It is the end of an era at UNC. Since 1979, the very beginning of the program, the women of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have been led by Anson Dorrance. But amid the announcement of Dorrance’s retirement, people have been wondering: what’s next for the most dominant women’s soccer program in the nation? Where do the Tar Heels go from here?
The Beginning of the Legacy
We all know how important a coach is to a team, but without Dorrance, it could have been that collegiate women’s soccer wouldn’t have existed. In 1978, Dorrance was already working at UNC as the men’s coach when he was asked to look at the women’s club team, which was interested in establishing a varsity league. This team impressed Dorrance so much that he threw his support behind them 100%, being brought on as the head coach and, the next year, petitioning the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women to create a women’s program nationwide. And the rest is history.
For UNC specifically, that history included 22 conference wins and 21 NCAA Championship titles, and participation in every NCAA tournament. Dorrance, the seven-time Women’s soccer coach of the year, trained some of the greatest names in USWNT history, such as Crystal Dunn, Kristine Lilly, and Mia…
