W-League News Release
Friday, April 25, 2014
TAMPA, Fla. – The Carolina Elite Cobras have announced an ownership change, with Mountain View, California-based business executive Lauren Whitt, PhD and Head Coach Sandy Burris taking the helm as co-owners as the club prepares for its third season in the W-League and second in W-20. Whitt will oversee business operations for the Cobras, while Burris will also serve as general manager in addition to her W-League coaching duties.
Whitt and Burris purchased the Cobras from Ewell Gordon, who founded the W-League team in 2011 as the Central SC Cobras. The Greer, South Carolina-based club partnered with nationally recognized Carolina Elite Soccer Academy prior to the 2013 season. The Cobras enjoyed a breakthrough season on the field in 2013, capturing the Southeastern Conference playoff crown and advancing to the 2013 W-League Championship weekend.
In two seasons, the Cobras have had four players named to league All-Conference teams, and one player honored as W-League Defender of the Year.
“Former youth national team member and current health and wellness executive Lauren Whitt will bring vast experience and expertise as a proven business leader which will complement and build upon the foundation Sandy Burris has built in South Carolina,” W-League and W-20 Senior Director Amanda Duffy said. “This change of ownership signifies the club’s intentions of becoming one of the most prominent and comprehensive W-League clubs in the country.”
Currently the health and wellness manager for a large global technology company, Whitt uses her experiences as an elite soccer player and vast education to empower corporate employees toward making healthy choices a way of life. Previously the wellness director and a professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, the University of Alabama and Alabama Power Company, Whitt played collegiately at Clemson and Vanderbilt and won a Pan American Games gold medal in 1999 with the U.S. U21 Women’s National Team.
“The game of soccer has given me some incredible opportunities both as a player and a coach, so it is with great excitement I enter my new role as a team owner,” Whitt said. “Soccer is an outstanding avenue for young people to learn teamwork, leadership and commitment, but more than that it gives young players the opportunity to dream. Our organization looks forward to instilling these life lessons into our work with youth players and our involvement with the Greenville community,”
Burris will return for her third season as the head coach of the W-League Cobras, hoping to build upon the trip to the 2013 W-League Championship final four. Burris was instrumental in bringing the Cobras to the Greenville market and the addition of the W-20 team (coached by Andrew Hislop) in 2013, earning a spot at the championship weekend.
Burris completed her seventh season at South Carolina State University in 2013 – her first as head coach – and has helped lead the Bulldogs to their most successful seasons in school history. Burris previously coached at Belmont Abbey College in North Carolina, and has been part of the South Carolina Olympic Development Program for the past seven years.
“Firstly, I want to thank Ewell Gordon for having the vision to bring the Cobras to South Carolina,” Burris said. “Gordon's passion to develop top-level athletes has been the foundation for the Cobras.
“I am very excited about the partnership with Lauren. We have been friends and have talked soccer for many years. What Lauren and I both bring to the table will not only supersede the founding vision, but will continue the growth of women's sports.”
The Cobras open the 2014 W-League season on Sunday, May 18 when they travel to face the Dayton Dutch Lions in a key Southeastern Conference matchup. The W-20 Cobras kick off the 2014 season on Friday, May 30 when they head south to meet Atlanta Metros FC.