1st year Head Coach Jeff Glynn turns Lamphere from 0-9 to MAC Division champs

Jeff Glynn accepted the Lamphere High School head coach position during an 11 game losing streak. Glynn coached at Sault Sainte Marie before heading back downstate where he was the offensive coordinator at Waterford Mott in 2016.

Glynn took over one of the worst programs in the state with no head coaching experience and now has helped lead the Lamphere Rams to their first perfect division record since 1976.

The first trait mentioned in any team is the culture and work habits, whatever good or bad there was at Lamphere, Glynn instilled his own beliefs that the Rams bought in to, "I don’t know if it was any one thing that we instilled. Probably the biggest thing is just building their confidence daily. From the first day I met the kids I told them if they believe and buy in they will be division champs. There was never any doubt. We would get on average 35-45 kids in the weightroom almost daily. Which is big considering there were only 49 kids in the program last year. And that’s while other sports seasons were going on. The work ethic and hunger is second to none. These kids have been beaten down for so long they had enough. They were ready to be champions. Now they can say they are champions, but we aren’t done yet by a long shot."

So far Lamphere has met 1 of 1 of their goals explained Glynn, "we have had some peaks and valleys throughout the season. We had three goals going into this season and it will always be our three goals."

1. Win the Division title 2. Beat the Other School (Madison) 3. Make state playoffs

We knew if we kept our minds focused on going 1-0 every week. Those three things would be possible. The kids bought in hard and believed in our message.

Especially after that week 1 loss. Getting rocked like that by a good Ferndale team was definitely tough. We always reminded the kids no matter what our goals are still in place. We as a staff weren’t going to give up on them and if they believed in us as a staff, and in this program/culture; they will be repaid with a championship. We bounced back the following week with a convincing win over defending league champ Warren Lincoln. Ending a losing steak spanning 693 Days. To get that monkey off our back and just play ball was huge. Every week no matter what the result is we would remind the kids our goals and our purpose.

They stayed focused on that and when it came to the Clintondale game, even after giving up a score early the kids stayed grounded and finished the half strong leading 28-14 at half. The kids just flat out wanted it more. Our backs were against the walls and in typical Madison Heights fashion we came back swinging for our lives."

As for some Rams who have a major impact on the program, Glynn broke them down, "I honestly could say the whole senior class has just stepped up in the biggest way. Showing the young guys how to carry themselves as a Ram every day. Specifically I would say Zach Hilliard, starting RG and DL. He and our phenomenal offensive line has helped pave the way for an offense averaging over 410 total yards a game including 252 yards a game on the ground. Offense has been led by field general Jacob Thomas who has 1800 all purpose yards and 11 touchdowns. His backfield mate James Grams has led the Rams rushing attack with an absolute punishing 896 yards this season with 8 touchdowns. We are fortunate to have a trio at receivers that are extremely balanced. Justin Selimi, Nathan Thomas and Joe Sammut all have 20+ catches and over 275 yards each. Selimi leads all receivers with 23 catches and 372 yards to go with 3 touchdowns.

Defensively it starts and begins with Josh Kincannon. Josh is leading the defense with 75 tackles and is an absolute animal. Relentless motor that seems to always be right where the ball is at.

Those are just some of the MANY major contributors on this team. I am extremely blessed to have landed at Lamphere. Even when many of their peers disrespected and didn’t believe in this program, the kids stayed faithful and have grown so much in a short time. Lamphere Football is here to stay, the future is extremely bright and a big credit goes to this coaching staff and senior leadership. We have a tough matchup against Detroit University Prep Science and Math for homecoming to secure our first winning season in 7 years. For Lamphere this is the first League title since 2010 and only the second since 1984. Like I said the future is bright and plan on flooding those banners in the gym with a lot more Championships in the future."