When lacrosse season rolls around this spring Howard High will be missing the only boys lacrosse coach it has ever had -- Dan Ross.
Ross, whose teams won two state titles and made it to the state finals six times in 21 years, is working as strength and fitness coach for Loyola College instead.
His Howard teams won eight county lacrosse titles and won 10 or more games in all but four seasons. He's just a few victories shy of the 200-win mark.
Ross, 45, also has stepped down as boys indoor track coach, a position he held since 1989. His track teams won three state titles and were runners-up twice.
Ross began his career at Howard in 1971 as an assistant football coach, and he experienced the glory days of Howard High football in which the team won a state-record 47 straight games and one state championship (1974). The Lions' win streak was broken in the state finals in 1975.
Ross was head football coach from 1978 through 1981.
He also did a two-year stint as assistant wrestling coach, but he experienced the most success in lacrosse.
"I took the lacrosse job back in 1974 because no one else wanted it," Ross said.
Howard benefited from the Ilchester Lacrosse Club, which sent the school many talented players such as Kevin Wynn and Ricky Lewis.
In 1988, that Ilchester-Worthington area was redistricted to Mount Hebron and Howard's lacrosse fortunes slowly began to fade. For the past two seasons the team has struggled.
For Ross, who has always been an emotional, give-it-all-you-have type of coach, losing did not sit well.
"I enjoyed all my years of coaching lacrosse, but it was time for me to re-evaluate what I was doing and to look for a new challenge. I didn't want to get to the point where I was just going through the motions of coaching. When you start losing your enthusiasm it is time to step aside. This wasn't an easy decision," Ross said.
Ross said his enthusiasm also waned because he sees much less dedication on the part of athletes today.
They are involved in several different activities at the same time, and coaches no longer can demand an absolute commitment to a sport, he said.
"If a kid is involved in something else, you can't discipline them anymore for missing practice," Ross said. "We have policies that stem from the central office from people who never coached before."
He was also tired of the increased paperwork demanded of coaches.
Ross, however, praised Howard principal Gene Streagle.
"Gene's always been good to me," Ross said. "We talked, and he felt I had paid my dues and said he didn't mind my taking this job. I hope to finish my teaching career here, and I haven't ruled out coming back here to coach someday."
Ross, who started his new job in September, is enjoying it so much that he says he comes to Howard with much more enthusiasm every day.
"This gives me something to prove, and I like working with Division I scholarship kids because they are all dedicated," he said. "In high school you have some dedicated kids and some who aren't. It gets frustrating when you are trying to win a championship with some kids who aren't willing to sacrifice."
He works with the men's and women's lacrosse and basketball and men's soccer teams at Loyola. It takes about 15 to 20 hours from Sunday through Friday.
Ross' son, Stan, is a senior lacrosse player at Loyola. His other son, Dan Jr., playes football at Kent State.
"As you get older, your time becomes more valuable to you," Ross said.
The school has hired Greg Lentz, 31, a part-time teacher at Gateway School, to replace Ross as lacrosse coach.
Lentz has been an assistant coach at Archbishop Spalding, a coach at Jemicy School in Owings Mills and the club-team coach at Frostburg State.
He played for Frostburg State and Anne Arundel Community College after graduating from Spalding.
He also has coached in the Hero's Summer League and is on the league's board of directors.
"I've always wanted to be a head coach, and I like the class of kids at Howard," he said. "I'd like to get the team back to the state championships."