Joe Loth brings his winning ways, positivity

The university welcomes Joe Loth as its seventh head football coach. He takes over a program with one winning season in the past ten years. 

Loth hails from Painesville, Ohio. He brings with him a proven track record of success. 

“Coach Loth has a proven history of rejuvenating programs,” Athletic Director Terrance Jones said in a press release. 

Loth has witnessed and been a part of the rebuilding of programs since high school. 

His Riverside High Beavers did not win a game his freshman year. By the time he was a senior, they were league champions. 

Loth earned his first taste of triumph under coach Don Anderson. Anderson instilled in Loth the vital attribute he carries with him today: positivity. 

“It would be ridiculous to approach it in any other way,” Loth said in his office before the first game.

“We have way too many things going for us, not to be positive about our approach to football.” 

Loth was a standout player at Otterbein University. He holds the school record for interceptions, graduating with a business finance degree in 1991. 

Loth has not used that degree. He was a general assistant at Southern Methodist University, a defensive coordinator at Western Connecticut State University and Capital University and a defensive back coach at the University of Rhode Island.

In 2000, Loth secured his first head coaching gig. He took over a Kean University team that was on a ten game losing streak. Loth began his rebuild, improving their win totals each season he coached. 

Quickly, Loth received an offer he could not refuse: the opportunity to coach his alma mater. 

He took over Otterbein in 2003. They had lost eight straight games. Over nine seasons as head coach, Loth compiled a record of 49-42. 

It was at Otterbein where Loth began to develop his scheme. He went from a defensive back with a knack for interceptions, to the self-proclaimed architect of the offense. Loth would improve on his offensive scheme over the next 20 years. 

He returned to the school he coached at in the mid-nineties, becoming the head coach of Western Connecticut State University in 2012. 

Over the course of his tenure with the Wolves, Loth oversaw one of the most potent offenses in the country. 

He led them to the Division III playoffs in 2023 and capped off his time in Danbury with an Asa S. Bushnell Bowl win in 2024. 

He is a legend at Otterbein. He holds the all-time win record at Western Connecticut.

Loth enters into his new job with a truth he has yet to contend with: expectations. 

“I’m leaning into those expectations,” Loth said. “I’m excited to come to a place that has had a lot of historical success and try to bring it back to where it was before.” 

Loth’s rejuvenation of the program encompasses more than a high-flying offense. An entire brotherhood now looks to Loth. 

“To transport our players from young kids coming into college to grown men by the time they graduate,” Loth said, “that’s really what coaching is.”

Loth and the Owls traveled to Waterbury to take on Post University for the first game of his tenure. It was the first of two matchups between the teams this season. 

On the sideline, Loth is the unquestionable leader. His playsheet dangles at his waist. He wades into the playing field. Onlookers are not spared a single emotion. This is football. 

The bleachers were full at Municipal Stadium. Loth was done with the press, the buildup, the wondering. A chance to see his guys maximize their potential. 

John Giller, a transfer, who started for Loth at Western Connecticut, got the nod at quarterback. He effectively operated the offense, much of which was handing the ball off to the Owls’ two dynamic running backs.  

Kieran Falzon, a junior, and John Amaning, a graduate student, scampered for over a hundred yards and a touchdown each. Giller added one of his own on the ground.  

He dished to receiver Seth Westover, a senior, for a 37-yard score in the third quarter, but a missed extra point foreshadowed special teams woes to come.  

The Ravens returned the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown.  

On the next drive, Falzon earned pay dirt and kicker Daniel Benzi, a junior, knocked through the extra point. The Owls once again attained momentum. It was fleeting. Post took back another one. 

They scored 14 points without their offense touching the field. 

“I’ve never been associated with a game with two kickoff returns for touchdowns,” Loth said after the game. 

The two big plays were enough to propel Post to victory: 39-30. Loth, in his debut, came up short, but his influence already shone on the faces and in the demeanor of his players. 

“We just gotta keep fighting, no matter how many ups or downs, you just gotta keep fighting,” defensive back TJ Butler, a graduate student, said. 

Butler engaged Post’s lengthy receivers with physicality all day. He was often smiling, relishing his role on the defense. He was a constant encourager, before, during, and after the game. 

Loth’s mission, to not just be a football coach, but a facilitator of growth in the young men that make up the football roster, is well underway. 

Not a player dejected. Instead, the Owls seemed eager. 

Junior defensive lineman Rakaigh Pettway, a human brick wall, limped off the field. 

“Back in practice tomorrow. Fixing everything we need to fix and getting ready for AIC,” Pettway said. 

Message received. The Owls host American International University on Sept. 20. 

Practice will be special teams heavy this week, as Loth preaches lane integrity. AIC won’t take one back. 

But perhaps the most important point of emphasis, as he and the team make their home debut, will be a rule set forth by Loth to start the year: be proud of where you are from. 

Loth is from here now. His team plays with pride. For coaches and players alike, there is only one worthwhile result of that pride. 

“We are consumed with doing everything we can to win football games,” Loth said. 

This singular focus requires a plan. Loth is the man with one. 

“He just wants us to buy in. We do that? We’ll have a successful season,” Butler said. 

Loth asks his players to always leave the place better than they found it.  

After the loss at Post, Ray Snyder Field was spotless. The fans had been treated, their weekends made better even in defeat. 

Loth will seek to make good on that promise as he continues his tenure this week.