By Robbie Ross
SouthernPigskin.com

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The two head coaches will be on opposing sidelines for the first time on Homecoming weekend at Furman University, where they had a role in 9 of Furmanxe2x80x99s 13 league championships.

nItxe2x80x99s homecoming this weekend at Furman University as the Paladins welcome the Mercer Bears to Greenville.xc2xa0 On the field two teams with identical 4-3 records, hopes to remain in the SoCon Title race and an FCS Playoff berth will do battle for the 2nd time in Paladin Stadium.xc2xa0 Mercer head coach Bobby Lamb is in the midst of building a program he took over after a 41-year hiatus.xc2xa0 Furman head coach Clay Hendrix is trying to rebuild a program that has won a record 13 SoCon Titles.xc2xa0 The two head coaches will be on opposing sidelines for the first time on Homecoming weekend at Furman University, where they had a role in 9 of Furmanxe2x80x99s 13 league championships.xc2xa0

nCommerce, Georgia, eighty-six miles from the campus of Furman University, is a small town in Northeast Georgia with one of the richest high school football traditions in the state.xc2xa0 Home to 6,788 people in the northeast corner of Jackson County, Commerce High School has won 17 Region Titles and 2 State Titles.xc2xa0 Commerce, Georgia is the hometown of Bobby Lamb and Clay Hendrix as the two grew up across the street from one another on Dogwood Trail from the time the two were in seventh grade.xc2xa0 Lamb said the two were friends long before the move to Dogwood Trail. xe2x80x9cWe had always been friends at school growing up but then moving right across the street from him we became even better friends, best friends.xe2x80x9dxc2xa0 Growing up in Commerce sports were a way of life.xc2xa0 While both Hendrix and Lamb played football that was the only sport that they played together.xc2xa0 Lamb played basketball in the winter, played tennis and ran track in the spring.xc2xa0 Hendrix wrestled in the winter and played golf in the spring. xe2x80x9cEverything was centered around being a better football player but away from sports we would hunt squirrels, fish and just I guess what you would call hang outxe2x80x9d.xc2xa0

nBobby Lamb and Clay Hendrix have been on the same sideline of a football field for at least 326 games, although some in Commerce say that number is well over 400 counting Pee Wee Football and Junior High School.xc2xa0 At Commerce High the two were coached by Lambxe2x80x99s father Ray Lamb and compiled a 41-8-2 record with three Region titles.xc2xa0 Their high school career culminated with the 1981 Class AA Georgia High School State Championship with Lamb as the quarterback and Hendrix as an offensive lineman and linebacker.xc2xa0 Lambxe2x80x99s brother Hal, now the head coach at Calhoun, GA High School, was also on the state title team as a wide receiver.xc2xa0 xe2x80x9cIt couldnxe2x80x99t have ended any better with my dad being the coach, my best friend being the linebacker slash offensive guard and then my brother being the wide receiver.xe2x80x9d

nThe next step in the best friends lives took them to Greenville, SC and Furman University.xc2xa0 As Paladin players the two racked up three SoCon titles, three 1-AA (Now FCS) playoff appearances, 4 Division 1-A (now FBS) wins (NC State twice, South Carolina and Georgia Tech) and National Runner-Up in 1985.xc2xa0 During their time playing for Furman Hendrix and Lamb compiled a record quite similar to their high school record at 39-10-1.xc2xa0 Over their 8 years playing football together at Commerce and then at Furman Lamb and Hendrixxe2x80x99s record was 80-18-2, playing the last possible game in their senior season at both levels.xc2xa0

nThe 1986 and 1987 football seasons were the only two seasons from 1978 to 2007 that Lamb and Hendrix were on different sidelines as Lamb stayed at Furman as a student assistant coach and Hendrix moved on to NC State as a Graduate Assistant when then Furman coach Dick Sheridan was tabbed to lead the Wolfpack.xc2xa0 The 1988 season would prove to be a special one for the two coaches as they were reunited at Furman.xc2xa0 Hendrix was hired as the Offensive Line Coach and Lamb was promoted to Quarterbacks Coach.xc2xa0 The Paladins would go on to win the 1-AA National Championship defeating Georgia Southern in Pocatello, Idaho.xc2xa0 The Paladins would also win the first of 6 SoCon titles with Lamb and Hendrix roaming the sidelines together in Greenville.xc2xa0 The quarterback on the 1999 SoCon title team Justin Hill said playing for the coaches was a privilege for he and all his teammates.xc2xa0 xe2x80x9cBoth Clay and Bobby are first class people who happen to be fantastic coaches.xc2xa0 My teammates and I thought highly of both guys, and we were fortunate to learn from them as some of the best in the SoCon.xe2x80x9dxc2xa0 The 1999 team continued the Paladin tradition of beating FBS foes, defeating the North Carolina Tarheels 28-3 in Chapel Hill that season.xc2xa0 During the seasons of 1988 to 2001 as Paladin Assistant Coaches Lamb and Hendrix helped lead Furman to a 112-58 record, 5 SoCon titles, a National Runner-Up in 2001 and the 1988 National title.xc2xa0 After the 2001 season, Bobby Lamb was promoted to Furman Head Coach, Lamb retained Hendrix as the Offensive Line Coach when Bobby Johnson was hired at Vanderbilt.xc2xa0 From 2002 to 2006, Furman continued success notching a 43-19 record with a SoCon title and 3 FCS Playoff appearances.xc2xa0 After the 2006 season, Hendrix moved on to coach the Offensive Line for the Air Force Academy.xc2xa0 Lamb would continue to coach Furman through the 2010 season before being tabbed to resurrect football at Mercer in January of 2011.xc2xa0 All told for the 19 seasons that Hendrix and Lamb were on the sidelines coaching for Furman together they compiled a 155-74 record. Including their playing days, the Paladins record with Lamb and Hendrix wearing purple was 194-84-1 over a remarkable 23 seasons.

nBobby Lamb and Clay Hendrix, childhood playmates, high school State Champions, college teammates, coaching colleagues and now on Saturday opponents for the first time ever.xc2xa0 Ben Hall, Head Coach at Flowery Branch High School in Georgia, played for and coached with Lamb and Hendrix says after all the two have been through this week canxe2x80x99t be easy.xc2xa0 xe2x80x9cI think both guys will internalize their emotions but you know that they are there.xc2xa0 You want to eliminate all the externalities and focus on the game but they do play a role in the weekxe2x80x99s preparation for sure.xe2x80x9dxc2xa0 Homecoming Saturday at Furman will have the Paladins and Bears looking to stay alive in the SoCon Title race on the field.xc2xa0 Homecoming Saturday at Furman on the sidelines it will have two best friends entering new territory, two best friends wearing different colors in Paladin Stadium for the first time and two best friends looking across a field from each other that they shared for 23 years.xc2xa0xc2xa0