A little over six months into his career at Tulsa, head football coach Tre Lamb has settled in nicely, completing an overhaul of the roster and making waves in recruiting.
Tre Lamb is living the life. And taking nothing for granted.
Right now, there is no place Lamb would rather be than in Tulsa at TU.
“It’s been great. It’s a dream job. It’s a destination place,” Lamb said in a June 5 interview with Inside Tulsa Sports. “It doesn’t have to be a stepping-stone. I’m making a million dollars and coaching football, doing what I love, and doing it in a community that backs it.”
The 35-year-old Lamb is intent on going three-for-three in turning programs around in his sixth year as a college head coach.
Both Gardner-Webb, where he spent his first four years coaching, and East Tennessee State, where he spent last season, had a history of losing seasons before he took over.
At Gardner-Webb, the team had six consecutive losing seasons before Lamb arrived, including a 3-9 season the previous year. After going 2-2 in his shortened first season during the Covid year of 2020, Gardner-Webb went 4-7, then 7-6 with a victory in the FCS playoffs, and then 7-5. The last two seasons featured conference championship teams and FCS playoff appearances.
ETSU had gone 3-8 in each of the two previous seasons before recording a 7-5 record in 2024. Thus, catapulting Lamb to the Tulsa job.
“I think we’re going to surprise some people,” Lamb said. “I think we’re more talented now. We brought in 56 new players – 36 transfers and 20 high school players. It’s a new team. Half the team is new.”
Bringing in so many players at once can be problematic. But not so with this team, according to Lamb.
“I’ve been really impressed with their ability to get along and be cohesive,” he explained. “I’ve been impressed with our strength coach and our nutrition. We’ve put on a bunch of weight, feeding the guys properly. We’ve had some team leadership.”
For some coaches, when they take over a new program, they don’t watch the previous year’s games because they want to have a fresh attitude about the holdover players.
However, that approach probably won’t cut it anymore in the days of portal transfers and NIL money. You have to know who is good immediately, while still giving guys who stay a fresh start.
As for NIL money in football or basketball, the ante is supposed to have been upped, with Tulsa in the top third of the AAC in NIL funds.
When Lamb arrived at TU, one of his priorities was to find out what he had.
“When I first got the job, I probably spent five days by myself watching every game,” Lamb said. “And I watched the other teams, kind of judging talent, judging where we need to get better. I watched every game, every play of every game. Both sides of the ball.
