Head Coach Anson Dorrance: Carolina Women's Soccer
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HEAD COACH ANSON DORRANCE: CAROLINA WOMEN’S SOCCER When an expert panel employed by ESPN Dorrance’s loyalty to Carolina is also similar national titles with NCAA championship game announced its list of the Best Coaches of the to the loyalty Smith had for his adopted school. wins in 1982 over Central Florida, in 1983 over Past 25 Years on July 28, 2004, it certainly was A little over a decade ago, some people con- George Mason and in 1984 over Connecticut. no surprise when that list was headed by leg- sidered Dorrance’s 1994 decision not to contin- The Tar Heels made it to the NCAA title game endary University of North Carolina basketball ue as the head coach of the U.S. National in 1985, but lost to George Mason 2-0 on the coach Dean Smith. Also on Women’s Soccer Team to be an act of extreme Patriots’ home field in the first of only six times the list was another famed humility. Others thought that he relinquished that Carolina has lost an NCAA Tournament Tar Heel mentor, maybe not the honor in order to avoid the pressure that game. as well known nationally, comes with being the leader of what was then A String of Nine Straight Championships but certainly just as worthy the defending World Cup championship squad. That title game loss to George Mason, of selection — Anson But dig just a little deeper and you will find Dorrance. Dorrance was that, for Dorrance, yielding the National Team’s one of only two coaches on coaching reins had little, if anything, to do with the prestigious list, which its potential coaching burden or his modesty. was dominated by profes- Dorrance chose not to return as head coach sional coaches and college of the National Team because of his devotion to football and basketball coaches, to coach an the women’s soccer program at Carolina. Even Olympic sport on the collegiate level. all of the glory that came with coaching the More recently, Dorrance reaped further United States to the gold medal in the first-ever accolades with his induction into the North FIFA Women’s World Cup in 1991 was not Carolina Sports Hall of Fame on May 19, 2005. enough to pull Dorrance away from working Dorrance earned the honor while still in the full-time with the Tar Heels. He wanted to prime of his college coaching career. maintain the level of excellence that soccer These are fitting honors for Dorrance, who in fans had come to expect from Carolina’s 2003 did one of his best coaching jobs as the record-shattering program. And to do that, head mentor of the North Carolina women’s Dorrance knew that he would have to dedicate soccer program, piloting UNC to its 18th nation- all of his coaching energy to the University. It al championship. Dorrance was justly honored was obvious that the playing field in the college as the consensus National Coach of the Year in game was leveling out and for UNC to remain 2003 as Carolina ran the table to finish 27-0-0, an elite program, he would have to throw him- the first college women’s soccer team to go self into the process with renewed vigor. undefeated and untied in a season since the “College programs like ours require a lot of Tar Heels did so in 1993. work,” says Dorrance. “At that point in time we So in the fall of 2005, as Dorrance prepares had been getting by just doing the minimum to begin his 27th season as the head women’s amount of work. We certainly couldn’t continue soccer coach at Carolina, even he must be to be successful by doing just the minimum. wondering what there is left to be accom- Now we have time to do more and we need that remarkably, was the last time the Tar Heels lost plished. Chances are he will find something. time to stay competitive in an increasingly any game in the decade of the 1980s. Fitting Accolades From Basketball’s tough college game.” Beginning with the season opener in 1986 and Winningest Coach A prime example of what Dorrance meant is continuing through the NCAA final in 1989, Dean Smith, the head basketball coach at the fact UNC has only captured three of the Dorrance’s Tar Heels won 89 games, tied six Carolina from 1961-97 and the man who past seven NCAA championships. Of course, matches and lost zero times. Meanwhile, unseated Kentucky’s Adolph Rupp as the win- no one else has won more than one during that Carolina continued to mow down opponents ningest NCAA Division I college basketball same period of time. and win national titles. In 1986, Carolina coach in history, has always been amongst Some Staggering Numbers defeated Colorado College 2-0 in the finals. A Anson’s admirers and he shared the Top 25 It is difficult to comprehend Dorrance and his year later, the Tar Heels downed coaches honor from ESPN with Dorrance in coaching staff taking Carolina’s women’s pro- Massachusetts 1-0 on the Minutewomen’s 2004. gram to greater heights than they have already home field in the title game. The 1988 cam- Smith, arguably the most famous employee achieved. The Tar Heels have won 18 of the 24 paign saw the Tar Heels defeat NC State 4-1 in in the history of the University of North national championships which have been the title game in Chapel Hill. A year later, Carolina, was asked by the Football News decided in the history of collegiate women’s Carolina defeated Colorado College 2-0 at about Carolina’s 1997 preseason No. 1 ranking soccer. Only one other school in the country Raleigh. in football and what it was like for some sport has won as many as two titles. Carolina has During this era, the Atlantic Coast other than basketball to be sharing the throne also captured 16 of the 18 Atlantic Coast Conference also began championship competi- at the University. Conference championships since the sport was tion with UNC winning the inaugural title in Coach Smith’s reply? “This is a women’s given title status by the league in 1987, failing 1987. N.C. State claimed the 1988 title on soccer school. We’re just trying to keep up with to win only in penalty kick shootouts after over- penalty kicks but Carolina regained the title in them.” Coach Smith’s clever retort was a way time ties in 1988 and 2004. Carolina’s is a 1989 and has won all but one conference to give Anson his due, knowing that Anson him- record of total dominance. All told the Tar championship since then. self is amongst the biggest of all Dean Smith Heels are 579-26-17 in the 26-year history of The long unbeaten streak that began in 1986 fans. the program, a winning percentage of .945 per- continued into the 1990 season and ended only From the winningest head coach of all-time cent. No other college program has come after a record 103 consecutive games were in one sport to the winningest head coach of all- close to matching that record — ever. played without a Carolina defeat. Connecticut time in another sport, the comment seemed to When Carolina decided to make women’s ended the unbeaten streak by defeating the Tar Dorrance like the ultimate compliment. And soccer a varsity sport in 1979, Dorrance Heels in a regular-season match in overtime at Anson himself felt humbled by it. There is no became a two-sport head coach. Dorrance’s Storrs, Conn, on September 22, 1990. The Tar human being on Earth who harbors more brilliance at coaching women manifested itself Heels rebounded from that single defeat and respect for Dean Smith than Anson Dorrance. almost immediately as it took just three years won their fifth straight NCAA crown in 1990, As Anson has said, “So much of what we have before the Tar Heels won a national champi- ironically beating the Huskies in the final game tried to do in our program is modeled after what onship, capturing the 1981 Association for 6-0 in Chapel Hill. Dean Smith has done and accomplished. To Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) Tackling The Challenge of the National have our program compared favorably to his by national title. Team the man himself is enormously humbling.” Carolina went on to make it four straight Along the way, his love of a challenge led 2005 CAROLINA WOMEN’S SOCCER MEDIA GUIDE: PAGE 1 CAROLINA WOMEN’S SOCCER: HEAD COACH ANSON DORRANCE him to take the head coaching job for the U.S. 1995 NCAA semifinals on Carolina’s own The World Cup Team’s performance which Women’s National Team in 1986, replacing Fetzer Field. resulted in winning back the championship it Mike Ryan at the helm. Dorrance wasted no After relinquishing the title to Notre Dame in had won in 1991 but relinquished in 1995 had time in taking the National Team to the apex of 1995, the 1996 season proved that Dorrance’s much to do with the contributions Dorrance has the world’s most popular sport. On November enthusiasm for his craft hadn’t waned whatso- made to the sport of women’s soccer down 30, 1991, half a world away from his beloved ever. He took a team that returned nine through the years. Tar Heel team which at the time had just fin- starters from 1995 and molded it into another Back-To-Back National Championships ished competing in the ACC and NCAA championship unit by season’s end.