Kelly Leaves Lady Vols For Longhorns

AUSTIN, Texas — Angela Kelly, who spent the last 12 years at the University of Tennessee building the Lady Vols into a national contender, has been named women’s soccer head coach at The University of Texas.
Kelly’s appointment is effective Monday, December 19 and involves an agreement of five-and-a-half years. She will become the third head coach in the history of the program. Kelly replaces Chris Petrucelli, who was reassigned in the department following 13 years as the Longhorns’ head coach.

“As administrators we prioritize traits, qualities and credentials that are essential in coaching — integrity, passion and expertise…an extraordinary ability to communicate and motivate, and a relentless willingness and capacity to work in a next-gear level,” University of Texas Women’s Athletics Director Chris Plonsky said.

“Angela Kelly possesses all of these elements, plus a pedigree in women’s soccer that has earned her respect nationally and internationally from players, coaches and the unique community of soccer. I love her hunger to win, her presence, her energy. She has absolute focus on developing elite female student-athletes into champions, personally and competitively. Our entire Texas Athletics family and team look forward to working with her and the staff she assembles to take our soccer program to consistent competitive excellence and to championships.”

“I am so excited to become a part of such a winning tradition here at Texas,” Kelly said. “Our staff will be incredibly invested in the vision of this program and taking Texas Women’s Soccer to national prominence. Our first priority is the investment into every single student-athlete’s development, in the classroom, on the field, and most importantly as a young lady.

“We will hit the ground running on the recruiting front and look forward to reaching out to every Club and High School coach in the state of Texas.”
At Tennessee, Kelly took the helm of a program that had never advanced to the NCAA Tournament, had never won an SEC Tournament match and had never collected any league first-team All-SEC honors or seasonal hardware. She eventually led the Lady Vols to four consecutive SEC Eastern Division crowns, three straight SEC regular-season titles and four SEC Tournament titles. She was tabbed SEC Coach of the Year three consecutive seasons from 2003-05.

In Knoxville, Kelly led the Lady Vols to a 160-84-20 (.644) mark in 12 years. During her time on Rocky Top, Tennessee reached nine NCAA Tournaments, making five Sweet 16 appearances. Her squads were 10-8-2 in the NCAA Tournament.