Kyle Hawkins (born December 16, 1970)Kyle Hawkins is the New Warrior Chief
CollegeLAX.us. February 11, 2008 is the former head coach of the German National Men's U-19 lacrosse team, and former head coach of the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Universit ...

Men's

Lacrosse Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensively ...

team. In May 2006, he discussed his

sexual orientation Sexual orientation is an enduring pattern of romantic or sexual attraction (or a combination of these) to persons of the opposite sex or gender, the same sex or gender, or to both sexes or more than one gender. These attractions are generall ...

with several media outlets, including the ''

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'' and

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after having revealed to the university and team that he was

gay ''Gay'' is a term that primarily refers to a homosexual person or the trait of being homosexual. The term originally meant 'carefree', 'cheerful', or 'bright and showy'. While scant usage referring to male homosexuality dates to the late 1 ...

. In April 2007, the story again made media waves with an

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story featured on MSNBC.com. Hawkins was named the first openly gay man coaching an intercollegiate men's team sport by

ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...

Background

Hawkins was born in 1970 and brought up as a devout

Southern Baptist The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) is a Christian denomination based in the United States. It is the world's largest Baptist denomination, and the largest Protestant and second-largest Christian denomination in the United States. The word ...

in the

St. Louis, Missouri St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi River, Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the Greater St. Louis, ...

suburb of

Kirkwood, Missouri Kirkwood is an inner-ring western suburb of St. Louis located in St. Louis County, Missouri. As of the 2010 census, the city's population was 27,540. Founded in 1853, the city is named after James P. Kirkwood, builder of the Pacific Railroad th ...

. He graduated from

Kirkwood High School Kirkwood High School is a public education, public secondary school in Kirkwood, Missouri, United States. The school is part of the Kirkwood R-7 School District. Dr. Mike Havener started as principal in July 2011. History Kirkwood High School ...

in 1989. He then attended

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

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 Hazelwood Central High School is located at 15875 New Halls Ferry Road in unincorporated St. Louis County, Missouri, adjacent to the current northeast boundary of Florissant. The school is one of three high schools in the Hazelwood School Distri ...

, 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.

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. While coaching the lacrosse club, Hawkins taught history at

Hickman High School David Henry Hickman High School (commonly Hickman or HHS) is a public secondary school in Columbia, Missouri, United States, serving students in grades 9– 12. Built in 1927, it is the oldest of four high schools in the Columbia Public Schools ...

Columbia, Missouri Columbia is a city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It is the county seat of Boone County and home to the University of Missouri. Founded in 1821, it is the principal city of the five-county Columbia metropolitan area. It is Missouri's fourth ...

. 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.Having openly gay coach ‘awkward’ in Missouri – Other sports- NBC Sports
MSNBC (2007-04-07). Retrieved on 2012-05-03. In 2004, he was selected as the coach of the year.
. Outsports.com (2007-05-11). Retrieved on 2012-05-03. On September 28, 2004, Hawkins joined the message boards at OutSports.com and made his first post, a 1,500-word anonymous message,Closeted coach seeks advice – Outsports Discussion Board
Outsports.com. Retrieved on 2012-05-03. 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.

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.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hawkins, Kyle 1970 births Living people College men's lacrosse coaches in the United States High school football coaches in Missouri High school lacrosse coaches in the United States University of Missouri staff Arizona State University alumni Gay sportsmen LGBT history in Columbia, Missouri American LGBT sportspeople LGBT people from Missouri People from Kirkwood, Missouri People from Rolla, Missouri 2006 in LGBT history

Background

University of Missouri

HTHC Hamburg

German National U-19 Men's team

See also

References