Balance is at the crux of what everyone wants to accomplish in life. Balancing classwork and a social life is key to staying sane in college.
Maintaining a balance of hobbies and hard work helps to provide a full life of experiences.
For Slippery Rock football head coach Shawn Lutz, splitting time between his family and an intense workload as a coach is the grandest balancing act of all.
“When I am home, which is not a lot, I try to spend time with my family in a quality way, not just be there and sit around,” Lutz said. “I will rearrange my whole schedule if I can to be at all of my kids’ sporting events.”
Between practice, games, meetings, recruiting, workouts, interviews and everything in-between, Lutz has a vast and varied workload as head coach of a Division II football team that he has been a coach for the past two decades for.
At home, Lutz lives with his wife Julie in Grove City, with their three boys Logan, Gavin and Easton.
Logan, a junior in high school, was an all-state wide receiver last year and has received some looks from several colleges, some in Division I, which presents a difficult situation for the head coach of the Green and White.
“The ideal thing is that I won’t be able to watch him play, because I’ll be coaching and he will be playing somewhere else,” Lutz said.
“I told him ‘you go where you want to, but someone better give you a full scholarship so they pay for your education.'”
Even though Lutz would rather Logan get a full ride somewhere else, he isn’t completely opposed to the prospect of coaching his son.”We haven’t ruled out him playing here, he’s got a lot of work to do. I want him to do what he wants to do, but it would be a dream for him to be coached by his dad,” Lutz said.
“Maybe it’s better off he doesn’t play for his dad, because I will be pretty hard on him.”
Lutz has always emphasized his family, and with his newest addition, it will only make things harder for him to balance the coaching life and a family one.
“My youngest, Easton, turned two in August, and he’s all over the place,” Lutz said, laughing.
“On a Saturday when most people are doing something, I’ll take Easton to Burger King and we’ll play in the playground.”
For most, having a parent be gone for a majority of the time puts stress on everyone, but Lutz says that his family wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I always ask my kids if they want me to do something else, they love what I do, being a head coach,” Lutz said. “If you don’t have support from your family, it’s a tough road.”
The most important thing that Lutz has learned is that dedication to the family is of the utmost importance if he wants to maximize his quality time.
“If you’re not at work and you want to be a family guy, you shouldn’t be in a golf league, you shouldn’t be at a fantasy football party, you shouldn’t stop at a bar or be with your buddies,” Lutz said.
“To me, when I’m not at work, I am at home with my family.”
