Ipswich Town manager Kieran McKenna, who secured back-to-back promotions for the football club from League One into the Premier League, has received an honorary doctorate from the University of Suffolk.
The 38-year-old’s playing career at Tottenham Hotspur ended at the age of 22 due to injury.
He said he considered pursuing a career as a maths teacher, sports physio or sports coach before an inspiring conversation with a club medic.
Speaking at a ceremony in Ipswich on Monday, McKenna said: “It made me realise that so often in our careers, so often in our ambitions, we are limited by our own perceptions of what is possible, by our own perceptions of what we can achieve.
“At that point in my career, to even become a community coach, a youth coach, would have seemed like an incredible achievement and would have been my absolute dream.”
He urged students to “go for your biggest goal”.
“If you have goals in life, if you have some things you are uncertain of, if you are not sure, go with your passion,” he said.
“Go with your heart, go with the one that means the most for you.
“Go with the one you love and chase it with everything you’ve got.”
McKenna took over at Ipswich Town in 2021 after leaving his role as Manchester United first-team coach.
He has brought Ipswich back to the top tier for the first time since 2002.
Earlier this year, the club and the University of Suffolk signed a three-year partnership agreement with a collective mission to inspire pride in Ipswich and Suffolk.
McKenna said: “It feels fantastic, it’s a great honour.
“It’s a really important place for me now, and I feel so embedded in the community here, and of course the University of Suffolk is a big part of the community, so it’s a fantastic honour and one I’m really proud of.
“Both institutions have a big part to play in the community, and I think the link with the university is really important for us.
“We need to continue to try and improve, to innovate, and develop in all areas, and of course that is a big ethos of the university as well, so it’s an important relationship for us and one we hope will go from strength to strength and we can both keep developing, both keep helping the local community.”
He joked that he would be ensuring players referred to him by his new honorary “doctor” title in club training this week.
And in a message to the graduates, urged them to “let your biggest setbacks be the ones that shape your character”.
“I believe in those setbacks is where you show your true character, and where you show the people around you your true nature,” he said.
Meanwhile, Ipswich Town’s only professional female player swapped her football kit for a gown when she graduated from the University of Suffolk.
Sophie Peskett has juggled studying for a degree with her flourishing professional football career and now has a first-class BSc (Hons) degree in sport and exercise science.
The 21-year-old midfielder is now looking forward to focusing on her football at Ipswich where she became the club’s first professional women’s player in the summer of 2021.
