John Lambert has seen just about everything his in two decades of coaching high school football. But this season, he’s tasked with a new challenge.
How does a dad coach his son?
La Center will field a team with many unproven players after losing 23 seniors, the most Lambert has ever had at once, from last year’s squad that made the 1A state semifinals for the second consecutive year. It was a team talented enough for Lambert to dub it the “best team we’ve ever had at La Center.”
One of the players stepping in to fill the void is sophomore quarterback Tom Lambert, coach’s son. John Lambert asked other coaches who have done it, and he’s come away with a impression that, in those situations, kids are harder on themselves than coach/dad is on them.
But is he worried? Hardly.
“They observe so much information through osmosis in meetings, as a water boy, hanging around with the team over the years,” John Lambert said of his son. “He has high expectations on himself.”
