Tony Lucas enter his fifth season overall coaching the running backs at Old Dominion.
Lucas and the 2023 ODU running back group entered the year with a combined 230 rushing yards. The duo of Keshawn Wicks and Kadarius Calloway became the go-to on the offense as they combined for 1,212 yards and eight touchdowns. When the two battled injuries, Devin Roche Obie Sanni picked up the slack rushing for more than 75 yards in a pair of games and ripping off a 67-yard touchdown run in the bowl-clinching win over Georgia State. True freshman Devin Roche also added a burst with 182 yards, including a game-high 86 yards against Wake Forest.
Calloway tied a school record averaging 7.1 yards per carry and rushed for 236 yards on just 11 carries at Marshall. He scored on touchdown runs of 69, 70 and 75 yards. It was one of two 100-yard games for Calloway, while Wicks notched his first career 100-yard game in the win over Louisiana.
The 2022 season saw Lucas help running back Blake Watson become the third player in ODU history to lead the team in rushing in back-to-back years, joining Ray Lawry and Kesean Strong. Watson finished fifth in the Sun Belt Conference with 83.5 yards per game and sixth in the league with 918 yards. He placed 31st in the country and third in the league with 5.81 yards per carry. Watson had three, 100-yard games on the year, including a single-game school record 259 yard performance in ODU's 49-21 win at Coastal Carolina.
Lucas coached Blake Watson to ODU's first 1,000-yard rushing season in five years and just the third in program history. A wide receiver turned running back, Watson rushed for 1,112 yards on a school record 215 carries. Lucas also helped develop a 1-2 punch with Watson and Elijah Davis, who rushed for 562 yards on 105 carries and six touchdowns. A third running back, true freshman Jon-Luke Peaker, gave ODU three backs on the season that had at least one 100-yard rushing game. Watson recorded six, including a school record five-straight, 100-yard games.
Watson finished fifth in Conference USA in rushing, 22nd in the country in yards per game and 36th in the country in rushing yards. He earned C-USA honorable mention honors and was named first-team All-state.
He spent the 2019 season coaching running backs and was the special teams coordinator at Elon.
Prior to that, he spent a pair of seasons at Temple, coaching the Owls’ all-time leading rusher, Ryquell Armstead. Lucas coached Armstead to first-team All-AAC honors in 2018 and he played in the 2019 Reese’s Senior Bowl. Armstead was drafted in the fifth round by the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Lucas spent four seasons at Delaware, coaching the running backs and was the recruiting coordinator. In his four years with the Blue Hens, they averaged more than 5.0 yards per carry every year, and he coached four All-CAA running backs, including current Detroit Lion, Wes Hills.
Prior to his time at Delaware, Lucas coached the running backs and was the recruiting coordinator at Georgetown. In both of his seasons at Georgetown, Lucas coached an all-conference running back.
After graduating from Columbia University, Lucas began his coaching career as a graduate assistant at Trinity College (Conn.) before moving on to Bowling Green as the defensive quality control coach.
Lucas and his wife, Natasha, have a daughter, Sage.