Matt Kirby
The 2024 season will be Matt Kirby’s 13th with the Virginia baseball program. He spent his first 12 seasons (2011-2023) at UVA as a volunteer assistant before being promoted to a a full-time assistant and the program’s recruiting coordinator in the summer of 2023.
Kirby’s primary duties include assisting with the day-to-day development of position players as well as managing all aspects of Virginia’s recruiting efforts. He also serves as the Cavaliers first base coach.
In 12 seasons as a volunteer assistant, Kirby worked closely in the development of Virginia’s position players, specifically its catchers and outfielders, while also serving as UVA’s first base coach. In his time in Charlottesville, UVA has made four College World Series appearances (2014, 2015, 2021 & 2023), including capturing the program’s first national championship in 2015. The Cavaliers have qualified for the NCAA postseason in nine times and won five NCAA Regional Championships in 12 years.
Virginia was named the program of the decade (2010-2019) by D1Baseball.com, Brian O’Connor was named its Coach of the Decade and three players appeared on its All-Decade team. As part of the UVA staff since the 2012 season, Kirby has helped UVA rack up 467 wins, the eighth most of any college baseball program in that span.
A catcher as an undergrad at William & Mary, Kirby has been critical in the development of Virginia’s backstops for more than a decade. Four catchers have garnered All-ACC honors including first round MLB Draft choices, Matt Thaiss (16th overall) and Kyle Teel (14th overall). A total of 30 position players have garnered All-ACC accolades and UVA has produced nine position player All-Americans in his tenure.
Prior to Virginia, Kirby spent two seasons on the Georgetown coaching staff. He began as the program’s volunteer assistant in 2010 before being elevated to an assistant coach in 2011. While at Georgetown, he served as the first base coach, managed the travel, equipment and camp budgets and planned and executed practice schedules for all hitters and catchers. Kirby also helped develop student-athlete weight lifting, nutrition and running programs and assisted with the management of Georgetown baseball summer and fall camps.
Kirby was an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Villanova for the 2007 and 2008 seasons. He also was responsible for a recruiting class at Villanova that was rated among the top-100 in the country by Collegiate Baseball.
Prior to his time at Villanova, Kirby served as an assistant coach at Brown in 2006, where he helped to oversee all areas of the program. The Bears compiled a 12-8 record in Ivy League conference play during the season.
Kirby was the assistant coach at William & Mary in 2005. He worked primarily with the catchers, outfielders and hitters while at William & Mary. Kirby got his start in coaching in 2003 as the student assistant coach at William & Mary, and then became the volunteer coach at Virginia Military Institute in 2004.
Kirby is a 2003 graduate of William & Mary. A four-year letterman as a catcher and pitcher, he was the team captain as a junior and senior and led the Tribe to the Colonial Athletic Association title in 2001 and a regular season championship in 2002. He was voted the team MVP in 2002 when he was a Second-Team All-CAA selection. While at W&M, he caught for future major leaguers Chris Ray and Bill Bray.
Kirby and his wife Mallory have a daughter, Renate.