NCAA women

Millinder is fired as coach at Southern California.

Jim Millinder had a winning perventage of .645 in 11 years at USC, but experienced frustration in the NCAA tournament -- University of Southern California web site photo --

LOS ANGELES (Thursday, November 16, 2006) - Jim Millinder was fired today as Southern Califiornia women's coach after 11 seasons.

The Women of Troy were 135-70-21 (.645) under Millinder, 47 and made eight appearances in the NCAA tournament, but never advanced past the second round. USC shared the Pac-10 title in 1998, but finished in the top three in the conference standings only five times under Millinder.

USC was 11-5-5 in 2006 and was eliminated by Stanford 2-0 Sunday in the NCAA second round.

"We appreciate all that Jim did to advance the women's soccer program during his tenure," said USC director of athletics Mike Garrett in a statement released after business hours. "However, at this time, we felt that a change was in the best interest of the program as we continue to strive to go to the next level."

The school said the search for a new coach would begin immediately.

Before taking the job at USC, Millinder was head coach at Loyola Marymount for two years (1974-75. Prior that he was the head women's (1990-93) and men's (1992-93) coach at El Camino Junior College, starting as an assistant with both programs in 1978.

Millinder was a midfielder in the old North American Soccer League for the Cosmos -- where he was a teammate of Pele, Franz Beckenbauer and Johann Cruyff in 1978 -- Los Angeles Aztecs (1979), Tulsa Roughnecks (1980) and Fort Lauderdale Strikers (1981-82). From 1983-85, he played for the Oklahoma City Slickers of the American Soccer League and then joined the Los Angeles Lazers of the Major Indoor Soccer League.

Millinder could not be reached for comment.

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