Photo: Herb House (left) and Jason Loukides (right) are the U.S. Greco World Team coaches for the 2017 World Championships in Paris, France.
“The Greco-Roman team is grateful to have Jason and Herb apart of the team,” Lindland said. “The great thing about these two coaches is they are selfless. These men are here to help any way that is needed. They are great examples of what kind of coaches USA Greco-Roman is looking for, and I can't thank them enough.”
As a current coach for the New York Athletic Club, House is no stranger to coaching high-level events as he was a member of the coaching staffs for the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the 2016 World Championships in Budapest, Hungary, and the 2015 World Championships in Las Vegas, Nev.
Other events on his coaching resume include the 2014 Vantaa Cup, 2016 World Club Cup and 2016 Pan-American Olympic Qualifier.
House was also an assistant coach at Coronado High School in Colorado Springs, Colo., where he helped lead the squad to its first team state title in school history in 2011.
House has been instrumental in the recent progress of the U.S. Greco team, volunteering countless hours to coach the resident athletes at the U.S. Olympic Training Center. He also serves as a personal coach for 2017 Junior World champion Kamal Bey and 2016 Junior World bronze medalist and 2017 Senior World Team member G’Angelo Hancock.
He was also active as a leader and a state coach for Colorado USA Wrestling for a number of years.
As an athlete, House was a successful Greco-Roman wrestler. In 1992, he won a Junior World bronze before bumping up to Senior level in 1993, where he won bronze at the Pan American Championships. In 1997, he took fourth at the CISM Military World Championships. He was a U.S. Olympic Training Center resident athlete as well as a member of the Army World Class Athlete Program.
Domestically, he was a strong force, winning four University National titles, two Armed Forces titles and securing six top-five finishes at the U.S. Open. His top placement at the U.S. Open was third in 1999. He was also a 1993 Espoir Nationals champion. House attended Phoenix College, and was third in the Illinois State Championships for Conant High School.
“Herb has been somewhat of fixture in the wrestling room and on trips. The team is blessed that Herb has been able to commit so much time and energy to the program,” Lindland said. “Herb has been an outstanding mentor to the younger athletes we now have in our program. The Greco-Roman athletes have really gotten to know Coach Herb, since lives in Colorado and has committed so much time and energy to the athletes and the program.”
Named the 2015 Greco-Roman Coach of the Year by USA Wrestling, Loukides is the head coach of the U.S. Marines Corps team, which is based in Camp LeJeune, N.C.
Loukides was a coach for the CISM World Military Championships in 2015, helping U.S. Army athlete Justin Lester to a silver medal. He is also set to coach the 2017 World Military Championships in September.
Loukides was a personal coach to Bryce Saddoris, a two-time U.S. World Team member and a 2014 World Military silver medalist.
Prior to his stint at U.S. Marine Corps, Loukides was a Division I head coach at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro. He also established the Y.E.S. club in the area, which featured a number of successful Greco-Roman wrestlers including three-time World Team member Caylor Williams and University World medalist Jamel Johnson.
As an athlete, Loukides was a 2001 U.S. Greco World Team member. He had two great showings at the Military World Championships, claiming bronze in 2003 in freestyle and finishing fourth in 1999 in Greco-Roman. He also won silver at the 2003 Pan American Championships and finished fourth at the 2004 Dave Schultz Memorial International.
Loukides was also a three-time Armed Forces Championships medalist, getting gold in 2004, silver in 2002 and bronze in 2003.
He competed at Div. I Edinboro University, coached by Olympic and World champion Bruce Baumgartner, where he was a two-time NCAA qualifier. He served a stint as a graduate assistant coach for Slippery Rock Univ. Originally from Albion, Mich., he was a Michigan state high school champion.
“Jason and the Marines are a huge part of the U.S. success,” Lindland said. “He has done so much in the past three years to bring the Marines back to a national powerhouse. With Jason we got a great coach and we are also grateful that Jason brought four of the Marines to France to be a part of the acclimation camp and backstage for warm-up. Jason has some great leaders on his team and we are blessed to have him and his athletes a part of the team.”
Both House and Loukides were wrestlers for the U.S. Army World Class Athletes Program.