KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The University of Tennessee in Knoxville is looking for a new women’s soccer coach. Athletics director Danny White announced Monday that Joe Kirt has been relieved of his duties after five seasons leading the Lady Vols.
Associate head coach Jonathan Morgan will run the program on an interim basis while the school conducts a nationwide search, which White said starts right away. White said the staff will gather input from players first, and that he chose to act now, while the team is still in the running for postseason play, so the search could get underway.
The move follows a season that started strong and faded. Tennessee went unbeaten through its first nine games, three of them ties, then went eight straight without a win after beating LSU in its SEC opener on Sept. 11. A 3-1 win over Oklahoma closed the regular season Nov. 1, but the Lady Vols finished 7-5-4 overall and 2-5-3 in league play. That conference win total tied the program low and kept them out of the SEC Tournament.
Kirt went 48-29-17 as head coach and reached the NCAA Tournament in each of his first four seasons. Counting his years as an assistant, he spent 20 seasons on Rocky Top, a stretch that included two SEC Tournament titles, three SEC Eastern Division crowns and 11 NCAA Tournament trips. While he was on staff, 10 players earned All-America honors and 44 made All-SEC teams.
White praised Kirt’s character and commitment to his players and thanked him for his service. Kirt, who had signed an extension through 2030 last year, thanked White and said Tennessee will always hold a special place for him.
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