UNC Women’s Soccer in Transition: What’s Next After Anson Dorrance?

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?

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 Hamm. ​Thirty years after starting this program, Dorrance was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame, and in 2017, UNC broke ground on its new soccer field—Dorrance Stadium. ​

Dorrance’s name will be one of the greatest in coaching history—regardless of gender or sport. So, how will UNC fare without him at the helm? This day had to come at some point, and no one will have more to prove than UNC. They will always have the Dorrance legacy to live up to, and while their domination might ebb a bit during this transition, they will always be the greatest.

Damon Nahas has been named interim coach for the Tar Heels and has been part of Dorrance’s coaching team for just shy of a decade. He knows what he’s doing and how Dorrance has done it. There will no doubt be new methods in recruiting and training—who knows if the post-training emails that ranked every player’s performance that day will live on—but players will still flock to this legendary program. More than any other program, Carolina blue has been the most highly coveted jersey to wear. Even after his retirement, Dorrance’s influence will still be present because he built this program from the ground up. The players won championships, but Dorrance was the constant that guided them there.

In this new world, without him, UNC would be tasked with even bigger challenges, but it’s not just one coach who made Mia Hamm. If the Tar Heels continue to seek out those super-talented players, play hard, and keep the Dorrance spirit with them, they will forever be a powerhouse of collegiate soccer.

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