Mercer Football: Head Coach Bobby Lamb Back In The Peach State

When Bobby Lamb left for Greenville, S.C., and the campus of Furman University to compete with David Charpia for the starting signal-callers’ job in 1982, he didn’t realize it would be some 29 years before he would return home to the Peach State to take up permanent residence.

Lamb enjoyed some good years of service as a quarterback, assistant coach, and eventually the head coach of Furman for nine seasons, and the success he encountered during his three decades was something that most players and coaches can only dream of.

As a player, Lamb took the Paladins to some memorable moments under center playing for former Furman legendary coach Dick Sheridan, and the confident young quarterback wasn’t relegated to just holding the clipboard on the sidelines early in his career as signal-caller for the Paladins in 1982, playing behind the seasoned veteran Charpia.

On Sept. 17, 1983, the sophomore signal-caller had his own number called, and as fate would have it, it was against a team from the Peach State: the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets. While the injury Charpia suffered in the third quarter was unfortunate, it would offer Lamb the ultimate opportunity to make a name for himself, playing against the University of Georgia’s top rival, where his dad was part of Vince Dooley’s staff, working as a consultant in the University of Georgia football office.

The young Lamb would take full advantage of that opportunity, leading the Paladins to a memorable 17-14 win over the Yellow Jackets, and a star was born under center for the Paladins. Lamb would go on to be a trailblazer for all future Furman quarterbacks–a standard by which to be measured. Lamb finished his Paladin career, having holding 12 school records, and still owns seven of those milestones.

He was the 1985 Southern Conference Player of the Year, led the Paladins to a national title appearance, where he led the Paladins to a 28-6 third-quarter lead only to see Georgia Southern, which was led by legendary quarterback Tracy Ham, lead the Eagles all the way back for what was a miraculous, 44-42, title game win to rip the championship trophy from Lamb and the Paladins’ grasp.  Lamb also quarterbacked Furman to two wins over NC State in his two seasons as the starter for the Paladins, and led the Paladins to a 20-5 mark as the starter, including a 9-3 record against league foes in his two seasons as the signal-caller.

The 12-2 season of 1985 is tied for the second-most wins in a single-season in school history, with the ’01 season and the ’89 season. Lamb led the nation in passing efficiency in his senior season, with a 171.20 passer’s rating in ’85.

After his playing career concluded in 1985, Lamb returned to the gridiron in Greenville in 1987 where he began his coaching career, where he quickly became one of the top quarterback coaches in the Southern Conference, and eventually the nation. At a position he had been so successful at as a player, it could be argued that Lamb was an even better coach of the position, starting his coaching career under another Furman legend, Jimmy Satterfield. Lamb was there for the bedrock of Furman’s football success, and no doubt was a big part of it.

At no time in Furman’s history has it had the combination of coaches that it had in Lamb’s senior season of 1985, as that staff included former Furman and Vanderbilt head coach Bobby Johnson, who led the Commodores to a win over Tennessee in 2005, and led Vandy to its first Bowl win in 53 years IN 2008 with a win over Boston College in the Gallery Furniture Music City Bowl.

Johnson was thought of as one of the top defensive minds in college football, serving as the defensive coordinator at his alma mater Clemson for a season before taking the head coaching job at Furman in 1994.

Also on that staff was Clay Hendrix, who is currently the associate head coach under head coach Troy Calhoun, and Jimmy Satterfield, who would lead the Paladins to their only national title in ’88.

Tim Sorrells, former successful Furman quarterback, is still on the Furman staff serving as the running backs coach and recruiting coach, and is also an accomplished quarterbacks coach. And of course, Bruce Fowler, who is entering his third season as the head coach at Furman after serving stints as the defensive coordinator at Furman (1983-2001) and Vanderbilt (2002-09).

Dick Sheridan, who has more wins than any other coach in school history, was the head coach, while Robbie Caldwell was an offensive line coach and at the conclusion of the ’85 season, would move on to be the head coach at N.C. State, while Caldwell will join him as the offensive line coach. Sheridan retired as a result of health concerns in 1999, while Caldwell is went on to several stops, including interim head coach at Vanderbilt in 2010, before landing just up the road at Clemson as the offensive line coach, where he has been since 2011.

But each of those coaches will tell you that Art Baker (1973-77) is a mentor to each one of them, and is responsible in some way for the winning tradition built in Greenville.

Lamb was certainly a part of something special, and during his time at Furman, made a name for himself as a great football coach, and one of the best quarterback coaches in the nation.

Furman’s quarterbacks and receivers camp remains a nationally acclaimed camp, and when Lamb was molding some of Furman’s finest signal-callers in school history in the late 1980’s such as All-American Frankie DeBusk (1987-90), some of the nation’s finest quarterback talents were making their way to Greenville to learn from Lamb.

Peyton and Archie Manning, former Georgia Tech quarterback Shawn Jones, who led the Yellow Jackets to a UPI National Championship in 1990, and former Texas standout Major Applewhite (1998-2001) were just a few of the greats to learn from Lamb in Furman’s nationally recognized camp in the summer months.

After serving as the quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator for nine seasons, Lamb would take the head coaching job in 2001 after Johnson departed for Vanderbilt. It would be the start of a nine-year adventure that would see Lamb post a 67-40 record as the head coach, which is the second most wins in Paladin football history and just two wins behind former legend Dick Sheridan. Lamb was the 2004 Southern Conference Coach of the Year, leading the Paladins to a Southern Conference title. After the 2010 season, Lamb stepped down as the Furman head coach and took the job as

Lamb also posted a 43-25 ledger against Southern Conference competition during his nine seasons at the helm, while leading the Paladins to five FCS playoff appearances, which included an FCS semifinal appearance in 2005. That 2005 squad turned out to be his best squad during his tenure at the helm of the program, as the ‘05 Paladins finished with an 11-3 overall mark.

All told, Lamb devoted 29 years in his role as a player and a coach to his alma mater, posting a 221-105-3 record.

A New Challenge:

So, when August of 2013 rolls around and Mercer plays its first football game in 71 years, it will offer a new challenge for Lamb, and for a man who has found success at every step along the way, that should be music to the ears of Mercer fans. Not only has Lamb thrived in every transition in his football career, he has also  become an excellent marketer of a winning product, and that’s what he was at Furman.

His experience alone at Furman, coaching not only some of the best quarterbacks to ever play for the Purple and White, but also some signal-callers that drew the attention of FCS football, such as Frankie DeBusk, Florida transfer Ingle Martin and new Alabama wide receivers coach Billy Napier. That alone should be enough to draw the attention of young signal-callers in the southeast looking for the right place to better themselves as a quarterback, but more importantly as a person.

The challenges this fall will be playing non-scholarship football as a member of the Pioneer League, but in the fall of 2014, the Bears will begin their scholarship football quest in an old familiar home for Lamb, the Southern Conference–a tradition-rich conference where he spent 29 years of helping build the Furman foundation–and now he starts over again looking to help a program add to its tradition which has been waiting seven decades for the stars to align to resurrect its program and for the right person to take the reins. It’s no different for Lamb than that opportunity back in 1983 at Georgia Tech, and the rest as they say, is history.