SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP, Ohio — St. Xavier football coach Steve Specht won his 200th career game Friday night in the Bombers’ 31-29 win over host Elder.
Specht, who has been the St. X head coach since 2004, has a 200-83 record. He is 153-66 in the regular season and 47-17 in the playoffs.
Specht will join the Ohio High School Athletic Association record book for most football coaching wins, Ohio only. The minimum requirement is 200 wins in order to join the state list.
“Two hundred wins is an incredible accomplishment, especially when you look at the schedule Steve has played year after year and the level of competition St. Xavier football plays,” said St. X athletic director Tim Banker.
“You don’t get 200 wins without being a great football coach and being really consistent for a long period of time.”
Specht, a 1986 St. X graduate, became the program’s all-time wins leader in September 2025.
“When you have great kids that are great players and have supportive parents and an administration that gives you everything you need to pursue excellence and lets you stick around for a while these things can happen," Specht said in 2025. "The victories belong to the players, the teams and the Long Blue Line. I’ll shoulder the losses.”
St. X has won Division I state championships in 2005, 2007, 2016 and 2020 with Specht’s leadership as a head coach. St. X was the Division I state runner-up in 2025.
Banker played for and coached with Specht. He said the 200 wins probably means more to everyone else than Specht. Banker said Specht has never been about numbers or individual accomplishments.
“Steve has coached a lot of college football players and some incredibly talented teams,” Banker said. “But he has also coached a lot more kids whose last football game was played at St. Xavier. I don't think Steve treats those kids any differently. He wants every kid who comes through the program to get something out of the experience and leave St. Xavier better than when they started.”
While Specht coached Pro Football Hall of Famer Luke Kuechly, a 2009 St. X graduate, the longtime coach has also kept a significant perspective about the priority of teaching student-athletes to become good men in life.
“Two hundred wins is a great milestone and something Steve should be very proud of,” Banker said. “But I don't think his legacy at St. Xavier will ever be about how many games he won. It will be about the number of young men he coached, the relationships he built and what St. Xavier football has meant to so many people during his time here. We have been very fortunate to have him leading our program for as long as we have.”
St. X plays at Louisville Trinity Oct. 2.
