Two weeks ago, Jill Ellis was anything but a genius.
As her U.S. team struggled through group play at the Women's World Cup, the coach was being called unprepared, uncreative and unresponsive.
And those were the compliments.
Then, after a second-round win over Colombia, Michelle Akers, a two-time world champion, went on the radio and offered a dismal critique.
"The coach isn't handling the personnel right," she said. "The lineup sucks, the subs are sketchy, we're not all on the same page."
But now, with the unbeaten U.S. in Sunday's World Cup final, the criticism has turned into praise, and Ellis is being hailed as a genius.