John Ellinger

Who is John Ellinger?

John Ellinger is a former American soccer coach of the Under-17 United States men's national soccer team, and former head coach of Real Salt Lake of Major League Soccer.

Ellinger played collegiately at Frostburg State University, graduating in 1973. He also played club ball with the Washington Soccer Club at the start of his coaching career.

After graduating from Frostburg State University, Ellinger taught gym at Sherwood High School in Sandy Spring, MD, where he coached a number of sports, including soccer. During this time, Tony Stevens, President and Founder of the Olney Soccer Club, served as an early mentor for Ellinger, helping to expand his sophisticated understanding of the game.

Ellinger was Tom Bichy's assistant at Montgomery College from 1979 to 1981, where the team achieved a No. 5 national ranking. He left Montgomery to coach at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, where he stayed from 1981 to 1990.

Ellinger became a U.S. Soccer National Staff Coach in 1992, and has held a number of different jobs since then. Most notably, he has been the coach of the U-17 United States men's national soccer team since 1997, and Director of Youth Development since 2001. In his role as coach of the U-17's, Ellinger has also headed up the USSF's Bradenton Academy, where many of the United States's most talented youths are developed. While at Bradenton, Ellinger had a significant role in developing many of the most outstanding of American soccer players, including Landon Donovan, DaMarcus Beasley, Bobby Convey, Edward Johnson, Chad Marshall, Freddy Adu, Eddie Gaven, Danny Szetela, and Jonathan Spector.