By RANGERS ATHLETIC DEPARTMENT
Four Ranger greats were inducted into the Northwestern Hall of Fame on Saturday Feb. 6, including legendary Ranger Football Coach, Dr. Steve Lohmann.
Before the 1985 football season, a future Northwestern great, Dr. Steve Lohmann, took over the reins as the defensive coordinator and made an immediate impact on the Ranger football program.
From 1985 to 1991, Lohmann held this position, as well as the Head Track Coach for Northwestern, where he coached a 2014 Northwestern Hall of Fame inductee, Don Raleigh.
While with the Ranger football team, Lohmann is the only Northwestern coach or player to be associated with all three Oklahoma Intercollegiate Conference (OIC) Football Championships, which is a big testament to Lohmann as a coach.
As the defensive coordinator in 1989, Lohmann’s defense was one of the top in the country as it averaged four turnovers a game, including 27 interceptions for the season, as well as only allowing 17 points per game and giving up just 256 yards per contest.
Following six seasons as the defensive coordinator, Dr. Lohmann became the Head Coach in 1994. As the Head Coach, Lohmann’s 1996 team earned the first ever No. 1 ranking by a Northwestern football team.
That same team was extremely successful as it boasted the No. 1 overall defense in the land, allowing only 80 yards rushing per game, 142 yards passing and just 15 points a game by an opponent, good enough for the best in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA).
Not only was the defense stout, but the offense was ranked third overall in the nation, averaging 404 yards per contest, rushing for 230 yards per game and scoring 25 points an outing. The 1996 Rangers also had five First Team All-Americans, 10 First Team All-OIC selections, as well as the Offensive and Defensive Players of the Year.
Lohmann earned many awards over his tenure as a coach at Northwestern as he was the 1989 OIC Track Coach of the Year, the 1996 OIC Football Coach of the Year and the 1997 American Football Quarterly Magazine’s Newcomer of the Year.
Following his time as the Head Football Coach, Lohmann worked his way up the academic ranks as he was the first ever Wellness Center Director in 2000 when it first opened after which he moved on to be the Dean of Student Affairs in 2001. Not long after that, however, he moved to Herod Hall where he became the Vice President for Academic Affairs for four years and transitioned to his present position as Executive Vice President of the University.