Kutztown Cougars’ new boys basketball coach knows the score

(Updated to correct playoff appearance reference.)

Eric Luckenbill never envisioned himself as a basketball coach.

Years ago he offered to keep the scorebook at Emmaus, where he teaches social studies. That drew him deeper into the game: The X’s and O’s, game strategy, scouting.

Soon he became a volunteer coach. He coached at the middle school level. Then with the freshman team. Then the JV team. Eventually he became a varsity assistant with the Green Hornets.

Tuesday morning the 37-year-old Luckenbill woke up as head coach at his alma mater, Kutztown.

“I’m excited to bring what I’ve done here at Emmaus and make something that works for all of us,” Luckenbill said the day after being approved as the Cougars’ head coach by the Kutztown School Board.

“Living in Fleetwood and working at Emmaus, there’s only a couple of jobs I thought would be a good fit,” said the 2003 Kutztown grad. “It took the right fit for me to leave, and I really do feel like I’ve found it at Kutztown.”

Luckenbill replaces Craig Mogel, who resigned shortly after completing his fourth season with the Cougars.

Luckenbill said he grew as a coach at Emmaus under head coach Steve Yoder, who gave him the autonomy to spread his wings.

“It’s hard to leave,” he said. “(The) Emmaus (program) is in a great spot (right now). I really felt I found my voice as a big part of the program. It’s the right time, and I’m really excited for what Kutztown has and to get a chance to build a program there.

“I came to coaching by the way of being a teacher. I take a lot of my teaching principles and use that. I’m always going to be that teacher that coaches.”

The Cougars reached the postseason just once in the last four years. Other than two seasons under Ted Snyder – another Kutztown grad – from 2017-19, the program has known only sporadic success over the past two decades.

Luckenbill is hoping to change that.

“There’s been periods of time when there’s been great Kutztown basketball and I’m excited to try to bring that back,” he said. “I want to create a culture and a program that’s more than just from November to February.

“My biggest thing is to bring an identity back, bring a way of style of playing that will work for our players and give us a chance to play against some bigger schools.

“We’re going to try to create a system that works for the players and be something that we can call the ‘Cougar Way’ again.”

Luckenbill understands he has a lot of work to do to make the Cougars competitive.

They graduate four starters from a team that finished 7-15. They’re also in a competitive division where programs at Oley Valley, Antietam and Brandywine Heights are each on the upswing. Each is coming off a District 3 playoff appearance and each figures to be strong again next season.

“There’s an opportunity for a lot of kids that played JV to step up,” he said. “I’m excited about the skill set and speed that we have.”

Luckenbill understands the Berks basketball landscape and is familar with the programs and coaches he’ll be competing against in Berks III and Berks IV.

“For us it’s going to be about incremental growth,” he said. “We’ve got to try to win practice every day (and) leave the gym feeling like we got better. If we do that enough times, good things are going to start happening.”

Kutztown won back-to-back Division III titles under Snyder in 2017-18 and 2018-19, and made the state tournament each season. Before that you’d have to go back to 1998 to find the last division champ and to 1985 to find the last PIAA qualifier.

Luckenbill will be one of four new head coaches in the Berks Conference next season.

Hamburg named Will Wilson, a 39-year-old Reading High grad, as its head coach in late March. He succeeds Kevin McFarland, who resigned after one season.

Conrad Weiser and Wyomissing still have openings.

Rich Miller was pushed out after two seasons at Weiser where his rebuilding team finished 7-15 this season and 8-14 last season.

Ryan Ludwig resigned at Wyomissing following his sixth season with the Spartans. The Spartans finished 8-14.

Luckenbill played baseball and basketball growing up. He’s currently president of the Fleetwood Area Baseball Association.

“I believe in sports,” Luckenbill said. “I believe in the power of what it does for the kids. Anything I can do for my community, and now getting a chance to come back to Kutztown where I graduated from . . . it’s pretty neat to see that and build relationships there again.”