Kutztown Golden Bears

2013 Record: 4-7 (3-4)

Head Coach: Jim Clements (first year)
Defensive Coordinator: Ross Pennypacker
Offensive Coordinator: Brad Mangle

Top returning players: DE Zach Greenwald, LB Sam Dougan, WR Brett Fox, WR Kodi Reed, QB Josh Luckenbaugh

The upside: The Golden Bears were young last year but they are in a much better position this year.
The downside: Three head coaches in three years is never a good situation.



It's been a difficult year and half for the Kutztown football team. The Bears lost head coach Ray Monica to Arkansas Tech in December 2012 and his successor Drew Folmer lasted only one year. Folmer led a very young Golden Bears team through a 4-7 campaign in 2013 and seemed likely to make major strides forward in year two, coming off a three game winning streak. Sadly for the Bears, Folmer was lured away by Division I Lehigh as he accepted the offensive coordinator position in January.

The Bears have moved on to their third head coach in three seasons and while that is never ideal, I think it may all work out very well for the program. Jim Clements was a good pick for the Golden Bears. He has strong roots in eastern Pennsylvania, a good coaching pedigree, and most importantly, he's a proven winner. In eight seasons as head coach at Delaware Valley, Clements accumulated a record of 66-24 including four MAC championships and three playoff appearances.

Offensive coordinator Brad Mangle is also new to the staff, although he is no stranger to the PSAC or to Kutzown. Mangle had a 30 year run as an assistant at Millersville including nearly 20 years as offensive coordinator. Clements doesn't plan to make major changes right away. He plans to use an offensive attack that fits the talent they have. Mangle has a lot of experience running a system that is fairly similar to what Kutztown has been doing, which makes him a good hire for Clements. Defensive Coordinator Ross Pennypacker has remained with the program for a second season.

With that in mind, it will be very interesting to follow Kutztown this year. It is always difficult to judge how a coaching change will impact a team. Clements joined the program only a couple of weeks before Spring ball started, so he hasn't had a lot of time to get to know his team and hasn't worked through a game situation with this staff. It's fair to expect some growing pains as everyone gets comfortable with each other, but Clements is used to winning and I think that is the expectation he will set.

The Golden Bears will be a much more mature team this year, but there are still some question marks. Alec Werner, who started several games at QB last year has left the program. The battle for number on the depth chart is between Juniors Josh Luckenbaugh and Chad Barton. Luckenbaugh is the more experienced of the two and was under center for the last three games - all wins - of 2013. During the three game stretch, Luckenbaugh passed for 773 yards and 8 touchdowns, with only one interception. Barton took a lot of snaps with the first team in the spring game and played impressively. I think Luckenbaugh is the leading candidate at the moment, but we may not know for sure until game week.

Last year's leading receiver, Alex Tonnies, is no longer with the team but the four leading pass catches behind him all return, led by veterans Kodi Reed (60 catches) and Brett Fox (43). The running game was pretty weak for most of last season and they don't have much experience returning to the backfield, which is a concern. However, the offensive line should be in much better shape. A year ago, the Bears relied on true freshmen to fill out the two deep and were still down on numbers. They're in a much better position with depth heading into 2014 and although they are still young as a group, they are more experienced than a year ago.

Defensively, the Golden Bears have a solid foundation with stopping the run. That was their strength last year but they need to be better in pass defense to contend with the likes of Shippensburg, East Stroudsburg and West Chester. They should be able to step up their game significantly with as many as nine returning starters. The unit will be led by veteran linebacker Sam Dougan (88 total tackles, 14 tackles for loss) and defensive end Zach Greenwald (68 total tackles, 20.5 tackles for loss). Both earned second team All-PSAC East in 2013. Joinign Greenwald on the defensive front are Tackels Eric Condron (51 total tackles) and Jake Wygant (23 total tackles) and end Mike Gallagher (50 total tackles, 8 tackles for loss). The secondary has three players returning that started at least 9 games last year, led by CB English Peay who was third on the team in total tackles (64) and first is pass breakups (10).

The defense had some weaknesses a year ago, but I really like the talent they have coming back. They have a chance to be one of the better run defenses in the league , and if they can make some improvement in defending the pass, they're going to be in every game, win or lose.

Outlook
Kutztown is a fringe team heading in to 2014. As a roster, they're substantially better than the bottom three, but not quite on par with the top four...yet. But it wouldn't shock me if they beat one of the teams in that top four category. There is a lot of potential in this team.