Men's Soccer

Kyle Hughes starts his second season as head coach of the Pioneers in the fall of 2025.

In his first season, the Pioneers faced a challenging schedule and played to an overall record of 2-10-2. Tusculum was competitive in nearly all of its matches, with its only loss by more than two goals coming to national champion Lynn. Tusculum capped the regular season with a 3-1 victory over rival Carson-Newman to end the year with a 2-7-2 record in South Atlantic Conference play.

Hughes was named the head coach at Tusculum on March 13, 2024, becoming the ninth head coach in the storied history of the program.

He previously served on the coaching staff at NCAA I Presbyterian College during the 2023 campaign. The Blue Hose had a school-record three players garner All-Big South Conference recognition including Damorney Hutchinson, who was named the Newcomer of the Year and rookie forward Victor Faaborg Christensen was selected as the league’s Freshman of the Year. Faaborg was also selected as a third team Freshman All-American by the College Soccer News. PC also had three student-athletes named to the College Sports Communicators Academic All-District Team.

In 2022, Hughes was an assistant coach at Gardner-Webb University as the Runnin' Bulldogs finished fifth in the Big South Conference while compiling seven victories. He mentored two student-athletes that went onto earn All-Big South Conference accolades as well as being BSC All-Academic team mentions.

He served as the associate head coach at Mars Hill University during the 2020 and 2021 campaigns. He helped guide the Lions to two trips to the South Atlantic Conference Tournament which included a double-overtime loss in the 2021 SAC Championship match. He coached some of the league's top talent as Hughes mentored forwards Kevonte Willoughby-Williams and Peter Plougmand, a MHU duo that combined for 20 goals and 12 assists in 2021 en route to Willoughby-Williams earning SAC Freshman of the Year honors and both players garnered All-Conference laurels.

Prior to Mars Hill, Hughes spent five seasons on the coaching staff at Spartanburg Methodist College, where he helped the Pioneers compile a 64-28-4 record. In 2015, he began his collegiate coaching career at SMC as an assistant coach for two years before being named head coach in 2017, a position he held for three seasons. During his tenure, Hughes led Spartanburg Methodist to the NJCAA Region 10 Conference Tournament every season, while also notching an NJCAA Division I Southeast District appearance in 2018.

Hughes has also served as a staff coach at the Carolina Elite Soccer Academy (CESA) and United FC.

A native of Greenville, South Carolina, Hughes played his collegiate soccer at Spartanburg Methodist and at North Greenville University. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Public Health from Southern New Hampshire University in 2012.