The Coach

[theman]

Bob Lambert is a real ****. Trojan Oaks would be in much better shape if he did not have the track team running all over the greens and tees. Hell, he even drives his wannabe VW Microbus across the course. :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :shock: :shock: :shock: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll:

[TUEngineer]

Yep...and it's only 9 holes now because of the new track facilities....pisses me off.

[formerlytsufan]

Yep...and it's only 9 holes now because of the new track facilities....pisses me off.

Last time I played there (before the new track), it was only 9 holes. I was under the impression that the only real change made to the course was to make #9 hole a par three.

[faithintsu]

Yep...and it's only 9 holes now because of the new track facilities....pisses me off.

Yeah not sure what you are meaning here but that course has always been a Par 3, at least as long as I can remember. Now they shortened the 9th hole due too the track complex, but the course itself has always been 9 holes.

[troymarkus]

I'm not sure who you are, but I know Coach Lambert very well and take great offense to your pathetic, junenille comments. Coach Bob is an incredible man. He is a great coach--the record speaks for itself. Trojan Oaks has never been in good shape and never will be. Back off.

[TUEngineer]

My mistake, I had been told it was 18 holes before the track complex...it didn't make sense, but I was told it was 18 before, and that we had a driving range too...I haven't been out there personally. Physics w/ Cal 1 and Cal 3 don't leave me too much time for golf :( I need to get out there and play a round one Wednesday (free for students...5$ cart fee).

[jerryopp]

I completely agree that Coach Lambert is a class guy. I don't if things have changed around there since I was a student, but Coach Lambert was always a great guy and a terrific instructor.
I think somebody had a bad day when they posted this.

[TrojanEmpire]

Coach Lambert was my track coach for four years while I was at Troy and was responsible for a lot of the upgrades at the football stadium before it was remodeled. He is a good man and set a good Chritain example for me and my other teammates.
If you want to talk results then let's do so. The man has won four or five conference championships in a row in track & field (including mid-con and A-sun). Can any other Troy coach make that claim? I don't think so. If you want to play 18 holes so bad then play the nine holes twice. So calm down and be thankful that Troy has such great ambassadors like Coach Lambert.

[Anonymous]

he may be a good coach & have good results but as a former employee of the a.d. at Troy he IS a ****... I totally agree w/ the original post...Coach Mac on the other hand IS a classy guy...

[TropolitanSportsEditor]

All coaches can be dicks at times, it's in their contract. But, break them down, they are good people who are good role models. A coach wouldn't great if he wasn't a **** at times. It's the nature of the beast. :D

[theman]

Just as I have. It is fine to say someone is a fine Christian guy and a great coach and all of that but you never really know about a person unitl you do business with them. I did for several years at Troy and am very close to others that did long before me. Those people know the real Bob Lambert. Trust nothing he says and count on getting screwed.

I appreciate other posters opinions about BL as they have obviously had different experiences with him but you have to work with the guy to know him.

Markus, you are one of the most loyal suppoters of Troy that posts on this board and the old one and I, like you, bleed the school colors. My only problem with some of your positions is that you seem to follow blindly like the old TATW. I know your heart is in the right place but for those of us who have worked on the inside, your positions contradict what we know to be true. Do not tell me or anyone else to back off.

For the record. The Trojan Oaks Golf Course was built and opened in 1977 and was the premier nine holes in Alabama. It remained at that status until the late eightys. The golf team hosted two annual NCAA tournaments at that course for many years following our National Championship titles in the 70's. I played on those teams. The quality of the course declined in the early 90's after one Jack Hawkins disbanned the management committee that created the golf gem of Troy. He, of course, had his sights on the land for other development as we now know to be true with the track and soccer complex. Despite the encroachment of this progress, course alterations added over 300 yards to the course and turned the 9th hole (now the 8th) into one of the toughest par 4 holes in the state. The condition of the course (maintenance by Sodexho) is a direct result of resources being directed by the university. When it was a great course, we had our own greenskeeper and staff that were qualified to maintain a quality facility. A quality public course is badly needed in Troy and we had the opportunity to partner with the city a few years ago to acquire more of the Children's Home land and provide it. The short sightedness of JH and Doug Patterson prevented that from happening. The proposed facility would have contributed more net profit than the bookstore, food service and other for profit operations on campus. And yes, that profit would feed the athletic programs.

Go Trojans and get ready for the Bowl, whereever it may be!

[troymarkus]

but when I say good shape I'm thinking of courses like RTJ and Greystone and others. I played on the Oaks in the 80s and 90s. While I agree that it was in much better shape in the 80s, it was never in top shape.

And for Coach Lambert--again, I will say that I know him well. While I'm sure we all respond to things in the wrong way at times, he is a man of great character. I feel bad that you are judging this man on a specific event or interaction. If you saw me at a basketball game you would accuse me of being a madman!!!

While this board is all about Troy sports, it is not meant to be a place for out of the blue character attacks. You are obviously bitter about something. I'm sorry about that, but there really is no need to bring it here. We don't care.

[mike wetzel]

Just a few facts (not OPINION like my football column) on the TU golf course.
Prior to 1976, the school had a 9-hole course that was in bad shape. It closed for 2 years and re-opened the summer of 1978, not 1977 as someone else has posted, as a much more challenging course. I know I was on the school paper at the time. It was a plum for the school. The school had many officials from other colleges visit and call about course management, scheduling, tournament information. In the fall of 1978, the pro shop was named the Michael Griffin Pro Shop. I covered the event for the Tropolitan and played in the golf tourney that same day. I still have photos of Mike and Joyce Griffin standing by the newly unveiled sign. Mike Griffin was the coach who won back to back national golf championships for Troy -- at the time, the first school in the nation to do so.
The golfers on those teams were Don Reese, Ricky Beck, Ron Mobley, Wes Campbell, Randy Hedgecock, Cleve Coldwater, to name a few. They could have played at any school. Don, Ricky and Ron all went to play on the PGA for a number of years.
A couple of years later, about 1980, Michael Griffin took the Auburn coaching job.Troy State changed the pro shop's name in the middle of the night with no fanfare to the Trojan Oaks Pro Shop. That was a move quite unpopular with some of us Troy faithful. But Ralph Adams and company apparently didn't want Troy's pro shop to be named after Auburn's golf coach.
The writers on this web site loved to take shots at me for my opinion on the excessive number of bowls this year and took personal attacks at me and the Decatur Daily, the newspaper at which I work.
Those same posters failed to mention, during the PGA qualifying school and PGA senior qualifying school, last month the Decatur Daily had stories EVERYDAY, (written by me) on the progress of the state golfers (including ALL THE TROY GOLFERS) in the final stages.
For those who care to want to know (since there is no other mention here) Don Reese, 2-time All-American at TROY in 1976 and 1977, qualified to play on the Champions Tour (senior PGA tour) for 2005. Ricky Beck, also a 2-time All-American teammate of Don's, was in the final Q-school, but didn't earn his playing card. In the PGA tour final qualifying, Ben Bates, a 1984 TSU grad, failed to earn his card but will be playing on the Nationwide tour again next year. I am willing to bet The Decatur Daily was the only paper in the state to follow the Troy and other state golfers during every round of the final qualifying stages. Troy couldn't pay for the type of good PR it was getting everyday for 6 days of the tournaments. I don't think you guys read that in the Troy Messenger, The Tropolitan or the Dothan Eagle.
But, of course, if you read the football thread, you see me painted as an idiot, *******, Tidewannabe, etc., who doesn't have any loyalty to my school. How many others on this site can name the top 6 golfers on the 2 national golf championship teams?

Yes, I have stories about the other Troy sports teams too.

I was blasted on the site for not having school pride. Let's see how many fans travel to the bowl game. Looks like the folks are blaming the school's lack of a travel package as their reason for not attending the bowl game in San Jose. My column, written in November, simply stated Troy doesn't have a large following, won't draw a large crowd to the game, and still lacks national notoriety.
Of course I read where I am out of touch with reality and should give back my diploma.
Troy deserves to be in one of the too-many bowl games. Certainly belongs there before Cincy. Cincy loses 70-7 to Louisville and gets rewarded with a bowl game before Troy. Glad I don't have to explain that one. Heck Marshall is rewarded with a bowl game for only beating one other team with a winning record on its way to a 6-5 season.
According to the other articles I have read on-line here, others are agreeing with my opinion. The San Jose Mercury certainly isn't impressed with Troy's fan base or name recognition. Let's blast them. Let's set up a poll to have their writer fired. Let's not dispute his facts, let's just call him names too.
CBS Sportsline.com won't even predict a serious winner. It says the San Jose Museum of Art will be the winner, by halftime. Let's call it names, too.
Here's for Troy having a great bowl game regardless of who shows up to watch and regardless of how much money the school loses.
mike wetzel
tsu class of 1979

[BMarkey]

he may be a good coach & have good results but as a former employee of the a.d. at Troy he IS a ****... I totally agree w/ the original post...Coach Mac on the other hand IS a classy guy...

Another classless post by an anonymous poster. Grow some b@#%$ and put your name behind your assertions.

[troymarkus]

Wow. I am impressed by your knowledge of Troy Golf and by the fact you cover FORMER Trojan athletes.

Now a couple of issues I have with you post. I don't expect writers from the left coast to know about Troy or to have their facts straight. They have an excuse for mis-reporting. It's called ignorance. You, on the other hand live in the very state of the team you so freely downgrade. Yes, we expect more from you. If you don't want to get attacked, how about reporting facts. Your article was full of mistakes and opinions disguised as facts. The main probelm I have with it is it was just plain poor journalism. If you want to write an article about there being too many bowl games, do that. Don't state that as your thesis, and then go on and on about how Troy shouldn't be in a bowl. Your whole article has nothing to do with your thesis. If you don't want to get attacked by the Trojan faithful...try practicing decent journalism. And I think if you plan on writing about Troy in the future you really should visit campus sometime. I promise, everything about Troy has changed since your D2 days there.

Just because someone agrees with you doesn't make you correct. You are wrong. So are the other writers. How in the world do you know what kind of following Troy has? Did you go to Nebraska, Starkville, Miami, Columbia, and others? Well, most of us here did. We've seen the passion and the following. Maybe it's hard for you to believe that little ol' Troy has fans with just as much passion as the big schools in the southeast. We do. And now since you've heard from us maybe you'll remember that before you write that kind of garbage again. We will hold you accountable!

[faithintsu]

Its not even worth my time.....