University of North Carolina Athletics
Woody: Ex-Tar Heel Is Top Women's Soccer Coach
January 31, 2000 | Women's Soccer
Jan. 31, 2000
April Heinrichs, a three-time All-America and two-time National Player of the Year, was the first of the truly great players in Carolina women's soccer. Now the former head coach at Princeton, Maryland and Virginia has become the first woman in its 15-year history to pilot the U-S National women's soccer team.
Veteran UNC women's coach Anson Dorrance, who guided Heinrichs and the U-S National team to the World Cup in 1991, knew she would eventually hold this position. "She has played at the international level, and she has coached at that level. She has the respect of her players."
An assistant to Tony DiCicco during the 1995 Women's World Cup and the 1996 Olympics, Heinrichs had no trouble making the transition from player to coach at that time, and she doesn't anticiplate any problems this time. "The most important thing is to let the players be themselves because they are a bundle of personality. We will take the current style and build on it. I always think there is another level."
Practice starts this week, and Heinrichs will have a full complement of players. The 20 players who won the Women's World Cup last summer ended their five-week boycott when they agreed to a settlement with the U-S Soccer Federation. The players didn't think they were getting paid enough, so the settlement will allow each player to earn about $130,000 this year in salaries and bonuses. They also have the right to hold their own indoor victory tour, which paid each player about $100,000 last summer. The deal runs through the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece.
When the U-S squad decided to boycott competition in Australia, the Federation sent a sent a team of collegiate players down under, and they won the tournament. Some of those players will also be among the 35 to start practice this week in preparation for Sunday's game against Norway in Ft. Lauderdale. Heinrichs is familiar with the group of younger players since she coached them on youth national teams or in developmental programs. She was coach of the U-S National under-16 squad and never lost to an under-18 team from any country.
Her biggest challenge will be whittling the roster down to 16 players for the summer Olympics in Sydney. However, she has already told the players that everybody, including even the established stars, will have to win a job. "I am not coming in with preconceived notions. In my mind, the chalkboard is clean."
A native of Littleton, Colo., Heinrichs ended her playing career in 1991 because of knee problems. Knowing her physical limitations, she planned on a coaching career as early as 1988. "As a player I was extremely competitive. Anything, you name it, I've made it a competition in my life. That's the energy from which I coach. That's why I love being in athletics."
Her former teammates and players refer to Heinrichs as a leader, a gifted motivator and a great tactician. And even though she is only the third full-time coach of the U-S Women's National team, she is not caught up in the attention of being the first woman to hold the position.
"A good coach is somebody who influences players to perform at a higher level. It's not a gender job description. I'm not a female coach. I'm a coach of women."
