Longtime Washington & Jefferson, Cal coach makes College Football Hall of Fame

John Luckhardt once said, “I’ve never been talented, never been good looking, never been smart.”

The former Cal (Pa.) and Washington & Jefferson football coach can say he is a hall of famer. And a member of a pretty good class, at that.

Luckhardt will be inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame, the National Football Foundation announced Monday.

The 18-member Class of 2022 also includes former North Hills, Penn State and NFL player LaVar Arrington, Georgia’s Champ Bailey and former Stanford quarterback Andrew Luck.

The induction ceremony, part of the 64th NFF Annual Awards Dinner, will be Dec. 6 at a location to be announced.

Luckhardt’s teams appeared in 16 NCAA playoffs during his 27-year tenure.

He went 225-70-2 in 27 years coaching at Cal and W&J, the latter for 17 seasons.

He turned around the program at W&J, taking the reins in 1982 and bringing home a Presidents’ Athletic Conference title and guided the Presidents to the NCAA Division III playoffs two years later.

W&J won 13 PAC titles and made the NCAA playoffs 11 times on Luckhardt’s watch, while also playing in two bowl games.

He was the 1992 AFCA National Coach of the Year, and CNN named him the Division III Coach of the Year in ‘94.

At Cal (Pa.), he led the Vulcans to three NCAA Division II semifinals and NCAA Regional titles in 2007, ‘08 and ‘09. The Vulcans won their first Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference title since 1984. Luckhardt, who later became the athletic director at Cal, won seven straight PSAC West titles.

Luckhardt played center at Purdue and began his coaching career at Northern Illinois before moving on to Lehigh.