Loftis Hired as Next Dallas Men's Lacrosse Head Coach

IRVING, Texas – The University of Dallas announced Keith Loftis as the Head Coach of the Men's Lacrosse program. He is the fifth person to be appointed at the helm of the program, and replaces Sam Ashton who was hired as the Head Coach at Lake Erie College in December. Loftis officially begins his coaching tenure at Dallas on January 15.

Loftis arrives from Assumption College after serving six years as the head coach for the Hounds from Worcester, Massachusetts. Locked in the NorthEast-10 Conference (NE10), the toughest NCAA Division II conference in the nation, Loftis notched a 33-51 record to become the winningest coach in Assumption Lacrosse history.

He guided the team to match a program record nine victories in 2015, along with the program's second NE10 Tournament berth. Three of his final four seasons saw the team win at least five conference matches and finish seventh or better in the NE10 standings.

Loftis had six men's lacrosse players earn NEILA All-New England honors over the past two seasons. This includes three First-Team selections in 2018.

Last season, the Hounds were led to a 7-6 record and 5-6 in the NE10. This included a five-goal setback to eventual NCAA DII Champion, Merrimack, during conference play.

Loftis navigated a tough schedule each year, playing 5-6 ranked teams.

Loftis came to Assumption from Wheaton College (MA), where as an assistant coach he was the defensive coordinator and goalie coach. While there, he was part of the most successful season in the history of the program and mentored the 2012 Pilgrim League Goalie of the Year.

Before coaching at Wheaton, Loftis was an assistant coach at Division I Providence College. He instructed the defensive unit and served as recruiting coordinator for 12 seasons. During his time on staff at Providence, the program made three NCAA Tournament appearances (2004, 2006, 2007), while also winning a trio of Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) tournament titles and four regular-season championships. Under his tutelage, there were five MAAC Defensive Players of the Year and one United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) All-American defenseman.

Loftis began his collegiate coaching career at Cobleskill State University (NY), where he was the head coach for the 1998 and 1999 seasons.

As a player, Loftis was named to the Junior College All-Region III Team twice and was also selected to participate in the 1995 Junior College North-South All Star Game.

The native of Whitesboro, New York, earned his Associates degree in Liberal Arts at Morrisville State in 1995, his Bachelor of Arts degree in psychology at Potsdam State in 1997, and his Master's degree in education/counseling from Providence in 2001.

Loftis takes over a UD's men's lacrosse program that is coming off a program-best, six-win season. Dallas is scheduled to begin the 2019 season at home versus University of Louisiana-Lafayette on February 2.

Dallas is one of five programs in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC), who is sponsoring the sport for the first time since the 2014 season due to the membership having fallen below the minimum standard of competing teams at the time. The campus in Irving will be the host site of the 2018 SCAC Men's Lacrosse Tournament on April 26 and 28.