This week, ESPN Chattanooga radio host Greg Larnerd had a conversation with UTC Mocs head soccer coach Gavin McKinney on the upcoming season, his soccer journey, and much more...
Q: You guys didn't have to season you were hoping to have last year at just 6-11-3, talk to us about what happened?
A: It was a bit of a drop off coming off of a strong 2020 season where we had the best season in program history, top three finish, made the conference semi-finals, and were beaten 1-0 by Furman in that semi-final... We graduated an All-Conference center-forward, an All-Conference central-defender, and a few other key pieces in that season... So, we just didn't hit the levels we needed to last season, we had to deal with some injuries, and then not good form from us... We just had some inconsistency's; some good performances throw into that season as well...
Q: Seems like you guys were in a lot of games last season but struggled to score goals, is that something you're looking into readdressing and reassessing heading into this season?
A: Yeah, we struggled for goals last season... Throughout my time here I don't think we've ever been a team that's explosive from an attacking standpoint, but we've always been really, really organized defensively... We think we've got some good attacking players coming in for us this season and some who have improved throughout last spring/summer...
Q: Talk to us a bit about the makeup of your team coming into this season.
A: We typically like to have our squad around 25 but we'll be at closer to 30 this fall. We've got a ton of new players, we've got 10 coming in, seven were signed in that early signing period, and then we've made a couple of late additions. So, we think all of the incoming players are definitely going to push for positions, we've got seven of them here on campus right now taking summer classes and working out with our strength coach so they're going to be ready for Aug. 2nd. And then the returning players we felt worked extremely hard this past spring...
Q: Is the transfer portal as prevalent in soccer as it is in other college sports?
A: It 100% is. Of the incoming players all of them are going to be freshman but we have one transfer from Mississippi State coming in from Iceland we think she'll be a good player for us, and the other ones are young players. Like most young players coming in here to college they were the best players at their high schools and the best players on their club team. Now they're in this environment where things can change on them...
Q: Do all of your girls go out and play for teams over the summer?
A: We always recommend that they go out and play because they finish up here with us at the end of April and then we don't have them again until August... Unlike other sports like football or basketball the NCAA allows for some coachable hours during the offseason but unfortunately, we get zero so we're able to do nothing with them for that long period of time... We always believe that three months without playing is a long time... This summer we had five playing with the Red Wolves, two playing with CFC, and then we had a couple playing for the clubs in Nashville.
Q: Get into your schedule for the upcoming season, how do you think it played out?
A: The non-conference is always difficult, and we set it up that way so we can be ready for SoCon play. We've got a team in our league who's won the last eight regular season titles in Samford. So, if you want to have success come SoCon play you have to have tested yourself in that non-conference schedule. I don't like to look too far ahead so I'm really focusing on that first training day with the kids on August 2nd and maybe that first preseason game against MTSU.
Q: How long have you been involved with soccer in terms of playing and coaching?
A: My parents were immigrants to Canada from Ireland and our family is still in Ireland... Growing up as a child I got the opportunity to be between both countries, my mom was a teacher so during the summertime we'd pack our bags and off to Ireland we went. My dad was a soccer coach so as soon as I could walk, I was kicking a ball. He coached me the whole way up until we made our way to the States in 2001. I've actually been in Tennessee longer than I lived in Canada at this point, so I've been in TN a long time. I came here as a student athlete, I got my masters degree, I met my wife, and then worked my way up the coaching ranks with 15 seasons as a college coach. This will be my 16th season and 8th in Chattanooga.
Q: Did you play at UTC?
A: No, I played at Lambuth University sort of on a whim, I hadn't planned to come down to the States, it was probably March before the fall of 2001 but my dad had a friend who was a coach in the States and he asked me to come down to play in a tournament, and the coach for Lambuth at the time saw me play, made me an offer, and I said sure...
Q: How much of an influence was your dad on you becoming a coach?
A: A big influence, coaching was always something that I was drawn to. He had me helping to run little kid's camps with him when I was 14 years old and then every summer whenever I came home, he had me running other camps with him as well... So I was into the coaching from a young age.
Q: How do you self evaluate yourself as a coach?
A: I'm my own worst critic and losing is the absolute worst as those moments really stick with you and what you could have done differently to help your team. I think you evaluate absolutely everything being a college coach from the training to the in-match tactics, to the recruiting, how you interact with the players, I think you go top to bottom all of the time. You have to constantly evolve and change because a lot is changing within college athletics.
Q: What is your favorite aspect of being a coach?
A: The training session and working with the players.
Q: Do your daughters play?
A: They definitely do, my nine-year-old is a good little dribbler and passer I think she's going to be a good footballer, no pressure on her and then the four-year-old just began wanting to play so we'll go out after dinner and kick the soccer ball around with her.
For the full audio version of the conversation, you can listen to it here: open.spotify.com/episode/4CTfIohemk0rk0jpX4JdiY
(Questions and answers have been edited for content and clarity)