Anson Dorrance

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Early career

Dorrance was born in Bombay, India on April 9, 1951, the son of an American oil executive. He spent his youth moving with his family throughout Europe and Africa. Of all the places he lived, three had particular influences on his later life. In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, he met his future wife, M'Liss Gary, the daughter of the U.S. Air Force attache to Ethiopia. He attributes his love of soccer to his years living in Kenya and finally, he gained his education from the boarding school, Villa St. Jean International School, in Fribourg, Switzerland from which he graduated in 1969.

After graduating from Villa St. Jean, he moved to the United States and attended a small community college in San Antonio, Texas. He transferred after the fall term to the University of North Carolina (UNC). His love of soccer led him to walk on with the school's men's soccer team, then coached by Marvin Allen, where he was a three time All-ACC player. In 1974, he graduated with a B.A. in English and Philosophy. That year, he also married his boyhood sweetheart, M'Liss Gary.

Under the influence of his father, Dorrance entered the University of North Carolina's law school, but dropped out in 1976, when Marvin Allen convinced Dorrance to succeed him as the UNC men's soccer coach. From 1977 until 1988, Dorrance compiled a 175-65-21 (.708) record with the team. His greatest success came in 1987 when he led them to the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) championship and the NCAA Final Four. That year, he also won NCAA Men's Soccer Coach of the Year honors. [http://graphics.fansonly.com/photos/schools/unc/sports/m-soccer/auto_pdf/uncsoccer4.pdf]

UNC Women's Soccer Team

In 1979, UNC expanded Dorrance's duties to include both the men's soccer team as well as the newly established women's team. It was this event which moved Dorrance into the limelight. Within two years, Dorrance had guided his Lady Tar Heels to the 1981 Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) title. When Dorrance began coaching the Lady Tar Heels, the NCAA did not have a women's soccer championship. When the NCAA showed no interest in establishing one, Dorrance and University of Colorado coach, Chris Lidstone, approached the AIAW, who proved receptive to the idea. After the AIWA led the way, the NCAA finally recognized women's soccer as an inter-collegiate sport and Dorrance's teams proceeded to dominate the sport. His teams won every championship from 1982-1984 and again from 1986-1994. After winning the 2006 NCAA championship, the Tar Heels have claimed a total of 19 national championships and 18 of the 25 NCAA championships.

Dorrance's success comes from several inter related attributes. First, he has an eye for recruiting outstanding talent. Related to that is his emphasis on competitiveness. He noted early in his time as a women's coach that women seemed to have an inhibition against open competition. He decided to develop an atmosphere at UNC in which women were rewarded for having an aggressive desire to win. Finally, he noted from his work with both the men's and women's team that women tended to play best in an atmosphere which focused on relationships.

Dorrance was able to bring out his player's aggressiveness and competitiveness while also fostering an almost family sense of the team. Regarding the aggressiveness, Santa Clara University women's soccer coach Jerry Smith noted in a 1998 Sports Illustrated article, "When you watch them, you can see the edge they have. I'll go beyond aggressiveness. It's meanness. Anson has found a way to bring that out of his players." Mia Hamm added in the same article, "I grew up always good at sports, but being a girl, I was never allowed to feel as good about it as guys were. My toughness wasn't celebrated. But then I came here, and it was O.K. to want to be the best." ["Sports Illustrated"; Dec 7, 1998; Vol 89; Issue 23; p 86.]

Legal Problems

In 1998, it appeared that Dorrance may have overstepped the bounds of creating a close-knit environment. That year a player, Melissa Jennings, sued him for sexual harassment. Dorrance had just cut her from the team. Initially, it appeared the suit was retaliation against Dorrance. However, when Debbie Keller Hill, a former team captain, joined the suit, it gained greater legitimacy.Fact|date=February 2007 In October 2004, U.S. District Court Judge N. Carlton Tilley, Jr., threw out the six-year lawsuit, stating the "behavior at issue does not constitute severe, pervasive and objectively offensive sexual harassment." [ [http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=1911734 ESPN - Six-year-old suit dismissed days before trial - College Sports ] ] In April 2006, a three judge federal appeals panel voted against reversing the judgement (2-1).http://pacer.ca4.uscourts.gov/opinion.pdf/042447.P.pdf] Jennings appealed to the full court with oral arguments taking place in October 2006. [ [http://www.newsobserver.com/122/story/460479.html newsobserver.com | Suit against coach revived ] ] Hill had earlier settled with the university for $70,000. [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9405E1DE1530F936A15750C0A9629C8B63&n=Top%2fReference%2fTimes%20Topics%2fSubjects%2fS%2fSoccer Harassment Case Involving Coach Settled - New York Times ] ] The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, after a rehearing by the full court, vacated summary judgment for defendants in Jennings' lawsuit. The April 9 2007 decision allowed Jennings to proceed on her Title IX claim and on sexual harassment civil rights claims under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 against Dorrance and a university official. Judge M. Blane Michael wrote in the 4th Circuit Court's majority opinion that Dorrance's conduct "went far beyond simple teasing and qualified as sexual harassment."

On October 1 2007 the U.S. Supreme Court denied a petition by the state Attorney General's Office for the court to hear a nine-year-old sexual harassment suit against UNC-Chapel Hill and its women's soccer coach, Anson Dorrance.

The refusal by the Supreme Court to hear the case meant that the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling from 2007 would stand. On January 14 2008, the suit was settled and Melissa Jennings will receive $385,000. The university also will review its sexual harassment policies and procedures, and bring in an outside law professor to help. The coach issued a written apology to the player, her family and team members admitting that his comments were inappropriate. The coach admitted that he did recruit her and got her into the school to play soccer. [ [http://sports.yahoo.com/sow/news?slug=ap-dorrancelawsuit&prov=ap&type=lgns Sexual harassment suit settled, NCarolina's Dorrance can move on - World Soccer - Yahoo! Sports ] ]

National Team Coach

His success at North Carolina led to the United States Soccer Federation hiring Dorrance as the coach of the United States women's national soccer team in 1986. He successfully juggled his duties to both the national team and UNC. In one extreme case, he went from UNC's championship victory in the 1991 NCAA tournament to the World Cup championship six days later. In that tournament, the United States won the first Women's World Cup, held in China. When Dorrance ended his tenure in 1994 with the national team, he had accumulated a record of 66-22-5 (.737) record. He has coached some of the finest players in Women's Soccer History including Mia Hamm and Kristine Lilly.

In May 2005, Dorrance was elected as a member of the North Carolina Sports Hall of Fame.

References

External links

* [http://tarheelblue.cstv.com/sports/w-soccer/mtt/dorrance_anson00.html Profile]