‘We’ve got to punch up’ — Tre Lamb’s coaching ascension in motion after Tulsa’s upset of Oklahoma State

In the euphoria of Tulsa’s upset win at Oklahoma State final Friday evening, first-year coach Tre Lamb made a notable, old-school reference for somebody in the millennial age group.

“Tulsa football’s back!” the 36-year-old Lamb mentioned in an on-field interview with ESPN. “We’re not gonna be on the third page of the paper anymore!”

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Even on the Tulsa World, the town’s solely each day newspaper, it may be troublesome to discover area for a small, non-public college in a state dominated by Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. And when Lamb took the job final yr, that sense of preventing to earn column inches in the native paper made excellent sense to a coach who had spent his total profession on the FCS stage in conditions the place most individuals weren’t paying consideration.

“They told me when I got here, the good news is you’re on the third page of the paper every week. The bad news is you’re on the third page of the paper every week,” Lamb informed Yahoo Sports on Sunday evening.

“You’re the third show in town. It’s always going to be Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and Tulsa. And we really don’t have any other [college] teams in the state. And we’ve always felt like we had that chip on our shoulders and I feel like the coaches that came here before me, Todd Graham and Steve Kragthorpe and the guys have had success, have kind of worn that as a badge of honor. Like, you know, we’re the little brother. We’ve got to play like that. We’ve got to punch up.”

In his first try at punching up, Lamb delivered a knockout of a 19-12 victory, marking Tulsa’s first win in Stillwater since 1951. It was much more of a dominant efficiency than the numbers confirmed, with Tulsa settling for 4 discipline objectives early in the sport after lengthy drives.

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“I’m watching the game and sitting there saying, ‘Man, we should be up by two scores at least,’” Lamb mentioned. “If we punch the ball in one or two more times, that’s not even a game. But we’re still young and still learning. We’ll get there, but that’s a big win for us.”

Among the 540 congratulatory textual content messages ready for Lamb after the sport, he mentioned, had been notes from a number of different coaches in the American Conference, commissioner Tim Pernetti and “all the Georgia guys” together with Mark Richt and Kirby Smart, relationships constructed via two generations of Lambs coaching highschool groups to state titles. His grandfather, Ray Lamb, was additionally Georgia’s longtime coordinator of highschool relations and is in the Georgia Sports Hall of Fame.

Though Tre Lamb could have been considerably of a recognized commodity in Georgia and bordering states thanks to his household historical past, he was a whole unknown on the nationwide stage when Tulsa employed him final yr after one season at East Tennessee State and two convention titles at Gardner-Webb earlier than that.

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If something, probably the most notable merchandise on Lamb’s résumé was that he may declare the title of school soccer’s greatest golfer. He’s almost a scratch handicap, as soon as shot 74 at Augusta National and mentioned he’ll play between 50 to 100 rounds a yr — although the golf equipment have been put away since final July when he certified for the Oklahoma State Amateur.

“That’s my only hobby,” Lamb mentioned. “I don’t fish, don’t hunt. It’s a great way to raise money. You go play golf with donors and former players, and they’re impressed by your ability to play and want to play with you. It’s really opened some doors for me. I’ve raised more money on the golf course than in the office, I promise you that.”

With cash of course being the middle of all the things in school soccer today, it’s attention-grabbing that an rising younger coach like Lamb would select to make a career-defining guess on himself at Tulsa of all locations.

Though there was some historical past of success beneath Kragthorpe and Graham a pair a long time in the past, Tulsa is the smallest FBS college, with fewer than 4,000 undergraduates. That presents important challenges, significantly in this period the place colleges are scrapping for brand spanking new income sources and donors to fund rosters.

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Lamb defined to Yahoo Sports that he took the job at Tulsa after interviews with New Mexico and Charlotte largely as a result of of athletics director Justin Moore, who got here from Texas A&M with a fundraising focus and made it his precedence to faucet into the broader metropolis of Tulsa the place oil and fuel is a outstanding business. That has given Lamb some sources to enhance the roster instantly.

“It could be career suicide if you don’t have the right things in place,” Lamb mentioned.

At the identical time, Lamb mentioned Tulsa will not be on a stage taking part in discipline with the likes of Memphis, Tulane or South Florida. And that’s OK, too, as a result of it’s in all probability why Lamb was in a position to make the leap to the American with out ever working at an FBS-level program at the same time as an assistant.

Compared to Gardner-Webb, the place Lamb managed to go 10-1 over two seasons in the Big South Conference at a college that hadn’t received something in years, Tulsa appeared like the massive time.

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“We’re going to have to do more with less,” Lamb mentioned. “That’s essentially what [Moore] told me in the interview, but he liked that I had been a head coach and coming from lower levels I wasn’t going to complain or make excuses for everything you don’t have.

“This is the best job I’ve ever had, so we’re going to treat it that way every day.”

Of course, coaching careers can usually activate random occasions. One of these occurred final summer season when officers on the American requested if Lamb could be prepared to play the Oklahoma State recreation on a Friday evening and provided the inducement of one additional TV recreation if they might accommodate the request.

“I mean, we’re in Year 1,” Lamb mentioned, though he was cautious of taking part in on a brief week whereas Oklahoma State was coming off an open date. “We need as much exposure as we can get.”

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The consequence of that call wasn’t merely Tulsa getting a giant win. With just one different recreation on Friday evening, it produced a second that just about everybody in school soccer noticed and paid consideration to.

In different phrases, there’ll in all probability be suitors now for even greater jobs as a result of there merely aren’t many younger coaches in school soccer who not solely name performs however have half a decade of head coaching expertise and have already overwhelmed a Big 12 workforce.

“A lot of people don’t get the luxury to coach at a Gardner-Webb where you can make mistakes and it’s not on a national stage,” Lamb mentioned. “A lot of guys get their first head job and it’s Virginia Tech or Georgia Tech and you can’t make mistakes or you’re toast. I made a lot of mistakes my first two years, but they weren’t exposed like some of these other head coaches. I was able to take my lumps and callous myself.”

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There could also be just a few extra callouses to come. Tulsa remains to be a troublesome job, and the affect of the Oklahoma State win may fade in the event that they don’t again it up with good performances towards Tulane and Memphis the subsequent two weeks.

But in an business that all the time desires to discover new coaching expertise, Lamb is positioned for a fast rise by following an unlikely path.

“I’ve been watching Friday night ESPN games my whole life, and then suddenly you’re coaching in one at 36 years old,” Lamb mentioned. “It was surreal, and it was a great feeling to get that done on a national stage.”