Aug. 15, 2021, column in the Amarillo Globe-News:

Lombard book should be bible for high school coaches

By Mike Haynes

            A 1973 book by an Indiana native whose UCLA teams won 10 NCAA men’s basketball titles and had an 88-game winning streak was for years a bible for players and coaches nationwide. The late John Wooden’s “They Call Me Coach” was a bestseller for decades, and for many, Wooden still is the model for college coaching success and integrity.

Now we have a book published in 2021 by another Indiana native whose high school teams won 1,379 basketball games and lost 133 on the way to 19 Texas state girls championships.

Joe Lombard’s book, “More Than A Coach,” confirms what his family, friends, players and others know about the man who retired as Canyon High School’s girls basketball coach in April 2020 at age 67: that he also is a model of coaching success and integrity. His book, crafted by gifted writer Jon Mark Beilue in close collaboration with Lombard, not only is an inspirational biography but should be a bible for high school coaches everywhere.

And like Wooden, Joe Lombard stresses that faith in God – and the Bible with an uppercase “B” – is a key element in his life and career.

“I think the priorities of God first, family second, occupation third, allowed me to have a long career filled with much joy,” he said in an email last week. “The world can become a better place when we allow the LORD to always direct our path.”

Those priorities also are listed in one of the 16 “Timeout With Joe” segments of the book that follow each chapter. The “Timeouts” are one reason every coach of any sport should have “More Than A Coach” in his or her office or next to the bed at home. And one “Timeout With Babs” shows how vital the influence of Joe’s wife, Babs Lombard, has been. Babs gave up her own coaching job – after winning a state championship at Hale Center – to focus on their children and also to serve as Joe’s statistician, team counselor and basketball adviser.

Joe Lombard’s “Timeouts” offer guidance from offensive and defensive sets complete with court diagrams to a “Timeout” outlining his faith journey from his Indiana Presbyterian childhood to the influence of Catholic families at Nazareth – where his teams won six of his state titles – to Methodist churches in Hale Center, Tulia and Canyon. And don’t forget Wayland Baptist University, the school that brought Lombard to West Texas in 1971 to play basketball.

More than once, the book mentions a statement that stuck in Lombard’s mind.

“Billy Graham has said that coaches will influence more people in one year than most will in a lifetime,” he says. “I don’t take that for granted and it became a top priority. I feel we are chosen. This is our purpose. This is our passion and our gift. We are planters of seeds for young people.”

That higher purpose grew as the years passed.

“Maybe I owed the players more than just being their coach,” Lombard says. “When I was young, so much was about wins and losses. As I grew older, my faith grew hand in hand. My perspective of working with young people was making sure I taught them more than basketball.”

In addition to day-to-day interaction with his teams, Lombard was able to expose student-athletes to the Good News of Jesus through the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

“The last 20 years with FCA I became more of a spiritual leader,” he says in the book. “The kids definitely knew I was a Christian – no ifs, ands or buts. The last 20 years may have also been my best coaching during that time because, in a way, I wanted Christ to have a jersey or Christ to be on this one-year journey with my team. That was my passion – to be stronger in my witness without being overbearing.”

Living your faith while not overstepping church-and-state restrictions at a public school can be a balancing act, but Lombard handled it well. The Christian message wasn’t forced on anyone, but students had a chance to hear it through FCA.

“Some of them never went to church, and many were inspired by others just being in our meetings,” he says. “They could take a little more of Jesus back to their teams. I know on the girls basketball team for sure, one of our FCA participants will lead us in prayer before every game. Many times, on days we don’t have a game, somebody will want to lift someone up in prayer, whether it be a fellow student or family member.”

Though retired from his position as – to quote Beilue – “the greatest high school girls basketball coach there ever was – and ever will be,” Lombard sometimes speaks in the present tense about Canyon’s girls because he remains an assistant under the new Lady Eagle head coach: his son, Tate Lombard. Tate has three state titles under his belt – two at Wall High School and one in his first year leading Canyon in 2020-21.

Lombard’s daughter, Lindy Slagle, also has been a successful coach but has decided to focus on being a mother while teaching special education in Amarillo. The second priority on Joe Lombard’s list – family – now is geographically close.

The book reveals some of the family’s ups and downs. “I want people to see that our life as well as anyone's life can be a struggle with much heartache, frustration, and disappointment,” Lombard said in an email. “Also, we had our share of adrenaline rushes and happiness.”

In “More Than A Coach,” Lombard summarizes his journey: “…there’s my youth growing up in basketball-crazy Indiana, the leap of faith to come to Texas, the courage to change careers, the importance of family, and the sustaining faith I have in Jesus Christ.”

Plus, he’s just a nice guy.