Josh Kirkland was officially welcomed to SWOSU as the head football coach on Monday, Dec. 20, at 2 p.m. SWOSU now has its 23rd head football coach.

Athletic Director Todd Helton opened up the press conference by thanking everyone involved in the hiring process, and more specifically SWOSU President Dr. Diana Lovell, as this was their first time making a decision of this level together.

Helton reiterated that there was plenty of interest in the job, and Kirkland stood out the most.

“We had an overwhelming pool of applicants. We had over 75 official applicants, and then we had over 65 unofficial applicants,” Helton explained.

Lovell followed up Helton’s speech with one of her own before introducing Kirkland.

Kirkland began by thanking his family for supporting him in his football coaching career. He followed this up by explaining that the SWOSU head coaching job was the one that he wanted, despite plenty of other opportunities.

“There were a lot of different division two head coaching jobs open in the country this year, and I wasn’t interested in any of them,” Kirkland stated. “This is the job I wanted. This is the job that I believe is a winner. This is a place that I want to raise my family.”

Kirkland explained that he felt very welcomed and thanked everyone that took part in that.

“You’ve made Weatherford feel like home from the time that I got here,” Kirkland said. “[Weatherford] has everything you need to become Great American Conference champions, to go compete for national championships… That’s not a dream in the future.”

Kirkland also said that this school has a rich history and he would like to bring back alumni to visit with him and share stories as well as talk with the players to help establish the culture that he is wishing to set.

He also mentioned that his offense will be similar to an air raid, but is built to “spread out the run game.” The team will also play fast and Kirkland hopes to get 92 snaps in each game.

On the defensive side of the ball, Kirkland said he plans on being aggressive and shutting down the run game.

Kirkland also made it a point that the improvements will not wait until next September, rather they will start now and he plans on making progress with the team now and building toward next season early.