New assistant joins men’s soccer team for 2022

The Lehigh men’s soccer team announced the hire of assistant coach Garrett Kull for the fall 2022 season. 

Kull, who first got involved in coaching as a student-manager for Huntingdon College, a Division III school in Alabama, will enter his first role with a Division I coaching staff at Lehigh.

“I didn’t think I would ever get here in my career,” Kull said. “The opportunity to be a Division I men’s soccer coach is very rare, and especially to come to a place like Lehigh where there’s such a tradition of excellence, this is a position guys work their entire career to get.”

Kull has also coached at high schools in both his home state of Alabama and in Texas. He was most recently an assistant coach at the South Dakota School of Mines, a Division II program.

Kull’s experience caught the eye of Lehigh coach Dean Koski, who said he had also gone through a similar rise through the coaching ranks before reaching his current position.

Koski was excited by the amount of roles Kull has held during his first few years as a coach.

“For him to have acquired those experiences and only be 26 and to coach during his college career was impressive,” Koski said. “That stood out to me as an important characteristic (showing) that Garrett (Kull) is someone that’s going to work hard.”

Kull will serve as one of the team’s assistant coaches alongside associate head coach Ryan Hess, who has been with the program since 2011, and Brendan McIntyre, who will return to his role as a volunteer assistant for the upcoming season.

Koski said experience is an important criteria when considering who to hire for the second assistant position, as the job has plenty of on- and off-the-field responsibilities. Those who have held the position in the past have gone on to hold coaching positions at the University of Cincinnati and the University of Memphis.

“(Kull’s) going to be fully immersed into a Division I coaching experience,” Koski said. “I’m going to give him as many responsibilities as we can so that he can develop and grow as a coach.”

Koski said Kull’s role on the field will be to assist in coaching goalkeepers. 

Kull, who played goalie himself at the collegiate level, said the one strategy he works on the most with goalkeepers is creating confidence-building mentalities.

“It’s easier to teach them the technique and the fundamentals,” Kull said. “But how to deal with the isolation of the position, the pressure of it and the decision making are things that affect them as well.”

Koski said some of Kull’s off-the-field roles will include managing team meetings and study halls, allowing Kull the opportunity to interact with members of the team. 

Kull said this exposure, combined with being 26, could help players to feel that they can communicate openly with himself and the other coaches.

After returning 18 players who won the Patriot League title for Lehigh in 2019, the Mountain Hawks went 5-11-2 last season, losing to Navy in the first round of the Patriot League Tournament.

“After last season, we have had a lot to talk about and think about, and the coaches have been really looking for upperclassmen to take that accountability for the rest of the team,” junior defender Euan Forrest said. “Garrett (Kull) has taken on that responsibility of keeping the leaders of the team accountable, so we can keep the rest of the team accountable.”

Kull said that he is impressed with how invested the local community is in the success of the soccer program, making him excited to be with the team.

“Every interaction that I’ve had with people has been absolutely phenomenal,” Kull said. “People are willing to go out of their way to help me and have been really interested in understanding my story.”