Josh Loeffler, a coach who has won 80 percent of his collegiate games at two NCAA institutions, has been named the 22nd head men’s basketball coach of the Greyhounds, Assistant Vice President and Director of Athletics Donna M. Woodruff announced today.
Loeffler was most recently an assistant coach in 2023-24 at the University of Cincinnati after a highly successful run as the head coach at Johns Hopkins University. Prior to his time at Loyola’s Charles Street neighbor, he was an assistant for the Greyhounds from 2013-17.
He will be formally introduced to the Loyola community with a welcome reception in the near future. Check LoyolaGreyhounds.com for further details as they become available.
“I am very excited to welcome Josh Loeffler to Loyola as our next head men’s basketball coach,” Woodruff said. “Josh has been extremely successful as a head coach at outstanding academic institutions, and he has a deep knowledge of the Patriot League and what it takes to be successful in our conference. Throughout the search process, Josh demonstrated his commitment to developing players to thrive both in basketball and life, and his commitment to Loyola’s mission and values will serve Greyhounds student-athletes in all areas of their lives.”
Loeffler spent six years at Johns Hopkins where he led the Blue Jays to a 114-27 (.809) record from 2017-23. He has an overall head coaching record of 160-40 (.800) after putting together a 46-13 record from 2006-07 at Stevens Institute of Technology.
“Loyola is a university that I have deep admiration and respect for, and I am thrilled to be its next head men’s basketball coach,” Loeffler said. “I would like to thank (Loyola President) Terry Sawyer, Donna Woodruff and all of the members of the search process who devoted extensive time and energy. This process confirmed my belief that Loyola’s mission to develop students in all aspects of their lives runs deep and builds a strong foundation on which to continue growing a program. I am excited to get into the gym with the team and begin the process of producing a team that will represent Loyola on and off the court.”
Loeffler has led four teams to the NCAA Division III Tournament, including two trips to the Sweet Sixteen and two to the second round.
This year, his first as an assistant coach and chief of administrative staff at Cincinnati, he helped the Bearcats to a 22-15 overall record and third-round appearance in the NIT.
Loeffler joined Wes Miller’s staff at Cincinnati after six years at Johns Hopkins that included the 2020-21 season that was canceled due to COVID. He departed the Blue Jays program for Cincinnati ranked No. 2 in head coaching wins at the program.
His final season at Johns Hopkins was one of the most successful in school history as the Blue Jays tied the program record with 25 victories. Johns Hopkins also reached the NCAA Sweet Sixteen for the first time since 2015 as Loeffler was named the National Association of Basketball Coaches Region V Coach of the Year for the second time while also picking up Centennial Conference Coaching Staff of the Year recognition.
Loeffler led his program back to the court in 2021-22 after it did not play a regular-season contest in 2020-21 due to the ongoing COVID pandemic. Johns Hopkins finished with a 23-4 record and its third Centennial Conference Tournament title in four seasons as it was ranked as high as 10th in the nation. He mentored Conner Delaney who repeated as Centennial Player of the Year and as a NABC First-Team All-American.
The Blue Jays were ranked as high as sixth in the national Division III polls during the 2019-20 season, and they went on the road to upset top-ranked and undefeated Swarthmore College in the conference title game. Delaney became the first player in school history to earn All-America First Team honors as he was also tabbed the Centennial Conference and NABC and D3hoops.com Middle Atlantic Player of the Year.
Loeffler brought immediate improvement to the Blue Jays in his first season. Johns Hopkins saw an eight-win increase and earned a share of the Centennial Conference regular-season title. Loeffler then became the first coach in conference history to guide his team to the tournament title and win Coach of the Year recognition in his initial season.
The team finished the campaign with a 24-5 record on the back of a 14-game winning stream, and it reached the NCAA Championships Second Round. He was also named the NABC and D3Hoops.com Middle Atlantic Coach of the Year.
At Johns Hopkins, Loeffler coached three players who were Centennial Conference Player of the Year, two Defensive Players of the Year, a league Rookie of the Year, and 12 who were all-conference honorees.
Loeffler spent four seasons on former Loyola Head Coach G.G. Smith’s coaching staff at Loyola, during the Greyhounds’ first four years in the Patriot League (2013-17).
With the Greyhounds, Loeffler recruited two-time All-Patriot League First Team and three-time all-conference guard Andre Walker who finished his career with 1,682 points and 393 assists that rank in the top-seven of school history at the time of Loeffler’s hiring.
He was part of a Loyola staff that engineered a seven-win improvement in 2016-17 to go 16-17 overall and reach the second round of the College Basketball Invitational after a first-round win at George Mason University.
Loeffler spent the 2012-13 season as the director of operations at Rutgers University following four years as an assistant at Lafayette College with Head Coach Fran O’Hanlon. During that 2008-12 stretch in Easton, Pennsylvania, the Leopards reached the championship game of the Patriot League, and Loeffler helped recruit the foundation of the 2014 conference championship team.
He got his first taste of collegiate head coaching at Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, New Jersey, from 2006-08 where he led the Ducks to a 23-7 record and the NCAA Division III Sweet Sixteen in his first season. They then went 23-6 and won the ECAC Division III Metro Championship in 2007-08.
Loeffler cracked into the coaching ranks quickly after graduating from college He was an assistant at Hamilton College (2003-04) and Williams College (2005-06) and a graduate assistant coach at St. Lawrence University (2004-05).
The West Grove, Pennsylvania, native graduated from Swarthmore in 2003 with a bachelor’s degree in economics. He was a four-year letterwinner and three-year starter for the Garnet men’s basketball team, and he also played one year of football at the school.
Loeffler is married to the former Helen Leitner, a 2004 Swarthmore graduate and former field hockey student-athlete. The Loefflers have two daughters, Alison and Margot.
Loeffler named Head Basketball Coach at Loyola Maryland
