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PARK CITY, Utah — Since arriving at Southern Utah University in 2008, T-Bird football coach Ed Lamb has seen the Thunderbirds rise from the ashes to the sky.
When he became the head coach, SUU was in the midst of a 19-game losing streak stretching over two seasons. Since he has arrived, the program has beaten FBS opponents like UNLV and South Alabama, while also placing several players into the NFL, including San Diego Chargers quarterback Brad Sorensen.
Also, the Thunderbirds are fresh off of making their first-ever appearance in the FCS playoffs where they lost in the opening round to Sam Houston State.
Still, Lamb said the program is in a tremendous position.
“If as a staff, and as program, we recruit like it’s all about recruiting, and we hire coaches like it’s all about hiring coaches, and we work like it’s all about working, and we lift like it’s all about lifting, there starts to be a synergy that forms in each element of the program,” he said. “There’s a big part of this thing that’s just about the fortune on game day — winning or losing. There was a lot of games we won last year where we could have lost. We’d seemed to be snake-bitten in the years before with some of our close games.
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“I think our team is very well aware that it’s all that preparation that just puts you in a position to deserve to compete, (and it) doesn’t necessarily guarantees you a win. But, I think we deserve to compete."
In spite of all of the recent victories, on and off the field for SUU, there have been losses like the departure offensive coordinator Steve Clark and defensive coordinator Justin Ena to Weber State’s new coaching staff.
But there have been gains for the program. First, former BYU quarterback Ammon Olsen, who originally signed at SUU, returned to Cedar City to play quarterback, and former BYU head coach Gary Crowton also signed on as the offensive coordinator.
Lamb said the program’s job is always to find capable people to plug into the system.
“The challenge, whether we graduate players or lose coaches or if the team loses me, is to get a better guy,” he said. “That’s something that we’ve always preached, and (former SUU assistant coach Fesi Sitake), Ena and Clark, they’ve heard me say hundreds of times as we’ve lost players, ‘Hey, we’ve got to get a better guy.’ I think we set out to do that; that’s our job.”
However, he noted the additions have brought a new energy and focus for SUU.
“Spring ball went really well,” he said. “Gary Crowton just has a wealth of experience and I had tremendous respect for him when I worked for him at BYU, and our players have really responded well to him. He’s got super energy on the field.
“We signed (Olsen) out of high school, and he was a good player for us as a true freshman. I’ve never tried to talk guys out of leaving; it they don’t want to be here, I don’t want them. At this level of football, there’s not a lot of external motivation. You’ve got to really want to be in a place to be successful. Ammon felt like things would be better at BYU, and he found that not to be true.
“He’s excited to be back, and he’s come back with the perfect message: ‘Hey guys, I should have never left.’ That’s helped endear him to his teammates.”
Losing both coordinators to Weber State is another log to stoke the rivalry that appears to be growing between the Thunderbirds and Wildcats. Linebacker James Cowser, who earned preseason All-Conference honors, said Weber is a rivalry he and his teammates care about as the Thunderbirds enter their third season in the league.
“When we first got into the Big Sky, we built a trophy between (Weber and SUU),” said Cowser, whose teammates will welcome the Wildcats to Cedar City on Sept. 27. “It was kind of frustrating how they got us at home two years ago, and that was really what set it off. … But then, coming back and the game at their place, when we beat them in a close one, I think it really solidified that rivalry. Now, whether or not they would have had the coaches, that’s kind of superfluous.”
Southern Utah’s schedule this season includes an opener at Nevada, which could be the Thunderbirds’ next FBS conquest. Big Sky preseason polls saw both the media and coaches pick SUU to finish sixth. However, Cowser said the team is focused on improving its standing in the Big Sky Conference first.
“It’s a hard-work, blue-collar sort of idea,” he said. “Nothing is going to be handed to you, especially in the Big Sky where you look around at all this talent. It’s hard, but we have the expectation to win and we don’t care who we are going to go against.”
