gotchanewsdaily.com 
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) โ Anson Dorrance, whose 21 NCAA championships are the most by a head coach in any Division I sport in college history, is retiring after 45 seasons directing the womenโs soccer program at North Carolina.
The Tar Heels said Dorrance informed athletic director Bubba Cunningham of his plans Friday and told the team Sunday, four days before their season opener at Denver.
Dorrance also overlapped as both the menโs and womenโs coaches early in his career but his greatest success was with the women.
Associate head coach Damon Nahas will serve as interim womenโs coach this season. Cunningham plans to conduct a search for a new coach.
โAs many of you know I modeled our program after Dean Smithโs basketball program, and retiring at this time is a credit to his thinking, as well,โ Dorrance said in a statement. โHe would re-evaluate his tenure, not after the season, but after he had time to re-charge his batteries prior to the next season. When he didnโt, he retired.โ
Dorrance said he was excited heading into the season but came to the conclusion he did not have the energy to give 100% to the job.
Dorrance, 73, is one of the most successful coaches in college athletics.
The Tar Heelsโ first and only womenโs soccer head coach, Dorrance led UNC to a 934-88-53 record in 45 seasons (1979-2023). He also was menโs coach from 1977-88, winning 172 games and guiding UNC to an ACC title and NCAA Final Four berth in 1987.
โAnson is an all-time soccer, coaching and Tar Heel legend,โ Cunningham said. โThe numbers and accomplishments are staggering and will be hard for any coach or program to replicate or exceed. His impact on the development and growth of womenโs sports across the country and around the world has been profound.โ
North Carolina womenโs soccer has won 22 national championships (AIAW in 1981 and 21 NCAA titles), and played in six other national championship games.
The 934 wins, 21 NCAA titles and 147 NCAA Tournament wins are the most in womenโs soccer history. The Tar Heels enter the 2024 season having been ranked 513 consecutive weeks.
โIt is no exaggeration to say Anson Dorrance is one of the greatest collegiate coaches of all time, in any sport,โ Chancellor Lee Roberts said. โHe has trained many of the best players in the history of U.S. womenโs soccer and has led our program through decades of unparalleled success.โ
Dorranceโs career was blemished when former Tar Heel players Melissa Jennings and Debbie Keller, a national player of the year, filed a sexual harassment lawsuit in August 1998. They claimed Dorrance created an uncomfortable environment by asking players about their sexual activity.
Dorrance denied harassing his players, but in an apology letter sent he acknowledged participating in banter of a โjesting or teasing natureโ with groups of players. The case was eventually settled in 2008.
A seven-time national coach of the year, Dorrance is a member of the National Soccer Hall of Fame. He is the career Division I leader for NCAA championships by a coach in any sport with 21. Al Scates (UCLA menโs volleyball) and John McDonnell (Arkansas menโs indoor track and field) are tied for second with 19.
North Carolina womenโs soccer has won more NCAA championships (21) than any other womenโs team. Stanford womenโs tennis is second with 20. The 21 NCAA championships are tied for the fifth-most by any program in Division I history.
Dorrance led the Tar Heels to five perfect seasons (unbeaten and untied) and six other seasons with no losses and three or fewer ties. He coached 19 players who won national player of the year awards, including three-time honoree Cindy Parlow (Cone), the current president of U.S. Soccer, and Mia Hamm, who was named the ACCโs Greatest Female Athlete in the leagueโs first 50 years.
Dorrance was the head coach of the U.S. national team from 1986-94, leading it to the title in the inaugural Womenโs World Cup in China in 1991.
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
