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South Jordan • John Lambourne might have inherited both the best and the most difficult high school coaching position in Utah this fall.
He replaces longtime Bingham football coach Dave Peck at a school where nothing less than a state title is almost expected.
Lambourne knows this perhaps more than anyone. He and Peck had been together at Bingham since 2000 and before that at Cyprus. Lambourne was the head coach and Peck the assistant in the 1990s at Hunter.
Peck retired last winter after leading the Miners to five state titles, including the last two 5A crowns.
The Miners host Las Vegas' Bishop Gorman this Friday night in one of the biggest prep football games in years. Bingham is nationally ranked and Bishop Gorman, which defeated the Miners a year ago in an overtime classic in Las Vegas, is in the top five of most national polls.
Players have noticed that their new coach offers a different style than the old one.
"Lambourne is more calm," said Casey Griffin, a senior cornerback who has been a Bingham player for three seasons. "Peck was really intense. Just because Lambourne is calm doesn't mean he doesn't want to win or succeed with the team. He thinks a little more logically, where Peck was an intense type of guy."
Griffin said practices haven't changed much and neither has the desire to settle for nothing less than another state championship.
B.J. Taufalele, a senior middle linebacker, offered similar sentiments. He said Lambourne is as intense as Peck but in a different way.
"We are bringing all the things we did last year, but our motto is to be better," he said.
So who, exactly, is the guy now in the hot seat at Utah's most prominent football school?
Lambourne has been coaching in one capacity or another since starting college at the University of Utah after playing football and basketball and running track at Cottonwood High in the '80s.
He volunteered at Eisenhower Junior High while still in college, also getting a change to assist then-Taylorsville football coach Doug Bills and basketball coach Dan Leatherwood.
Lambourne won his first state title as a head coach in 1989 when he coached Natalie Williams and her team to a girls' state basketball title at Taylorsville. His wife Tammy, a math teacher at Bingham these days, was his assistant.
He and Peck joined the Hunter football staff as assistants under Mike Frazier in 1990. In the summer of 1994, Frazier took an administrative job and Lambourne became the head coach. Peck was his assistant for a year. In five years as the head coach at Hunter, Lambourne was 40-15 overall, won three region championships and made it to the state semifinals in 1998.
Lambourne, the father of two sons and two daughters, resigned at Hunter to explore other job opportunities and have a little more time with his family. He didn't stay out of coaching for long, though, serving as an assistant at Cyprus with Peck, and then moving to Bingham with his old buddy in 2000.
When Peck retired, most of his staff at Bingham wanted to keep the top-ranked Miners' tradition going. Basically, if Lambourne wanted the job, which he did, it was his.
"Everybody has aspirations," Lambourne said last week while sitting in the tradition-laden alumni room at Bingham. "I got busy with my family and all the things they were doing. I was aware of openings, but it wasn't the right time. One of the reasons why this was the right time is that there were a lot of coaches who were assistants that had a lot of investment in this program. They were not only willing but desirous to stay and do this a little longer."
Few know the amount of extra hours coaches spend outside of the classroom at practice and preparation. The money isn't great for the time it takes. Lambourne has stuck with it largely out of love.
"We find meaning in the things we do," he said. "That is our reward. That and the relationships."
He said the satisfaction comes long before winning games or state championships. The veteran coach says it comes by watching each athlete's private victories, often on a daily basis. It's no accident that Tammy Lambourne volunteers as an after-school math tutor for the football team, as the couple tries to bridge the gap between athletics and academics.
"You see those [private victories] every day," Lambourne said. "Kids are overcoming this, overcoming that. In various meetings, some open up to us with their problems. That is part of job. Most people are trying to make a difference in some way. It's not a money thing."
There are differences, though, between being an assistant and the head coach.
Lambourne said the on-the-field practices and games haven't changed much in the 16 years since he was last a head coach. But things such as year-round power-lifting classes, summer clinics, more extensive media coverage, and increased administrative duties are different. He also works with youth football coaches in the South Jordan area, where Bingham has been a powerhouse for years.
"We want our kids to have the opportunity to do things with the media and recruiting," said Lambourne, who teaches health and drivers education at Bingham. "You feel compelled to do everything you can to help them. I am good with it. Every job has those kind of things."
What has to be difficult is that the expectations at Bingham are so high. The Miners have been so good for so long that nothing less than a state title is expected.
"We've all felt the pressure to be successful and have the drive to do so," said Lambourne, including his assistants in that assessment. "It continues on. I am not oblivious as to what people hope to see from our end. What I can say is that I am relatively comfortable. A nice easy life with no expectations is not the way the world is."
He admits to being a little less intense than the charismatic Peck, and said he often leaves it to his assistant coaches to provide intensity.
Lambourne, who comes across as thoughtful and quiet, summed up the pressure as well as the beauty of taking over Utah's top prep football program.
"Every senior class wants to go out as state champions," he said.
Twitter: @tribtomwharton —
About John Lambourne
• Graduated from Cottonwood High School, where he played football and basketball and ran track.
• Graduated from the University of Utah.
• Starting coaching at Taylorsville High as an assistant in boys' and girls' basketball, football and track.
• Coached Taylorsville and star player Natalie Williams to the 1989 state girls' basketball title with wife Tammy as his assistant.
• Was head football coach at Hunter High for five years starting in 1994, where he led the Wolverines to a 40-15 overall record, won three region titles, and took Hunter to the state semifinals.
• Came to Bingham as the assistant coach to Dave Peck (his former assistant at Hunter) after the two spent a year together at Cyprus, in 2000. Has been the assistant on Bingham's five state football title teams since then.
• Named Bingham's head football coach after Peck retired last year. —
Bingham vs. Bishop Gorman (Nev.)
P At Bingham High School, South Jordan
Friday, 7 p.m.