May 12, 2000
By Dan Rosso
Athletic Media Relations
Dr. John Howard, English professor at Maryland and former head coach of the men's lacrosse team, will soon say goodbye to the school he's been a part of for over four decades.
Howard, who has studied, taught, and coached at Maryland most of his life, will retire at the end of the 2000 spring semester.
Howard served as head coach of the men's lacrosse team from 1966-69. During that time, he led the Terps to a co-national championship in 1968 (with Johns Hopkins), as well as three ACC championships (1967-69). In addition, he amassed a 32-7-1 (.813) record, and lost only one ACC game in his four seasons as head coach (8-1, .889).
Howard attended Washington College for his undergraduate studies before earning his master's in 1962 and his doctorate in 1967, both from Maryland.
While working toward his Ph.D., Howard began his teaching career in the English Department at Maryland, serving as an instructor from 1964-67. In 1967 Howard became an assistant professor, then an associate professor in 1971, and ultimately a professor in 1987.
During his tenure, Howard has taught numerous literature courses, served on various departmental committees, and written several books, essays, and reviews related to literature. He has completed five English honors theses, and directed 25 master's theses and six Ph.D. theses.
At Washington College, Howard captained the lacrosse team and earned All-America honors in 1954 and 1956. He also won the prestigious Jack Turnbull Memorial Award as the nation's outstanding attackman in 1956.
As an assistant lacrosse coach at Maryland, Howard learned under head coaches Jack Faber and Al Heagy, both National Lacrosse Hall of Fame inductees. Faber and Heagy led the Terps to four USILA national championships and tallied a 224-52-2 (.809) record in 31 seasons as co-head coaches.
All told, Howard coached 25 players to All-America status, 14 of them during his four-year stint as head coach. He also coached four of Maryland's top-10 all-time leading scorers: Ray Altman (2nd, 1961-63), Roger Goss (6th, 1958-60), Jack Kaestner (9th, 1969-72) and Jack Heim (10th, 1965-67). Heim earned the Turnbull Award in 1967 under Howard's tutelage and was inducted into the National Lacrosse Hall of Fame in 1988. Alan Lowe, another of Howard's All-Americans (1967), was inducted in 1990.
Howard has the all-time best winning percentage (.813) of any Maryland lacrosse head coach with at least 30 victories, and the second-best ACC winning percentage (.889) among such coaches.
Among Howard's interesting moments: He was at the helm for one of only four ties in the 77-year history of Maryland lacrosse, a 6-6 stalemate versus Princeton in 1968. Also, he led Maryland to the second-largest ACC shutout victory in school history, an 18-0 romp against North Carolina in 1966.
At the conclusion of the 1969 season, Howard turned his attention toward his teaching career. He assumed the role of associate chairman of the English Department from 1969-72, then again from 1977-79. He also served as the director of graduate studies from 1987-90, and he was acting chairman of the English Department from 1979-80. Recently, Howard has lectured on poetry and Romanticism for the College Park Scholars Program.
This semester marks the end of the career of a devoted teacher, a man who taught both on the field and in the classroom.
"John Howard is a Terrapin for life," said current Maryland men's lacrosse head coach Dick Edell. "He did many great things for the program and continued to have the team play at a high level of lacrosse, which was established under coaches Faber and Heagy."
