
A football coach, at any level, doesn't win 200 games by accident. He must be doing something right.
John Luckhardt has done a lot of things right on the college coaching front in Western Pennsylvania for more than 25 years. In his typical fashion he takes credit for none of it.
When California University of Pennsylvania defeated Edinboro, 38-14, Saturday in an important Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference West Division matchup Luckhardt reached the 200-victory milestone.
"I've been very fortunate to be at winning programs," he said after taking a day or two to consider the accomplishment. "I've been blessed to have had great assistant coaches over the years and outstanding players."
Going into another PSAC West test Saturday at Slippery Rock, Luckhardt has a 63-26 record at California -- a .708 winning percentage -- since taking over the program in 2002.
In his 17 years at Washington & Jefferson College he compiled a 137-37-2 record before stepping aside after the 1998 season.
His California team, which is No. 23 in the American Football Coaches Association Top 25 Coaches poll and No. 18 by D2football.com, got off to a slow start this year, losing it's first two. But the Vulcans, who had to battle though injuries early on, are now on a six-game winning streak.
"I was worried for a while we weren't going to win enough for me to reach 200," Luckhardt said with a laugh. "What happened was the injuries seemed to concentrate in certain positions. For example, we lost three tight ends and then we had two starting linebackers nicked up. We just weren't deep enough to deal with that."
Add the fact California has a first-year starter at quarterback in Josh Portis and was without starting running back Windell Brown and the bottom line was two losing efforts the first two weeks.
Luckhardt has never been one to shy away from problems. Along with his coaching staff he worked harder.
Reaching one milestone always produces questions about the next mark. He is the sixth active NCAA Division II coach to reach 200 wins and is the 18th active coach at any NCAA level to hit that mark.
So, will Luckhardt set 250 wins as a goal? 300?
"I'm not going to pull a Joe Paterno or a Bobby Bowden," he said.
"The economy had something to do with me reaching [200]. Like a lot of retired teachers, I lost [money] when the market went south. I didn't want to go back to cutting grass, so I decided to get back into coaching."
Folks at California are glad he did. But Luckhardt said he'll know when it's time to leave.
"When I started coaching I was a grad assistant at Purdue when Jack Mollenkopf was the head coach, and he used to worry about staying on longer than he should," he said.
"There are days when I'm not as sharp as I used to be, but when I feel like I'm hurting this program that's when I'll leave. I haven't reached that point yet but I'm not going to put a limit on how long I'm going to stay."
The Carnegie Mellon men's soccer team defeated New York University, 4-1, Sunday to run its win streak to 12 in a row. The Tartans, ranked No. 9 in NCAA Division III nationally and No. 2 in the Great Lakes Regional, have not lost since they dropped a 4-0 decision Sept. 4 to Ohio Wesleyan, which is ranked ahead of Carnegie Mellon in the region.
Carnegie Mellon is 13-1 on the season, 4-0 in the University Athletic Association and plays at 5 p.m. tomorrow at Case Western Reserve.
The IUP women's soccer team clinched a playoff berth in the PSAC West Division with a 2-1 victory Tuesday against Lock Haven. The Crimson Hawks are 11-3-1 overall, 8-2-1 in the PSAC West and in first place in the division. The top two teams in each PSAC division at the end of the regular season will be hosts to a first-round playoff game Nov. 3.
First-year player Ashley Kostial, a Quaker Valley High School graduate, scored the lone goal for Chatham College in a recent 4-1 loss to Waynesburg and set a school record in the process. It was Kostial's 10th goal and set a school mark for goals in a season.
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