Jill Ellis knew last Christmas.

Ellis knew she had done almost everything she had wanted to do as coach of the United States women’s soccer team, knew she had taken its players about as far as she could. She knew what it felt like to lift the World Cup trophy, what it felt like to compete at the Olympics, and she knew it would be wonderful to experience those feelings again.

But she also knew that every coach, and every team — even a great one — eventually runs its course, and she could sense that her time was nearly up. So around Christmas last year, Ellis began to talk to her family about leaving her job as coach of the world’s best national team.

“I would say even when I started this job, I kind of felt that this was not a job that someone sits in for 10 years,” Ellis said. “I think change is good: new perspective, different lens.”