Hardin Valley's Jessica Stephens is first female coach in Knox County to lead boys soccer

Jessica Stephens still remembers when she was passed up for a coaching job in 2017.

It would have been her first opportunity to become the head coach of a varsity high school soccer program.

It's what drove her to accept the coaching job for the Hardin Valley girls team in 2018.

Now, she's making history.

Stephens was hired as the boys coach at Hardin Valley, becoming the first woman in Knox County history to lead a boys soccer program.

"I don’t want people to see me as a female in a male’s world," said Stephens, who will continue to coach the girls as well. "I want them to see me as a person that knows the game.”

Soccer has been an integral part of Stephens' life for as long as she can remember. She graduated from Farragut in 2006, where she was a standout player for the girls team. Stephens played in college at Carson-Newman.

During the spring semester of her senior year in 2010, Stephens joined the girls staff at Farragut. She made the trips back and forth from Knoxville to Jefferson City to balance her coaching, playing and scholarly duties. 

After five years at Farragut, she joined the boys staff as an assistant, serving both programs. In 2016, boys coach Ray Dover appointed Stephens as the boys junior varsity coach. 

"That group of boys and I just really clicked," Stephens said. "They really grew my coaching career for me because I was kind of getting in a rut ... That group of boys really rejuvenated my love of coaching and my love of the sport."

When she made the move to Hardin Valley in 2018, she also accepted a role on the boys coaching staff. In her two years, she's seen two different coaches come and go at a program that has struggled to establish consistency. 

She'll be the Hawks' fourth coach in five seasons. 

Stephens has shown that she is capable of building a stable program. She's led the Hardin Valley girls to a district championship appearance in each of her two seasons, winning in 2019, and has an overall record of 24-11-8. 

Ryan Radcliffe, who has been the coach of the boys and girls soccer teams at Bearden since 2014, knows what it takes to balance the two roles. He said he has had a friendship with Stephens dating to their high school playing days when Radciffe was a standout player at Bearden.

Stephens already has asked Radcliffe for advice. 

He said that the biggest challenge Stephens will face is earning respect from the boys team, a problem that Radcliffe acknowledged he had to deal with when taking over the girls team.

"She's competitive, and I think the competitive edge goes across all levels," Radcliffe said. "Obviously there's going to be a bit of a challenge with her being a female and coaching a male sport, but I think if anybody in this area can do it, it's Jessica."