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.
With the World Cup six weeks away, though, the U.S. team is not far from her mind. She and Italy’s Vittorio Pozzo (1934-38) are the only men’s or women’s coaches to win two World Cup titles, a feat that helped earn Ellis a place in the National Soccer Hall of Fame last month.