After a successful career as a student-athlete with the Auburn equestrian team, Emma Kurtz joined the staff as an assistant coach in May 2023.
Kurtz serves as Jumping Seat coach for the Tigers and kicked off her coaching career with a great season in 2023-24.
As part of the staff, she helped the Tigers win their sixth-straight SEC title in 2024.
She coached Ava Stearns to the NCEA Flat Rider of the Year and Sophee Steckbeck to the SEC Fences Rider of the Year. Avery Glynn was named the SEC Freshman Flat Rider of the Year.
The Tigers garnered four All-America honors in 2024 under Kurtz’s guidance and finished with six All-SEC and SEC All-Freshman recognitions.
A member of the team from 2018-23, Kurtz was a part of many major moments for the Tigers. She played a big role in Auburn’s first of two undefeated seasons as a freshman in 2019 and helped the team win its second-straight national title. In addition, Auburn won both Jumping Seat and Flat national crowns that season.
Kurtz was also a part of Auburn’s five-straight Southeastern Conference championships (2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023).
Individually, Kurtz finished her time as a student-athlete with eight All-America honors. That total is the most by any Tiger in program history. In addition, she is a six-time All-SEC honoree. She was named the 2022 SEC Fences Rider of the Year and concluded her career tied for first in program history with 57 career wins in Fences. Her 48 career wins in Flat is tied for second most.
Kurtz earned her degree in finance in May 2022 and finished her Master of Business Administration in December 2023.