Terry Lantz
Defensive Backs
Phone: 4105
Email:
Lantztj@wofford.edu
Terry Lantz is in his eleventh year at Wofford after joining the staff in March 2000. He is responsible for the secondary, with a primary focus on the safety position. His recruiting responsibilities include Northeast Florida, the Florida Panhandle and the Charleston area of South Carolina.
Last season, safety Tommy Irvin led the team in tackles with 74 and tied for the team high with one interception. During the 2008 season, safety Jason Leventis earned All-Southern Conference honors as he was third on the team with 77 tackles and had one interception return for a touchdown. Safety Tommy Irvin led the team interceptions with two, including one in the NCAA Playoffs at James Madison. In 2007, he coached All-Southern Conference safety Dan Tavani, who had two interceptions and was seventh on the team with 43 tackles. In addition, safety Brian Ford was ninth in the conference in passes defended. Overall, the secondary helped the Terriers lead the Southern Conference with twenty interceptions and post the league’s best scoring defense.
Lantz coached 2003-04 SoCon Male Student-Athlete of the Year in safety Matt Nelson. A first-team consensus All-America, Nelson was the SoCon Defensive Player of the Year. The free safety also placed third in the voting for the Buck Buchanan Award as the nation’s top defensive player. Lantz’s defensive backs were instrumental in Wofford topping the SoCon with 22 interceptions in the 2003 championship season. In his seven seasons at Wofford, the Terriers have intercepted 102 passes, an average of nearly 15 per year. In 2006, Wofford’s 16 interceptions were the second-most in the SoCon.
The 2002 Wofford pass defense topped the SoCon by allowing just 144.5 yards per game. In addition to Nelson, cornerback Roland Harris also earned All-SoCon honors in Wofford’s 9-3 season.
Lantz was the secondary coach at Liberty (1999), defensive coordinator and linebacker coach at Glenville State (1997-98) and defensive back coach at VMI (1996). He also spent time at Massachusetts (1994-95), Louisiana-Monroe (1992-93), Tennessee (1991) and Louisville (1990).
A four-year letterman at defensive back for Louisville, Lantz graduated from Penn High School in Mishawaka, Ind., in 1986. He earned a B.A. degree in sports administration from Louisville in 1991 before receiving a master’s degree in education from Louisiana-Monroe in 1993.
Lantz coached on the 1990 Louisville team that defeated Alabama 34-7 in the Fiesta Bowl and was also on the staff of the 1991 Tennessee squad that earned a trip to the Fiesta Bowl. He is the son of longtime collegiate coach Rick Lantz who earned World Bowl and Coach of the Year honors with the Berlin Thunder and also served as the head coach of the Rhein Fire in NFL Europe.
Terry Jonathan Lantz was born on Nov. 9, 1967 in Boston, Massachusetts. He and his wife, Meredith, have two children, Adam and Olivia.
Return to Coaching Staff