Ohio’s second-winningest coach calls it quits

Football Friday nights and Ironton Tigers fans will be missing a familiar face this fall. Ironton Fighting Tigers’ football coach Bob Lutz announced that he was calling it quits Monday, closing the book on a historic run.

Lutz, the second-winningest coach in Ohio high school history, was the leader in the Tigers’ den for the past 34 years. Though he never put much emphasis on stats, Lutz amassed a record of 341-71 at Ironton to go with a 20-8 record in three years at Ironton St. Joseph.

“I said before the season that this was going to be my final year,” Lutz said. “We said when we got into this that it wasn’t for the records or the awards. It was about players and it was about winning.”

Forever honored in the Ohio High School Football Coaches Hall of Fame, Lutz and the Fighting Tigers roared to two state championships and were state runners-up six times.

Believe it or not, Lutz was actually the school’s second choice for coach when filling the post in 1972, but the top candidate declined to take the job.

Mike Burcham, a longtime friend and assistant coach who was athletic director at the time, had made it clear that Lutz was his top choice and was pleased that everything worked out the way it did.

“It was a great run,” Burcham said. “… You hate to see it end.”