Anson Dorrance retires from longtime post as UNC-Chapel Hill women's soccer coach

After 47 years on the pitch in Chapel Hill, Anson Dorrance is retiring.

Dorrance, who has coached the women’s soccer team at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill since its inception in 1979, informed athletic director Bubba Cunningham on Friday that he would be retiring. The announcement was made public on Sunday.

At the age of 73, Dorrance leaves the sport as one of its most accomplished and decorated coaches. A 1974 UNC graduate, he amassed an overall record of 934-88-53 record in 45 seasons. No coach in any NCAA Division I sport has won as many national championships as Dorrance’s 21.

"As many of you know I modeled our program after Dean Smith's basketball program, and retiring at this time is a credit to his thinking, as well. He would re-evaluate his tenure, not after the season, but after he had time to recharge his batteries prior to the next season. When he didn't, he retired,” Dorrance said in a statement. “… I realized I didn't have the same energy it takes to give 100% to this year's team. The players and staff, the university, Carolina athletics and our great fans deserve more, and the respect I have for the amazing legacy the current and former players have built led me to make this decision at this time."

Damon Nahas will be the interim head coach while Cunningham conducts a national search for Dorrance’s replacement. The 2024 season for the Tar Heels begins on Thursday.

Dorrance turned UNC’s women’s soccer program into a dynasty and a juggernaut in the sport that set a high bar for every other program across the country at a time when women’s sports were experiencing growth after the introduction of Title IX. As the coach at UNC – and as the former coach of the national team – he had an influence on molding what women’s soccer would look like on the collegiate, national and international stages.

The Tar Heels have played in 31 of the 42 College Cups ever played, 17 more than any other program, and are the only team to compete in every NCAA Tournament. UNC women's soccer has won more NCAA championships than any other women's team. Stanford women's tennis is second with 20.

In the first year that the varsity women’s soccer program existed, 1979, Dorrance’s total operating budget was $4,655, which covered everything except for his salary and office supplies. Two years later, in 1981 — before the NCAA was governing women's sports and organizing tournaments for them — the Tar Heels won the AIAW national championship. He wrote in his 1984 postseason report to the athletic department after winning his fourth consecutive national championship: “Full-time assistant or divorce lawyer!” Needless to say, he eventually got his full-time assistant coaches and continued to pile up victories.

“Anson is an all-time soccer, coaching and Tar Heel legend," Cunningham said in a statement. "The numbers and accomplishments are staggering and will be hard for any coach or program to replicate or exceed. His impact on the development and growth of women's sports across the country and around the world has been profound. Not only did he elevate women's sports in the NCAA, but he also led the early dominance of the United States Women's National Team. With Anson at the helm numerous Tar Heels raised trophies in the World Cup and later in the Olympics."

Indeed, after leading UNC to its first four national championships between 1982 and 1986, Dorrance was hired to be the head coach of the U.S. National Team, coaching them to the championship in the first-ever women’s World Cup in 1991. While Dorrance resigned from his national team duties in 1994, his program continued to produce some of the top players to ever suit up for the U.S.A.

One of them was Mia Hamm, who won three ACC Player of the Year awards, four national championships at UNC, and then two World Cups and three Olympic gold medals with the U.S. National Team.

In all, 59 Tar Heels coached by Dorrance have played for the U.S.A., including Crystal Dunn and Emily Fox, who just helped the Americans win the gold medal at the Summer Games in Paris, France.

"It is no exaggeration to say Anson Dorrance is one of the greatest collegiate coaches of all time, in any sport," Lee Roberts, recently hired as UNC’s permanent chancellor, said in a statement. "He has trained many of the best players in the history of U.S. women's soccer and has led our program through decades of unparalleled success. Coach Dorrance has shaped the sport for generations to come and leaves an unequaled legacy at Carolina."

As the head coach of UNC’s women’s soccer team for nearly five decades, Dorrance’s tenure was not without controversy. Two former players – Melissa Jennings and Debbie Keller Hill – sued him for sexual harassment. Days before the case was set to go to trial in 2004, it was dismissed by a federal judge.

In May of this year, The Assembly reported that UNC’s Equal Opportunity and Compliance Office opened an investigation into former assistant coach Alexandra Kimball on the allegations of her dating a player last October. By November 17, according to the report, she had resigned.

Dorrance, like many coaches of his generation, had also begun to openly complain about shifts in college athletics, such as NIL – which allows athletes to earn money from their own Name, Image and Likeness – and conference realignment. “If the fans would like us to get back in that game, give me a collective where I can buy players,” he told The Assembly.

A year ago, when discussions about the possibility of Stanford and Cal joining the ACC began, Dorrance told WRAL: “We’ve built the best women’s soccer conference in the country, and there’s no way I want to share the glory of our conference with two schools that could do a very good job recruiting against us. And so basically, I want Cal and Stanford to die on the vine.”

Since 2021, Dorrance is the third national championship-winning coach to retire from UNC, joining former men's basketball coach Roy Williams and former field hockey coach Karen Shelton. Longtime baseball coach Mike Fox retired in 2020, and women's basketball coach Sylvia Hatchell was forced to resign in 2019.

Despite controversies and criticisms levied against Dorrance, he won at an incredibly high and unprecedented rate and shaped the development of women’s soccer in Chapel Hill and the U.S. For that, UNC leaders named its new soccer and lacrosse stadium after him in 2019.

Dorrance was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame in 2008 and was voted national coach of the year seven times. He also coached the men’s soccer team at Carolina from 1977 to 1988, guiding the Tar Heels to an ACC title and Final Four berth in 1987.