Saturday Conversation: Catching up with Lancaster football coach Rob Carpenter

LANCASTER – Rob Carpenter is Lancaster through and through.

The long-time Lancaster High School football coach just finished his 21st season as head coach of the Golden Gales and it was a season that won’t soon be forgotten.

After a rough start that saw Lancaster lose its first three games, the Gales had a complete turnaround by winning six games in a row, including winning at Upper Arlington in dramatic fashion and knocking off nationally-ranked Pickerington Central in another thrilling game.

It all added up to the Gales winning a share of the Ohio Capital Conference-Ohio Division championship, their first league title since 2009.

Carpenter was born and raised in Lancaster and after standout college career at Miami University, he was drafted by Houston Oilers in the third round as a running back. In all, he played 10 years in the NFL, including stints with the New York Giants and Los Angeles Rams.

He could have done a lot of different things once his NFL Career was over, but he and his wife, Susie, chose to move back to Lancaster, where they had four boys, Bobby, Jonathan, George and Nathan – all who played Division I college football. Bobby followed in his father’s footsteps and played seven years in the NFL and was a first-round draft pick by Dallas Cowboys.

Carpenter had heart surgery almost two years ago, but even at 63, he doesn’t seem to be slowing down and thoroughly still enjoys coaching the Gales.

Here is our conversation:

Question: First, let’s talk about this season. You guys started 0-3 and then you win six games in a row and you win a share of the Ohio Capital Conference-Ohio Division for the first time in nine years. How satisfying was that?

Carpenter: I know everyone is excited about this season and no one had any expectations for these kids, but then you start winning, the expectations start to raise with each win. I was glad that our seniors were able to turn something around after the start they had. We went into the season with a two-platoon team with basically 29 kids that were playing on Friday night, so we could make it to the OCC-Ohio Division. If we don’t two-platoon we are never going to get there. We are going to get kids beat up and demoralized and we wouldn’t have the team we needed at that point. Part of the reason we started slow is we had a lot of kids playing that didn’t have a lot of varsity experience. We made mistakes, we had fumbles and penalties and we are playing tough teams and all that, but once we got our bearings straight and everybody realized what they were supposed to do and how they were supposed to do it as far as practicing hard, preparing hard and coaches working hard, and we started winning. Winning is contagious and it took off. Every season, my goal is for these kids to have the best chance of succeeding and play in a first-class program. I’m trying to maintain the same program as it was when I played under coach Earl Jones. When these guys have this kind of success and they can put their year up on the banner, that is forever stuff.

Q: You just finished your 21st year as head coach at Lancaster, what makes you keep coming back?

Carpenter: I’m a Lancaster guy. I was born here; my wife, Susie, was born here, and I had a great experience growing up here. My mom and dad weren’t rich, but they sacrificed a lot for me and my brothers and sisters for us to be able to participate in extra-curricular activities and they supported us totally. I don’t think I’ve had a bad day living in Lancaster. I remember when I was six-years-old I told people when I grew up I wanted to play for the Cleveland Browns. My dad had 13 brothers and sisters and they were all Browns fans and a lot of times we watched the games together. It was just that atmosphere of growing up here. It’s just a great place, from Mt. Pleasant, we have a great park system and we have great schools. My experiences were great. Susie and I couldn’t wait to get back here and raise our family. Why am I here? I like Lancaster kids. I’m here to help kids achieve their dreams. My dreams came true in Lancaster, my wife’s dreams came true in Lancaster. It is just a great place and I want kids to have that same feeling and hopefully they stay here.

Q: You played high school football at Lancaster, played college football at Miami University and played 10 years in the NFL. If you had to pinpoint it, what is your favorite football experience?

Carpenter: That is hard to pinpoint because I really had so many coaches that influenced me. I love practicing. Most people don’t like practicing. Everybody remembers the games, but I remember practices as much as I remember games. Of course, in practice there is no pressure, there’s no fans or anything like that, but that is where you develop the relationship with the coaches. Through junior, high school, college and in the pros, I had great relationships with a lot of great coaches, who shared their wisdom with me and a lot of stuff they did rubbed off on me. I had some great games, but the best experiences were the practices and the relationships and the one-on-one with the coaches. A guy like John Young, who still coaches at Fisher Catholic. He was my junior high coach and my running backs coach in high school. When I hurt my right knee my sophomore year and I didn’t think I was ever going to play football again and it seemed like no one cared about me, he was the guy coming to my house telling me to hang in there, get your knee better, keep working hard and you will come back stronger than ever. Those relationships with coaches that care about kids, that’s why one of the big things on my staff is if you don’t care about kids, I don’t care how much you know, do you care about the people you are coaching is what matters.

Q: You could have done a lot of different thing after you NFL career was over, what made you get into coaching?

Carpenter: We lived in some neat places. I tell the kids that I coach that we lived in New York, we lived in Los Angeles, we lived in Houston. We lived, worked and played in those places. They are all great places, but we really, we couldn’t wait to get back to Lancaster because it is a great place to want to raise your family. I had a lot of opportunities in all three of those cities, but my great experiences are back here, and I wanted my kids to have great experiences. I wanted them to have some of the same things I had growing up because I had an amazing childhood growing up in Lancaster. I don’t remember having a bad day. The coaching part of it, my junior high and high coaches, I always admired those guys and wanted to be like them. I always thought they had the best jobs in the world. I saw NFL coaches watching film until 1 a.m. in the morning and college coaches recruiting and they don’t have any time for their families and they don’t have a life. Football is there life. I had a lot of coaching opportunities and it was tempting, but I wanted to be a high school coach like the coaches I had here at Lancaster.

Q: You had four sons that played Division I football. Did you steer them toward football when they were younger, or was it a given they were going to play football?

Carpenter: my wife started all four of the boys in swimming when they were little. She has been a swimming coach at Valley View, the YMCA and Lancaster High school. We went that route in the beginning. They all swam, and they played soccer. We tried to get into wrestling, baseball, basketball and track and we tried to push them into all those things to find out what they wanted to do, and in the end it all gravitated back to them. When I talk to my sons now and other kids that played football for me, they all tell me they played football for the same reason; all the people go to the football games, they write about it in the paper every week, every game is on the radio and they wanted to do that. That’s where the action is and what people get excited about. Bobby and Nathan were both great basketball players, but they decided they had to give up basketball because they felt they couldn’t reach their potential in football by playing both sports. That was hurtful when Bobby decided not to play basketball because I loved watching him play. It was his decision. However, they all kept swimming. Susie wouldn’t let them stop swimming, and it was great because they developed, physically from swimming.

Q: What advice would you give parents when it comes to their kids playing sports?

Carpenter: I had all the support from my mom and dad and they sacrificed a lot for me. Parents today, support your kids and give them the opportunity with extra-curricular things. I don’t care if it’s the band, plays, sports, all those things like cooking meals late, washing clothes, picking up early and late and arranging schedules, I just don’t see parents wanting to do that today and it’s disappointing. it is so much of a me, me world and everybody is worrying about themselves. I don’t see the parents sacrificing as much for their kids. It is hard to convince a parent who didn’t play sports in high school the value of playing sports for their kid. Parents who played sports understand the commitment, the camaraderie they get, the discipline they learn, the hard work, team work, time management, all those things. That is an education in and of itself and those values carry over for life. Support your kids and be the best parent you can be.

Q: You still seem like you have a lot of passion for coaching and still enjoy it. How much longer do you see yourself coaching?

Carpenter: The reason I’m probably still coaching is my son Jonathan coming back. After I had my heart stuff in 2016 he had just completed his first year as a head coach at Lima Shawnee. I’m a journey person and I believe life is a journey. But God will let you go on a different path, but then he is going to put people and situations in your way and they help sometimes and sometimes they don’t, but you have to work through them. I was going through a tough time, but Jonathan coming back helped me and it changed my attitude a lot. The things he has done for our program as far as helping the kids because I can’t do it anymore and don’t have the heart I used to have, he has been able to do for me. All my other coaches have picked up the pace, too. Tony Albertini has been with me for 21 years and he is the first guy I hired. It’s funny now because his son, Vince, is a senior. I’ve watched him grow up in practice. Casey Finck, I coached his dad at New Lexington. When I was coaching at New Lexington, Bobby and Jonathan were my water boys running on the field and now I have Bobby’s sons, R.J. and Cullen, who are the same ages now and they are the ones running out there. Sometimes I look out there and I see little bobby and little Jonathan running out on the field. That kind of stuff is special, and to give that up is kind of hard right now. With the help I get from Jonathan, my coaches and my wife, they are all very supportive. It’s also special when George and Nathan come back to games when they can. Bum Phillips taught me a great lesson. He was very supportive of me becoming a high school coach, but the best advice he gave me was to hire the best people you can and then get out of their way and let them do their job, because if you don’t you are always second-guessing them and telling them what to do and they won’t be doing it very long because it won’t be fun for them. I’ve always taken that to heart and let guys coach. This is the best way to do it because everyone takes ownership, especially in their position groups. Coaching here is special and you can’t buy that. My life is here in Lancaster. Lancaster football has it challenges, but if I can be a part of it, why stop, especially when you have a season like this and see the kids respond like they did.

Q: Tell me something about you that most people wouldn’t know?

Carpenter: As big of a Lancaster guy as I am and want to be here, I almost left here. My dad spent his whole life trying to save money to buy property, so we could move to the country. I almost left here and went to New Lexington because my dad bought a 90-acre farm in Junction City. I said I was all for it and that I would go and play at New Lex and we will see what happens, but in the end, and it goes back to the sacrifice part, my dad made a financial sacrifice to pay a mortgage and still rent a house in Lancaster so I could play here my senior year. I almost left. I was almost out of here. It is funny that I come back, and my first coaching job was at New Lexington. We won a championship with 26 kids. My life has been a great journey and I wouldn’t change it for anything.

twilson@lancastereaglegazette.com

740-681-4358

Twitter: @twil2323