Dave Loos officially announces retirement from Austin Peay

After 27 seasons at the school, head coach Dave Loos has announced his retirement from Austin Peay. Loos is the winningest coach in Ohio Valley Conference history (420 wins), claiming five OVC titles and four OVC Tournament championships along the way.

The 70-year old Loos made the initial announcement last week, but held a press conference Monday to make it official. The coach has had some health issue over the past few years, including an offseason surgery and a medical leave this season to undergo chemotherapy on a malignant lymph node. Despite that, Loos missed just four games and returned to claim his 500th overall win as a collegiate head coach.

Loos is a St. Louis native and Memphis grad, spending time as an assistant at his alma mater before taking over at Austin Peay in 1990. He also had stints as an assistant and head coach at DII Christian Brothers University in Memphis and as the head coach at Mehlville HS (MO).

During his tenure as Austin Peay head coach, Loos also served 16 seasons as the school’s athletic director, relinquishing those added duties in 2013 to focus solely on the men’s basketball team. Coming into the 2016-17 season, Loos was the tied with Ron Cottrell as the 7th longest tenured head coach in Division I basketball.