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University of NC - Chapel Hill

UNC Athletic Department
 P.O. Box 2126 Chapel Hill, NC 27515
Division 1 North Carolina Southeast
Public Large National competitor
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Anson Dorrance

The 2022 season marks Anson Dorrance’s 46th year as a head coach at UNC, including 44 seasons as the women’s head coach – only head coach in program history.


A 1974 Carolina graduate, Dorrance has won a combined 1,172 games at his alma mater, while coaching the men and women. He won his 1,000th game as a collegiate head coach, including 172 wins as UNC’s men’s head coach from 1977-88, when the Tar Heels defeated Ohio State on August 18, 2018. It was his 828th victory as the UNC women’s coach.


Dorrance captured his 900th win as Carolina’s women’s coach against Notre Dame in the 2021 home finale on Oct. 24. His 901 victories as head coach of the UNC women’s program are the most in the sport’s history.


Dorrance was presented with the prestigious Werner Fricker Builder Award in 2016 from United States Soccer, given to an individual who has dedicated at least 20 years of service to the sport, working to establish a lasting legacy in the history and structure of soccer in the United States.


He was inducted in the National Soccer Hall of Fame in August 2008 on the “Builders of the Game” ballot, being inducted in his first year of eligibility.


In 2012, Dorrance led Carolina to its 20th NCAA Championship, making him the first coach in NCAA history to win 20 NCAA championships in a single sport. He is the all-time leader in Division I NCAA championships in any sport and tied for second across all NCAA divisions in all-time titles with 21.


The women’s soccer program has produced 21 of UNC’s 47 NCAA championships, which ranks the fifth-most by any program in NCAA Division I history. Oklahoma State wrestling has 34, Southern California men’s outdoor track and field 26, Denver skiing 24, Iowa wrestling 24 and UNC women’s soccer, USC men’s tennis and Yale men’s golf have won 21.


Beckett Entertainment named the 1982-2000 Tar Heels the sixth most successful sports dynasty of the 20th century, trailing only the 1957-69 Boston Celtics, 1947-62 New York Yankees, 1963-75 UCLA men’s basketball, 1991-98 Chicago Bulls and 1953-60 Montreal Canadians.


Dorrance led Carolina to a 103-game unbeaten streak (97-0-6) from 1986 to 1990 and a 101-game unbeaten streak (99-0-2) from 1990 to 1994.


In 2020, the Tar Heels went undefeated in the regular season, advanced to the ACC title game and made its unprecedented 30th appearance in the NCAA College Cup.


He has coached 19 different players to National Player-of-the-Year honors, including three-time recipient Cindy Parlow (current president of U.S. Soccer) and Mia Hamm, who was selected the Greatest Female Athlete in the ACC’s first 50 years.


Dorrance has been named National Coach of the Year seven times, six as the women’s head coach (1982, 1986, 1997, 2000, 2003 and 2006) and once with the men (1987).


He led the Carolina men to the 1987 NCAA Final Four.


Dorrance served as head coach of the United States Women’s National Team from 1986-94, leading Team USA to the title in the first-ever Women’s World Cup in China in 1991.

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Daman Nahas

Damon Nahas is beginning his seventh complete season as a full-time assistant women’s soccer coach at the University of North Carolina in the fall of 2022.


Nahas officially joined the Tar Heel staff on November 9, 2015.


UNC head coach Anson Dorrance has had nothing but praise for Nahas since he joined the staff nearly five years ago.


“What’s happened in the last couple of years is that we were fortunate enough to convince Damon Nahas to be a part of our staff and he is remarkable in every respect,” said Dorrance when he hired Nahas in the fall of 2015. “He’s not only good in every training session where he brings a cutting edge to player development, but he’s also a fabulous recruiter and he ties us into the national youth teams programs which is vital in modern day recruiting.


“Damon was the U15 National Team coach so my motivation in hiring him was certainly in part that he ties us into a culture where it is critical to have a connection. And the youth national team program is our recruiting pool. His energy in the office is great and his dream is to continue the player development capital that we’ve developed.”


Nahas brought with him an extensive background from the previous 15 years in player development, club coaching and national team coaching to his duties in Chapel Hill. In 2000, he developed a U7-U11 technical academy, Next Level Academy (NLA), which not only played a major role in his development as a coach but along with the NLA staff continues to be a leader in player development in the Triangle. He served as the technical director of one of the most successful youth clubs in the country, the Capital Area Soccer League (CASL) in Raleigh since 2000. He also served as head coach of the U.S. U15 Girls National Team from 2011-14 and began a stint as an assistant coach for the U.S. U17 Women’s National Team in 2014.


“I am incredibly honored and humbled to have the opportunity to work alongside Anson Dorrance and his staff. The UNC women’s soccer program has an unrivaled tradition of success, so to say I am excited for the next phase of my career, would be an understatement,” says Nahas. “To have the chance to work with some of the most talented players in the women’s game while learning from a staff which continues to be motivated to develop players both on and off the field is incredible. I want to thank Anson along with the entire UNC family for this amazing opportunity and I look forward to the beginning of an exciting journey.”


“If you look at all the places on the face of the Earth, the place that has developed players who have played in more Olympic Games and in more World Cups than any place else is Chapel Hill, N.C.,” says Dorrance in praising what he believes is one of Nahas’ strength. “We’re incredibly proud of that. We obviously roll that out in recruiting and the number of roster spots we’ve earned is staggering. We can compare it with any college that is out there and we can compare it with any international club team. We can compare it to any professional environment anywhere in the world. Damon has a player development attitude just like mine. We all want to develop players who are competing at the highest levels in the sport. This will always put us in a position to compete for national championships and compete for ACC championships. But ultimately what drives us is watching a kid come in at one level and then after four years to see her at a completely different level. I’m very proud of that.”


Nahas attended and played soccer at North Carolina State University from 1992-96 and then played professionally with the Wilmington Hammerheads and Capital Express. In 2000, he joined the CASL staff where he helped develop and execute a technical curriculum for the coaching staff and players, primarily at the U9-U14 levels for both boys and girls. During his tenure there he coached teams across all age groups and genders including squads which won two ECNL national championships, a U.S. Club national championship, a Super Y League national title, four state championships and two Disney showcases while having success in many other national tournaments.


Nahas began his coaching tenure on the national level with U.S. Soccer in 2011. He was the U15 girls’ national team coach from 2011-14, overseeing the program for up to five training camps per year while also scouting and selecting players eligible for the teams. In 2014, he began a stint as the U17 WNT assistant coach, a position which included scouting players and assisting with training sessions with head coach B.J. Snow. In 2014, Nahas was also invited to serve as an assistant for the full USWNT during various camps, where he conducted technical training sessions for the team.


“Damon Nahas has changed girls soccer in the state of North Carolina. It used to be very difficult to find local players that could compete at a national level collegiately. Damon has changed that,” says Dorrance. “Three of his youth players off one team have started for us–Joanna Boyles, Cameron Castleberry and Maya Worth and products of CASL continue to populate our roster. There are not many youth coaches in the country that can say off one youth team, they have produced three NCAA Division I starters on a Top 10 collegiate team at the same time.


Among his past head coaching experiences have been stints with Cary Clarets PDL (head coach), Carolina RailHawks (assistant coach 2007-09) and Cardinal Gibbons High School in Raleigh (men’s head coach 1999-2002).


A native of East Northport, N.Y., Nahas earned his bachelor's degree from Southern New Hampshire University in 2021. He and his wife, Nicole, have two sons, Crew and Grayson, and a daughter Harper.

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Nathan Thackeray

Nathan Thackeray was hired as an assistant coach at North Carolina during the 2021 season and is responsible for working with the Tar Heel goalkeepers.


Thackeray simultaneously serves as a first-team assistant and goalkeeper coach for the North Carolina courage of the NWSL. He joined the Courage in 2017, while concurrently serving as the Director of Goalkeeping for the USL’s North Carolina FC.


The Courage won back-to-back NWSL championships in 2018 and 2019 earned three consecutive Shield awards as the team with the league’s best regular season record in 2017, 2018 and 2019. The club also won the 2022 Challenger’s Cup and the 2018 International Champions Cup.


He spent five years with North Carolina FC (2016-21) and during his time with the organization, NCFC developed 24 goalkeepers into intercollegiate players, had six players sign home grown contracts and eight had regular integration with either men’s or the women's professional teams.


Thackeray was responsible for overseeing the largest goalkeeper program in the United States. With more than 300 goalkeepers. He also served as an assistant coach for both boys’ and girls’ U15 – U19 academy teams.


He joined the staff of the North Carolina FC in 2016 after serving as Head of Academy Goalkeeping with Major League Soccer’s Houston Dynamo for four seasons.


In addition to serving as an assistant coach with the Dynamo, Thackeray was responsible for overseeing the development of all goalkeepers from age levels U11 to U23.


He is currently the goalkeeper coach and assistant coach with the U15 Youth National Team.


Thackeray began his coaching career at Young Harris College, where he served as an assistant coach/goalkeepers for the men’s team in 2011 and 2012.


He earned his bachelor's degree in communications and media studies from William Woods University in 2010.

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