u201cone of the most memorable moments I\u2019ve had in learning about leadership\u201d] and then spoke onstage at the 2017 Leaders Sport Performance Summit just months before she earned her coaching Pro License from the US Soccer Federation. Though two years out from the World Cup in France, she left us in no uncertain terms that the preparations were well underway on a personal and team level.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She had barely taken the applause of the audience that afternoon when she jumped in a taxi to be whisked away to another national team eng<\/span>agement.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Long-time readers may also recall that Ellis first spoke to our <\/span>Performance<\/span><\/i> journal in 2015, a matter of weeks after her United States side won the 2015 <\/span>Fifa<\/span>\u00a0Women\u2019s World Cup. That day, the conversation took place over the phone, with Ellis sat in an airport departure lounge waiting to board\u00a0<\/span>yet\u00a0<\/span>another\u00a0<\/span>flight.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

These encounters served as a reminder of the hectic schedule of the Head Coach of the USNWT and she will still travel home and abroad in her role as an Ambassador for US Soccer, which she will hold until the end of 2020. There seems little doubt that her services will be in high demand should she wish to return to the dugout.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The focus this afternoon, however, is her coaching career so far. \u201cIt\u2019s a bit loud in here so maybe the lobby would be better?\u201d she helpfully suggests, mindful of our recorder and the loud ambient music\u00a0<\/span>of<\/span>\u00a0the Hyde.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She spies a free table in a corner of the\u00a0<\/span>hotel\u00a0<\/span>lobby. Soon, another taxi will arrive, this time to take Ellis to the Natural History Museum, but there is time enough for her to reflect on her coaching journey so far.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018No one was too small\u2019<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ellis, who emigrated to the United States with her family in 1981, enjoyed a distinguished high school and college football career at the College of William & Mary in Virgin<\/span>i<\/span>a.\u00a0<\/span>She progressed to<\/span>\u00a0North Carolina State\u00a0<\/span>where she studied for\u00a0<\/span>master\u2019s degree in technical communication<\/span>\u00a0while<\/span> working as an assistant coach on the school\u2019s women\u2019s soccer program. She had also taken a position as a technical writer in a local telecommunications company; not that she found it fulfilling. \u201cThe money was decent but it was not my passion,\u201d she tells the Leaders Performance Institute<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She was to last 18 months in that office. The turning point was a call from April Heinrichs, a former United States striker who had just been made Head Coach of the Maryland women\u2019s program. Heinrichs\u00a0<\/span>had enjoyed a working relationship with Ellis\u2019 father, John, who was himself a soccer coach of some repute, and she wanted Jill to join her coaching staff. Ellis jumped at the chance, despite admitting that her mother was distraught at the idea of her daughter walking away from a promising career. John Ellis, however,\u00a0<\/span>seeing<\/span>\u00a0himself reflected in Jill<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0offered her the encouragement she needed.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ellis would go on to serve as an assistant at Maryland for three seasons, then at Virginia for one, before she was offered the opportunity to build the University of Illinois\u2019 women\u2019s program from scratch in 1997.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Those two years spent in the Midwest, her first as a head coach, shaped her style as a leader who brings together individual talents for the collective good. One name on campus sticks out in particular, that of Lon Kruger, who coached the men\u2019s basketball programme at the time.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI purposefully went to different trainings,\u201d she recalls. \u201cI went to see the football team practice and then I went to watch Lon\u2019s because I always think you can pick up something in how someone structures something.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat struck me with Lon was he knew the janitor\u2019s name, he knew the secretary\u2019s name; he knew every coach in there and, to be fair, in a lot of the colleges I\u2019ve been at, the basketball and football coaches are almost in a separate realm and they don\u2019t have the time or the energy to really connect and get to know people. Lon struck me with the way he carried himself and how he treated people; nobody was too small.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPeople always reference humility and it was really imprinted on me that you\u2019re not above people and you really get the most out of people by working with them and connecting with them. I think Lon was just a really good role model for me.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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It\u2019s having an appreciation for the players, not as commodities on the field but their lives outside.<\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n
Jill Ellis<\/h6>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Her next move was to UCLA,\u00a0<\/span>where she led the Bruins to eight NCAA final fours during her 11 years as Head Coach.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>It was in LA that Ellis began her fruitful working relationship with US Soccer. Early roles included Head Coach of the under-21s, followed by the under-20s, and she also served as an opposition scout for the senior team ahead of their gold medal-winning 2008 Olympics campaign in Beijing.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ellis later joined senior Head Coach Pia Sundhage\u2019s coaching staff<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0but temporarily took the reins herself following the Swede\u2019s departure in 2012. She again filled the role on an interim basis in April 2014 before\u00a0<\/span>her<\/span>\u00a0appointment was made permanent the following month.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In her time as Head Coach, Ellis impressed observers with her ability to connect with players in the goldfish bowl that the USWNT can be, particularly ahead of major tournaments where the team is expected to top the podium<\/span>\u00a0as a matter of course<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A cursory glance at her roster for France reveals unparalleled talent but also disparate characters across the 23 players. \u201cThe reality is that you\u2019re going to be closer to some players than others; I think that\u2019s a natural human dynamic in the office, the classroom, anywhere,\u201d she says. \u201c<\/span>It\u2019s having an appreciation for the players, not as commodities on the field but their lives outside.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOne of the things I was asked a lot going through the World Cup was \u2018how do you manage your players having a voice about social or political issues?\u2019 and I remember saying, \u2018As long as nothing is a detriment to the performance on the field, you\u2019ve got to appreciate that you are together. You become a\u00a0<\/span>family; just like any dinner table you have a conversation; people do have issues. Enabling people to express themselves, to be able to have a voice, I think it tips your hat to it being not just what they do for 90 minutes between the white lines.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It was something she learnt well in the college environment. \u201cWhen you\u2019re dealing with the college-age player,\u201d she explains, \u201cYou get to know about the context of the player. You don\u2019t just recruit them, you get to know their family, you see them regularly and you see more of their lives; it\u2019s the academics, the social piece; it\u2019s the total fabric of your players, who are more than just athletes.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The national team setting provides a different challenge. \u201cConnectivity is important regardless of which platform you\u2019re on but with the national team it\u2019s a little different,\u201d she continues. \u201cYou could have a 37-year-old an<\/span>d<\/span>\u00a0a 19-year-old; you have a huge range and they\u2019re all professionals.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

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Team gatherings at international level are also fewer and further between. \u201cYou have to create opportunities outside of camp while making the most of their time when you\u2019re together. We would try to help them thrive in their club environment, to feel balanced when they weren\u2019t with us. When they came in, we would have what us coaches would call a \u2018reset meeting\u2019 where we\u2019d try to review our defensive, attacking or set-piece principles. We could then send them information through their phones so that they could also process it when they were not with us.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ellis admits that it would be easy to \u2018bombard\u2019 her players with information but more important than strategic or tactical instruction is the person receiving the WhatsApp. \u201cYou need to make sure<\/span>\u00a0that you know Rose Lavelle has a dog named \u2018Wilma\u2019;\u00a0<\/span>that\u00a0<\/span>you know Julie Ertz\u2019s husband [Zach Ertz, tight end, Philadelphia Eagles]<\/span>\u00a0has a big game coming up because, for me personally, the ability to truly understand your players beyond football is critical to building a team and getting the most out of them.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2018Rio was a wake-up call\u2019<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Full-time in the World Cup final at the Stade Lyon: United States 2-0 Netherlands. Victory meant Ellis became the first Head Coach to win back to back World Cups since Italy\u2019s Vittorio Pozzo at the men\u2019s tournament in 1938.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After the 2016 Olympics in Rio, this was anything but a given. Ellis\u2019 side had been knocked out at the quarter-final stage when they lost to Sweden 4-3 on penalties following a frustrating 1-1 draw. It was the earliest-ever major tournament exit for a US women\u2019s team.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

US Soccer, still mindful of the team\u2019s triumphant 2015 World Cup campaign, afforded Ellis the opportunity to turn things around for their 2019 defence. \u201cI think the loss in 2016 was actually the catalyst for 2019,\u201d she tells the Leaders <\/span>Performance Institute. \u201cIt was a wake-up call.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That day, Sweden confounded her expectations in setting up a defensive low block that the US found difficult to surmount in regulation time. \u201cHere was a top-five team sitting low when\u00a0<\/span>typically<\/span>\u00a0in our sport the top 10 teams tend to get out and play.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For Ellis, the next steps were obvious: \u201cNot only did I know we had to reshape, refocus and reboot in a tactical sense, I also performed an autopsy \u2013 that\u2019s what I secretly called it to my bosses \u2013 I said, \u2018We\u2019re going to have to make some changes; it\u2019s going to be hard, it\u2019s going to be a really tough period; the players are going to question it \u2013\u00a0<\/span>you<\/span><\/i>\u00a0are going to question it \u2013 and it may cost us some results, but that\u2019s what I believe has to happen.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ellis was going to need every bit of her rapport with the players to prevail as formations changed, results suffered, and players moved in and out of the picture. \u201cI took the same messaging to the players,\u201d she continues.\u00a0<\/span>\u201c\u2018You\u2019re going to be\u00a0<\/span>uncomfortable;<\/span>\u00a0I don\u2019t care how many caps you\u2019ve got, how many medals you have, we\u2019re in this period right now where we\u2019re willing to find more people and really grow as a team tactically<\/span>\u2019<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was incredibly hard \u2013 probably one of the hardest periods of my career.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The scrutiny was overbearing at times and there were numerous observers who harboured doubts going into the World Cup, but a formation\u00a0<\/span>change<\/span>\u00a0from 4-4-2 to 4-3-3<\/span>\u00a0and various tweaks to the roster ultimately paid off when the matches mattered.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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I told the players: \u2018You\u2019re going to be <\/span><\/span>uncomfortable;<\/span><\/span> I don\u2019t care how many caps you\u2019ve got, how many medals you have, we\u2019re in this period right now where we\u2019re willing to find more people and really grow as a team tactically.<\/span><\/span>\u2019<\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n
Jill Ellis<\/h6>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\u201cComing out of the Olympics, it was a moment to kind of reflect and look at making sure we played competitive games and increased our roster in terms of finding players like Rose Lavelle,\u201d\u00a0<\/span>said\u00a0<\/span>Ellis during the World Cup.\u00a0<\/span>Lavelle made her debut in a 1-0 defeat to England in 2017 in the invitational\u00a0<\/span>SheBelieves<\/span>\u00a0Cup, as the US relinquished a\u00a0<\/span>trophy<\/span>\u00a0they had won 12 months earlier.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes it\u2019s part of the growing pains when you want to shift something<\/span>,\u201d Ellis continued.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u201c<\/span>But full credit to the players. You build the system around them. They\u2019re the gasoline that makes it work. That process was to get to this point with players in their right spots.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Right-back Kelley O\u2019Hara was vocal on the matter during the\u00a0<\/span>World Cup<\/span>. She said:\u00a0<\/span>\u201cI remember thinking after that<\/span>\u00a0[Sweden]<\/span>\u00a0loss that we had a long way to go,<\/span>\u00a0b<\/span>ut that\u2019s kind of a good thing, you know? You don\u2019t ever want to feel like it\u2019s easy all the time and there\u2019s no obstacles or need for growth.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAfter 2016, [Ellis] put out a statement saying \u2018I\u2019m about to put this team through an evolution that I feel is necessary to win us a World Cup in 2019\u2019. And as hard as that was\u2014it was hectic and stressful and full of uncertainty for a lot of people \u2013 it was necessary.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI respect her a lot for doing that and sticking to her guns, and I respect the individuals on this team and how we handled ourselves through that time.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

O\u2019Hara was echoed by her teammate Alex Morgan<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>as the striker\u00a0<\/span>emerged as\u00a0<\/span>a<\/span>\u00a0leader of the team<\/span>: \u201c<\/span>You have to give credit to Jill for looking at new things throughout the course of the last three years in order to see what the right direction was for us.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you have a chance to coach a team for two World Cups in a row, you\u2019re able to learn a lot along the way, what worked and what didn\u2019t. For Jill, it was a little bit of experimenting, and she did it in a way that a lot of people critici<\/span>s<\/span>ed. But at the same time, when you get to where we are now, you can\u2019t help but applaud that<\/span>.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It must also be highlighted that O\u2019Hara and Morgan were both attending their third World Cups in France \u2013 a distinction they shared with Megan Rapinoe, Tobin Heath and Becky Sauerbrunn<\/span>;\u00a0<\/span>their teammate Carli Lloyd was even playing in her fourth. Ellis made changes but they were not wholesale.\u00a0<\/span>All in all, 12 players from her 2015 roster returned for 2019<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0eight of\u00a0<\/span>whom<\/span>\u00a0started the final<\/span>; and\u00a0<\/span>15 were retained from Rio.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00a0<\/span>\u2018<\/span><\/b>I had ridiculously good staff\u2019<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Behind the scenes, Ellis worked hard with her support staff to make the necessary changes. Her trusted lieutenants have been key to her success across her five years as national coach and it comes as no surprise that her staff were celebrated for their own \u2018call-up\u2019 to the World Cup entourage.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I announced the roster going to the World Cup, when I congratulated the players in the first camp, I also congratulated the staff,\u201d she reveals to the Leaders <\/span>Performance Institute. \u201cIn many ways they\u2019ve also gone through\u00a0<\/span>a gauntlet; they\u2019d been tested and challenged. You can\u2019t go into a pressure cooker of a massive event and not know if people can perform in that stressful environment.<\/span>\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As the professionalism and infrastructure of the women\u2019s game grows,\u00a0<\/span>Ellis has made a point of surrounding herself with assistants who themselves have served as head coaches. \u201cI think it\u2019s massive,\u201d she says emphatically. \u201cWhere the game is today, where there\u2019s so much detail. I remember when I got the job, one of my former coaches said to me \u2018it\u2019s almost like an NFL organisation\u2019. If you truly want massive detail, I think most managers have a right hand. I think it\u2019s\u00a0<\/span>critical<\/span>\u00a0and I think it\u2019s important that you empower them.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always said the two things I can give my staff is trust and clarity; \u2018here\u2019<\/span>s<\/span>\u00a0what I need you to do, here is the role, I believe you can do it and I believe in you.\u2019<\/span>\u00a0I know we had a lot of talent on the field for sure but we also had world-class staff in every capacity; medical, sports science, in the soccer realm, the tactical realm.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019re together that much you just want people to enjoy what they\u2019re doing and you don\u2019t want the sort of coaches<\/span>\u00a0who go and just put out cones; you want an equipment guy who can have input into the selection of the kit or says \u2018here\u2019s how we should structure this\u2019 because then you have people who will give more of themselves and it makes for a better environment.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Ellis is all too aware of the potential consequences of players \u2013 or staff for that matter \u2013 not pulling in the right direction. \u201cMy staff<\/span>\u00a0were prepared, whether it was writing a note, catching somebody, or making sure everyone is alright<\/span>.\u00a0<\/span>I would check-in with people regularly and by the time we got to the World Cup I was so in-sync with my staff and I knew them so well; even the medical staff.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>There can\u2019t be any grey areas; I\u2019ve got to know the absolutes in that split-second moment. For example, if Kelley O\u2019Hara gets hurt before half-time in the final, my staff have to walk back off that field and have the confidence to make that decision; she\u2019s either in or she\u2019s out. You want to make sure they can handle the fact that there\u2019s 20 million people watching their decision or how they function. I was super-blessed; I had ridiculously good staff.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The conversation comes to an end when<\/span>\u00a0Ellis\u2019 car arrives. Her Lifetime Achievement Award awaits her down the road, as does a standing ovation she later describes as \u201creally cool and humbling.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The evening provides\u00a0<\/span>yet\u00a0<\/span>another chance to reflect on the past but, with 2020 just around the corner, Ellis is looking\u00a0<\/span>towards her<\/span>\u00a0next challenge.<\/span><\/p>\n

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What does the modern coach need to know?<\/strong><\/p>\n

We tackle this question in our latest Performance Special Report. Download Coachmaker: What the Modern Coach Needs to Know<\/em>, which features sports organisations as diverse as Ulster Rugby<\/strong>, the Geelong Cats<\/strong>, Minnesota Timberwolves<\/strong> and US Special Operations<\/strong> discussing personal development, creating performance environments, recruitment and using data in smarter ways.<\/p>\n