John Ellinger

John Ellinger
Personnel
Surname	John L. Ellinger
birthday	4th October 1951
place of birth	Baltimore , Maryland ,  USA
position	midfield player
Juniors
Years	station
1969-1973	Frostburg State University
Men's
Years	station	Games (goals) 1
1970s	Washington Soccer Club
Stations as a trainer
Years	station
1979-1981	Montgomery College (Co-Tr.)
1981-1990	UMBC Retrievers
1990-1997	USA (Co-Tr / B-Team (U-23))
1996	Columbus Crew (Co-Tr.)
1997-2005	USA U-17
2005-2007	Real Salt Lake
2007-2008	Real Salt Lake (Tech. Dir.)
2008–2012	FC Dallas (Co-Tr.)
1 Only league games are given.

John L. Ellinger (born October 4, 1951 in Baltimore , Maryland ) is a retired American football player in the position of midfielder . After he had largely withdrawn from active sport in the 1970s, he has been working as a football coach ever since . Shortly after completing his studies, he started working as a sports teacher and in the years that followed, he focused primarily on football.

Career

Short career and start of coaching activity

John Ellinger was born on October 4th, 1951 in the then still emerging city of Baltimore in the US state of Maryland. After he grew up here or in Rockville , a suburb of Washington, DC , and attended the local Peary High School , which was closed in 1984, he came to his high school career, during which he was also active as a football player was, at the Frostburg State University distant to about 250 kilometers Frostburg . At Frostburg State he was a member of the men's soccer team of the Frostburg State Bobcats University Sports Department from 1969 to 1973 and was named their Most Valuable Player in 1972. At the university he obtained a Bachelor of Health and Physical Education in 1973 and a Master’s degree in the same subject in 1974 . After completing his studies, he began a career as a physical education teacher in the Montgomery County School System , which he subsequently served as a coach and teacher for 23 years.

He also played club soccer on the side, including at the Washington Soccer Club in the 1970s . His first post after completing his studies was the post of PE teacher at Sherwood High School in Sandy Spring , Maryland, where he taught the students not only various sports but also soccer. During this time he already received support from Tony Stevens, the president and founder of the Olney Soccer Club , founded in 1969 , one of the first youth sports clubs in the state of Maryland. As a mentor from Stevens, Ellinger was given the opportunity to intensify his work as a soccer coach. After a few years as a high school teacher and junior coach, Ellinger became head coach in 1979 under coach Tom Bichy (1944-2014), who held the position of head coach from 1968 to 2005 and during this time was the college's sports director for 24 years, Assistant Trainer for the Montgomery College Raptors at Montgomery College .

Head coach of the UMBC and other coaching activities

He carried out this activity up to and including 1981 and was subsequently appointed men's soccer coach for the UMBC Retrievers from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC). Subsequently, he was coach of the men's soccer team of UMBC Retrievers for ten seasons until 1990. During this time he also had a brief engagement in 1990 as the head coach of the reincarnated Washington Diplomats in the American Professional Soccer League (APSL). As early as May 1990, after personal disagreements with the owner of the franchise, he ended his cooperation with him, whereupon Stojan "Niki" Nikolić was introduced as his successor. In the same year he was introduced together with Desmond Armstrong as full-time Director-of-Coaching of the Soccer Association of Columbia , which at that time had around 200 different teams. After Armstrong, then still an active national player for the United States , soon ended his career there, Ellinger served as Director of Coaching for the organization for over a decade and was only replaced in this position by Bill Stara in October 2000.

At the same time, Ellinger, who at that time already held the USSF -A license , the highest coaching license in US football, also worked for the United States Soccer Federation from 1990 and alternated between 1990 and 1997 as assistant coach of the senior national team or as head coach of the B and U-23 national team. With the U-23 national team, the B team, he took part in the 1997 Summer Universiade in Sicily . He also worked for the US Federation at the US Olympic Festivals ; demonstrably among others at the US Olympic Festival 1990 in Minneapolis , Minnesota . After becoming a US Soccer National Staff Coach in 1992 , he then held various positions for the US Association. In parallel to these activities, he was introduced on August 7, 1996 as interim assistant coach for the major league soccer franchise Columbus Crew , which started playing that year . This obligation was preceded by the expulsion of the previous coach Timo Liekoski and the obligation of his previous co-trainer Tom Fitzgerald as interim head coach. Before that, Ellinger worked with Fitzgerald at the US Association, where Fitzgerald Ellinger's same age was assistant coach for the B and U-23 national team. The collaboration with Columbus Crew did not last long; in December 1996 Ellinger was released from his duties again and Greg Andrulis , previous goalkeeping coach of Columbus Crew, took over his vacant position as assistant coach.

Under-17 national coach and head of the Bradenton Academy

In the following year, he worked again for the US federation, where he was the head coach of the US U-17 national team from 1997 . Until he left there in 2005, the team participated under his leadership in four CONCACAF U-17 championships ( 1999 , 2001 , 2003 and 2005 ), as well as in five U-17 soccer world championships ( 1997 , 1999 , 2001 , 2003 and 2005 ). At the U-17 World Cup in New Zealand in 1999 , the Americans achieved fourth place, the best result in the history of the US U-16 or U-17 national team, which is still going on today (as of December 2016) is the greatest success of this junior selection. The US U-17 national team was unbeaten for 15 months (25 internationals) until the defeat in the game for third place against their age colleagues from Ghana . This was also the longest undefeated series in the history of all US national football selections. At the CONCACAF U-17 championships, Ellinger's trained selection was able to prove itself as a favorite for the title, as in the years before his work, and achieved it, except for 1997, when it was only through the play-off for the 1999 World Cup qualified, always first place in the respective group.

Furthermore, in addition to his commitment as U-17 national coach, he was a scout for the US national team at the qualifying games for the 1998 World Cup and under Clive Charles as assistant coach of the US Olympic team at the soccer tournament of the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney , when the Americans were only eliminated in the semifinals against Spain and went as losers in the game for third place against Chile. He was also on the coaching staff at the 1999 Pan American Games soccer tournament when the Americans won bronze. From 2001 he was also in charge of the football department of the IMG Academy in Bradenton , Florida , and was involved in the development of numerous top players and countless other professional players. During his time as a trainer there, players such as Landon Donovan , DaMarcus Beasley , Bobby Convey , Eddie Johnson , Chad Marshall , Freddy Adu , Eddie Gaven , Danny Szetela and Jonathan Spector trained here . Subsequently, he worked until his engagement as an MLS trainer in the office of Director of Youth Development at the Bradenton Academy .

Commitment as an MLS trainer

Already in October 2004 he was appointed coach of Real Salt Lake , at that time, before entering the championship, still called Utah Soccer and officially still nameless. As the first trainer in the history of the franchise, he started the first championship with it in 2005 and came in fifth and penultimate place in the Western Conference of the MLS just ahead of the CD Chivas USA . The following game year, 2006 , was not exactly made to measure for John Ellinger, who was inducted into the Maryland Soccer Hall of Fame that year , and his team. Nevertheless, the franchise was able to increase compared to the previous year, but ended up only in sixth and thus last place in the Western Conference . Compared to last year, the goal difference had improved considerably and Real Salt Lake even had the top scorer in the league this year with Jeff Cunningham . Early in the 2007 game year , which Real Salt Lake subsequently again concluded as one of the worst franchises in the league, Ellinger was sacked as head coach and replaced by Jason Kreis . Up to this point, Kreis was still an active player and captain of Real Salt Lake and had already acquired his coaching license during his active time.

Ellinger subsequently stayed with the franchise and acted briefly as its technical director and director of soccer operations . In addition to the associated activities, he also worked on the youth development of the franchise and the cooperation with Real Madrid . Especially in the recently established RSL Youth Development Program , in which U-16 and U-17 age groups in the states of Utah and Arizona , as well as a Developing Club Program in Florida were looked after. Under his leadership, RSL Utah and RSL Arizona took part in the recently founded Rocky Mountain Division of the Super Y-League organized by the United Soccer Leagues . After previously serving as US Soccer's Director of Youth Development , he held this position again at the United States Youth Soccer Association between 2007 and 2008 . At that time, the association consisted of around three million young football players and around 300,000 young coaches.

Engagement with FC Dallas

On June 19, 2008, John Ellinger, who during his time with the US association also acted as Region I (East) Under-14 National Coordinator , was introduced as assistant coach of the MLS franchise FC Dallas . Under the exactly one month younger Schellas Hyndman , Ellinger acted from then on as assistant coach and managing director of the FC Dallas Academy Programs . At the time of his commitment to FC Dallas, several of his former protégés were playing here: Abe Thompson , Chase Wileman , Dax McCarty , Blake Wagner , Anthony Wallace , Josh Lambo and Brek Shea . The 2008 game year ended with FC Dallas in fifth place in the Western Conference and thus could not qualify for the play-offs that closed the season. In addition, one could only record the second worst attendance figures in the entire league behind the Kansas City Wizards . Also in the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup 2008 there was an abrupt end for FC Dallas in the quarterfinals. After Kenny Cooper was the second most dangerous player of the season in 2008, a player from FC Dallas became the top scorer in 2009 . This time it was Jeff Cunningham who won the MLS Golden Boot in 2006, when Ellinger was coach of Real Salt Lake . Although Dallas had one of the league's veterans in the team, Cunningham, who was also often voted player of the round or scored the goal of the round, the team did not come in seventh of eight places in the Western Conference in the final standings . In addition, the franchise had by far the lowest number of viewers; the crowd puller Seattle Sounders FC had about five times the number of viewers. At the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup , FC Dallas took in this year not participate again.

In the Major League Soccer 2010 the team achieved its best final result during Ellinger's work and ranked third in the final ranking of the Western Conference behind Real Salt Lake (2nd) and Los Angeles Galaxy (1st). That year, Dallas FC was also the franchise with the most undefeated games in a row, with the team undefeated in 18 championship games between May 27 and October 16. With this placement, Dallas qualified for the season-closing play-offs, in which the franchise, after advancing in the Conference Semifinals against Real Salt Lake and in the Conference Finals against Los Angeles Galaxy, up to the MLS Cup , the major league final Soccer, moved in. In the game for the championship, the team trained by Schellas Hyndman lost to the Colorado Rapids trained by Gary Smith only in extra time. Nevertheless, FC Dallas was qualified for participation in the Preliminary Round of the CONCACAF Champions League 2011/12 due to its season end placement . After progressing in this qualifying round, the team retired in the main round, which was held as a group phase, as third in Group C from the current tournament. As in the previous year, FC Dallas did not take part in the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup in 2010 .

Parallel to the CONCACAF Champions League 2011/12, FC Dallas appeared in the Major League Soccer 2011 in a similar form to the previous year and took fourth place in the Western Conference in the final table after regular time . This placement allowed the team to take part in the play-in round of the MLS Cup Playoffs , where they were eliminated early in the tournament against the New York Red Bulls . Dallas achieved a remarkable performance in the Lamar Hunt US Open Cup 2011 , in which the team started from the third round. The team made it to the semifinals, where they lost 1-0 to eventual cup winners Seattle Sounders FC. In the game year 2012 , the first in the history of FC Dallas, in which they had their own shirt sponsor with the company Advocare , FC Dallas could no longer match the performances of the two previous years. In the final ranking, the team only took sixth place in the Western Conference and barely made it into the knockout round of the MLS Cup Playoffs. The Lamar Hunt US Open Cup 2012 also came to an abrupt end after the team lost 2-0 in their first game, the third-round match against fourth division club Charlotte Eagles , and was therefore eliminated from the current competition early. After these grievances, Ellinger's resignation from FC Dallas was announced in November 2012. By then he had brought the team to 53 wins, 46 losses and 47 draws. Head coach Schellas Hyndman stayed with the franchise for another season before he also turned his back on the team at the end of the 2013 season.

Back to the Soccer Association of Columbia

At the time of his departure from FC Dallas, his work as Director Of Technical Operations at the Soccer Association of Columbia , of which he had been a member for many years in the past, was fixed on December 2, 2012. Today (as of December 2016), after four years, he is still working as Director Of Technical Operations .

Private / trivia

John Ellinger has a wife named Tami and two daughters, Leigh and Brooke, and their son Matt. He currently lives with his wife (as of 2016) in Laurel , Maryland.

For years, the UMBC has given the John Ellinger Award, named after Ellinger, to supporters of the university sports department's soccer program.

Web links

• John Ellinger on the official website of the NSCAA Convention (English)
• John Ellinger on the official website of LinkedIn (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Ellinger acted as assistant coach for the entire period, but also held the position of head coach of the B team; with just this he took, among others at the Summer Universiade 1997 in Sicily in part
2. ↑ ^{a b} For Ellinger, a Rocky Road Home (English), accessed December 28, 2016
3. ↑ 2016 Frostburg State Men's Soccer Media Guide (p. 17 ), accessed December 28, 2016
4. ↑ OBGC HISTORY & INFO ( Memento of the original from October 1, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English), accessed December 28, 2016 
5. ↑ DIPLOMATS NAME NIKOLIK COACH (English), accessed on December 28, 2016
6. ↑ ^{a b} Columbia names Armstrong, Ellinger (English), accessed December 28, 2016
7. ↑ Stara expands soccer presence , accessed on December 28, 2016
8. ↑ ^{a b c} IMPORTANT DATES - 1996 (English), accessed on December 28, 2016
9. ↑ ^{a b c d} Salt Lake City names John Ellinger head coach , accessed December 28, 2016
10. ↑ ^{a b c} US Youth Soccer Names John Ellinger Technical Director ( Memento of the original dated December 28, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English), accessed December 28, 2016 
11. ↑ Checketts hires US U-17 coach Ellinger , accessed December 28, 2016
12. ↑ John Ellinger on the official Maryland State Soccer Association website , accessed December 28, 2016
13. ↑ ^{a b} Real Salt Lake captain Jason Kreis retires, named head coach ( Memento from May 29, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) (English), accessed on December 28, 2016
14. ↑ HYNDMAN ADDS ELLINGER TO STAFF - Former RSL coach to be Dallas assistant ( Memento of the original from September 26, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English), accessed December 28, 2016  
15. ↑ FC Dallas signs multi-year, multi-million dollar jersey deal with AdvoCare , accessed December 28, 2016
16. ^ FC Dallas assistant coach John Ellinger retires from Major League Soccer , accessed December 28, 2016
17. ↑ FC Dallas head coach Schellas Hyndman on resignation: "It's been a great journey" , accessed on December 28, 2016
18. ↑ SAC Hires Director Of Technical Operations ( Memento of the original from December 28, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (English), accessed December 28, 2016 
19. ^ Ellinger Returns to SAC , accessed December 28, 2016
20. ↑ John Ellinger on spokeo.com (English), accessed December 28, 2016
21. ↑ John Ellinger on zillow.com (English) retrieved on 28 December 2016
22. ↑ Men's Soccer Wraps Up Spring Campaign, Celebrates a Year of Honors , accessed December 28, 2016