Get to Know: Owings Mills Head Football Coach Steve Lurz

For five years, from 2004 through 2008, Owings Mills football endured its worst stretch in school history. The team didn’t win a game.

Enter head coach Steve Lurz. The Eagles have won seven games in the past two seasons and enthusiasm heading into the 2011 season is at an all-time high, with several returning starters and the news that Owings Mills will finally receive the stadium it has long desired.

Lurz sat down for a conversation for Patch’s new “Get to Know” feature to talk about shedding the program’s losing ways, the balancing act of coaching while starting a family, his biggest pet peeves and more.

Patch: How happy are you that the is finally being put in motion?

Lurz: Oh, it’s great. It’s good for the whole community. I know that the kids are super excited about it. Hopefully, it gets done fairly soon so some of the seniors and juniors get to experience it. The whole community can use it now, it will be great for the other sports. A lot of the parents are excited because they’ve been working for it for so long. I think it will be good publicity for all our sports.

Patch: Describe what it’s taken to lead this rebuilding effort at Owings Mills. Has it tested your patience and your perseverance?

Lurz: My first three years were all under different head coaches so it was a lot of different philosophies … having been here, I kind of know the personality of the kids so it wasn’t like I was stepping in cold turkey. Obviously, your first year dropping the first three [games] is tough because you’re hoping to get a quick [win] in to build confidence. Last year I was expecting more out of us. We’ve taken steps, but he haven’t taken that giant leap yet. It’s nice to see us start to be competitive. I think a lot of the guys really want to try to get to the playoffs or a winning season—we still haven’t had that yet. 

Patch: What advice would you give to a head coach embarking on a situation like you undertook?

Lurz: Definetly come up with a plan, something you want to follow and be organized with it. Hire people you know you can work with and stick to it. There’s always going to be a parent or a fan or somebody that’s a critic of what you’re doing. But, if you know what you’re doing, stick with it and it’ll usually turn out okay.

Patch: Take me back to 2009 when you got that first win and ended the streak. What did it feel like to break that run?

Lurz: It was exciting. It was a tight game—we beat Loch Raven 12-0. Defensively, we felt like we had a good chance to stop them going into the game, but they were on the doorstep a couple times so that itself made it exciting. The kids were just euphoric. They were up and down, dancing as soon as we won. It was an exciting time for them. I felt proud for them.

Patch: Did you feel any personal weight off of you and the program in general?

Lurz: Yeah, in a sense, because you want to get that one out of the way. Obviously you don’t want it to be the only one, but once that first one’s done—it was fairly early in the season—they had an opportunity to build on it and get a couple more under their belts.

Patch: You lose a guy in [offensive/defensive lineman] that reenergized the program quite a bit. How do you get the kids to look past that and rally around each other? 

Lurz: I think they are really kind of focused on themselves. They’re all pulling for him, hoping he gets a good career at Penn State. But as far as the team, they aren’t focused on him. The guys are more focused on what they can do as a group and as individuals. We had two sophomores play the right side of the line last year, they’re going to bounce over to the left side this year. We are trying to build within and the guys are confident in themselves also.

Patch: Coaching is a time consuming job and a lot of hours are spent at practices and games, watching film and scouting. Now that you’ve started a family, you’re married and you’ve had a daughter, how do you balance your time and what’s difficult about it?

Lurz: [Coaching] is year round. It doesn’t stop. I open up the weight room in January and we go four days a week during the school year, three days a week during the summer and also a passing league that’s two days a week and of course the season is what it is. I try to spend Sundays with the family during the season. It’s just spending time with them when you can. It is high school football, it’s meant to be fun and at every level of football people try to over think things. It’s a sport, there’s only so much you can and can’t do and as long as the kids are prepared and understand what you’re doing, it doesn’t have to be complicated.

QUICK HITS

Full Name: Steven Mathew Lurz

Nickname: None

Age: 33

Family: Wife, Kaytee; daughter Kaia (19 months)

Years Coaching at Owings Mills: Six (three as head coach)

Hometown: Overlea

Current Town: Essex

High School: Overlea HS

College: Towson University

Favorite Sports Teams: Notre Dame and Navy college football, Ravens and Orioles

Favorite Athletes: I’ve always liked Steve Young, how he could run and throw, Jonathan Ogden, Ray Lewis, Cal Ripken

Hobbies: Spending time with my daughter, some house projects here and there, a little bit of reading.

Death Row Last Meal: I had a steak once at one of Emeril [Lagasse’s] restaurants out in Vegas. Came with some cheese sauce, so soft you could cut it with a fork. 

Favorite Food: Anything off the grill. I like grilling things.

Favorite Restaurant: Nacho Momma’s [in Canton], their quesadilla’s are really good.

Favorite Actor: Will Ferrell, he’s hilarious. Anything by him is usually pretty funny.

Favorite Movie: I love Star Wars, the original three.

Favorite TV Show: Modern Family

Famous Person You Just Can’t Stand: I’m not into the whole Royal [wedding] thing. William and Kate is kind of annoying right now. Nothing against them, I don’t know them.

Biggest Pet Peeve: People not living up to their responsibilities. When you expect people to do things and things don’t get done.

Biggest Football-Related Pet Peeve: Refs not talking to you sometimes. When you want an explanation, sometimes high school refs don’t like to elaborate.

Something People Would Be Surprised to Know About You: My biggest fear is sharks.

Piece of Technology You Can’t Live Without: I guess Smartphones. They do everything. They’re like entertainment any time you’re waiting for anything.