| Joe Loth went to his alma
mater for the 2003 season, leaving Kean. Otterbein athletics file photo |
Ed Farrington announced that Joe Loth has been named head football coach at Western Connecticut State.
The Colonials, who had been coached by John Burrell, have lost 21 straight games including posting 0-10 records in each of the last two seasons.
Loth brings in a career record of 56-64, and was 49-42 at Otterbein.
“There was a tremendous interest in our head coaching
position when we conducted a national search and I feel we have
selected a fantastic candidate to be our new football coach,"
Farrington said. "Joe Loth is familiar with the process of
rebuilding a program, he is familiar with the university and I feel
he will make a smooth transition and hit the ground
running.”
Loth began his football career as a graduate assistant at Southern
Methodist (1991-93). He served as defensive coordinator at NCAA
Division III schools: Western Connecticut (1993-97) and Capital
(1997-98). Loth spent two seasons as defensive secondary coach at
Rhode Island (1998-00) before accepting his first head coaching job
at Kean in February 2000.
A 1991 graduate of Otterbein, Loth returned to his alma mater as
head coach in 2003, taking over a program that had just one winning
season in the previous 23 years; the team was mired in an
eight-game losing streak. He took over at Kean after the Cougars
endured a 14-game losing streak prior to his arrival.
"I am extremely excited in the opportunity of becoming the new head
football coach at Western Connecticut," said Loth on Monday. "The
formula for winning at all levels of college football does not
change. It is recruiting, retention, developing the student-athlete
and running sound football schemes. We will relentlessly pursue
excellence in all four of these areas at Western and in its move
from the New Jersey Athletic Conference to the Massachusetts
State Collegiate Athletic Conference."
Loth holds the best winning percentage among football coaches with
tenures of three or more seasons at Otterbein. The Cardinals set a
school record for wins in 2008, going 9-2 overall and advancing
into the NCAA Division III playoffs for the first time in school
history. Otterbein finished second in the Ohio Athletic Conference
with an 8-1 record, with its lone conference loss coming at the
hands of Mount Union, who went on to win the national championship.
That season, Loth was named OAC Coach of the Year for the second
time in his career.
"Western really feels like home to me," added Loth. "I have already
been contacted by a number of ... alumni who seem excited to get
someone with deep ties with the program as the head coach."
Loth has worked as a guest coach in the Canadian Football League,
coaching wide receivers at Winnipeg in 2010-12 and Saskatchewan in
2009 for Paul LaPolice, who was an assistant on the Colonials staff
back with Loth in 1994. LaPolice is the Blue Bombers Head Coach and
served as the Roughriders Offensive Coordinator.
Loth was a four-year letterman and three-year starter at defensive
back as an undergraduate at Otterbein. He earned second team
All-OAC honors his senior year in 1990 and still holds the
Otterbein career record of 13 interceptions. He received his
bachelor’s degree in Business.
"Coach Loth has provided incredible leadership during his time at
Otterbein, creating a solid program foundation leading to
competitive and academic success," stated new Otterbein athletic
director Dawn Stewart. "He is an excellent ambassador for Division
III athletics and will be missed by the Otterbein community. We are
excited for Joe and his family for this personal and professional
transition."
In 2006, Loth was inducted into the Riverside High School Hall of
Fame in Painesville, Ohio.
Loth and his wife, Keri, who graduated from Western Connecticut
State University, have two sons, Zachary, 12, and Tyler, 10.