ELMIRA, N.Y. (WETM) – A local coaching standout has earned a major college football bowl win.

Watkins Glen native John Loose was a part of the Army team who won in the final seconds of the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl on Wednesday night. Loose, a 1983 graduate of Watkins Glen High School, is an assistant coach for the Black Knights and a linebacker coach.

Army outlasted Missouri, 24-22, on a last-second field goal by kicker Cole Talley. The win propelled the Black Knights to a (9-4) record on the season while earning their first bowl win since 2018 in the same title bowl game.

Loose has been a longtime assistant coach at Army who has 15 years of experience at West Point. He began his college coaching career in 1987 at SUNY Albany. A graduate of Ithaca College, Loose excelled in track & field becoming an All-American before embarking on the college coaching circuit for decades.

(Information used courtesy of Army athletics)