National champion comes home: BYU's Ellie Walbruch on transfer from UCLA, competing in the Big 12, and NIL in college sports
The 5-foot-10 forward from Highland, Utah, caught up with the podcast after announcing her decision to return home and play for Jennifer Rockwood and the Cougars over the holiday break.
PROVO — Ellie Walbruch wants to make one thing clear: she loved her time at UCLA, and holds no ill feelings toward the Bruins, the coaching staff or her teammates during a magical run that included a 22-2-1 season and Women’s College Cup national championship.
But when the 5-foot-10 forward from Highland, Utah and American Fork High School put her name into the transfer portal, she had a clear destination in mind: Brigham Young University.
Walbruch wanted to go home.
So she announced her commitment to legendary BYU coach Jennifer Rockwood — her Utah Celtic academy mentor when she was 4 years old, a legendary college coach who recruited her since before she committed to UCLA at 14 — and made her decision, with the full support of her parents and family, including an older brother who plays at Utah Tech.
“It’s in my backyard; it’s 20 minutes away. BYU has always been there,” Walbruch told the Salt City FC podcast. “I’ve been to all the camps every summer; Jen Rockwood was my academy coach when I was 4 years old with Celtic. I’ve known it, and I grew up with all the players and always went to the games. It’s a full-circle moment, and I’m super excited to play with them. It’s going to be awesome.”
Walbruch was a star on the Utah youth soccer scene growing up, first with Celtic and then moving on to La Roca FC in Ogden, where she competed on the national level with the ECNL and earned invites to U.S. U-18 youth national team camps and regional camps through college in 2021.
The two-time state cup champion at the U18 and U19 levels who always played up a division was a team captain from 2016-21 and earned ECNL All-Star and Top XI honors at most major showcase, including the prestigious ECNL Phoenix Showcase in 2020 and USSDA Winter showcase in 2018.
"We are thrilled to have Ellie coming to BYU," Rockwood said. "I have known Ellie since she was very young, and I have watched her development over the years. She is a very versatile attacking player, a good goal scorer and will be a huge addition to our high power offense."
Walbruch even found playing time right away with the Bruins, averaging 19.6 minutes as a freshman with nine shots and three shots on goal, including her first collegiate marker, a game-winner against San Diego State on Sept. 15.
That season peaked in the national championship, when Walbruch celebrated a title with UCLA’s 3-2 extra-time win over North Carolina, her parents Matt and Emily cheering her on from the bleachers at WakeMed Soccer Park in Cary, North Carolina.
The duo who helped train Walbruch every day in soccer and fitness — she often recalled waking up before 6 a.m. to run with her mom, and post-training sessions with her dad on the practice pitch — were just as excited as she was to win a title. Maybe even more, she jokes.
“My dad is my No. 1 fan,” Walbruch said. “He’s my trainer, and it was cool for him to be in the stands (at the national championship). He was really proud; he’s been proud ever since I was little, and it was awesome to have him and my mom in the stands when we won it.”
So why step away from the top-tier program and come home to a new beginning at BYU? Walbruch had a couple of reasons.
For starters, there was a coaching change. The head coach who recruited Walbruch to Westwood when she was 14 left the program when former Orlando Pride head coach Amanda Cromwell departed for her short stint in the NWSL. Former Stanford coach Margueritte Aozasa was more than suitable in replacing Cromwell — but she still wasn’t the one who forged all those connections with Walbruch.
But another big decision came in BYU’s standing in the college sports world. The Cougars are set to enter the Big 12 Conference beginning July 1, and women’s soccer will likely host the first Big 12 contest on campus to inaugurate a new era of Power Five inclusion in Provo.
Building a new P5 program alongside a team that lost just one player from last year’s NCAA Tournament team that advanced to the Sweet 16 in a “rebuilding” or “reloading” year that followed a historic march to the College Cup national championship final certainly excited Walbruch. And she thinks the Cougars are in position to make some early noise in a new conference that has most recently been run by the likes of TCU, Texas and West Virginia after a decade in the California-centric West Coast Conference.
“I think we’re going to go in and make a huge impact,” Walbruch said. “BYU has proven themselves in the WCC, and they’re a tournament team. They’re putting on great shows in the national tournament, and competing strong.
“We’re going to make a huge impact, and we’re going to be up there with the best teams in the Big 12.”
Her transfer already has a secondary component, as well. Under new NCAA regulations unbarring previous restrictions on college athletes monetizing their name, image and likeness for commercial and brand-building purposes, Walbruch has signed with BYU’s newly formed Royal Blue Collective. The decision comes after long-time representation with Utah County-based OnCoor Sports marketing group that helped her launch NIL deals as early as her senior year in high school.
OnCoor is the same group that has represented dozens of current and former BYU athletes, from star quarterback Jaren Hall to Walbruch’s new women’s soccer teammate Brecken Mozingo.
“I think it’s a huge opportunity for BYU student-athletes,” she said. “It’s cool that I get to be a part of it; I think it’s great that they created this for BYU athletes and the great athletics we have here.
“It’s NIL; we get to make money. It’s going to be huge, and I’m blessed to be a part of it.”
But mostly, Walbruch is just excited to get back on the pitch, for spring training or the blink-and-it’ll-be-here 2023 fall season to help her new team.
“BYU has always been knocked for playing in ‘the easy conference,’” she said. “So I think it’s super cool that we have this opportunity to prove ourselves. We want to be at the top, and it’s going to be an awesome experience. I think it’s for the best.”
Outstanding article! Great insight into a young woman navigating the NCAA world and finding a perfect home!