Through the eyes of Hal Lamb
Retired Calhoun football coach Hal Lamb shares his thoughts on a special evening, a game, a team and what’s next
MBaron@CalhounTimes.com
In February, surprise ran through the Calhoun and Gordon County community when Calhoun head football coach Hal Lamb announced his retirement from the game.
Fast forward seven months, when the former head coach made his first appearance at Phil Reeve Stadium since the 2018 GHSA state semifinal game against visiting Peach County.
However, Calhoun’s home opener on Sept. 6 against the Therrell Panthers was a special occasion for Hal and the rest of the Lamb family.
Before kickoff, Calhoun City Schools honored Lamb in a pregame ceremony by officially naming the field at Phil Reeve Stadium “Hal Lamb Field,” in recognition of Lamb’s two decades with the school’s football program.
After the ceremony, Lamb shared his thoughts on the evening, his journey with Calhoun football and what’s ahead in his life. And what better venue to have this conversation than Hal Lamb Field at Phil Reeve Stadium on a Friday night in late summer.
There were so many places I could start, but my first question to the 55-year old was about being back at The Reeve, but not in
LAMB,
a coaching role. Lamb said the feeling was weird.
“It’s going to take me some time,” Lamb said. “I did this here at Calhoun for 20 years, and 20 years is a long time. Plus, I’ve been coaching for 32 years. I miss it at times, but that’s part of life.”
Before the ceremony, I asked Lamb about Calhoun dedicating the field in his name. He considered the occasion an “unbelievable honor.”
“I know my dad got his field named after him, and to do this, I’m speechless,” Lamb said. “It’s an incredible feeling.”
Lamb said it was time to call it a career and mentioned he and his wife had planned it that way.
“I’m 55 years old and me and my wife planned it this way,” Lamb said. “We had talked about this for years, about this being the year I retired.”
The ceremony
Lamb said the night, as a whole, had been an awesome experience.
“I’m happy for the team, I’m happy for this community, and to have your name on this field forever, you really don’t really think about that until you see Phil Reeve Stadium,” Lamb said. “It will always be Hal Lamb field, … it’s kind of overwhelming.”
When asked about his 32year career, Lamb said he saw himself coaching for as long as he had.
“My dad tried to talk me into not coaching because of the stress and there wasn’t a whole lot of money involved,” Lamb said. “You want to do something you enjoy, and from day one, I wanted to be a coach. I was fortunate enough to get a job right out of college at a good program down the road at Cartersville High School and I’ve been doing it ever since. I guess it was in my blood.”
Lamb said he wants to be remembered as a role model, hoping to set a good example for the community’s youth.
“I want them to remember what kind of role model (I was),” Lamb said. “I was a coach that did it the right way. Not 100% of the parents are going to agree with some of the things we do, but we make decisions for the betterment of the team. I want them to remember I tried to do it the right way.”
To say Lamb’s resume has been stellar would be an understatement. Racking up a 233-37 record, Lamb guided the Yellow Jackets to eight state championship games, capturing three titles. Calhoun has an active streak of 18 consecutive region titles, a state record.
“Last year our goal was to win that 18th region championship in a row and break the state record,” Lamb said. “We got down 10-0 at North Murray and we hadn’t loss a region game in 125-30 games, you don’t want to be that team that loses that first region game. All streaks are eventually going to come to an end, but you don’t want it to be your team.”
The game
At halftime on the night of our conversation, Calhoun held a slight 7-0 lead over Therrell, with the offense struggling to consistently move the football. Lamb shared his assessment of the first half and what he thought the message to the team was at the break.
“I think, mentally, they’re more into the game than they were the first half,” Lamb said. “From a player’s standpoint, every play you’ve got to give 100% and I think that’s probably what they focused on during halftime, don’t really worry about the score. Do your job and play to the best of your ability on every single snap. If you do that, then we’re going to win the football game.”
The second half started off with a bang as Calhoun senior Kendez Griffin recovered a fumble on the first play of the third quarter. Two plays later, junior running back Jerrian Hames sprinted into the end zone with his first of two touchdowns on the evening.
“In close ballgames, the first six minutes of the third quarter is the most important part of the game,” Lamb said. “We created a turnover and scored in two plays, so we’re back to where we need to be.”
The Yellow Jacket defense would create another turnover in the third, this time an interception by junior Will Seamons.
However, Calhoun suffered its only turnover of the evening as senior quarterback Jake Morrow fumbled the football. Lamb shared his thoughts on what to say to the starting quarterback after making the jog back to the bench.
“To me, you coach your quarterbacks a little bit different because you never want them rattled, never,” Lamb said. “There are some like Gavin (Gray) … you could get on him pretty hard and he’s going to be fine, but I think with Jake being a first-year starter, you cannot get on him real hard on the sideline because he might fold his tent a little bit and not be as focused. You never get into a quarterback’s grill unless you think he deserves it and can handle it, in my opinion.”
The third quarter turned out to be the difference in the football game, as Calhoun recorded 16 more points to strengthen the Jackets’ grip on the contest, 30-0.
“I think we came out with a better attitude and played a lot better,” Lamb said. “I think, mentally, we played a lot better in the second half because we weren’t ready in the first half.”
Lamb said so far on the season, Calhoun looked to be growing up, pointing to the in-game experience factor.
“I wouldn’t say we’re young, but we’re young in the experience part,” Lamb said. “I think we had 18 starters last year that graduated. This is just the second game of the year. We’ve been fortunate enough to play deep into the playoffs. We need to be peaking toward the end of the season, so it’s a growing process and what I’m seeing with this team is we’re growing up tonight.”
Why Calhoun
Lamb shared the story about his reasons for coming to coach football in Gordon County, first arriving in Calhoun in 1999.
“When I was an assistant at Cartersville, we played (Calhoun) up here and I said to myself, this could be a good place to be a head coach because they were starving for success,” Lamb said. “I knew once we felt like if we could start winning, this place would catch on fire and that’s what it’s done. The support here is incredible. Everyone wants to talk about small-town high school football, well this is it.”
Lamb said his No. 1 reason for coming to Calhoun hearkened back to his high school football career at Commerce High School.
“I thought this could be a bigger Commerce and I wanted my two boys to be able to play different sports,” Lamb said. “Now, did I think I was going to be here 20 years? No. I probably didn’t, but (my boys) were able to participate in every sport (they played) every season.”
Lamb said his message to the team before taking the field every Friday night was the same.
“Give it your all and you’re going to make mistakes, but play as hard as you can and you’ll be able to look the coach in the eye after the game and say ‘I did the best I could, coach,’” Lamb said.
Lamb said, as head coach, the priorities were set as: faith, family, academics and football — in that order.
“If you’re priorities aren’t in that order, in my opinion, you’re not going to be as successful as you want to be,” Lamb said. “We have great kids that care about their academics. To me, if you don’t really care about your academics, you’re not going to be as successful as a person down the road because academics are going to take you a lot further than the game of football.”
Lamb said success is defined by kids coming back into the community and becoming great leaders, fathers and husbands.
“We all like to win, but my goal was to try to make a difference in every kid that I coached regardless if he never played a down,” Lamb said. “What I try to tell our kids, it’s easy to be a star on the football team … the ones I appreciate the most are the ones standing on the sidelines that could be playing at other schools, but they decided to stay here and be part of a winning program.”
Lamb also mentioned the special atmosphere of a packed-out Phil Reeve Stadium on a Friday night in the fall.
“There’s no other place you’d rather be on Friday nights playing at Phil Reeve Stadium,” Lamb said. “We did a good job of building this atmosphere and it’s a special, special place.”
Building a championship program
When Lamb first arrived on Calhoun’s campus, it had been nearly 50 years since the Yellow Jackets’ first (and to that point, only) state championship. Lamb said the first thing that had to change after his arrival in Calhoun was the work ethic.
“When I first got here, I can remember to this day a lady who was with the school system … she said, ‘Look who we hired as a football coach. He looks like a kid,’” Lamb said. “I knew we had to change the mentality of our kids because what I saw in that first year, … we found ways to lose rather than finding ways to win and when they hit the field, they really didn’t expect to win. We felt like we had to change that mentality.”
Lamb said the football program needed elevate itself in two key areas: work ethic and mentality.
“We lost some kids because of the tough summer program first couple of years,” Lamb said. “I thought being tough on them in the summer and then the offseason was really important. I attacked the middle school because I thought they were our future. I think it started from there.”
“Once that tradition is set and that mentality is set it trickles down every year,” Lamb said. “You don’t have to reteach that. Once you get the mentality we’re expected to win every time we hit the field, then you’ve got part of it. You’re going to be successful because of your mentality.”
Lamb said one aspect he heavily emphasized during the offseason was the weight room, where, Lamb continued, you can find out a lot about someone’s character.
“I think that’s the most important thing is getting the kids to like the weight room and liking to work hard and working together,” Lamb said. “Everyone wants to think the weight room is just lifting weights. You’re building such team chemistry in the weight room because you’re in some intense situations in the weight room, more intense than out on the football field sometimes.”
Lamb said he looks back on the 2011 Calhoun Yellow Jacket football team, and how in three previous seasons, the black and gold fell victim to Buford three times in the state title game.
“That group we had in 2011 was not going to get beat,” Lamb said. “Their leadership and their work ethic was off the charts.”
Lamb’s Yellow Jackets defeated Buford, 27-24, at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta to bring a state championship to Calhoun for the first time in 59 years.
“The will to win won that championship that night,” Lamb said. “That was probably one of the best moments of my coaching career because of who we beat and I wanted it so bad for this community and to have your nephew and your youngest son on the team at the same time. It was an incredible night.”
Life after coaching
Lamb’s February announcement took many by surprise, and Lamb said he’s still transitioning into his new life post football.
COACH,
Meanwhile, the Sonoraville Phoenix (1-2, 0-1 region) are on their second bye week of the season. They meet Murray County at Sonoraville High School on Friday, Sept. 27. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
“My wife and I have talked about this,” Lamb said. “I think if I get through this fall gets over with, it will be a lot easier. This fall’s going to be difficult just because I’ve been doing it for 32 years and I’ve been around the game for 32 years. There’s times I miss it, but there’s also times when it’s 100 degrees out here and I don’t want to be out here.”
Lamb said his job title includes a lot of stressful times, as the head coach has many responsibilities shoved toward their plate.
“I’ve been a head coach for 22 years and it was time,” Lamb said. “If I ever want to get back in it, I can go somewhere and coach. But at this point, I’m enjoying what I’m doing and life is good.”
Lamb said he is currently working a part-time job as the Facilities and Event Coordinator at Calhoun City Schools.
“I enjoy it. I think I’m helping in a lot of ways,” Lamb said. “It’s a little different, not being around the guys and I miss that part. I miss the part about building relationships with these kids and ... with coaches, but in the long run, I do think that’s what was best.”
Lamb said, now that he’s retired from coaching, he has had a lot more time to spend time with his grandchild and tee it up on the golf course. He also said he enjoys traveling north to Tennessee Tech University to visit his son, Tre, who is the offensive coordinator for the Golden Eagles.
“We’re able to go watch my son’s games,” Lamb said. “Normally, you’d go up and turn around because you’ve got to work on Sunday, but we were able to spend the night and spend the morning with my son. Normally, we haven’t been able to do that, so a little more time to spend with the family.”
Lamb said he is an outdoors kind of person, spending time working in his yard.
“I can’t stand sitting around the house and doing nothing,” Lamb said. “I’ve got to be moving and doing something. We like going to see our new granddaughter who’s nine weeks old and we’ve got another granddaughter on the way in December, so we’re going to be staying busy.”
Lamb said he is trying to find what his mission after coaching will be.
“I’ve got to find something in that area that I need to be doing,” Lamb said. “I miss these kids. My wife is involved in FCA with is the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. I’m going to be involved in that a little bit more I think. I’m going to start mentoring some of these young coaches in our school system and I think that’s going to help me pass some time.”
Lamb offered some advice for new, young up-andcoming coaches just starting their careers.
“Enjoy being around these kids,” Lamb said. “Make a difference in these kids lives because (for) some of them, you’re the only adult they have. Enjoy your everyday life, but enjoy your job. Don’t come to work not enjoying your job, because if you don’t enjoy it, you’re not going to be happy.”
Lamb said the evening as a whole was an unbelievable and overwhelming feeling.
“There’s not many people in this world that get their facilities named after them,” Lamb said. “My dad taught me to have great defense, be solid on special teams and you’ll win a lot of special teams. Your offense, they’ll get better as the season goes along.”
Lamb said you’ll still be able to see him on Friday nights at The Reeve, but added he refuses to go in the stands.
“I’m going to stand on the sidelines or I’ll go in the press box,” Lamb said. “I don’t want to be up there amongst the fans. They might say something negative or something and I might get upset.”