Head Coach Anson Dorrance is now in his 36th season as the Tar Heels' head mentor. His teams have an all-time record of 763-54-29 (.919). Under Anson Dorrance, UNC has won 22 national championships, including 21 NCAA crowns and one AIAW title, 20 regular-season ACC titles and 20 ACC Tournament championships. During his tenure, Dorrance's teams are 169-21-6 in ACC regular-season games, 59-3-4 in ACC Tournament matches and 118-9-3 in NCAA Tournament games. UNC is 324-23-10 in home games in its history and 439-31-19 in games played on the road and at neutral sites.
Under Dorrance, UNC has won 91.9 percent of its games overall, 87.8 percent of its ACC regular-season games, 92.4 percent of its ACC Tournament games, 91.9 percent of its NCAA Tournament games, 92.2 percent of its home games and 91.7 percent of its road and neutral site games.
When Anson Dorrance was inducted into the National Soccer Hall of Fame on August 2, 2008, it marked one more milestone moment in the career of a man whose coaching prowess became legendary at a young age. Because Dorrance has not yet retired from his coaching career, he was only eligible for election on the "Builders of the Game" ballot and he won election to the Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility on that ballot.
Like fine wine - with age - the coaching career of Anson Dorrance only gets better. Dorrance proved that again in 2012 as he led his team successfully through one of the most competitive College Cup fields in history as the University of North Carolina won its 22nd overall national title and its 21st NCAA crown. When UNC won the NCAA crown in 2009, Dorrance became the first coach in NCAA history to win 20 championships coaching a single sport.
Head coach of the North Carolina women's soccer program since its inception in 1979, Dorrance has built and guided a well-oiled winning machine. Under his direction, the Tar Heels have collected national and conference championships at a stupendous rate, compiled an overall record staggering in its numerical verity, established records likely never to be approached and procured the esteem befitting a dynasty.
At an institution familiar with such incomparable achievement, especially with regard to its storied basketball program, it might be possible to think that Dorrance's accomplishments could somehow fade to the background. But what he has done in Chapel Hill is simply impossible to disregard.
Thus, when an expert panel employed by ESPN announced its list of the Best Coaches of the Past Quarter Century on July 28, 2004 - coincidentally headed at the No. 1 spot by legendary Carolina basketball coach Dean Smith - it came as no big surprise that another deserving Tar Heel mentor made the list. That Dorrance was one of only two coaches in the prestigious collection to coach an Olympic sport on the collegiate level only speaks louder about his recognized greatness.
*Bio coutresy University of North Carolina
