The USA coach defied critics – including some in her locker room – to triumph in France. But she is unlikely to find a bigger job than her current one

Jill Ellis is the most successful manager in women’s football. With back-to-back Women’s World Cup trophies, Ellis goes down in history as the only coach to win the title twice, and the only one to have never lost a game in the tournament. But with her contract set to expire in less than three weeks, what’s next for Ellis?

She could continue in her current job to the next World Cup but no coach has ever lasted that long at the helm of the US women’s national team. And there’s a pretty important reason for the constant in-and-out of coaches: the players typically push them out, and in 2017 some select veteran players staged an unsuccessful coup to get Ellis fired.

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Sources told the Guardian in the months leading up to the World Cup that dissatisfaction with Ellis’s leadership style remained. But now that the players have won another World Cup, it remains to be seen whether that changes the dynamic. And for Ellis’s part, choosing to stay with the team may mean continuing to lead some players who tried to get her fired. But a decision has to be made, both on the part of Ellis and her boss, the US Soccer Federation.

Sources tell the Guardian that Ellis’s contract expired in July 2018 and was extended with a pay increase from around $300,000 to $500,000. Her contract is set to expire again at the end of this month, but it contains an option that would extend her deal until after the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, if she or US Soccer want, and bump her pay up to $525,000.

Her salary may pale in comparison to her male counterparts at US Soccer, but she probably can’t command better pay as the head coach of any other women’s team. As a manager, she has arguably reached the pinnacle of the women’s sport without anywhere else to go.

However Ellis, who has worked for US Soccer for two decades, has another option: the federation created a new general manager position to oversee all women’s programming, and Ellis is an obvious fit. In addition to serving as head coach of the USWNT, she has also managed various youth teams and served as the federation’s development director, where she oversaw the technical development of US girls’ national teams. The new GM position has sat vacant since it was created in December 2017.

Asked after her World Cup win about her future, Ellis declined to comment, saying she hadn’t thought about it yet.

But given the criticism Ellis has faced from fans, media and her own locker room, going out on a high note may hold a certain appeal. Even her crucial tactical change at the 2015 World Cup, which freed Carli Lloyd up to be the hero as the US took the title, was dismissed as being forced upon her after some players were suspended following bookings. When the US were knocked out in the quarter-final of the 2016 Olympics, it was the USWNT’s worst finish ever in a major tournament and a blight on Ellis’s coaching record.

The criticism has been nonstop ever since. Heading into this World Cup and even during it, she was questioned over a litany of decisions. Testing young players and cutting veterans. Trying new formations. Anointing Alyssa Naeher as the starting goalkeeper. Converting attacker Crystal Dunn to left-back. Not bringing more defensive depth to France. Moving Julie Ertz to central midfield. Not starting NWSL MVP Lindsey Horan. And so on. But despite all the worries, the US bulldozed their way to another World Cup without ever looking particularly troubled.

Ellis, however, didn’t revel in silencing her critics after Sunday’s win over the Netherlands. “I don’t care about that and I never really read what people thought,” she said. “I knew that after 2016 we had to deconstruct this and reconstruct. That was the plan that I shared with my bosses and they bought into it. I knew we had to continue to evolve.”

The players have given credit to Ellis this World Cup, but inevitably the kudos always turned to a mention of how difficult Ellis made it for them, and how it brought the players closer together as a group. That closeness, perhaps more than tactics, may be why the US were so dominant throughout the World Cup. There was a tight-knit atmosphere that wasn’t part of the team’s fabric when they won four years ago.

“She’s the boss at the end of the day. It’s her job to make the hard decisions, and we just fight for each other out there,” said goalkeeper Ashlyn Harris after Sunday’s win. “We create a bond and a foundation that nothing can jeopardize – if we’re close enough, no matter what decisions are made at the top, it doesn’t shake us.”

Asked about how close the team has become, Harris became teary-eyed. Megan Rapinoe also started crying in the pre-final press conference when asked about her teammates. Whether Ellis created that closeness intentionally or not, it’s certainly been a byproduct of her leadership. The factions that used to dominate the US women’s national team couldn’t develop because Ellis, willing to unceremoniously cut veterans and keen to throw young players into trials by fire, prevented them from doing so.

“In the past, the young ones have really had to earn it and sit on the bench for years before you get a few caps. But Jill shook that up and said ‘No, I’m trying these players out even if it’s their first camp,’” said defender Becky Sauerbrunn. “We had to change our mindset. That changed the chemistry and we folded the young players in a lot earlier.”

Now, either Ellis will continue to lead the team she created – one that has a special player bond, but perhaps a more ambivalent one with the coach – through the Olympics and beyond. Or, she will walk away on top. Either way, no matter who her critics are, her record – the most Women’s World Cup trophies for a coach – is beyond reproach.