Ball State University Athletics
Terry Lantz Named Assistant Football Coach
February 04, 2011 | Football
Ball State first-year head football coach Pete Lembo completed his coaching staff with the hiring of Terry Lantz, who will coach the safeties for the Cardinals.
"We are very excited to have Terry Lantz on board to round out our coaching staff," Lembo says. "Coach Lantz is a detailed teacher who gets the most out of his players. For many years, I saw firsthand how well prepared Wofford's secondary was under his guidance. Terry comes from a strong family background in college coaching and went to high school in Northern Indiana. He has family in Dayton and contacts in Louisville. He will be an asset to our Midwest recruiting efforts."
Lantz, who spent the last 11 seasons as an assistant coach at Wofford, graduated from Penn High School in Mishawaka, Ind., in 1986, and was a four-year letterman at defensive back for Louisville before earning his bachelor's degree in 1991.
Lantz tutored the secondary at Wofford and during the 2010 season the Wofford defense was first in the Southern Conference in pass defense, total defense and pass efficiency defense. The Terriers were 10-3 in 2010 and 7-1 in the SoCon and earned a share of the league championship. Lantz helped Wofford advance to the quarterfinals of the 2010 Football Championship Subdivision Playoffs.
Lantz tutored his Wofford safeties to all-conference accolades in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010. He also tutored a All-America first-team selection and the SoCon Defensive Player of the Year in 2003 and 2004.
In his 11 seasons at Wofford, the Terriers intercepted 102 passes, an average of nearly 15 per year. In 2006, Wofford's 16 interceptions were the second-most in the SoCon.
Prior to Wofford, Lantz served as the secondary coach at Liberty in 1999. He also spent the 1997 and 1998 seasons as the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Glenville State. In 1996, he was the defensive backs coach at VMI plus spent the 1994 and 1995 campaigns at Massachusetts. Lantz spent the 1992 and 1993 seasons at Louisiana-Monroe.
Lantz began his coaching career as a student assistant coach at Louisville in 1990 and helped the Cardinals to a 34-7 victory over Alabama in the Fiesta Bowl. He served as a graduate assistant at Tennessee in 1991, and helped the Volunteers to a Fiesta Bowl berth that season.
Lantz, who also earned a master's degree from Louisiana-Monroe in 1993, is the son of longtime collegiate coach Rick Lantz, who earned World Bowl and Coach of the Year honors with the Berlin Thunder and also served as the head coach of the Rhein Fire in NFL Europe. Lantz and his wife, Meredith, have two children, Adam and Olivia.
