Kyle Hawkins

Kyle Hawkins (born December 16, 1970)[2] is the former head coach of the German National Men's U-19 lacrosse team, and former head coach of the University of Missouri Men's Lacrosse team. In May 2006, he discussed his sexual orientation with several media outlets, including the New York Times and MSNBC.com after having revealed to the university and team that he was gay. In April 2007, the story again made media waves with an Associated Press story featured on MSNBC.com. Hawkins was named the first openly gay man coaching an intercollegiate men's team sport by ESPN.[3]

This article is about the lacrosse coach. For the Texas solicitor general, see Kyle D. Hawkins.
Kyle Hawkins
Biographical details
Born (1970-12-16) December 16, 1970
Rolla, Missouri[1]
Coaching career (HC unless noted)
1994–1998Hazelwood Central HS (MO)
1998–2007University of Missouri (club team)
2008–2012HTHC Hamburg Warriors
2012–2014German National U-19 Men's team

Background

Hawkins was born in 1970 and brought up as a devout Southern Baptist in the St. Louis, Missouri suburb of Kirkwood, Missouri. He graduated from Kirkwood High School in 1989. He then attended Arizona State University where he was the president of a Southern Baptist student group. After college, he spent time as a high school teacher where he began coaching lacrosse. While working as a history teacher at Hazelwood Central High School, Hawkins also coached football. Some of the football players approached with interest in starting a lacrosse team in the offseason. They needed a coach, and Hawkins volunteered to coach the new team at Hazelwood Central.[4]

University of Missouri

After fours years at Hazelwood Central, Hawkins was hired as the head coach of the University of Missouri Men's Lacrosse Club. The Missouri lacrosse team is not a varsity athletic program, but rather a club team affiliated with the school. Their team has no scholarships, and the decision-making of the team rests largely on the shoulders of the players, not school administrators or coaches. While coaching the lacrosse club, Hawkins taught history at Hickman High School in Columbia, Missouri. As coach of the Mizzou lacrosse club, Hawkins compiled a 112–49 record in his first eight years of coaching the team, including a conference championship in 2004 that gave the team a berth to the league's national tournament.[5] In 2004, he was selected as the coach of the year. Hawkins now identifies himself as an atheist.[6][7]

On September 28, 2004, Hawkins joined the message boards at OutSports.com and made his first post, a 1,500-word anonymous message,[8] seeking advice and guidance as an in-the-closet college coach. Later that year, he revealed his until-then hidden homosexuality to his parents and family who disowned him. Immediately after revealing his sexual orientation to his family, he informed the university and the other Missouri coaches. According to Hawkins, the university and his assistant coaches were supportive of his decision. The discussion continued for almost two years, until, on June 6, 2006, he finally posted under his real name and came out of the closet. The story was picked up by numerous national news agencies. The story again made headlines on April 7, 2007 when the Associated Press published a story detailing the after-effects of the original story.[1][5]

HTHC Hamburg

From 2008 to February 2013, Hawkins was head coach of the HTHC Hamburg Warriors of the Bundesliga Nord (BLN) of the German Lacrosse Association (DLaxV).

German National U-19 Men's team

In 2012, Hawkins was named as the head coach of the German U-19 National Men's team and program. The team competed in the 2012 FIL World Championships, placing seventh.

See also

References
  1. Missouri lacrosse coach Kyle Hawkins comes out. Realjock.com (2004-09-28). Retrieved on 2012-05-03.
  2. Kyle Hawkins is the New Warrior Chief. CollegeLAX.us. February 11, 2008
  3. Greg Garber. "Is gay coach's dismissal a cautionary tale?". ESPN. Retrieved July 31, 2019.
  4. Sean Mcdonnell (July 17, 2008). "Hawkins Shares Enthusiasm". Columbia Missourian. Retrieved August 3, 2019.
  5. Having openly gay coach ‘awkward’ in Missouri – Other sports- NBC Sports. MSNBC (2007-04-07). Retrieved on 2012-05-03.
  6. Kyle Hawkins fired; Sexuality cited as a non-issue Archived 2012-05-03 at the Wayback Machine. Outsports.com (2007-05-11). Retrieved on 2012-05-03.
  7. Hawkins shares enthusiasm Archived 2013-01-20 at Archive.today. Columbia Missourian. Retrieved on 2012-05-03.
  8. Closeted coach seeks advice – Outsports Discussion Board. Outsports.com. Retrieved on 2012-05-03.
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