THE FRONT ROW WITH JASON ELLIOTT: Saturday, Aug. 6, 2016
I’ve been very fortunate in my time — off an on for about 15 years — between Coeur d’Alene and Silver Valley, covering high school sports for the Hagadone News Network, to have met and spoken to a ton of coaches, whether that be in person or on the telephone after a win or loss.
A few others — win or lose — greeted me with the same tone.
Jeff Lambert was one of those.
ONCE I started at the Shoshone News-Press in 2001, I came across a few different coaches that often times, talked to me like we were just having a normal conversation.
Some things I could print in the newspaper. Others, well ... I didn’t.
My first memory of Jeff was one winter when his son, Jesse, was fighting through the annual Elks Hoop Shoot. Jesse, one of the better shooters I’ve seen in the competition, advanced to the regional shoot in Portland three different times, and just made things seem so effortless.
A few years down the road, Jeff became the girls basketball coach at Kellogg High, leading the Wildcats to the state 3A championship game in 2010 and eventually finishing second in the tournament.
He’d eventually take over the boys basketball job, leading the Wildcats to state in four of the last five seasons, including a fourth-place finish in 2015.
Whatever the score — home or away — he’d pick up the phone and call ... that is, if the Gonzaga men’s basketball game had either ended or was a few minutes from getting started.
Jeff recently stepped down as boys basketball coach at Kellogg due to work reasons. Lambert coached the Wildcats to the last three district championships. Jeff Nearing, who has been an assistant in recent years, was named the new head coach.
I WAS fortunate enough to get to go to Super Bowl XL — you know, the one that the officials “robbed” the game from the Seahawks and allowing the Pittsburgh Steelers to win in Detroit in 2006.
A few months later, as was my job at the time, I wrote a column on my luck and getting a chance to go to the Final Four in April. On the day it was printed, it just happened to be April Fool’s Day.
At a skateboarding event in Pinehurst the day after the national semifinals, Jeff approached and asked me why I wasn’t still at the games — you know, since in theory, I should have been in Indianapolis at the time.
“Why aren’t you still in Indianapolis,” he asked.
“Well, after George Mason lost, I just left,” I answered with a smile, knowing that at least someone was reading the newspaper that day. “That was an April Fool’s joke, but I really wished I was that lucky.”
LAMBERT DID a great job of getting the most out of his players, playing some tough defense that almost became a trademark of teams he’d coached. They might not have lit up the scoreboard, but they kept most teams from doing it as well.
He’ll be missed once the season tips off in early December, whether that’s from his players or fellow coaches.
And that’s no joke.
Jason Elliott is a sports writer for the Coeur d’Alene Press. He can be reached by telephone at (208) 664-8176, Ext. 2020 or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @JEPressSports.