Joseph A. Luxbacher has more than three decades of experience in highly competitive athletics. He holds a PhD in Health, Physical and Recreation Education from the University of Pittsburgh. Luxbacher has earned the "A" Coaching License of US Soccer and is a member of the United Soccer Coaches Association. He served as head men's soccer coach at the University of Pittsburgh from 1985 to 2015 when he retired from collegiate coaching. Under his charge, his Pitt teams won more than 200 games in Division I soccer. Coach Luxbacher was twice selected as Big East Athletic Conference Soccer Coach of the Year. He has authored more than a dozen books and numerous articles on the topics of soccer and peak athletic performance.

Luxbacher is an inductee into the Beadling Sports Club Soccer Hall of Fame, the Upper St. Clair High School Athletic Hall of Fame, the Western Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame, and, most recently, the University of Pittsburgh Athletic Hall of Fame (2023). He has also been honored as a Letterman of Distinction by the University of Pittsburgh. He lives in southwest Pennsylvania with wife Gail, daughter Eliza, son Travis, and dog Winston.