Emma Hayes comes to USWNT as a five-peat WSL champion at Chelsea

Emma Hayes will arrive in America next week, and at her first training camp in charge of the U.S. women's national team, as a five-time reigning champion of the English Women's Super League.

Hayes, who was tabbed as the incoming USWNT coach in November, topped off a remarkable 12-year run at Chelsea with a title-clinching 6-0 trouncing of Manchester United on Saturday, the final day of the WSL season.

Chelsea entered the day level on points with Manchester City, and two ahead on goal differential, the first tiebreaker. With City playing simultaneously at Aston Villa, Hayes and Chelsea fans strapped in for what many expected to be a tense two hours.

But in an emphatic first half, the Blues banged in four goals, and effectively buried both Manchester clubs in 45 minutes, to send Hayes off in style.

It had been an emotional week for the 47-year-old Englishwoman. Tears had welled in her eyes and weakened her voice during interviews. She had gifted a set of commemorative, personalized rings to her players. Engraved on the rings were the year she arrived at Chelsea, "2012," when she took over an underfunded part-time team; and "2024," the year she'll leave.

Also engraved prominently on each ring were the words "WHAT GOT US HERE" — a reference to the motto by which Hayes coaches: "What got us here won't get us there."

The slogan rang truer than ever during her final weeks and months at Chelsea. Her talismanic striker, Sam Kerr, went down with a torn ACL in January. Kerr's replacement, Mayra Ramirez, signed for a club-record fee from Levante, also battled injuries throughout the spring, as the WSL title race tightened. And Hayes entered a pivotal final month without her most dynamic playmaker, Lauren James, who was sidelined by a foot injury.

But Hayes and her team adapted. They recovered after losing a heartbreaker to Liverpool on May 1. They won at Tottenham on Wednesday to level up with City. Hayes then made a massive call ahead of Saturday's decider: She started Ramirez, who hadn't played in over a month. The Colombian striker rewarded her coach's faith, bossing the first half, scoring twice and assisting two others.

Hayes, sporting a track jacket and custom Chelsea shoes, pumped her fists, repeatedly and euphorically, as the goals flew in.

She gestured toward the thousands of Chelsea fans who'd traveled to Old Trafford in Manchester.

She also managed the game with aplomb.

The entire afternoon was a perfect encapsulation of who she is and what she's done.

She's a kind, caring, psychologically astute human; and also a brilliant, pragmatic soccer coach.

"She's quite the character," Chelsea and U.S. forward Catarina Macario said last month. "But, yeah, I mean, she's just a serial winner."

Saturday's title was her seventh in the WSL, and fifth in a row. This time, however, there will hardly be time to celebrate. Over the coming days, Hayes will fly across the Atlantic, stop on the U.S. east coast, then travel to Colorado for her first USWNT training camp. She will name her first roster, which will gather May 27. She will coach her first U.S. game, a friendly vs. Korea on June 1.

She will step into the USWNT locker room and immediately command respect. She didn't need another trophy to command it. But, amid her emotional farewell, she lifted one anyway. That, of course, is what "serial winners" do.