Houston County’s Kirk taking director of coaching spot at CGSA
The month of June has been might big for Jason Kirk.
But just getting married wasn’t enough.
Less than two weeks after one life-changing event, Kirk is going through another one.
He resigned Friday as boys soccer head coach at Houston County to take over as the new director of coaching at the Central Georgia Soccer Association.
“It’s just an incredible situation,” said Kirk, who goes from dealing with about 100 varsity boys and girls players at Houston County to around 1,000 in Middle Georgia and beyond. “I wasn’t looking for anything.”
Kirk admitted he was surprised to get the job.
“It wasn’t obvious at all,” said Kirk, who has been coaching with the association for more than a decade. “My paper resume doesn’t really stack up, if you will. I don’t have the international experience, or the college experience, like a lot of DOCs (directors of coaching) have.”
But an 89-10-2 record in five seasons with the Bears, national rankings and being a state contender boosted his candidacy.
“My actual resume, because of HoCo, that was outstanding,” the 33-year-old native from Pennsylvania said.
The vacancy was created when Dean Blain was hired for that position with the Tennessee Soccer Club.
Kirk coached with Blain at CGSA before taking over the Houston County position. Kirk was teaching at the school, but not coaching. He was, however, familiar with the Bears from his work with CGSA and Southern Alliance Futbol.
Kirk wasn’t looking for a job, especially since the Bears still hadn’t done that one thing the three-time All-Middle Georgia boys soccer coach of the year said he took that job for.
“We don’t have that state championship ring,” he said. “My first meeting with the guys, I said, ‘Y’all have proved that y’all can win region. You don’t need me to win region. That’s not why we’re here. We’re here to win state.’
“I remember that specifically because we never won it.”
But the Bears reached the GHSA Class AAAAA Final Four three times, including in 2016, and were state runners-up in 2013 and 2014.
“That’s where I think my leg up in the process was,” said Kirk, who who was 22-11 in two seasons coaching the girls. “It was already a good product, but nobody really knew about it. They already head good players.”
The Campbell graduate still has a honeymoon to get in. He and his bride followed up the wedding with him working a camp at South Carolina with his sister Ashley, a Stratford graduate who played at South Carolina.
Regardless, it’ll be hard to wipe a smile off Kirk’s face for awhile.
“Holy cow, this is a dream job,” said Kirk, citing in part the progress of high school soccer in the area as yet another draw to the new job. “We’re getting there.
“It’s my dream job. I love Middle Georgia, I love this area, I love the community. I’m just so honored.”
This story was originally published June 24, 2016 at 9:17 PM with the headline "Houston County’s Kirk taking director of coaching spot at CGSA."