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Coaches Loucks, Myers winning 25 years later


Rewind 25 years and a much younger Andy Loucks-Kevin Myers duo was playing on the 1990 Dallastown defensive line together, tormenting quarterbacks and earning all-county honors. Myers, who was quick to jokingly point out he’s a year younger than Loucks, lined up at offensive tackle while Loucks played center, and the two formed one of the more formidable defensive tackle combinations in the league under head coach Lou Orndorff.

Twenty five years later the two York County coaching mainstays are still picking up accolades, earning the 2015 YAIAA Division I and Division II Coach of the Year honors voted on by their peers. Myers picked up his fourth Coach of the Year honor after his Dallastown squad finished 9-1 in the regular season and won a second-straight division title. Loucks won his first after he led York Suburban to its first division title in nearly three decades.

“We talked and congratulated each other on it,” Myers said. “It’s pretty neat being teammates and winning and being teammates under Lou (Orndorff).”

The Wildcats went 5-4-1 with Loucks in his senior season and Myers in his junior – the first winning season in a decade for Dallastown. Eric Lam, who won Division II Coach of the Year two seasons ago with Dover, was a sophomore on that team as well. Their experiences on that Dallastown team and playing for Orndorff have attributed to their coaching success, Myers said.

“There’s a lot that Coach Orndorff did that I try to take from,” Myers said. “The way he ran things, his expectations, integrity and his commitment to the program that I try to carry.”

Orndorff's defensive coordinator at the time was Roger Murphy, who now coaches on Dover's staff. When Murphy heard two of his former players were both winning the award, he reached out to them right away, he said.

"Andy (Loucks) is just really, really competitive and you see that in his coaching," Murphy said. "Kevin (Myers) just perseveres in a positive way. He had some rough years at first at Dallastown but he hung in there and he just keeps grinding away. I think the time will come when he makes them not just a county power, but a district power."

Murphy isn't surprised by their successes, he said. After all, they were outstanding football players.

"Football was everything to Andy and he had an outstanding football IQ," Murphy said of Loucks. "Kevin was the same way, and Kevin made plays that he had no business making. He was a big defensive lineman making plays on the opposite sideline. They were both loyal and did whatever you asked of them, and they were great teammates."

The work ethic, loyalty and football IQ that Loucks and Myers showed even at a young age gave Murphy a glimpse of their bright futures, he said.

"I knew they would both be great teachers because of the type of guys they were," Murphy said. "I knew they'd have a positive effect on kids."

In addition to being the tackle duo on defense, Myers and Loucks wrestled at Dallastown, and competed in shotput and javelin together from middle school through their varsity years. Their families have gone to Penn State football games together, and the two former teammates stay in touch, Loucks said.

But could the two high school teammates ever have predicted they’d be two of the best coaches in the league back in their playing days?

“We both always wanted to be involved in sports but we would’ve laughed it off if you told us we’d end up winning these,” Loucks said. “We probably thought we’d be lucky to even be head coaches at all, let alone coaches of the year.”