HEAD COACH JOE LUXBACHER Playing Honors and Accolades At Pitt: • Selected to All-PA-NJ-DE team in 1972 and 1973. • Team Captain and earned Most Valuable Player Award in 1973. • Honored as a member of the Outstanding College Athletes of America in 1970 and 1973. • Scored a school-record seven goals against Edinboro in 1971 (also had an assist, giving him 15 points in the game). • Tied for Pittsburgh’s school-record with 84 career points. • Registered a school-record 37 goals during his career. • Received Pittsburgh’s Panther Award in 1973. Coaching Honors and Accolades
The Luxbacher family (from top): Gail Ann, Travis Joseph , Joe and Eliza Gail.
groomed two other Panther greats, Robert Cherry (1955) and Jerome Bressanelli (195557). Bressanelli was an All-American for the Panthers, while Cherry still holds two school records. With international, professional and collegiate experiences, Luxbacher decided to return to coaching. In 1978, he was named the head men’s soccer coach at Mount Union College in Alliance, Ohio. During his threeyear tenure at Mount Union, Luxbacher compiled a 24-12-4 record. In 1981, Luxbacher returned to the University of Pittsburgh to complete a PhD and in 1983 served as an assistant under his former college coach, Leo Bemis. Bemis retired from coaching in 1984 and Pitt named Luxbacher as only its second head men’s soccer coach. “An essential element for success in any endeavor is to surround yourself with good people and I have tried to do that,” Luxbacher said. “Our players and coaches are expected to work hard, be trustworthy, accept responsibility and be totally committed to the team and program. We treat our players as men and they are expected to act as such. My goal is for everyone involved in our program to be successful and at the same time, cherish the experience. On a personal level I enjoy working with the players, I enjoy the competition, and I take pride in representing Pitt.” Luxbacher also serves as the founder and director of the Shoot to Score Soccer Academy, which offers instructional soccer camps to youth players of all ages. In addition, he has authored more than a dozen books for both coaches and players covering various aspects of soccer, as well as a couple of titles dealing with health and fitness (Conditioning for Soccer – McGraw-Hill Publishers, and Total Fitness – Wish Publishing Co.). Most of Luxbacher’s soccer books are available through the publisher Human Kinetics. Luxbacher is an avid outdoorsman and has also contributed to another book,
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Hiking Guide to the Monongahela National Forest. During the past year he was asked to contribute a chapter titled “Careers in Coaching and Athletics” for the college textbook Introduction to Kinesiology (2008) and also wrote and produced a series of coaching DVD’s titled “Winning Soccer.” He is presently nearing completion on the third edition of “Soccer Practice Games”, due for publication in 2010. Luxbacher earned both his Master’s (1978) and Doctorate (1985) degrees from the University of Pittsburgh and has earned the “Level A” coaching certification from the United States Soccer Federation. He was honored as a “Letterman of Distinction” by the University of Pittsburgh in 2003. Luxbacher was inducted into the Beadling Sports Club Hall of Fame (1995), the Upper St. Clair High School Athletics Hall of Fame (2003) and the Western Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame in 2005. He resides in suburban Pittsburgh with his wife Gail, daughter Eliza (12) and son Travis (11).
• 1992 BIG EAST Conference Coach of the Year. • 1995 BIG EAST Conference Coach of the Year. • Inducted into the Western Chapter of the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame in 2005. • Led Pittsburgh to a school-record 14 wins in 1995, including its first ever BIG EAST Championship Tournament win. • Beadling Soccer Club Hall of Fame inductee in 1995. • 2002 Upper St. Clair High School Hall of Fame Inductee. • 2005 Western Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame Inductee. • An accomplished writer who has authored numerous books about soccer. His works include: Soccer Steps to Success (3rd edition), 2005 Soccer Practice Games, 2003 The Soccer Goalkeeper (3rd edition), 2002 Total Fitness for Women, 2002 Attacking Soccer, 1999 Conditioning For Soccer, 1997 Soccer-Winning Techniques, 1997 Soccer: Steps To Success, Second Edition,1996 Soccer Practice Games, 1995 The Soccer Goalkeeper, 1993 Soccer: Steps to Success, 1991 Soccer: A Guide for Players, Coaches and Fans, 1991 Teaching Soccer, 1991 Fun Games for Soccer Training, 1987 • Director and founder of Shoot to Score Soccer Academy. • Director and co-founder of the Keystone Soccer Kamps. • Recognized as an accredited soccer coach by the United States Soccer Federation with an “A” coaching certification.