Kyle Luongo Hired as Associate Head Coach as Cats Round Out Coaching Staff

Kentucky has officially found its new Associate Head Coach as the program announced Wednesday that Kyle Luongo has accepted the position and will begin his time in Lexington effective immediately. Luongo joins Craig Skinner and company after a five-year run at TCU where he served in the same role for the Horned Frogs.

“What an honor for my family and I to join the Kentucky volleyball program.” Luongo said. “We are thrilled to serve this program and give our all to this team. The opportunity to work alongside Craig and his staff as we continue to elevate Kentucky volleyball is something I am very excited about. Very quickly in this process I fell in love with what this program is about and I can’t wait to contribute. Go Cats!”

Throughout his time at TCU, Luongo spent a lot of time on the defensive side of the court, assisting in film breakdown and team scouting. However, Luongo will also be a valuable asset on the offensive end, thanks in large part to his playing history as a setter at Pepperdine. 

“Kyle brings a wealth of experience to Kentucky after his coaching stints at TCU and Pepperdine,” Skinner said. “He played for Pepperdine as setter, under the direction of USA’s legendary volleyball coach, Marv Dunphy. Kyle comes highly recommended from everyone we talked to and was very thorough in his preparation for the job. It became clear in the interview process that Kyle checked the boxes we were looking for. We are thrilled to welcome Kyle to Lexington!”

Luongo's preparation immediately stood out to the coaching staff throughout the interview process, as he came excited with individual ideas and goals for each athlete on the team. 

"Kyle was like over-prepared for his interview," assistant coach Merideth Jewell said. "He had like a twenty-page packet and a whole powerpoint presentation. He had some individual goal or goal planning - and he used Brooke Bultema as an example - it's something they did at TCU. He had physical goals, mental goals, academic goals that they set. Thought that was cool... I think the scouting and some of the offensive creativity things is what we're excited about."

Especially with the departure of former assistant coach Madison Lilley, Luongo's experience as a setter in the men's game will be an invaluable asset to freshman Kassie O'Brien and junior Ava Sarafa as they battle it out for the starting setter position. 

While Kentucky has certainly seen a lot of change this offseason - both in players transferring in and the additions of Luongo and fellow new addition Amaya Tillman to the coaching staff - the excitement level inside Memorial Coliseum is as high as ever. Change is a good thing. And from the sound of it, that's especially true down in Lexington.