The Kingborough Lions United Football Club have today announced Jez Kenth as the new coach of their NPL Tasmania side.
The former University and Launceston City coach, who was also an assistant to Peter Savill at Hobart Zebras, will come on board to replace Greg Calvert, who stepped down from his role following a 4-0 loss to Launceston City earlier in the month.
Kenth most recently coached at Launceston City in the 2018 season, helping to guide the club to a fourth place finish: their highest place ever in an NPL TAS season. Prior to his stint at City he had a highly successful time at University, guiding them to back to back Southern Championship titles in the 2014 and 2015 seasons.
He now joins a Lions side sitting in sixth place on the table, with a 3-1-7 record from 11 games so far this year. Long considered the sleeping giants of Tasmanian Football, Kenth will face a tough task trying to unleash that potential, but his strong record of success suggests he has the tools for the job. Given his impressive CV, he was one of the best of the local options available to the club and he is a very strong hire for the Lions.
Kenth's other NPL experience comes in the form of being an assistant to Peter Savill, who in turn was his assistant at Launceston City last season, with the Englishmen a clear influence on his footballing ideology.
Kenth, like Savill is a shrewd and pragmatic operator who will prioritise defensive stability and cutting out mistakes at the back. Not shy of playing direct, Kenth is an adaptable tactician who will play in whatever manner maximises his sides chances of a result.
[caption id="attachment_11596" align="alignnone" width="577"]
Kenth watches on at Darcy Street- Solstice Photography[/caption]
Kenth said that whilst he hadn't been actively pursuing a senior coaching job, he didn't take much convincing to jump back into it, saying he was looking forward to the challenge the job would provide.
"Once you're into the sport you don't need to have the arm twisted too much. I've always been interested in the sport and love the coaching side of things."
"The community down here is great, the facilities are great here and the opportunity is a good one. It's a big challenge and i''m always interested in a decent challenge. It will certainly be the biggest one I've been involved with yet, so I am looking forward to that.
Kenth said that the remainder of the 2019 season would be all about building for the future and instilling the right mentality into the playing group.
"You have to see this year as a building block. Not having a preseason and coming in halfway through the year means this season will be about putting the restructure in place and getting the mentality and attitude on the park right.
I will be pushing my philosophy to the players and hopefully they will pick it up quickly. It's all about building confidence. As it was when I was at City, my aim is to make the team as competitive as possible. Then we can go into every game believing we can get a result. If I have instilled that, then I will have achieved what I want to for this season."
Kenth has signed a deal that will see him in charge for the remainder of 2019 as well as the 2020 and 2021 seasons, giving him a long term foundation to implement his vision for the club, which is to be competing with the very best sides in the NPL on a weekly basis.
"Hopefully that will give us the foundation to build on. Where Kingborough is at right now, this isn't a 1, 2 month project, its going to take a year-18 months to get them to be competing strongly." he added.
Kingborough Lions Technical Director Simon Edwards, said that whilst frustrated to be in the position of having to hire another new coach, he was confident Kenth was the man to take the club to the level they are aiming for.
"Obviously losing a coach mid-season is difficult to deal with, certainly for the playing group, which is our main concern, when we get that instability for them. But we are confident Jez can come in and help deliver that stability going into the next 2 years."
"It's frustrating to lose another coach, but I think the pressure on these coaches is underrated. I think a lot of people probably don't realise the pressure these guys are under and the duress they go through, for what is a pretty thankless task."
Edwards pointed to the example of the club's Women's side for how they wanted to convert their strong youth programs into top tier success, with the side, who were only a couple of years ago languishing in the Southern Championship, now gearing up for their second Cup final in as many years.
"We've got good numbers and we've got a lot of good coaches and programs. Our challenge is tuning that into the performance end and tuning that into the top end. We are starting to see success with our Women's program in that regard and we want to see that duplicated in the results for the Men."
Kenth will begin his tenure by welcoming the current league leaders, the Devonport Strikers to Lightwood Park on Saturday afternoon at 2:15pm.
[caption id="attachment_11597" align="alignnone" width="514"]
Kenth celebrates a road win over Olympia- Solstice Photography[/caption]
Kenth watches on at Darcy Street- Solstice Photography[/caption]
Kenth said that whilst he hadn't been actively pursuing a senior coaching job, he didn't take much convincing to jump back into it, saying he was looking forward to the challenge the job would provide.
"Once you're into the sport you don't need to have the arm twisted too much. I've always been interested in the sport and love the coaching side of things."
"The community down here is great, the facilities are great here and the opportunity is a good one. It's a big challenge and i''m always interested in a decent challenge. It will certainly be the biggest one I've been involved with yet, so I am looking forward to that.
Kenth said that the remainder of the 2019 season would be all about building for the future and instilling the right mentality into the playing group.
"You have to see this year as a building block. Not having a preseason and coming in halfway through the year means this season will be about putting the restructure in place and getting the mentality and attitude on the park right.
I will be pushing my philosophy to the players and hopefully they will pick it up quickly. It's all about building confidence. As it was when I was at City, my aim is to make the team as competitive as possible. Then we can go into every game believing we can get a result. If I have instilled that, then I will have achieved what I want to for this season."
Kenth has signed a deal that will see him in charge for the remainder of 2019 as well as the 2020 and 2021 seasons, giving him a long term foundation to implement his vision for the club, which is to be competing with the very best sides in the NPL on a weekly basis.
"Hopefully that will give us the foundation to build on. Where Kingborough is at right now, this isn't a 1, 2 month project, its going to take a year-18 months to get them to be competing strongly." he added.
Kingborough Lions Technical Director Simon Edwards, said that whilst frustrated to be in the position of having to hire another new coach, he was confident Kenth was the man to take the club to the level they are aiming for.
"Obviously losing a coach mid-season is difficult to deal with, certainly for the playing group, which is our main concern, when we get that instability for them. But we are confident Jez can come in and help deliver that stability going into the next 2 years."
"It's frustrating to lose another coach, but I think the pressure on these coaches is underrated. I think a lot of people probably don't realise the pressure these guys are under and the duress they go through, for what is a pretty thankless task."
Edwards pointed to the example of the club's Women's side for how they wanted to convert their strong youth programs into top tier success, with the side, who were only a couple of years ago languishing in the Southern Championship, now gearing up for their second Cup final in as many years.
"We've got good numbers and we've got a lot of good coaches and programs. Our challenge is tuning that into the performance end and tuning that into the top end. We are starting to see success with our Women's program in that regard and we want to see that duplicated in the results for the Men."
Kenth will begin his tenure by welcoming the current league leaders, the Devonport Strikers to Lightwood Park on Saturday afternoon at 2:15pm.
[caption id="attachment_11597" align="alignnone" width="514"] Kenth celebrates a road win over Olympia- Solstice Photography[/caption]