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Former BYU coach finds new home in CO

by Schmoe · 2/9/2010

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Schmoe
Former BYU lacrosse coach Jason Lamb has been hired by Adams State College in Alamosa, Colorado to build their new Div-II lacrosse program from the ground up (much like he did for BYU's club):



http://www.laxmagazine.com/college_men/DII/2009-10/news/020810_lamb_hired_at_adams_state


"Adams State is tremendously excited about getting Coach Lamb to direct the men's and women's programs at our institution," said Mortensen on Monday. "We are excited to grow lacrosse at the NCAA D-II level in the West."



Adams State, which is located in Alamosa, Colo., will be joining NCAA Division II in both men's and women's starting in the fall of 2010 and with a full varsity schedule in the spring of '11.



Lamb was the head coach at BYU from 1995 through 2009, amassing a 213-69 record and three national championships (1997, 2000, 2007), but was relieved of his job with the Cougars after not sharing the same vision with the University's club sports director.


Congrats to Coach Lamb! I know that the last year has been a whirlwind for him and his family and it's good to see that good things do happen to good people.
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BroncoBot
Did he butt heads with Holmoe? What happened there?
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Schmoe
No, Holmoe's not in charge of club sports. He basically had a vision for BYU lacrosse to become a D1 sport some day (since they were already competing with D1 teams every year) and the guy over the club sports did not. So, instead of figuring out what they could do to keep the Joe Paterno of club lacrosse and coming to a compromise like mature adults, he fired Lamb and pretty much doomed BYU to mediocrity for the foreseeable future.
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Mars
Schmoe wrote:
No, Holmoe's not in charge of club sports. He basically had a vision for BYU lacrosse to become a D1 sport some day (since they were already competing with D1 teams every year) and the guy over the club sports did not. So, instead of figuring out what they could do to keep the Joe Paterno of club lacrosse and coming to a compromise like mature adults, he fired Lamb and pretty much doomed BYU to mediocrity for the foreseeable future.

My question: Why didn't Holmoe fire the guy that fired Lamb instead, keeping our great coach in Provo and getting rid of a poor leader in the athletic department?
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Schmoe
Is Holmoe directly over the guy who oversees the clubs? I don't know if the guy was only in charge of club sports or if he's over all the clubs at BYU. If it's the latter then I don't think he'd be working under Holmoe, but I really have no idea. Just a stupid move, getting rid of an excellent coach because your personalities disagree (say hi to Mark Mangino and Mike Leach for me).
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snoscythe
My question: If he is really the "Joe Paterno" of club lacrosse, why did it take him so long to land a head-coaching gig....at a Div-II school?
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Schmoe
snoscythe wrote:
My question: If he is really the "Joe Paterno" of club lacrosse, why did it take him so long to land a head-coaching gig....at a Div-II school?


Let's see, he had been at BYU for fifteen years where he formed, started, and built the lacrosse team, he also formed, started, chaired, and built the MCLA from the ground up which all competitive clubs are now a part of, won three national championships and took his teams to many more, team was ranked in the top ten for over ten years straight, and built the feeder programs of high school and junior high school lacrosse in Utah. There are an extremely limited number of D1 lacrosse schools (61), and only two west of the Mississippi, one of which hired Bill Tierney from Princeton right before Lamb was let go. Most schools are going the MCLA route as it costs the school next to nothing and they don't have to deal with title nine issues. He turned down offers at other schools because he had a vision for BYU lacrosse, which was his baby. Now, after taking one season off, he has the chance to build another program from scratch, which he seems to do pretty well.



You can believe me or not, I had a lot of fun arguing with people who had no idea about club lacrosse when Lamb was originally fired, this is the way it really is and Lamb really was one of the top three coaches every single year in the MCLA.
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snoscythe
Schmoe wrote:
My question: If he is really the "Joe Paterno" of club lacrosse, why did it take him so long to land a head-coaching gig....at a Div-II school?


Let's see, he had been at BYU for fifteen years where he formed, started, and built the lacrosse team, he also formed, started, chaired, and built the MCLA from the ground up which all competitive clubs are now a part of, won three national championships and took his teams to many more, team was ranked in the top ten for over ten years straight, and built the feeder programs of high school and junior high school lacrosse in Utah. There are an extremely limited number of D1 lacrosse schools (61), and only two west of the Mississippi, one of which hired Bill Tierney from Princeton right before Lamb was let go. Most schools are going the MCLA route as it costs the school next to nothing and they don't have to deal with title nine issues. He turned down offers at other schools because he had a vision for BYU lacrosse, which was his baby. Now, after taking one season off, he has the chance to build another program from scratch, which he seems to do pretty well.



You can believe me or not, I had a lot of fun arguing with people who had no idea about club lacrosse when Lamb was originally fired, this is the way it really is and Lamb really was one of the top three coaches every single year in the MCLA.


Fair enough. I didn't know anything about him. It just wasn't jibing for me. Thanks for the context.
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Schmoe
Not a problem, hope I didn't sound defensive, I have never played for Coach Lamb and was happy with my decision to play at UVU instead. I understand that it is difficult to conceive that such a prominent and successful coach would be let go over something so minor, if you want to see the reactions of various people from different programs in the MCLA, you should check out this thread on collegelax.us, which formed as news was breaking of Lamb's departure:



http://www.collegelax.us/forums/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=12237
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Mars


Sounds like Coach Lamb was fired by Lee Gibbons, BYU's Director of Extramural Sports (lee_gibbons@byu.edu), so he could be replaced by a guy they only had to pay part-time. That's low class.
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Schmoe
Well, either way, Lamb has a job at a (technically) higher-level now, BYU has relegated their lacrosse team and put them in their place. I hope that both do well, but have a feeling that it will take Lamb a few years to really get going at Adams and it will take a long time, if ever, for BYU to get back to where they were. Both parties seem to be happy with where they are now, so let's not dwell on the negative.
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Starge
I am glad Coach Lamb landed on his feet. He is a great coach that BYU doesn't deserve to have. Would have loved to play for him but I too went the UVU route! Hope he wins a NC in Colorado!



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Schmoe
As this year has continued I have gotten to know Coach Lamb even better and I really can't express how much I respect him as a person as well as a coach. It may take him a few years to get on his feet at Adams State, but I know that he'll be successful. He already has tons of kids looking to play for him, there are so many lacrosse players that would love to get a crack at playing NCAA ball.
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sage
snoscythe wrote:
My question: If he is really the "Joe Paterno" of club lacrosse, why did it take him so long to land a head-coaching gig....at a Div-II school?

I have had a bit to do with Coach Lamb. Without disclosing anything personal

I asked coach lamb about his getting a new coaching job. He indicated to me that this lay off was an interesting break for him. He has been in LaX for all his life, and was having a very interesting break, between spending more time with what his kids were doing etc. and seeing how life could be without having to fully 'live' LaX. I am sure his batteries have been recharged with a new perspective in life. I would bet that this new job will be handled a bit differently, having learned some valuable lessons about life now.



Even adversity can teach us good things.
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