The gold medal is just the first step in Emma Hayes’ reign on the U.S. Women’s National Team.

PARIS — One day last winter, Crystal Dunn texted Emma Hayes. “Ma’am, I’ve heard rumors!” Dunn recalled recently. The message was rooted in the burgeoning speculation at the time that Hayes would become the new coach of the U.S. women’s national team.

Dunne, a veteran defender who played a season under Hayes at Chelsea before moving to the Women’s National Football League, said Hayes seemed excited but was understandably cautious in the exchange. Dunne ended his conversation by telling Hayes: “I hope that’s true. Because I think you’re going to be amazing.”

Nearly 10 months later, that interaction is still fresh in Dunn’s memory because Hayes is now, in effect, the coach of the U.S. women’s national team, and in a quick start, she’s delivered: The Americans won the Olympic gold medal on Saturday in Hayes’ first major tournament in charge.

It is an auspicious start by any measure for Hayes, who only took over in June after finishing the season with the club. But it also illustrates what the future may hold for a programme that is changing very clearly.

In a short time, Hayes touched the U.S. women’s national team’s personnel, tactics and style of play in significant ways, as well as forging strong individual relationships — some more difficult than others — while also pushing her team to rediscover the joy players feel for one another.

“She did a lot of things and coached us the way we really needed to,” said team captain Lindsey Horan.

Sophia Smith, the U.S. forward who scored three goals during the Olympic qualifiers, including a dramatic overtime winner in the semifinals, put it more simply: “We are a different team.”

It’s no small feat, either, given the state of the program a year ago. After exiting in the round of 16 at the Women’s World Cup last summer—the worst-ever result at a major tournament for the United States—the women’s national team parted ways with its former coach, Vlatko Andonovski, and looked toward what was an inevitable reassessment.

Hayes, who won five consecutive league titles with Chelsea, had never coached at international level, but she was well acquainted with American players after coaching at Iona College and at several professional levels in the United States from 2002 to 2012. She arrived with ideas and immediately started implementing them.

Her style—and one that players everywhere appreciate—is straightforward. Other coaches might have included Alex Morgan, the mainstay of the U.S. offensive line, in the Olympics, if only because she would be the easiest choice for a newcomer; Morgan, after all, is one of the U.S. women’s national team’s all-time leading scorers. But Hayes had no incentive to please anyone, deciding that Morgan wasn’t the right fit for the style she wanted to play and opting instead for a younger group.

As it turned out, the forwards she chose — Smith, Mallory Swanson and Trinity Rodman — were some of the standout players of the tournament, each providing a crucial goal in three straight 1-0 wins for the U.S. as they swept the knockout rounds.

Hayes didn’t just bring the trio together, she tweaked Smith’s style of play, asking her to get more forward around the goal rather than dropping deep as she did with her team. She also encouraged the trio to express themselves, experiment with cooperation and gave them freedom within their responsibilities, which resonated well.

Rodman pointed to her winning goal in the quarterfinals as an example. That strike, a long-range left-footed shot into the top corner, was just something Rodman thought about because she knew Hayes wouldn’t judge her if she hit the ball 20 yards out.

“I made a mistake one time right before that,” Rodman said. “But with her as a coach, you know that’s not going to change the way you look at the game and you keep trying to do things.”

Defensively, Hayes has also made changes. Leaving Naomi Girma in place was a no-brainer – “She’s the best defender I’ve ever seen,” Hayes said – but bringing her in with Tierna Davidson and then bolstering the defence with midfielder Sam Coffey, who Andonovski left out of the World Cup squad, are moves Hayes has made with confidence.

She also changed some positions, playing Dunne more as an attacking winger than in the past, for example, while also limiting her substitutions and lineup changes in general. While that certainly led to increased fatigue, Hayes said she wanted players to “suffer” because she felt building chemistry between her best players was more important.

“I think every time there’s something new and different, it’s always a little bit refreshing anyway just to make that transition,” veteran goalie Alyssa Naeher said. “And I think you can see everyone buying into it and buying into it.”

Beyond tactics, managing the personalities of a group of players of varying ages and experience is a challenge in itself. Some of Hayes’s work in this area is simple and fun—she brought a karaoke machine to the team, which quickly became a focal point of the team’s free time. (According to Horan, Rose Lavelle knows the lyrics to so many songs that she doesn’t even have to look at the screen.)

There were puzzles and Lego blocks—and Jerma seemed to have a knack for it—but Hayes also worked to build deeper relationships with her players. Dunn says she and Hayes bonded over being moms, and that she and her coach talked almost daily about how to manage the passion of work with the pain of being away from a child.

“It’s like you’re trying so hard to be able to do both motherhood and play, and I think sometimes it’s almost impossible to balance,” Dunn said. “She was able to let me have crazy moments where I’m like, ‘I want him close to me,’ but at the same time[tell me]‘All these feelings you’re feeling are so normal.’”

Hayes also formed a close relationship with Corbyn Albert, the talented 20-year-old midfielder who came under fire after amplifying (and then apologizing for) social media posts containing anti-LGBTQ rhetoric.

Hayes made it clear that she has no patience for anyone who doesn’t want to foster an inclusive society, but she also said her instinct as a mother is to “protect.” Hayes believes Albert understands the significance of her mistakes and genuinely wants to be part of the team, so as a coach she wants to help her grow. On Saturday, Hayes gave Albert the start in the final against Brazil, and Albert delivered a perfect pass to set up Swanson’s win.

The obvious investment from her coach prompted Albert to speak passionately about Hayes and what that kind of support means to her.

“It’s tough sometimes, and it’s really nice to have you here and to have you teaching me and guiding me every step of the way in every way on a personal level and on the pitch,” Albert said.

“She reminds me of my mother sometimes,” she added.

While that opening was impressive for Hayes, she and US Soccer understand that this is a long game. Hayes is under contract through the 2027 Women’s World Cup, and while winning gold in the first few months is impressive, bigger goals lie ahead.

Hayes has ideas about how to revamp the talent identification system, the player development system, and the coordination between the national youth teams and the first team. She has plans for how she wants the U.S. national team to play. And she has visions for how this program can take a big step forward in a sport that is getting deeper and deeper every day if it’s steered in the right direction.

But first she hopes she can finally unpack her bags completely from Chelsea. Then maybe she can get a few days off. And then, seriously, the work will continue.

“We got the gold tonight but that doesn’t mean it’s the end of it. We’re just getting started,” she said.