Quite the Debut - Hall Leads Duke to College Cup in First Season

DURHAM, N.C. -- News flash Blue Devil fans. First-year head coach Kieran Hall might share the same distinction as Robbie Church as one of the three Duke women's soccer coaches to lead the Blue Devils to the College Cup, but Kieran Hall admittedly is most definitely not Robbie Church.
"I can't be Robbie," said Hall. "It's impossible to even attempt to be Robbie."

Hall did a fabulous impersonation of him, adding his own flair while guiding a Blue Devils squad that regularly featured six players on the field who were playing their first minutes of college soccer to a 17-5-1 record and a repeat berth in the College Cup.

Hall, born in Blackburn, England speaks with a British accent, which he jokes after 20-plus years traversing the United States is a "bit all over the place" and describes himself as someone might not come across initially as "warm and fuzzy." Church, on the other hand, was raised in Greensboro, North Carolina, has a distinct southern drawl and is arguably one of the most affable and easy to talk to individuals someone will meet in their lifetime.
Women's Soccer Advances to College Cup

For Hall it's not about trying to be Robbie or someone else. It is about relying on who he is at his core and taking pieces from those who have impacted him the most on his journey to becoming a young head coach of an elite program. Someone like Robbie.

"I think in this culture there are so many resources," Hall said "It's wonderful you can find different information, TED talks, YouTube videos, books. But I think the danger of that is you don't know what your true north is. You have to stand for something and acknowledge there are unbelievable people doing unbelievable things, but you can't piece it all together. You have to be 100 percent committed to what you believe in and do that to the best of your ability. And if you do, I think it correlates with success."

Hall played his college soccer at For Lewis College in Durango, Colorado, helping lead the Skyhawks to the 2005 NCAA Division II Championship and the 2006 NCAA DII runner-up trophy.

After a couple of coaching stops at Fort Lewis and Denver, Hall arrived in Durham as an assistant coach for the Duke men's soccer team from 2016-18 before switching to the women's side.

After one season as an assistant coach Hall was elevated to associate head coach on June 15, 2020. Four years, one month and four days later, Hall was tabbed as the successor to Church who was retiring from coaching after 24 seasons at Duke.

"It was a supernova of emotions to be honest," Hall said when reflecting about being selected the next Blue Devil leader. "It was something I was hoping for for so long. It was a lot of excitement, pride, relief and gratitude. I understand how fortunate I was to get this job. For them to hire a coach without any head coaching experience was a big deal and showed a lot of faith in me."

Hall wasn't the only one excited about the next step, the players themselves were thrilled with what they felt would be a seamless transition when it came to the core standards of the program.

"I think we were all very excited," said senior Devin Lynch. "We all have so much respect for Kieran and he was just continuing the culture that Robbie had brought to this team. Robbie was obviously a mentor to Kieran, so we were just very excited the program was going to continue in the way that it already was but also expand and thrive in new ways Kieran brought to the program."

After helping lead Duke to one of the finest women's soccer seasons in school history, including an ACC regular season title and a bid to the 2024 College Cup, Hall officially took the reins January 7, 2025.

Hall doesn't remember the first practice or the first team meeting after the players returned to campus. Rather, his strongest memory was him focusing on assuring the newest members of the coaching staff – Hanna Gardner and Evan Gaffney – integrated well with the team and felt at home. Because, if he learned one thing from Robbie, it was about the people and creating an environment of caring.

"It sounds super cliché and cheesy, but it really is important," Hall said. "When you're competing for something more than yourself and for something more than just some tactics and strategies, it leads to success."

The first collaborative decision by Hall and Associate Head Coach Carla Overbeck was a great one as Gardner and Gaffney's skillsets filled the areas where Hall and Overbeck might be lacking.

"There are so many people who would be interested in working for us here at Duke, but we really wanted to be calculated with the type of person we brought in, and we feel like we nailed it," Hall said about Gardner and Gaffney. "I do think that's one of the standout decisions we made."

With the foundation established by Church over the previous two decades remaining solid, Lynch and the Blue Devils were excited to see the program grow under Hall's leadership. Through her time playing for him as an associate head coach, Lynch understood the standards and expectations were going to be high and there would be tough times. But Lynch knew it only came out of a place of caring and wanting her and the team to be their best.
Kieran Hall nets first win

"We've always emphasized mentality through our program, but I think that was emphasized even more with Kieran," Lynch said. "You can see throughout how we played this season. There definitely were some setbacks, but continuing to stay in such a high-performance mindset is something we emphasized from day one. It was a culture that [already existed], but Kieran made it 10 times more effective and important. Every day he was pushing me to be my best, which I really appreciated. Sometimes I didn't love it, but now I truly appreciate it. He just cares about every single one of us so much."

For Hall, his approach to setting standards came from his head coach at Fort Lewis and biggest mentor, Jeremy Gunn, who has since gone on to win three more NCAA titles at Stanford.

"He was incredible at just laying down the standards and what the expectations are and then just driving the team," Hall said. "He's someone I've taken a lot of inspiration from."

Hall is aware he might appear intimidating to some players at times. He has even been told in a teasing manner he can carry a certain unapproachable look on his face. However, understanding this might be a deficiency of his is actually one of Hall's greatest qualities. He recognizes it and leans on coaches like Overbeck who can fill the void as a connector within the program.

"I get how I come across, but it's not because it's how I am, it's I guess how I present," Hall said. "I think I've always been pretty empathetic and compassionate and relatively patient. But I think what I've learned is you can be really demanding on people, really challenge them. I think that's what I learned over my years with Robbie. Trying to figure out the dynamic of coaching and how to teach and best connect, I think what I've learned is you can have high expectations and really challenge people. For those who are willing to roll up their sleeves and go to work [they'll find] it was worth it even though it was difficult."

Hall isn't necessarily being fair to himself with this point. Possessing a dry wit that might sometimes go over the heads of the players, the team also knows how to have fun with their head coach. At Halloween this season, the athletes decided to tape some of Hall's favorite quotes to their shirts, paying "homage" to him in the most playful way. They also all attempt to imitate his accent although according to Lynch there is no frontrunner in that department.

From the beginning, Hall clearly sets the standards and expectations and admits that just in the way Duke is demanding academically, the women's soccer staff also challenges the players. But what he loves about this team is how they appreciate it – albeit some days more than others.

"I think that's where we are as a program," Hall said. "We love the interaction and we love the connection to the program. I hope that is really easy for people inside and outside of the program to see. But this is a demanding environment and it's not for everyone. We know what Duke is about as a school, that is demanding in of itself, but we're hard on our players. It's really black and white in terms of what the expectations are and I think they revel in that. They love that."

Adept at communicating his standards and motivating the team to be prepared for the task ahead of them, perhaps Hall's strongest aspect of coaching is his elite tactical mind. He was inspired by a previous colleague who taught him how to explain drills and use metaphors to, as Hall describes it, "make ideas more sticky so players can remember them and then implement them more effectively." This allows Hall to ensure the team is in the best position for success from a formation, personnel and skill perspective.

For lack of a better analogy, the players on the field are like chess pieces and Hall can recognize players' strengths and put them in the position that best suits them and makes the Blue Devils as dangerous as possible. And he can teach those concepts as well – a skill that might go unnoticed by most.

"I learned so much from Kieran in terms of different formations, rotations, which players fit the best where," Lynch said. Honestly, there were so many things I never thought of. Growing up playing soccer you watch it, but not a lot of coaches will emphasize different build-out shapes or different ways you're going to have to adjust to an opponent. Kieran always had different tactical ideas that brought a whole other side of the game to me."

So, if you're wondering what a Kieran Hall coached team looks like on the field. It's tough, one that puts relentless pressure on its opponent and always wants to have the ball. And he understands soccer is still a little awkward to an average American sports fan, so if the stands are quiet, it's up to the Blue Devils on the field to wake them up and go at the goal.

"A team that has spirit," Hall said about what he hopes fans see in his team when they watch. "I want them to see and feel that. In terms of how we play, I want us to be really dominant with the ball. It needs to belong to us. I want us to be relentless in how we attack and how we sprint and press. I want us to be entertaining, which means attacking the goal as much as possible."

The Blue Devils attacked the goal this past season, averaging 2.39 goals per game and having two players in Mia Ministrella and Kat Rader rank in the top 10 in the high-powered ACC in points per game. Without appearing to take it for granted or make it seem like it was easy, Hall felt like the College Cup just happened for this team. From the beginning, he believed the Blue Devils could win any game they were in – a belief he and the players will take forward to 2026.

"Now the next step is for us to make the jump and get this done and I believe we can do that next year."

To stay up to date with Blue Devils women's soccer, follow the team on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook by searching "DukeWSOC".

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