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DORRANCE DATA Head Coach Anson Dorrance is now in his 31st season as the Tar Heel head coach. His teams have an all-time record of 673-33-21 (.940). Under Dorrance, UNC has won 20 national championships, including 19 NCAA crowns and one AIAW title, 19 regular-season ACC titles and 19 ACC Tournament championships. During his tenure, Dorrance's teams are 132-7-4 in ACC regular-season games, 54-0-3 in ACC Tournament matches and 100-7-1 in NCAA Tournament games.
When Anson Dorrance was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame on August 2, 2008, it marked one more milestone moment in the career of a man whose coaching prowess became legendary at a young age. Because Dorrance has not yet retired from his coaching career, he was only eligible for election on the "Builders of the Game" ballot and he won election to the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility on that ballot.
Like fine wine -- with age -- the coaching career of Anson Dorrance only gets better. Dorrance proved that again last year as he led his team successfully through the most competitive College Cup field in history as the University of North Carolina won its 20th national title.
Head coach of the North Carolina women's soccer program since its inception in 1979, Dorrance has built and guided a well-oiled winning machine. Under his direction, the Tar Heels have collected national and conference championships at a stupendous rate, compiled an overall record staggering in its numerical verity, established records likely never to be approached and procured the respect befitting a dynasty.
At an institution familiar with such incomparable achievement, especially with regard to its storied basketball program, it might be possible to think that Dorrance's accomplishments could somehow fade to the background. But what he has done in Chapel Hill is simply impossible to ignore.
Thus, when an expert panel employed by ESPN announced its list of the Best Coaches of the Past Quarter Century on July 28, 2004 - coincidentally headed at the No. 1 spot by legendary Carolina basketball coach Dean Smith - it came as no big surprise that another deserving Tar Heel mentor made the list That Dorrance, who was ranked No. 24 on the list, was one of only two coaches in the prestigious collection to coach an Olympic sport on the collegiate level only speaks louder about his recognized greatness.
More accolades were bestowed on Dorrance with his induction into the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame on May 19, 2005 and to the National Soccer Hall of Fame on August 2, 2008. He earned those honors while still in the prime of his coaching career, further testament to his ongoing legacy.
As Dorrance prepares to begin his 31st season as the head women's soccer coach at Carolina, even he must be wondering if there is anything left to be accomplished. Chances are excellent that he will find something.
Fitting Accolades From Basketball's Winningest Coach
It is said that greatness recognizes greatness.
Perhaps there is no better example of that than the quote Dean Smith gave Football News Magazine in 1997. Smith was asked by Football News about Carolina's preseason No. 1 ranking in football and what it was like for some sport other than basketball to be ranked No. 1.
Coach Smith's reply? "This is a women's soccer school. We're just trying to keep up with them." Coach Smith's clever retort was his way to give Dorrance his due.
From the person who was then the winningest head coach of all-time in one sport to the winningest head coach of all-time in another sport, the comment struck Dorrance as the ultimate honor. As Dorrance has said, "So much of what we have tried to do in our program is modeled after what Dean Smith has done and accomplished. To have our program compared favorably to his by the man himself is enormously humbling."
Similarly, Dorrance's immense loyalty to Carolina mirrors the loyalty Smith possessed for his adopted school. In 1994, when Dorrance decided not to continue his duties as the head coach of the U.S. Women's National Team, the choice perplexed many.
Some thought he relinquished the honor in order to avoid the pressure that comes with being the leader of what was then the defending World Cup championship squad. But Dorrance's decision had everything to do with loyalty.
The glory that came with coaching the U.S. to the championship in the first-ever Women's World Cup in 1991 was not enough to pull Dorrance away from his true professional love - working full-time with the Tar Heels. He wanted to increase the level of excellence that soccer fans had come to expect from the record-shattering program he had molded. To do that Dorrance knew he would have to dedicate all of his coaching energy to the University. With more elite-level players emerging from high school and club teams than ever before, the playing field in the college game was leveling out; Dorrance knew that for UNC to remain at the top, he would have to throw himself into the process with renewed vigor.
"College programs like ours require a lot of work," says Dorrance. "At that point in time we had been surviving by just doing the minimum amount of work. We certainly couldn't continue to be successful by doing just the minimum. We needed the extra time to stay competitive in an increasingly tough college game."
A prime example of what Dorrance meant about a leveling playing field is the fact UNC has captured only five of the past 11 NCAA championships from 1998-2008 when compared to the era from 1982 through 1997 when Carolina dominated the competition, winning 14 of 16 titles.
Simply Staggering Numbers
It is difficult to comprehend Dorrance taking Carolina's women's program to any greater heights than what they have already achieved. Yet, for a program consumed with striving for excellence, that remains the goal.
It is this relentless attitude that has helped the Tar Heels win a mindblowing 20 of the 28 national championships that have been decided in the history of collegiate women's soccer. Only two other schools in the country have won as many as two titles - Portland in 2002 and 2005 and Notre Dame in 1995 and 2004. Carolina has also captured 19 of the 21 Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament championships since the sport was given title status by the league in 1988, with its only two runner-up finishes coming after failing to prevail in penalty kick shootouts after overtime ties in 1988 and 2004, both in tournament championship contests. UNC also won the initial 1987 ACC title when it was held in a round-robin format at the end of the regular season to determine the champion.
All told, the Tar Heels are 673-33-21 in the 30-year history of the program, a winning percentage of .940.
When Carolina decided to make women's soccer a varsity sport in 1979, Dorrance became a two-sport head coach as he was already in his third coaching the men's team at Carolina. Dorrance's brilliance at coaching women manifested itself almost immediately as it took just three years before the Tar Heels won a national championship, capturing the 1981 Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) national title. Beginning with that championship, the Tar Heels have won 71.4 percent of the titles ever decided in the sport.
Carolina went on to claim three more national titles in a row after the NCAA began sponsorship of the sport in the fall of 1982. UNC netted NCAA championship game wins in 1982 over Central Florida, in 1983 over George Mason and in 1984 over Connecticut. The Tar Heels made it to the NCAA title game in 1985, but lost to George Mason 2-0 on the Patriots' home field - the first of only seven losses in NCAA Tournament play for Carolina to go along with 100 wins and a single tie. A String of Nine Straight Championships
That loss to George Mason, remarkably, was the last time the Tar Heels lost any game in the decade of the 1980s. Beginning with the season opener in 1986 and continuing into the 1990 season, Dorrance's Tar Heels won 97 games and tied six matches over a stretch of 103 contests. In 1986, Carolina defeated Colorado College 2-0 in the finals at Fairfax, Va. A year later, the Tar Heels downed Massachusetts 1-0 on the Minutewomen's home field in the title game. The 1988 campaign saw the Tar Heels defeat NC State 4-1 in the title game in Chapel Hill. A year later, Carolina defeated Colorado College 2-0 in the championship contest at Raleigh, N.C.
During this era, the Atlantic Coast Conference also began championship competition with UNC winning the inaugural title in 1987 in a round robin format. N.C. State claimed the 1988 title on a penalty kick shootout against the Tar Heels but Carolina regained the title in 1989 and has won all but one conference championship since then. Connecticut snapped the 103-match unbeaten streak that had started in 1986 by defeating the Tar Heels 3-2 in overtime at Storrs, Conn. on September 22, 1990. The Tar Heels rebounded from that lone defeat to win their fifth straight NCAA crown in 1990, avenging the only blemish on their season by beating the Huskies in the final game 6-0 in Chapel Hill. Tackling The Challenge of the National Team Along the way, Dorrance's love of a challenge prompted him to take the head coaching job for the U.S. Women's National Team just a year into its existence in 1986. In a short time, Dorrance took the National Team to the vertex of the world's most popular sport. On November 30, 1991, Dorrance led the U.S. to a 2-1 win over Norway to claim the World Cup championship. The win came just six days after assistant coach Bill Palladino, acting as interim head coach, led UNC to a 3-1 NCAA title game win over Wisconsin for Carolina's sixth NCAA title in a row. Dorrance was the architect of the World Cup triumph, a win tinged with a Carolina Blue hue. Not only was Dorrance coaching the U.S. team, but nine of the 18 players competed collegiately at North Carolina and his assistant coach was former UNC player Lauren Gregg. The next year, Dorrance assembled what many soccer observers have labeled the best college soccer team in history. That edition of the Tar Heels finished the season undefeated at 25-0, claimed the ACC championship for the fourth straight year and won the NCAA title for the seventh consecutive time. Carolina's 9-1 NCAA championship game victory over Duke was as thorough as the final score would lead one to believe and a nonpareil way for the Heels to finish the year. In 1993, UNC won the NCAA championship with an unsullied record of 23-0. The Tar Heels whitewashed George Mason 6-0 before a collegiate women's soccer record crowd of 5,721 fans at Fetzer Field. Mia Hamm capped her brilliant career at Carolina that day and went on to win unanimous national player of the year honors for the second year in a row. 92 Wins in a Row
Amongst all the coaching jobs that Dorrance has done during his career, the one which culminated in the 1994 NCAA championship might be the most impressive. Dorrance was able to rally the Tar Heels after arch-rival Duke ended a 101-game unbeaten streak by beating Carolina 3-2 on October 19, 1994. The loss came 17 days after Notre Dame had snapped a 92-game Carolina winning streak by playing the Heels to a scoreless tie.
UNC ran the table after the loss to Duke and NCAA Tournament wins over NC State, Duke, Connecticut and Notre Dame added a 13th national title to Dorrance's coaching resume. Tar Heel midfielder Tisha Venturini was selected as the 1994 National Player of the Year, marking the seventh straight season in which the national player of the year came from the Carolina ranks.
The 1994 season presaged a sea change in the college game. With the proliferation of available talent and the vast increase in the number of college programs, parity was quickly becoming a part of the women's game. While the Tar Heels still led the way in terms of consistent excellence, one of the big news stories of 1995 was that Carolina failed to win the national title in women's soccer for the first time in 10 years. The Tar Heels, seeded No. 1 in the NCAA bracket with a 25-0 mark, were upset by Notre Dame 1-0 in the 1995 NCAA semifinals.
Relinquishing the title to Notre Dame in 1995 only fueled the team's competitive fire the next season. Dorrance took a team that returned nine starters and molded it into another victorious unit by season's end. In the ninth game of the season, Notre Dame defeated the Tar Heels 2-1 in overtime and becoming the first college team to beat UNC in successive meetings. UNC regrouped and the Tar Heels whipped William & Mary, James Madison and Florida in the opening three rounds of the NCAA tourney before defeating Santa Clara 2-1 on its home field in the semifinals. Two days later UNC proved it was still at the acme of women's college soccer, beating defending champion Notre Dame 1-0 in overtime to claim the 1996 crown. A Dynamite Defense in 1997
Dorrance turned in another magnificent coaching job as the Tar Heels wound up in the winner's circle again in 1997. Honored by Soccer Buzz and Soccer Times as the national coach of the year, Dorrance spearheaded a Carolina campaign which resulted in a 27-0-1 record. The 27 victories were an NCAA record and UNC tied its own NCAA record by shutting out 22 opponents during the campaign.
In 1998, Carolina had another brilliant season, going 25-0 before falling 1-0 to second-seeded Florida in the NCAA championship game. Despite the disappointing end to the season, the Tar Heels outscored their opponents by a 98-7 margin and won their 10th straight ACC title.
After seeing the 1998 NCAA title elude the Tar Heels, Carolina fans were able to find solace in the performance of the U.S. team which competed in the 1999 Women's World Cup. The 20-person roster featured eight Tar Heel players -- Mia Hamm, Kristine Lilly, Carla Overbeck, Cindy Parlow, Tisha Venturini, Tracy Noonan, Lorrie Fair and Tiffany Roberts -- and UNC alumna Lauren Gregg as a U.S. assistant coach. This Tar Heel-laden composition of the World Cup Team, which reclaimed the championship it had relinquished in 1995, once again stood as a testament to the indelible contributions Dorrance had made to U.S. soccer prominence.
Back-To-Back National Championships
Basking in the glow of a World Cup title featuring so many ties to the program, Carolina's collegiate dominance seemed to be in doubt when just eight games into the 1999 season the Tar Heels sported a 6-2 record. The two losses were the most in a season since 1985. But Dorrance led Carolina to 18 wins in a row and another NCAA championship. Lorrie Fair earned national player of the year accolades, but in many regards the 1999 team was a squad without star presence, just incredible unity of purpose. A year later, the 2000 Carolina team suffered the program's most losses in a season in 20 years but again won ACC and NCAA titles. Three times in six NCAA Tournament games, Carolina trailed its opponent 1-0 midway through the second half. All three times, the Tar Heels came from behind to win 2-1 in regulation time en route to another national title. After a two-year hiatus from the awards stand, UNC reclaimed the NCAA title in 2003 with its most dominant team in a decade. Carolina became the first team since the Tar Heels of 1993 to go undefeated and untied, finishing with a perfect 27-0 mark in winning its 15th straight ACC title and its 18th national championship. Led by co-national players of the year Lindsay Tarpley and Catherine Reddick, Carolina outscored its opponents 132-11, including an amazing 32-0 margin in six NCAA Tournament matches.
In 2006 Dorrance turned in one of the best coaching jobs of his career in piloting UNC to its 19th national championship. He was the unanimous choice as the national coach of the year after leading Carolina to a 27-1 balance sheet. The Tar Heels accomplished these heroics while starting six freshmen for most of the season. In fact, seven freshmen took the field for the start of the second half of UNC's 2-1 NCAA championship game win over Notre Dame. It was a team which lost its season opener at Texas A&M, its first setback in a lidlifter since 1983, and then stormed back to win 27 matches in succession.
In 2008, UNC captured its 20th national championship and its 20th ACC title with a team that started 4-1-1 but went 21-0-1 in its final 22 matches. Led by national player of the year Casey Nogueira, who led the nation in scoring with 25 goals, Carolina defeated two undefeated teams in the College Cup, beating UCLA 1-0 and Notre Dame 2-1, to win the NCAA title. Nogueira scored two second-half goals to rally UNC past the Fighting Irish in the final game.
Dorrance's Start In Coaching
Ironically, Dorrance's career plans did not originally include coaching a women's team. He began his coaching career at Carolina as the designated head coach for the men's team in 1976 during Marvin Allen's last year as head coach. He took over as head men's coach the following year and served for 12 years in that role, posting a 172-65-21 record. His team won the ACC Tournament championship in 1987. He took the Tar Heels to the 1987 NCAA College Cup semifinals and to the second round of the 1988 NCAA Tournament. Dorrance's .708 winning percentage is tops among Carolina's men's soccer coaches all-time and his 172 wins rank third in school history behind current UNC head mentor Elmar Bolowich, whom Dorrance brought to Carolina as an assistant men's coach in 1987, and Dr. Marvin Allen, the founder of the program in 1947, and the man who coached Dorrance at Carolina.
Since being named the women's head coach in 1979, Carolina has a 673-33-21 record under Dorrance and only three times in 30 years have the Tar Heels lost more than two games in a single season. The Tar Heels' 19 NCAA crowns are more than any other women's NCAA Division I sports program in the history, and the 20 national championships overall are more than any single sports program in ACC history, men's or women's.
A Host of National Players of the Year Over the years, 16 different Tar Heels have been named national players of the year under Dorrance's direction -- April Heinrichs in 1984 and 1986, Shannon Higgins in 1988 and 1989, Kristine Lilly in 1990 and 1991, Mia Hamm in 1992 and 1993, Tisha Venturini in 1994, Debbie Keller in 1995 and 1996, Staci Wilson in 1995, Cindy Parlow in 1996, 1997 and 1998, Robin Confer in 1997, Lorrie Fair in 1999, Meredith Florance in 2000, Lindsay Tarpley in 2003, Catherine Reddick in 2003, Heather O'Reilly in 2006, Yael Averbuch in 2006 and Casey Nogueira in 2008.
North Carolina begins the 2009 season with a 282-12-6 all-time home record. In the program's 30-year history, totaling 727 games, Carolina has shut out opponents 474 times and has been held scoreless in just 23 games. Coach of the Year Honors Galore
Dorrance has been named national coach of the year for coaching both women and men. He earned women's national honors in 1982, 1986, 1997, 2000, 2003 and 2006 and he was named men's national coach of the year in 1987.
Dorrance has been named the Southeast Region coach of the year in 1989, 1996, 1997, 2001, 2003, 2006 and 2008. In 1987, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1996, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2008, he was named the ACC Women's Soccer Coach of the Year.
In 1996, Dorrance received the highest honor possible from the National Soccer Coaches Association of America when he won the Walt Chyzowych Award for lifetime coaching achievement. In 2007, he won the Bill Jeffrey Award from the NSCAA for raising intercollegiate soccer to new heights through his long-term dedication to the game.
Honors from His Peers at Carolina & Beyond
Dorrance was inducted into the Order of the Golden Fleece in 1988, Carolina's highest honorary society which includes Carolina students, faculty and staff. In 1994, Dorrance added another cherished honor when the athletic department designated him a "Priceless Gem." This honor is reserved only for those individuals who have contributed in extraordinary ways to the successful athletic climate at the University.
In 1995, Dorrance's program was profiled in a full-length documentary film entitled, "Dynasty." The movie focused in particular on the Tar Heels' amazing nine-year national championship run from 1986 through 1994, and it included in-depth interviews with both current and former Tar Heel players. Another documentary about the UNC program, "Winning Isn't Everything," which has followed the exploits of the last three Carolina teams, has recently been released in DVD format.
In the fall of 2003, Sports Illustrated On Campus magazine named UNC's women's soccer program as the greatest college dynasty of all-time.
Dorrance has also coauthored two books. He combined with Tim Nash to write "Training Soccer Champions" in 1996. It sold out in its first printing and did equally well in its second press run. Dorrance co-authored the award-winning "The Vision of a Champion" with Gloria Averbuch. It was published in 2003 and almost immediately went to second and third printings. In 2006, "The Man Watching" by former Sports Illustrated writer Tim Crothers debuted to smashing reviews and amazing sales success.
Following the U.S. victory in the Women's World Cup in 1991, Dorrance received an Honorary All-America Award, one of the most prestigious of its kind, from the NSCAA. In 1991, Soccer America named Dorrance one of the 20 most influential men in American soccer during the previous two decades. Soccer America followed that up in 1995 by naming Dorrance as one of the 25 most influential people in the history of American soccer. Dorrance was one of only three coaches on that list and the only women's coach tapped.
In 2002, Dorrance was selected for the North Carolina Soccer Hall of Fame, joining his mentor, Dr. Marvin Allen, who was in the initial class inducted into the Hall. Dorrance In His College Years A 1974 University of North Carolina graduate with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and philosophy, Dorrance originally enrolled at St. Mary's University in San Antonio, Texas, where he spent one year studying and playing soccer. He then transferred to Carolina to play for Marvin Allen.
Dorrance's natural gifts on the pitch led to his selection to the All-ACC Team three times as an undergraduate and he won All-South Region honors in 1973. He was named in 2002 as one of the Top 50 men's soccer players in Atlantic Coast Conference history. He was also one of the top intramural sports performers on the Carolina campus during his days as an undergraduate.
Prior to his permanent return to Chapel Hill in 1974, he organized youth soccer leagues in both Connecticut and North Carolina. He was the founder of both the North Carolina Youth Soccer Association and the North Carolina Senior Soccer Association.
Dorrance has an "A" level coaching license from the U.S. Soccer Federation. He was a charter member of the NCAA Women's Soccer Committee and he also served as the women's chairman of the Intercollegiate Soccer Association of America. He is the former chairman of the NCAA Men's and Women's Soccer Rules Committee and one of the few coaches in the country to qualify as a national staff coach for the U.S. Soccer Federation and the National Soccer Coaches Association of America. He is also involved in training coaches and awarding coaching licenses. In the summer of 2003, he was named to the Board of Directors of the National Soccer Hall of Fame. Dorrance's summer soccer camps for women are the most popular in the nation. The camps sell out well in advance. Dorrance has even hosted a version of the famous camp in England.
Dorrance also made a seamless transition to his role as the color analyst on the WUSA Game of the Week on Saturday afternoons as shown on PAX TV from 2001-03.
The Dorrance Family
Dorrance was born on April 9, 1951, in Bombay, India, and he is married to M'Liss Gary Dorrance. The couple celebrated their 35th wedding anniversary in August 2009. M'Liss is a former professional ballet dancer who teaches at the Ballet School of Chapel Hill, which she cofounded in 1980.
She was recently awarded emeritus status following her 2007 retirement from Duke University where she taught and served the Dance Program for 32 years. When M'Liss is not watching soccer games on the weekends she is rehearsing her choreography for Chapel Hill Dance Theatre productions.
The Dorrances have three children.
Michelle, a graduate of New York University, is an internationally renowned rhythm tap dancer residing in New York where she is on faculty at Broadway Dance Center. Michelle was the cover and feature article of the March 2005 issue of Dance Magazine and is currently celebrating her second anniversary performing in STOMP, NYC, the off-Broadway hit, following a year in the national tour production.
Natalie, a UNC graduate, is currently on leave from the Greensboro public schools. She and attorney husband David Harris, a UNC law school graduate, are the proud new parents of Finley Dorrance Harris. The Dorrance family's first grandchild was born in April 2009.
Donovan, a 2009 graduate of Chapel Hill High School, is attending UNC Greensboro this fall. He plans to major in English and also pursue interests in music and theatre.
Dorrance's soccer origins stem from his youth when he lived in Ethiopia (1959-61). He also resided in India, Kenya, Singapore, Belgium and Switzerland while growing up. His family moved all around the world following his father's assignments as an international businessman. Additional members of the Dorrance Clan residing in Chapel Hill include Anson's mother, Peggy, and his brother Peter and wife Dolly Hunter, all avid fans of the UNC women's soccer team. Carolina's Influences On The Game
• Current and former UNC players have been staples on World Cup rosters as both players and coaches. The 1991 U.S. World Cup roster featured nine players and two coaches; the 1995 U.S. World Cup roster featured seven players and two coaches; the 1999 U.S. World Cup roster featured eight players and one coach; the 2003 U.S. World Cup roster featured six players and two coaches; the 2007 U.S. World Cup roster featured five players as well as one player on the Canadian roster.
• Olympic Team rosters have also been filled with Tar Heel coaches and players. The 1996 U.S. Olympic Team included seven players and two coaches, the 2000 U.S. Olympic Team included six players and two coaches; the 2004 U.S. team included six players and two coaches; and in the 2008 Olympic Games four players competed on the U.S. squad and one player was on the Canadian roster.
• Forty-eight Carolina players have earned caps with the United States National Team since its founding in 1985.
• Nineteen current and former players are listed on 2009 U.S. National Team player pools. Eight are part of the full national team pool, seven are part of the U23 pool and four are part of the U20 player pool.
• North Carolina featured the largest alumnae class of players drafted by teams for the inaugural season of Women's Professional Soccer (WPS) in 2009 with 13. Notre Dame was second with 10 and three other universities had seven.
Carolina Players Active In National Team Player Pools (Source U.S. Soccer.com)
National Team: Lori Chalupny, `05, D; Kendall Fletcher, `05, D; Tobin Heath, `09, MF; Kristine Lilly, `92, MF; Heather O'Reilly, `06, MF; Lindsay Tarpley, `05, MF; Kacey White, `05, MF; Cat Whitehill, `03, D. |
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