Anson Dorrance, who turned 70 last April, has coached the UNC women’s soccer team to 21 NCAA championships, more than half that have been played since 1982. But the last time his Tar Heels won it all was in 2012, almost 10 years ago.
What does that say about Dorrance, perhaps the most successful and iconic coach in the history of all sports – high school, college and professional?
Does it mean that in his 43rd season leading the Carolina women, Dorrance is over the hill and, as his wife of 47 years M’Liss prefers, should retire? Or is it because besides the Dorrances raising a daughter who has become one of the best tap-dancers on the planet, Anson has also birthed a sport so successfully that he can no longer dominate it as he once did.
Unquestionably, it is the second.
And Dorrance truly cares more about the macro of the women’s game than he does the micro of his always-competitive and highly ranked UNC team of any year.
“We compete for national championships, like all the colleges do,” he says, “but our priority here is actually player development. We want our kids to sign pro contracts. We want our kids to get to the level where they’re playing in the Olympics, playing in World Cups. And for us, that’s our priority. So, our north star is human development, certainly, but the subset of that is their soccer evolution. And looking at us historically, that’s an area where no one’s catching us.”
Dorrance loves the quote from veteran ESPN soccer commentator Julie Foudy, who played for Dorrance on the USA national team that won the first Women’s World Cup in 1991 but has even more loyalty to her alma mater, Stanford.
“She went to a school that consistently out-recruits us,” Dorrance recalled of a recent Olympic broadcast. “Julie said, ‘Oh my gosh, look at this. They’re sending in Catarina Macario, who is the great Stanford player, and this is another feather in Stanford’s cap. This is the 21st player for Stanford that now has a full team cap for the United States. And this is also great news to everyone, only 41 players behind the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill!
“I love that because Foudy and I are good friends; she’s very proud of Stanford, but she also knows where they stand in the world and certainly historically.
“So, we’re very proud of our macro presence. We’re very proud of what we’re trying to do at a micro level, and I’ll share this. And I hope you can tell just from my joy right now in this conversation, I love what I do. My wife is retired and I’m sure she would love for me to retire. I am loving going into work every day. These kids are great. And we have a challenge ahead of us this year, especially with the fact that we don’t have any of last year’s seniors (taking an extra season due to COVID). But am I looking forward to the challenge, absolutely.”
The 2021 Tar Heels opened Thursday night with an impressive 4-1 win over No. 19 Washington, ignited by an early goal from freshman Emily Murphy, assisted by senior Rachel Jones. The second and fourth goals were scored by frosh Ruby Grant, who with Murphy are two Brits of three Europeans in Dorrance’s highly rated recruiting class of 13. Junior Isabel Cox had an assistant and a goal on a penalty kick, which was set up by a foul on senior Rachael Dorwart, demonstrating the depth of Dorrance’s latest roster.
It’s not like Carolina hasn’t been close to another NCAA title, reaching the College Cup final four in four of the last five years, twice losing in the national championship match. Dorrance continues to recruit from all over the country and across the globe, as his love for the world’s game stems from being born in Bombay, India, raised playing soccer in Ethiopia and attending a private high school in Switzerland as his father was an American oil executive.
And as he moves through his fifth decade of coaching, Anson is banking on his ace in the hole, the multi-million-dollar stadium named Dorrance Field that is the equal of any in America.
“In the old days when Mack Brown was building his football program here at UNC, he said was selling hope. Now he’s selling a lot more than hope. Originally when we were selling the stadium, it didn’t exist. We were selling the hope that it would be built. And now, of course, kids can walk in and see this absolute palace. But also, even the office I’m sitting in.
“The guy who was the prime mover to build this stadium, Gary Loveman and his wife, Kathy; this office is nicer than the one Gary Loveman works in. This unbelievably generous man and his family have contributed a palace that I work in. We’re going to have something to really sell here, to show the commitment that our donors and our university have for our program. And that is already accelerating.
“We’re getting back to the old days when we used to bring in three out of the top five kids in the country. So now we’re returning to that with this fabulous new a stadium that was built for us. Our recruiting has gone to another level recently.
“I love where my program is at a micro level. We can beat anyone, but there are certain teams that can beat us. I like being in that position where we can beat anyone. So if we play well, we’ll win a game or two games or three, and possibly even the whole thing.
“Do we have the sort of team that can win the whole thing this year, absolutely. We do. Are we ready right now? Well, it is hard to do that because we’re so young and my colleagues are getting better.”
And who’s most responsible for that?
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