CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (CLARKSVILLENOW) The Rotary Club of Clarksville welcomed Coach Dave Loos as their guest speaker Wednesday.
Of course, Loos is best known as the former men’s head basketball coach at APSU, a post he held for 27 years before he retired in 2017. He was also director of athletics for 16 years and in 2018 he was inducted into the Ohio Valley Conference Hall of Fame.
While at Austin Peay he led the Governors to five NCAA appearances, two NIT appearances, and is the all-time winningest coach in OVC history. Those are many of the reasons the Dunn Center basketball court was christened Dave Loos Court.
After 52 years of coaching, Loos now supports and works with Clarksville Academy Head Varsity Basketball Coach Matt Wallace. Loos’ grandson Daniel Loos plays for the Cougars basketball team.
After that long history of coaching, Loos said he was asked recently by a college coach how he made it through all those years with the ups and downs, the winning and the losing.
Loos answered he made it, ‘by coaching.’
“I couldn’t wait, no matter whether we won or whether we lost, to get to the court the next day and coach,” Loos said. “(But) not just to coach, I learned the hard way this was not about x’s and o’s. It’s about the kids and it’s rewarding to try to help these kids grow.”
Coaching and college basketball has changed over the last 30-40 years, he said.
The money is the biggest change with a lot of coaches making a lot of money these days. He also said the three-point shot has had a tremendous impact on the game as well as the shot clock.