Kirt, who has been a member of the Woman Vols’ teaching workers since 2007, was promoted to go coach on Friday, April 29. Throughout his 15 seasons on Rocky High, Kirt has helped information the Woman Vols to 2 SEC Match championships, two SEC Japanese Division championships and 7 NCAA Match appearances. As an assistant at Tennessee, Kirt performed very important roles in goalkeeper growth, technical and practical growth for area gamers in addition to establishing and implementing this system’s recreation mannequin.

Press Convention Transcript

Vice Chancellor/Director of Athletics Dr. Daniel J. White
 
“Admire you guys being right here at this time. My first remark will probably be about this staff. That is an extremely spectacular group of younger girls. As I do with each single search, my first assembly was with this group and the management council they voted on. (I) took rather a lot from that. It needed to be a zoom as a result of I used to be out of city in conferences, however I actually realized rather a lot throughout that dialog on Monday. So, it has been a fast transition. We knew we wanted to maneuver fast. It is a bit of an unorthodox time on this sport to be going via a training transition, and we knew we had a championship-caliber staff with a loaded roster, and from what they inform me, have each expectation to compete for extra championships this fall. Earlier than I transfer ahead, I do wish to thank Brian and Abby Pensky for every part they’ve accomplished for this college and the way they poured themselves into this program. Clearly, this isn’t a rebuild. This isn’t a restart. It is a how will we proceed to maneuver ahead and take it to even greater and higher heights? So, somewhat little bit of a nuanced search in that means. Leaving that assembly with our staff on Monday, we spent a whole lot of hours over a couple of days simply assessing the nationwide market, speaking to a number of the finest minds in faculty soccer throughout the nation. I’ve all the time accomplished that in each search. I wish to take pleasure in studying what I do not know. So, I realized from our student-athletes about soccer, and I realized from a number of the most profitable coaches within the nation. There was a ton of curiosity on this job. Folks see the power that is occurring right here at Rocky High, the aspirations now we have for our applications, each single considered one of them. They learn about how proficient our staff is. So, we had a lot curiosity, which is thrilling. It gave us a ton of alternatives to kind via. As we went via that course of although, we realized that the perfect chief for this staff, for this upcoming season and for the lengthy haul, was already on our campus.
 
“It was considered one of my extra pleasant skilled experiences, toying with you guys (the student-athletes) somewhat bit. I used to be making an attempt to make you consider that we made an exterior rent – was I profitable in that? Okay, good. That was for my very own enjoyment. I apologize; I needed to do it. Once we introduced to the staff on Friday, that was a whole lot of enjoyable.  Simply seeing your reactions, it was a serious affirmation that we made the proper selection. It is a nice program with an excellent tradition, and we will proceed to help that at a extremely excessive degree. So, I will cease speaking, and get to the person of the hour, your new head soccer coach, Joe Kirt.”

Tennessee Head Coach Joe Kirt
 
Opening Assertion…
“Good morning. It is nice to be standing in entrance of you guys at this time. Thanks to Danny White, Cam Walker and Tara Brooks for his or her belief in me and the chance to steer this program ahead. Danny’s imaginative and prescient and dedication to this division is tangible, anticipating complete excellence from all of us. He’s enthusiastic about our student-athlete’s success and profitable on the highest degree of collegiate athletics. I’ve the identical targets and aspirations for our soccer program. Danny has given our program, and all of our sports activities applications right here at Tennessee, the sources we have to succeed at that degree. Thanks for that. 
 
“To my spouse Susan, my rock, for whom I will probably be perpetually grateful in your infinite love, help and power. By no means standing in the best way of my profession, my ardour for teaching. Selflessly preserving our household collectively and creating reminiscences for our boys even once I’m not all the time bodily there to help you. She retains me grounded and centered. She retains me constructive. With out her endless help, I would not be standing in entrance of all of you at this time. Our boys, Landon and Luke, who’re fixed reminders of two essential P’s in life. Persistence, normally testing mine every day; and perspective, that on the finish of the day life is not all about wins and losses.   

“Thanks to Ange Kelly for bringing me to Tennessee and exposing me to all of the little issues that contribute to profitable. And to Brian Pensky, 10 years in the past for believing in me and offering me a possibility to develop below his management. 

“Tennessee is undoubtedly a particular place. I’m each honored and humbled to symbolize the Woman Vols and Volunteers. Joan Cronan and Pat Summitt, who together with so many distinctive workers and athletes, constructed the Woman Vol model into an internationally revered entity. They set the bar for aggressive excellence at this establishment lengthy earlier than I stepped onto campus in 2007. That accountability now falls on my shoulders, upholding previous expectations and to assist set a brand new normal of excellence below Danny’s management. Tennessee has a long-standing custom of profitable. That custom was instilled in me early on in my profession right here. Our places of work was in Thompson-Boling Enviornment, the place we shared a collection with girls’s basketball.  The very last thing I wished to take care of on a Monday morning was Pat Summitt popping her head in my workplace and asking, ‘Coach, what occurred on the market this weekend?’ You be taught in a short time that dialog is not one you wish to sit up for having and profitable takes on an entire new which means after a few these chats. 

“We’re dedicated to preserving Tennessee soccer on the high of our league and positioning ourselves to compete for a Nationwide Championship. Trying throughout all of our sports activities applications, it is a tremendous time to be part of Tennessee Athletics. All of our applications are acting at an extremely excessive degree. It really is a good time to be a Tennessee Vol. 

“Our alumni have an unbelievable ardour for the College of Tennessee and this soccer program; their help is actually astonishing. All of our former gamers have given a lot of themselves to their respective groups and to this college. We’ll proceed to do proper by them, making certain they’re proud of the present staff who observe of their footsteps. Constructing on the successes of all those that have worn the Woman Vol brand earlier than them. 

“Our followers converse for themselves. The ambiance they create in any respect of our venues generate an enormous home-field benefit for our athletes. Their presence at Regal Stadium is not any totally different for our gamers.  They love enjoying at residence. The administration has authorized a brand new enjoying floor for the autumn, and we’re trying into a couple of extra methods to reinforce the fan expertise at Regal Stadium. Vol Nation, we want your help at Regal this fall, so come out and see these guys compete. 

“During the last 5 years, now we have set quite a few program information, securing two SEC East division titles, an SEC Match Championship together with Candy 16 and Elite 8 NCAA Match appearances. Two phrases have nice significance achieve these achievements. Jonathan Morgan. Jon will probably be our Affiliate Head Coach. Earlier than stepping into what he means to this program I might be remiss to not point out that he and Emily welcomed their daughter, Greer, to the world 5 days in the past. Congratulations to you, Emily, Greer and your complete Morgan/Jacobssen household. Jon is an important part of this staff’s success on and off the sphere. His degree of dedication to our gamers is unmatched. Jon’s capacity to create new, aggressive environments in coaching, his technical and tactical experience, his intuitiveness and really feel for our staff; what they should excel, all the time searching for new and higher methods for our gamers and staff to realize greatness. He’s a consummate skilled who cares endlessly for our gamers, inspiring them to perform greater than even they thought potential. Our staff’s love and respect for Jon is unquestioned. No extra evident than the reception he acquired from them this morning on this very room. I have been extremely lucky to work alongside Jon for six years and can lean on him closely as we transfer ahead. Thanks. 

“Dr. Hemant Sharma, a fixture on this program since earlier than I arrived on Rocky High. Hemant has all the time been an essential useful resource for employees and gamers alike and can proceed to be that shifting ahead. His concepts and interpretations all the time present a special perspective than what seems on the floor. Ryan Metzger, Greg Mytyk, Katie Shields, Vanessage Gonzalez and all of our help workers, Tess. What you guys convey and the help you give to our gamers is unquestioned and offers them every part factor they should succeed on and off the sphere. 

“Lastly and most significantly is our staff. They’re what makes Tennessee soccer so extremely particular. A very superb group of younger girls who deserve our easiest each day. Our tradition is uniquely particular, they love and help each other in every part they do. It’s our job to proceed cultivating an atmosphere the place our gamers are allowed to let their particular person brilliance shine, feeling safe of their actions and choices with out apprehension or worry of retribution from their teammates or coaches. Enjoying freely, enjoying quick, linked with each other. Their love for, and understanding of every one other, is actually outstanding. I’ve had the chance to be part of some very shut and really profitable groups right here on the College of Tennessee. This group sitting in entrance of me takes it to an entire new degree. Encouraging, main each other, striving for greatness all of the whereas having fun with the journey collectively.  
   
“They’ve shared some memorable moments, securing back-to-back SEC East Championships at Regal Stadium, celebrating an SEC Match Championship in Orange Seashore and all of the enjoyable they’ve had on the observe area in between. They like to compete in every part they do, their competitiveness shines via throughout soccer tennis on gameday. We couldn’t be extra excited for this staff and what lies forward for our returning group and our incoming gamers. Returning 10 starters from final 12 months, we add the sixth-ranked recruiting class within the nation to this already proficient and deep staff. We set the bar fairly excessive in 2021. We have to increase that bar even greater this fall. It is a new season come August. A brand new group. There is no such thing as a ceiling for this group, time to create new reminiscences and win new championships! 

“This fall you can see a passionate, hungry and relentless Tennessee soccer staff. Enjoying on the entrance foot, urgent and taking the sport to our opponents. There has by no means been a extra thrilling time to be part of Tennessee soccer. Thanks.” 

On his response to the staff’s response when Danny White introduced him as head coach… 
“Simply sheer pleasure. We speak about how particular they’re and the way a lot they make this so pleasant and rewarding. To have the ability to proceed that with these guys, I couldn’t ask for something extra. The happiness, satisfaction, and perception in me and what we’re doing and spending it with them has really been a tremendous expertise for me, even in my 20 years of teaching. They’re a tremendous group, and so they hear it on a regular basis and are uninterested in us telling them, nevertheless it actually is a particular group. They make everybody who touches this staff really feel that very same means. It’s exhausting to place into phrases, however I believe that video does it justice.” 

On how rewarding it’s to be put into this place following being with this system for 15 years… 
“I believe, on the finish of the day, all of us get into teaching for various causes. My purpose has all the time been to assist our scholar athletes obtain their targets and aspirations. It has by no means been a few title or something like that. It is a chance and a platform for me to assist our athletes  – previous, present and future – obtain something potential for them. On the finish of the day, I’m able to proceed doing that at a spot that I really like with a gaggle of people I really like. I couldn’t be happier and extra excited for what’s to come back.” 

On the second he came upon from Danny White that he was getting a promotion… 
“So many feelings. That’s such an excellent query. Actually, it got here again to those guys and having the ability to proceed to do what I like to do with a gaggle of people I like to do it with. I am so lucky that Danny, as he talked about is not any totally different of a search than with Coach Heupel, leaned on our student-athletes for his or her voice and actually listened. He gave me a possibility to put out my imaginative and prescient, and for that I can not thank him sufficient for giving me that chance. It was one thing {that a} week in the past I had no thought the place we had been going to be or what we had been going to do. It has been such a tremendous course of, and I’m so lucky to be in a program led by Danny and his workers. They’ve been superb and have already in such a short while accomplished so many issues for the good thing about our student-athletes. I can not wait to see what’s arising.” 

On what kind of favor will he play and if it will likely be much like the play below Pensky… 
“We now have been profitable with what now we have accomplished. And these guys, as I mentioned on the finish of my remarks, these guys wish to go after groups. We’re going to make life troublesome for groups. We’re going to allow you to guys go and do what makes you nice. We don’t wish to sit again. We realized rather a lot about ourselves this fall in a few video games. We’re going to proceed to tweak issues, however the persona of this staff, we’re going to let that shine via. We’re going to get after groups and make it uncomfortable for them and preserve scoring a ton of targets. So, you guys prepare to try this.” 

On how excited he’s concerning the continued development of soccer… 
“I believe it’s nice that you’ve got knowledgeable staff coming in with One Knox this 12 months serving to to proceed to develop the sport. Clearly, the notice of the sport that these guys (the staff) have supplied for this neighborhood has been nice. You guys (tv stations) having the ability to convey the world’s finest groups to Knoxville on TV can be useful with gaining and rising the curiosity in our recreation. I believe (the long run) is shiny, and persevering with to get Vol Nation to come back out and help these guys and to make soccer or the opposite soccer a much bigger a part of their lives.” 

On internet hosting an occasion for the Down Syndrome Consciousness Group of East Tennessee… 
“Anytime now we have a possibility to go serve in our neighborhood and supply an expertise that’s rewarding for all events concerned helps convey perspective to what these guys do. On the finish of the day, what actually issues is impacting individuals’s lives. These guys had the power to try this yesterday. I felt that it was essential to remain true to myself and be right here with them and try this. On the finish of the day, it’s about individuals and people relationships. I assumed it was the proper means for me to start out my tenure right here to be there with these guys and spend time locally.”
 
On the most important modifications in himself from 2007 to now…  
“I believe listening to our gamers and ensuring that they’ve an atmosphere to develop. An atmosphere the place they’re able to make errors, really feel safe of their function, and be taught why we’re doing one thing and do it collectively. As a younger coach, beginning out, it’s about X’s and O’s. I’ve realized over time that it’s about funding, buy-in, understanding, and power in our staff and their relationships. That has been the most important factor. We’re all the time going to hunt out new and higher methods to assist them achieve success at their craft. The bond, connection, and luxury that they really feel on this atmosphere, the place they aren’t scared or tentative, goes to permit us and them to have every kind of success.”  

 On returning nearly everybody from final 12 months and the way essential it’s to have that stability… 
“I couldn’t have requested for a greater expertise to stroll into. Figuring out these guys in addition to I do, and so they with me, all of that power it takes to develop and domesticate these relationships, we do not have to spend. We’re on the identical web page of who we’re and what we’re going for, and we’ll proceed to redefine that message for you guys. That, inherently, takes time. We are able to spend our time doing different issues immediately. There’s not a greater scenario, for me personally than what’s sitting in entrance of us proper now.”  

 On what’s most essential to him in filling out the remainder of the teaching workers… 
“Precisely what Danny (White) did, we’re going to discuss to those guys. Like we simply mentioned, they know Jon (Morgan) and I, and Hemant (Sharma). We’ll hear what they want that possibly we aren’t doing a very good job of offering, so we wish to hear that, in the beginning. Jon and I, now we have received to take a seat down and work out what we have to be sure that we’re offering every part we want for them. So, I believe it’s a work in progress, now we have some names proper now. We’ll do what’s in the perfect curiosity of those guys, and what we have to complement our workers.”  

On how his roles will change on a day-to-day foundation…  
“My function goes to vary, and it goes alongside the identical line because the teaching search, I believe. It is us sitting down and determining how we will work finest along with whoever that new workers member is to ensure we’re touching every part these guys want. The goalkeepers, and the backs, is part of what I’ve accomplished and that can proceed to be the case. Precisely how that appears in August, we have set to work via that and see. We now have some choices. I received to spend a good period of time this spring with our forwards and midfielders scoring some targets, so we want to proceed doing that as nicely. We’ll see what that appears like. We’ve not gone into the main points of precisely how we’re going to method that.”  

On having the No. 6 recruiting class and his method to recruiting… 
“I believe it is all about relationships and ensuring it is an excellent match right here. Clearly, they must be proficient. We want proficient gamers right here to assist us win championships, however they must be the proper kind of particular person that’s going to assist proceed to develop and enhance this group and slot in. A part of what our success was within the fall is due to these guys and their relationships. Going ahead it is about bringing in the proper people which can be motivated, that wish to win championships, and what to have a good time doing it. The one means you discover that out is by sitting down and speaking and having conversations about what values these gamers have for themselves so we will make certain it is a seamless transition once they get right here.”  

On what makes him assume he’s the proper particular person for the pinnacle coach place…  
“It has all form of been talked about… figuring out these girls and this staff and figuring out this college and this league. There is no such thing as a higher alternative for me to start out this. And clearly, having Jon (Morgan) to do it with, he has been across the block and is aware of what it takes at this degree. All of it simply fell collectively. There is no such thing as a good plan. It labored out that that is it and now could be the time. And I couldn’t be extra personally excited to go do that and go take this subsequent step with the people on this room. It’s humorous how life has a means of figuring out, and it definitely did for me on this case.”

On how his teaching fashion on the sideline…
“I do not see that altering a ton. If they should hear me, they will hear me. I believe they’re much more fearful about me once I play than once I’m standing on the sideline. The aggressive juices get going somewhat bit extra once I’m enjoying. On the sideline, it is my job to be calm and assist them make good choices on the sphere. They will definitely hear me when acceptable, however we’ll be alright on that entrance.”

On the place he thinks Tennessee is on the school soccer panorama proper now…
“I believe there’s a whole lot of notoriety and spot on what now we have completed right here over the previous few years, which is not any accident. The group of gamers now we have, coaches like Jon (Morgan), and Hemant (Sharma), so it is no shock we’re having the success we’re. We’ll proceed to thrust Tennessee onto the nationwide map, and it should be the place our ideas are and our targets lie. We’re able to do it and proceed constructing it as all of the applications have accomplished right here. The place Tennessee is now and what (our administration) has supplied, our program is superb. It is fantastic to see; we’re pleased to be part of it and contribute as nicely.”