Western Connecticut State University

In the summer of 2012, Joe Loth was named the 12th head football coach at Western Connecticut State University. In 2018, he became the all-time winningest coach in program history.  Loth has been the architect of the prolific Wolves' offense that has annually finished first or second in the Massachusetts Stats Athletic Conference (MASCAC) in scoring or total offense.  Most recently, WestConn went 9-2 in 2024, winning the ECAC Asa S. Bushnell Bowl, 45-14, against Alfred University and finishes among the nation's top offenses with over 49 ppg.

Loth turned around the WestConn football program that was marred in a 21-game losing streak in 2011 quickly, as the Wolves finished with an 8-2 overall in his second season in 2013. It was WestConn's first winning year since 2005 and resulted in the program's first post-season appearance since 2001, a 48-35 ECAC Northeast Bowl victory against Salve Regina.  The next fall, WestConn went 7-4 and played in a second-straight ECAC Bowl , facing off against nationally-ranked St. John Fisher College. WestConn has not had a losing season since Loth's initial 2012 campaign. 

Most recently, 2023 the Wolves qualified for the 2023 NCAA Championship Tournament as the MASCAC Champions with 7-2 regular season record behind a nationally-ranked offense that racked up over 43 ppg (led the MASCAC) to go with a stingy in-conference defense. The Wolves lost to No. 7-ranked Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland in the first round. The Wolves finished ranked No. 32 in the nation in the final D3Football.com Poll. Loth was named 2023 MASCAC coach of the year. 

The autumn of 2022 saw the Wolves finish second in the MASCAC with a 7-3 record, becoming bowl eligible but losing out on a conference tie-breaker.  The Wolves came out of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021 and went 5-5 in 2021, kicking off was a fresh start for the Wolves that listed 18 new players on offense and defense. 

WestConn completed the 2019 season with an 8-3 record, a bowl game and a second place finish in the MASCAC.  That season, WestConn’s football program led the conference with 40 all-academic student-athletes.  In 2020, it repeated the feat with a league-best 54 MASCAC All-Academic honorees.  The 2019 campaign followed a 8-2 campaign in 2018 and a 7-3 season in 2017.