Hagerty Family Head Football Coach Zach Kittley - Intro Press Conference

Hagerty Family Head Football Coach Zach Kittley
“Before I get going, I'm going to apologize in advance if I get a little emotional up here. I'm extremely passionate about being a football coach and being able to lead young men. I'm going to be able to talk about a lot of people here, and I would not be here without the people that surrounded me during my career.

"First off, I'm honored and humbled to have this first-class opportunity to be the head football coach here at Florida, Atlantic. As Brian (White) had kind of mentioned, this has been a place that has always caught my eye and I have respected from afar for many, many years. There has been a lot of success and a lot of championships won here, and I know that's something that we can do here as well together. Emily and I, along with my three boys, Knox, Ford and Rhoads, look so forward to being a part of this University, this community and this city, and we are really excited to get to know everybody and bring the energy back to this football program. I would like to thank President (Stacy) Volnick, Athletic Director Brian White, the search committee, the Board of Trustees, Board Chairman Piero Bussani, the FAU Foundation, and again, my wife, Emily, you are everything to me, I love you. Coaches cannot do this without a wife. She is absolutely everything to me. She's my rock, she keeps me humble, she keeps me on my toes, and I would not be here without her. It has been a great seven, almost eight years, and we're going to make a lot more memories here, love you. To my three boy, they don't really know it yet, but you are the reason why I do what I do, because I want you guys to see what it's like to be able to raise people up around you and that's what coaches get to do, and you will figure that out as you get older. My mom and my dad are here. My dad [Wes Kittley] is the greatest coach that I have ever been around, and it's not just because he's a champion coach, 31 national championships. It is because he has always done it the right way. He's a man of integrity, he has never done anything to advance his career in ways that would not be compliant, and he is the best human being that I've ever met. My mom doesn't get a lot of the credit, but she's probably the biggest of work I've ever had. [I] love y'all, thank y'all for being here. I have two older brothers that I grew up that were my heroes, my brother John and Chris and their families, the continued support over the years. I watched them grow up, I watched them be athletes, I wanted to be just like them. Still to this day, I love watching my brothers be husbands and fathers to their kids, my nieces. John and Chris, y'all’s families, thank y'all so much, I wouldn't be here without y'all either, my in-laws for your constant support since 2015, even before Emily and I got married. It’s pretty rare to have three best friends since eight years old. I've had three best friends that have been in my corner through the ups and downs, and I would feel really bad not saying thank you to Jordan Nichols, Stoney Allison and Philip James back at home. Y'all are my guys, I appreciate y'all.

"Since I started coaching in 2013, there have been so many people, and it would take me forever to dive through everyone, but I have to point out a few people that have been with me throughout my career that I know for a fact I would not be here without right now. I'd like to thank Sonny Cumbie, Kenny Bell, Kevin Kilmer, Jason Reed, Eric Morris, the late Tommy McVay, Ben Arbuckle, Jared Caster, Kenny Perry, and then my two guys back home, Zane Perry and Kamen Ansel, I appreciate you guys. The next few people, I'm going to dive in a little bit more These following men, really changed my career, and I would not be here without them. One of my high school coaches, the late Don Black, put his arm around me as a young kid and showed me that it's okay for a coach to be emotional, it is okay for a coach to love a kid, it’s okay for you to genuinely care about everything that they do. Coach Don Black, a longtime coach who's no longer with us, was very instrumental in me growing up and wanting to be a coach, because, again, he taught me that it's okay to have emotion and to love players and to hug your players and to genuinely care about them and that has stuck with me since I was a young man, it continues to do that to this day. Coach Kliff Kingsbury, probably my number one football mentor, the greatest offensive mind of all time. You took over a program and you let a young kid who did not play college football, but you let a kid come into your program and be hands on with the quarterbacks and you allowed me to have success with coaching guys like Patrick Mahomes and letting me be involved in an offensive prowess that is second to none. Coach Vic Shealy at Houston Baptist, I mean, wow, talk about a guy that took a chance on a 26 year old kid that had never called a play in his life to come run a football program and run the offense at a Division I program. I would not be here without cutting my teeth at Houston Baptist and Coach Shealy, I have you to thank for that. Coach Tyson Helton and his wife, April Helton, you showed me what it's like to have a family within the football family. And what I mean by that is really having everybody in the community, everybody within the football complex, and their wives and their kids, all be involved in football, countless things off the field as well that that coach taught me, but his wife as well. April was unbelievable to my wife, and showed us what it's like to be a real football family and what it's going to take to be the First Lady of Florida Atlantic football as well. And lastly here, coach Joey McGuire and his wife, Debbie, as well. Coach McGuire gave me the opportunity to go back home and coach at my alma mater in my hometown, in a place that I truly, deeply love. I had goals as a young coach, and when I left Texas Tech, one of my goals was to come back to Texas Tech and be the offensive coordinator there. That’s second to where I’m at right now, and Coach McGuire gave me that opportunity. And kind of like April Helton did, Debbie McGuire was so instrumental, including wives and families and showing again that the football family is bigger than just the people down the hallway. I would like to thank all the players that I've had the pleasure of coaching during my time at Texas Tech, Houston Baptist, and Western Kentucky. As we all know, great players make good coaches, and without you guys, I absolutely would not be here.

"I took this job because I want to be here. I am honored to be your head football coach, because I know that we're going to build a program here and we're going to go win AAC championships. Florida Atlantic University could not be in a better situation than it is right now, an all-time high in enrollment, climbing the ranks academically across the country, and we will continue to carry on that mission during my time here as head football coach. We have some of the best high school football right here in our backyard and we're going to make sure we dominate South Florida in the recruiting trail. Most importantly, though, I took this job because of the players, the football players, the student athletes, they are the most important part of this football program. I have spent the last three days meeting with our current roster, one on one meetings, getting to know our young men, and I can tell you this: our young men of this football program are men of integrity. They're here for the right reasons, they love this university, and they're excited to be here. After meeting with those guys, I can tell you that I'm 100% in the right place to lead these young men. The players will be the heartbeat of our program, and we will consistently focus on a family atmosphere around them. And because the players are the most important part of the program, I know I have to hire a great staff to lead the charge for those guys. Some of my staff are here with me today, and we'll have more coming in the coming weeks. I'm bringing in people that share my excitement to be at Florida Atlantic. I'm bringing in people that want to lead young men with class and integrity and doing things the right way. But more than a great football coach, I want to bring in great human beings. It starts with great people and ends with great people. If we bring in great people that can lead young men, they are going to follow us in the direction we going to go and our football program is going to skyrocket through the roof here. At Florida Atlantic, we're going to have relentless work ethic, we're going to compete in everything that we do, and we will have a lot of fun while we do it. We want to build more onto the impressive foundation that has already been here in its short tenure of football. There has a lot of success in this football program and we have to bring that success back and bring been championships back to Florida Atlantic. That will be my charge every single day. The championship mindset will walk into this building every single day and that will bleed throughout the football program and in this community.

"I'm about to bring an exciting offense back to FAU. We're going to light up the scoreboard, we're going to run it up on people. A lot of air raid things going on right there, right? Well, let me tell you this. We're going to be able to run the football. Brian hit on it and I'm so glad he did. At the end of the day, it's about winning football games. I've been a part of a lot of games where I've lost 55-52. We don't want to do that around here, I'd rather win a game 14-10 if I have to. Go win a football game, that's what it's about. So, we're going to make sure that offensively, we're going to put the points on the board, but when we've got leads in games, we're going to run the football, we're going to make sure we can get out of there. It's all about putting our players in positions to be successful and when we get in here, we get through spring practice, we're going to know what our guys can do and we're going to go attack to their strengths. We're going to play defense here as well. We're going to hit you in the mouth on defense, we're going to fly around, we will hit the quarterback, we will take the ball away. That's going to be the M.O. of our defense. You're going to be able to tell the kind of culture we have in here by watching our defensive guys fly around the field, swarm of the football, and have 11 guys attacking that football in every single play. And we can't forget about special teams it’s a third of the game. We will play special teams here, we're going to affect the game on special teams, we're going to be aggressive on special teams, and our best football players will play special teams here at FAU. We're going to have an authentic love for football and promote a positive environment constantly in this football program.

"We want all of you, all of the Florida Atlantic community, all of Boca Raton, to be involved in what we're trying to do here. Y'all are going to be a key part of the success that we have during our tenure here. We're going to have an exciting, physical brand of football that our fans will enjoy watching. We want FAU Stadium to be one of the toughest places to play every Saturday night. I'm very much looking forward to getting know to know the Owl fan base, and I assure you that our goal is to make you proud by the product that we put on the field on Saturdays. With that being said, we need you guys to fill up the stadium, we need your support on Saturday nights. I will be out in the community; you're going to see my face. You guys come help us out on Saturdays and give these student-athletes what they deserve: a fan base that will be behind them and give us some home field advantage here on Saturdays.

"Florida Atlantic is a major part of South Florida, and I'm honored to be here as your head football coach. My family and I are so excited to join this area and to raise our three boys in this community, not just because of all the good things I've mentioned in the speech, but because of the people that are here. Again, I've been here for 72 hours, but that's my favorite part, such real people here that want to get involved, want to be a part of the program, want to see us succeed, and that's what's going to help build this program up to where I know it's going to go. The support that my players, my family and my staff have already received brings me so much joy. We are ready to build a program here that makes you proud and continues the tradition of Winning in Paradise. Go Owls!”

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