PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Growing up in Mt. Lebanon playing football for legendary coach Art Walker, a stellar career at Carnegie Mellon that turned into an assistant coaching job. At 29, asked to take over for Chuck Klausing and now 36 years later, Rich Lackner will coach his final regular season game at Carnegie Mellon Saturday at 1p against Case Western.
“How blessed am I at 65 years-old to go out and hang out with basically 18 to 22 year-olds every day,” Lackner said. “I have such fond experiences with these young men, but there are things I missed in my life I need to catch up on. I need to spend more time with my family. I want to travel with my wife. I want to spend time with my two kids and three grandchildren.”
Unlike so many coaches, Lackner was able to stay home and take care of his parents and wife, who died of a prolonged illness nearly a decade ago. You might think it tied him to Pittsburgh, to the contrary, it kept him at the place that is the perfect fit for someone who was more than just a coach to his players.
“One of the things I’ve preached to my teams probably from the get go is I almost never talk about winning,” Lackner said. “I constantly talk about effort and giving your best effort. I think that goes a long way. Not every game is going to be won. Not every play is going to score a touchdown. Give me your best effort and we can walk off the field and hold our heads high no matter what the score is. Fortunately, we’ve had more wins than losses.”
Just a few, Lackner 233-124-2, won 12 conference championships and a pair of NCAA playoff berths. He coached 60 All-Americans, and hundreds more who excel as people.
“I define a great job as a job where you have the chance to win every week,” Lachner said. “That’s really what this administration provided me. They provided me with the facilities, the coaching staff and everything we needed to be successful here.”
Then he took the ball and ran with it. He does believe he was able to make an impact, even if small, in so many lives.
“When I look back at all of those guys that played for me and how successful they are in their chosen field-engineering, business, medicine, research,” Lackner said. “I am just so proud of the great job they’ve done in their field and the great husbands and fathers they’ve become.”
“I hope that I was a positive influence on those guys. I think things are learned on the football field that are not necessarily taught in the classroom. I’m talking about commitment, discipline, multi-tasking, unselfishness, teamwork. How to be a humble winner. How to handle a loss. I think we teach great lessons on the football field that carry over into their lifetime.”
Fittingly, the final time he will coach in the regular season, the Tartans are playing for a PAC championship. The team is 7-2 (7-1 in conference play), a perfect 4-0 at home, having won six straight by a combined 234-38. It’s a team he loves for its great chemistry and focus, no doubt that starts at the top.
Lackner has a history degree from CMU and safe to say history will look kindly on the influence Lackner had on so many.
“I would like them to think I did everything the right way with a strong moral character, strong moral fiber,” Lackner said. “We never did any shortcuts. Everything was done above board, done the right way.”
“I hope people will look back at me and say ‘the guy did it the way it was supposed to be done’.”