John Luckhardt has established a winning tradition in his seven seasons as head coach at Cal U. He has guided the Vulcans to back-to-back NCAA Division II Semifinal appearances and consecutive ECAC Lambert Trophies, which are awarded annually to the top team in Eastern college football.
Luckhardt enters his eighth season as the winningest head coach in program history with a 57-24 record (.704) in seven years at the helm of the program. For his efforts last season, he was named the NCAA Division II Regional Coach of the Year for a second-straight season.
Last year marked the Vulcans’ fourth-straight PSAC West title – the longest streak in school history. Behind 17 All-PSAC West selections, Cal U claimed the PSAC Championship to earn a berth in the NCAA Playoffs for the second-straight year and advanced to the semifinals before losing to the eventual national champions.
The 2007 season featured several historical milestones for the Cal U program, including a school-best 13 wins en route to becoming NCAA Northeast Region Champions. Under Luckhardt’s direction, the team featured five All-Americans and 16 all-PSAC West selections.
In 2005, Cal U won its first PSAC West crown in two decades with an 8-2 record before claiming another title in 2006 with an 8-3 mark.
Luckhardt is no stranger to building a powerhouse program in Southwest Pennsylvania. Prior to his time at Cal U, he served as head coach at Washington & Jefferson College, a NCAA Division III program in nearby Washington, Pa. During his 17 seasons as head coach, he compiled a 137-37-2 record and guided the Presidents to 13 Presidents’ Athletic Conference (PAC) titles, 11 appearances in the NCAA Division III Playoffs, five regional championships and two appearances in the Stagg Bowl, the Division III Championship Game.
In addition to coaching at W&J, Luckhardt served as Athletics Director for 12 years from 1986 to 1998. After stepping down as head coach in 1998, he served as the Director of Special Projects from 1998 to 2000.
Luckhardt received the American Football Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award in 1998 before being inducted into the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame in 2001. In 2007, he was a member of the ninth Athletic Hall of Fame Class at W&J, where he still holds the school record for most career wins at 137. From 1994 to 1998, he served on the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Board of Directors.
In 1992, Luckhardt earned AFCA/Kodak National Coach of the Year honors after guiding W&J to the school’s first-ever national championship game. Two years later, he earned Division III Coach of the Year laurels from CNN after again advancing the Presidents to the Stagg Bowl. Luckhardt has been involved in a total of six NCAA championships as both a player and coach.
He started his coaching career at Division I Purdue University, his alma mater, as a graduate assistant. He also coached the secondary and receivers for three years at Northern Illinois University, another Division I program.
Luckhardt then spent 10 seasons at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, Pa., serving as the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach. During his tenure, the Mountain Hawks compiled a 75-25-3 record and won the 1977 NCAA Division II Championship.
As a player, Luckhardt was a center on the Boilermakers’ 1967 Rose Bowl team that defeated USC in Pasadena, Calif. He graduated from Purdue with an undergraduate degree in health and physical education before earning his master’s degree in physical education/psychology in 1970.
Luckhardt and his wife Barbara reside in Peters Township, Pa., and have two grown children, Allison Eckenrode and Matt, and two grandchildren, Mathison Ava Eckenrode and Beatrice Alia Eckenrode. Allison lives with husband Tim and daughter, Mathison, in Mt. Lebanon, Pa., and Matt works as an athletic fundraiser at Cal.
LUCKHARDT YEAR-BY-YEAR COACHING RECORD
| Year |
Overall
Record |
Win Pct. |
Conference
Record (Finish) |
Post-Season |
Final Rank |
| 2002 |
6-5 |
.545 |
1-5 (t-6th)
|
|
|
| 2003 |
4-7 |
.364 |
2-4 (t-4th)
|
|
|
| 2004 |
6-4 |
.600 |
2-4 (t-4th)
|
|
|
| 2005 |
8-2 |
.800 |
5-1 (t-1st)
|
|
|
| 2006 |
8-3 |
.727 |
5-1 (t-1st)
|
|
|
| 2007 |
13-1 |
.929 |
6-0 (1st) |
NCAA Semifinals |
No. 4 AFCA |
| 2008 |
12-2 |
.857 |
7-0 (1st) |
PSAC Championship
NCAA Semifinals |
No. 6 AFCA |
| TOTALS |
57-24 |
.704 |
28-15 (.651) |
|
|
