This season will be last for CMU football coach Rich Lackner
Who knows how far the Carnegie Mellon football team will go this season, but the Tartans’ 2021 run will be the last chapter in the long career of coach Rich Lackner.
CMU announced Thursday that Lackner, who has the most wins in program history, will retire at the conclusion of the season after 36 years at the post. Overall, he will have coached 43 seasons and spent 47 years on campus.
Lackner, a Mt. Lebanon graduate, is already in the CMU Athletics Hall of Fame.
“I will be forever grateful to Carnegie Mellon for allowing me the opportunity to lead the Tartan football program for the past 36 years,” Lackner said in a press release. “It has been a privilege and an honor to do so. Throughout my tenure at the university I was blessed with incredible coaches and amazing young men who were competitive, hard-working, dedicated and loyal. I want to thank the Tartan community for all they have done for me and my family.”
Lackner played linebacker at CMU before opting to stay on and help then-coach Chuck Klausing in 1979.
Seven years later, Lackner became head coach when Klausing left to join Mike Gottfried’s staff at Pitt.
“Rich Lackner is one of the finest human beings I have ever known. He has never looked at football as just wins and losses, but rather, he has always embraced the opportunity to teach, mentor and educate young men during a formative time in their lives,” said CMU athletic director Josh Centor. “I am forever humbled by the privilege to have worked alongside Rich for the past 14 years. There is nothing he wouldn’t do to support a player, colleague or friend. His legacy will be felt at Carnegie Mellon forever.”
With Lackner at the helm, the Tartans had a record of 226-123-2, with 12 conference titles — 11 in the University Athletic Association — and two NCAA playoff trips.
He was a seven-time UAA coach of the year, including in 2006 when CMU went 11-1.
Lackner was named the All-South Region Coach of the Year by D3football.com in 2006.
He is one of 16 active head coaches across all divisions with 200 or more career wins. His 226 wins rank third among active Division III coaches.
A 2003 inductee into the Western Pennsylvania Hall of Fame, Lackner is a past winner of the Bob Prince Award.
Bill Beckner Jr. is a TribLive reporter covering local sports in Westmoreland County. He can be reached at bbeckner@triblive.com.
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