Each Monday of the fall semester, we’ll be bringing you three different “Getting to Know Them” profiles on coaches, athletic administrators and athletic trainers at Slippery Rock to introduce you to the folks behind the scenes here at The Rock. Next up, we check in with volleyball head coach Laurie Lokash.  

QUICK BIO
Lokash is in her 37th season at the helm of the women’s volleyball program at Slippery Rock, where she has racked up more wins than any coach in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference history with 643 career victories. Lokash ranks 22nd in Division II history in total wins and ranks eighth among all active coaches in Division II in total wins. A two-time PSAC Coach of the Year, Lokash has guided The Rock to eight NCAA Tournament appearances and two PSAC Tournament titles. She played Division I volleyball at Penn State, graduating in 1984 before accepting the head coaching position at Slippery Rock shortly after. In addition to her volleyball duties, Lokash also spent 10 seasons as the softball coach at SRU from 1987-96. Over her career, SRU has seen 170 volleyball players named to PSAC Scholar-Athlete honors for owning above a 3.25 GPA.   

IN HER WORDS

Q: What was your favorite subject in school? Why?
A: I loved U.S. History. Mr. Polivka was the teacher and he was the best teacher (among many good ones) that I had.

Q: Tell us about your family.
A: I’m an only child, but I consider my two cousins, Janet and Mary Ann, to be “my sisters,” especially in adulthood. My dad, Bob Lokash, is a retired teacher and my mom, Stella Lokash, is a retired registered nurse.

Q: What was your first job growing up? 
A: My first paying job was performing custodial duties at my high school in the summer. I cleaned lots of toilets, desks and lockers. The boys’ bathrooms were the worst!

Q: When did you know you wanted to go into a career in collegiate athletics? 
A: My major in college was Health, Physical Education and Athletic Training. I always knew I wanted to do something with athletics. When I got a call from my former college coach, Russ Rose, telling me if I wanted to get into college coaching, I should take the job I was going to be offered by former athletic director, Bill Lennox. When I got the chance, I took it!

Q: What was the last book you read? Thoughts on it?
A: The last book I read was Bad Blood by John Sanford. It's a mystery and it has some violence in it, but overall, it's a good story. The good guys win!

Q: What’s your all-time favorite movie? You can give us a few if you can’t pick just one.
A: One of my favorite movies is Stand By Me. It’s just a great movie about kids growing up and the friendships we had as kids. I also like movies about history, like Hidden Figures. 

Q: How do you relax?
A: Take my dog for a walk or go to the beach for a vacation.

Q: What’s your favorite meal?
A: Just about anything my mom cooks.

Q: What meal/dish/item are you best at cooking? 
A: I make a pretty good omelet and I’m not a bad griller either.

Q: What was your first car? What’s your dream car?
A: My first car was VW Rabbit – four speed. I don’t really have a dream car. I like my Subaru Outback a lot! My Toyota Celica was pretty nice too! 

Q: What artists and/or songs on your current most-listened to playlist?
A: I’ve been listening to a lot of country lately. I really like Zac Brown Band.

Q: Favorite current TV show? Favorite TV show of all-time?
A: Evil is my current favorite. Of all-time? I liked NCIS until Tony and Ziva left.

Q: What’s your favorite season/type of weather? Why? 
A: I love the fall and spring. The colors of fall, the greening of spring and the cool weather of both!

Q: When you go grocery shopping, are you the “Make a List” person or the “Just Wing It” person?
A: Little bit of both. If I’m making a recipe, I follow the rules to a T. 

Q: Are you a tech savvy person? 
A: Yes and no. If I don’t know how to do something, I look it up and can usually figure it out. 

Q: Describe your perfect day off.
A: NO internet and NO phones.

Q: Can you sing? 
A: Nope.

Q: What is/would be your go-to karaoke song?
A: Sweet Caroline or Devil Goes Down to Georgia.

Q: You can only eat one thing the rest of your life, what is it? 
A: Eggs. You can make them a lot of ways.

Q: Fly or drive for a long trip? 
A: These days, I think I’d rather drive.

Q: Cats or dogs? 
A: Dogs, but I have both (as the cat watches me write this).

Q: How many and what kind of pets do you have? How long have you had them?
A: I have one dog, Maisey (best dog ever) and one regular cat, Fluff, and one cat/dog Cinder (he acts like a dog). Maisey has been with me for four years, Fluff for 10 and Cinder for eight.

Q: How did you decide on your pet names?
A: My animals have names that begin with either M or C.  My next-door neighbor named the cat Fluff, so she is the exception.

Q: What was your favorite or most memorable vacation?
A: Most memorable was a trip to Cape Cod a few years ago. I hitched a U-Haul to my car so my dogs had enough room in the back for the trip. I should have figured out that it was going to be a special vacation when for the first hour, my dog Cassidy barked at the U-Haul that was following too closely for her comfort. When we go to the house, it was nice but lacked air-conditioning even though it said it had AC. It was about 90 degrees every day that week. The coffee maker didn’t work and we are coffee people so we went out to buy one. Didn’t know the typical Proctor-Silex that usually costs about $20 would cost $70 (most expensive coffee pot mark-up ever). That coffee pot is now in my basement and I will not ever get rid of it. Being considerate guests and having two dogs, we tried to launder the cover on the couch b/c the dogs got a little muddy and got it dirty. Never expected the washing machine hose to come off and flood the entire basement of the house.  The landlord husband accused us of breaking the washing machine and yelled and screamed at us until the landlord wife wisely pointed out that the hose coming off was not our fault. We then spent most of the day cleaning up a disgustingly dirty basement because we tried to be considerate guests. Last but not least, we bought steaks one night to grill out. When I went to light the grill, it was out of gas and I had 10 minutes to find some if we were to eat the steaks that night. Did I happen to mention that Cassidy, the dog who hated the U-Haul, also was very possessive of her food. When we were trying to get the grill started, she got in the garbage and tried to eat the packaging the steaks came in. When we tried to take away the packaging, Cassidy became the Hound of the Baskervilles. It was a very tense moment to say the least. The highlight of the trip was hand’s down the breakfast at McDonald’s outside of Bloomsburg on the way to Cape Cod. Memorable, but not the fondest memories. The End! 

Q: Is a hot dog a sandwich? 
A: It’s a hot dog.

Q: Does pineapple belong on pizza?
A: Since I just had one of those last week, definitely not!

Q: Sheetz or WaWa? Why? 
A: Sheetz because I’m not real familiar with WaWa.

Q: What’s the last TV show you binged watched? 
A: Ozark.

Q: Is there a professor you had a class with in college that you still remember? Who and why?
A: I had Dr. Joanne McKeag here at The Rock for a grad class. She was a great teacher and human being. We still exchange Christmas cards.

Q: How long can you go without looking at your phone?
A: When I don’t have to, forever!

Q: What was the last app you downloaded on your phone? What is your most-used app?
A: Teambuildr was the last app. All Trails is the most used.

Q: Retirement destination? 
A: I’ve lived in Western Pennsylvania most of my life and like it here.

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