Jill Ellis is 3½ years removed from coaching the U.S. women’s national soccer team. These days, she wears the sun-splashed colors of the San Diego Wave, which appointed her team president in June 2021 before its inaugural season in the NWSL.
on development of the sport and furthering opportunities for women, Ellis will attend a portion of the tournament in Australia and New Zealand.
This week, the 56-year-old graduate of Fairfax’s Robinson Secondary School and William & Mary was back in the Washington area to receive an award at theBefore returning to California, the English-born Ellis set aside time to discuss several topics with The Washington Post.I still absolutely love the international game, but I also knew a national team job has a shelf life. You’ve got to have a different lens.
It’s not the fear of hard things. You just want to make sure everybody around you is truly invested. … There was much more to happen to grow things off the pitch to make it a better experience than what we were delivering at the time.Ron Burkle [the expansion team owner] wanted me to do some consulting. He said he believed women’s soccer is going to be a billion-dollar industry and he’s going to get in the basement.
[Last year, the Wave went 10-6-6, finished third in the regular season and lost in the semifinals. This year, San Diego is second with a 6-3-1 record and leads the league in attendance with a 20,552 averageQ: You’ve mentioned the importance of getting women involved in coaching and executive positions. That was your thinking in hiring Casey Stoney as the coach?I remember speaking to the president of another NWSL club [who she declined to identify].
Q: Women’s soccer does seem to be becoming a valuable asset for both FIFA and leagues around the world.It wasn’t really something that I paid attention to as a coach, but now I’m incredibly passionate and speak more about it. On the TV side, for instance, we are told the numbers aren’t there for better time slots. Until you actually get an opportunity to have that prime-time slot, you don’t know potentially what happens. It’s not even taking a risk anymore.
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