Lamb Toils Through Turbulent Times : SDSU: Aztecs’ defensive coordinator, frustrated by opponents’ points parade, immerses himself in finding solutions.

It was quiet now. Football practice was finished. Darkness was enveloping the San Diego State campus on a chilly fall evening, a peaceful moment broken only by the frustration that raged through Barry Lamb’s mind.

This was earlier in the week, three months and a thousand thoughts away from August, a time when the Aztecs wore optimism like a new jersey. Then, there was the kickoff banquet at Sea World, when laughs and hopes and dreams were eagerly served and devoured along with chicken.

No more. Lamb is the defensive coordinator at SDSU, and the most difficult season of his life is painfully trickling away.

Lamb sat in the defense’s room at the SDSU football building, a room in which he seems to spend most of his hours these days. This is where the Aztecs try to resurrect their broken-down defense.

It is also where a tortured man works, fighting to keep his pride and, maybe, his job. He has discussed that with Coach Al Luginbill.

SDSU whipped Utah Saturday, 66-14, and played their best defense of the year. Now, this Saturday’s game against Hawaii is the most important yet. The defense must continue to show improvement.

The Aztecs have spent four weeks this season ranked 106th among Division I team defenses. Dead last. They are currently 103rd. Once, they scored 51 points but allowed 52. The defense has been awful.

It’s that simple.

It’s not that simple.

Not when you are working from 6 a.m. until 10 p.m., at times, trying everything you can think of to get the job done. Not when you’ve got a wife and three kids and you’re working seven days a week for months on end. And most certainly not when you talk with your five-year-old son and you hear an innocent voice asking, “Daddy, when are you coming home?”

And then you go out and get your brains beat in again.

Lamb, 35, has never been through anything like this, not through previous coaching stops at Oregon, Arizona State, Nevada Las Vegas or Idaho. He remembers a couple of 2-9 seasons at Oregon, “but at least we were showing progress early in the second year,” he said.

There hasn’t been much in his second year at SDSU. In a season that started with talk of bowl games, the defense--his defense--has collapsed like the savings and loan industry.

And soon, it felt like buzzards were circling. Talk began relating to his job status.

And was it really a surprise? The Aztecs watched Ty Detmer and Brigham Young go for 62 points against them, Wyoming for 52 and UCLA for 45. The Bruins had 35 at halftime.

After the UCLA game Oct. 13, Lamb felt it was time for a visit with Luginbill.

“We had very frank discussions,” Lamb said. “I understand his situation and I told him if ever the time comes, I’d look him in the eye, shake his hand and wish him well. He likes me, and he likes my family. But business is business. If it comes to that, it comes to that. I will accept whatever decision he makes.”

Lamb has known Luginbill for years. Luginbill recruited him when Luginbill was an assistant at Arizona State, and then the two became reacquainted when Lamb was a graduate assistant at Oregon in the late 1970s.

“I wouldn’t want our friendship to get in the way of something he had to do,” Lamb said. “If he needs to make a change . . . I’ll respect that decision.”

Luginbill says no, he is not thinking of making any coaching changes.

“I delegate, but I also accept full responsibility,” Luginbill said. “If I thought coaching was the problem, I would correct it in a minute.

“If things don’t get better, if they don’t get better defensively in the next couple of years, I’m going to get fired.”

Luginbill said he met with all of the defensive coaches after the UCLA game. He wanted to make sure they kept their minds on competing rather than on getting fired.

A football coach lives with this. He works in a tough world with tough people, and firings are part of the package. But then comes a quiet moment at home and a glance at his wife, and the lump in his throat feels like it will strangle him.

That’s the worst part. A man can stand tall, and take criticism, and maybe even learn to accept failure. But when it affects his family, it rips out his heart.

It’s not as if a pink slip is in the mail to Lamb. But no matter how thick your skin is, you hear such talk.

“I’d like to tell you no, but sure it has,” Lamb said. “On one level, it’s just frustrating because I know what Al is going through. The last thing I want to do in the world is fail him. He’s been so good to me. I think a lot of the guy. That hurts as much as anything.

“And then you have a wife and a family, and something like this happens . . . “

Lamb will tell you that the disappointing season has been difficult on the players. He will tell you about the pressure Luginbill faces, and how badly he feels for others. He deflects his own problems as much as possible.

A big man with a soft, gentle voice--except on the practice field--Lamb is warm and cordial, with a dry sense of humor, the kind of guy you might enjoy as a neighbor.

Barry Lamb’s wife, Karen, suffers with him. Barry can go to work each day and release some energy on the practice field. Karen has to watch it all.

She knows what a coach goes through. She played volleyball well enough to be inducted into the Brigham Young athletic Hall of Fame. Then she became a highly successful volleyball coach at UNLV and then at Washington State when Barry was at Idaho. Because of the children, they decided they couldn’t both remain in coaching. She got out. They moved to San Diego.

They have three children--Mackenzie Curtis, 5, Tanner Alexander, 2, and Tucker McKenna, six months. The children have learned early about their daddy and football, how a child’s game sometimes makes a grown man feel like crying.

“Karen talks to them,” Lamb said. “ ‘Daddy is not feeling very good right now.’ It affects you. Unfortunately, it’s difficult to shield kids from how depressed you are and how badly you feel.

“They feel for you, too. That has been difficult. The older boy (Mackenzie) picks up on my emotions, and he can tell when I’m sad or upset, and he becomes that way, too.

“It’s difficult when you’re a coach and that’s your identity and it appears you’re failing. It’s pretty unsettling. We can say what we want. There are lies, damn lies and statistics. Many times, (statistics) are all people understand or want to understand.”

There is hope. First, the difficult times have not eroded the players’ confidence in Lamb. “Everyone has a lot of respect for him,” said senior cornerback Clark Moses. “He’s a great coach. He knows his stuff.”

And against Utah on Saturday, the defense played reasonably well, although the opponent was weak and Lamb said the Aztecs still missed too many tackles (14). But the defense misaligned only once.

“One game does not a season make,” he said. “It makes it almost worse, knowing our offense is so doggone good. Here we are in a situation where, had we been playing average defense, we would have won three or four more games.

“I feel sorry for those guys. I feel bad we couldn’t have done our part.”

Coaches live on time. The contradiction is that time always moves so slowly, yet there is never enough of it. The coaches need a few victories now , and yet they usually would like more time to work out some kinks.

The irony is that progress sometimes only makes things more frustrating. If only we could have played like we did against Utah earlier in the year.

There are reasons why the defense has had a difficult time this season. It is young and inexperienced. Maybe there have been a few coaching mistakes. The defensive cupboard has been barren for years at SDSU, and restocking it will take time.

Make all the lists you want. None of them matter. The reality is that this year’s defense has been disappointing. SDSU coaches sit in their offices, bring in fast food for lunch and desperately try to repair it. The Aztecs played well Saturday. Now, the goal is to put two weeks of solid defense together . . . and then three.

“We just need to go out and play well,” he said, quietly.

Maybe then, things would be OK.

A few minutes later, he walked out into the chilly autumn air.