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Kansas quarterback Adam Barmann heaves a pass over Colorado's Walter Boye-Doe at Memorial Stadium in this Oct. 28, 2006, file photo. Barmann now works with the quarterbacks at Free State High.
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Opinion
- High school sports editor Matt Tait has watched three of Barmann's practices. Check out his blog
Free State assistant coach Adam Barmann, left, works with a player during Monday's practice. Barmann was a quarterback at KU from 2003 to 2006.
Free State football team ready to roll
2007 was a season that resulted in a 7-3 finish for the Free State football team. The 'Friday Night Lights' of 2008 are fast approaching and with a new season also comes new opportunity - but at Free State, the season goals always remain the same.
Of all the perks of Adam Barmann's new job - he was recently named an assistant football coach at Free State High, where he'll also work as a paraprofessional - the biggest might be a potential relief from his duties as the Barmann household lunch-maker.
See, every morning since who knows when, Barmann has awakened early, headed into the kitchen and put together a gem of a lunch for wife Ashley before she leaves for work. He does it right: a turkey and cheese sandwich. A Nutri-Grain bar. Some Cheez-Its. ("Every once in a while she gets one of those Easy Mac bowls, too," Barmann says proudly).
But with a new job now under way - the hours of which will not lend themselves to culinary practices - Barmann is hoping Ashley will step in and fill the role.
"I think that might be something I can talk her into," he says.
Whether he is successful in that endeavor, Barmann, who played quarterback at Kansas University from 2003 to 2006, is hoping to contribute to a Firebirds team coming off a 7-3 season in '07.
After graduating from KU in '06 with a major in sports management and a minor in business, Barmann spent the next two years working at a local golf course and recreation center and contemplating his next move. He'd always been interested in the prospect of coaching, and when the assistant position opened up at Free State, he got on the phone with Firebirds head coach Bob Lisher.
"I had been thinking about it for a while, and I wasn't sure exactly what I wanted to do," says Barmann, a graduate of West Platte High in Missouri. "But I figured this was something I needed to give a shot."
Lisher, seeing an opportunity to provide his quarterback corps with a battle-tested resource, offered him the position.
And based on a week's worth of practice, the decision seems to be going swimmingly.
"He played quarterback his entire life, so he knows the position," says Lisher. "He knows the drills. He's been through the fire. I think the experience he brings as a player will help our guys out tremendously."
The players, meanwhile, many of who grew up watching him play on Saturday afternoons in the fall, seem to have taken to him, as well.
"He's young enough where he can kind of connect with us," said Cameron Schmidt, who is currently battling for the Firebirds' starting quarterback spot.
And, apparently, vice versa.
Asked whether receivers have complained about sore hands as a result of Barmann's passes, Schmidt quipped, "Maybe mine, but not Barmann's."
So far, the Firebirds' newest coach seems to be loving his new positions. The para job is treating him well, he says, as is the switch from the field to the sideline.
It seems the only thing that hasn't gone quite according to plan - yet, anyway - is a certain lunch-making arrangement he hoped to spring following the start of his new job.
"It's starting to work," Barmann said during a break in Thursday afternoon's practice. "But I'm still making the turkey sandwiches."
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Comments
Rivethead (anonymous) says...
Adam didn't get the respect he deserved as a KU QB. I'm glad to see he's finding success post-college.
Adam: They're called 'Hot Pockets' man. They're in the freezer isle. She'll love them.
August 22, 2008 at 7:30 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
zissou (anonymous) says...
Great news for LHS.
August 22, 2008 at 7:54 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
DSommersby (anonymous) says...
Congrats to Adam on the coaching front. I saw him at the new Facilty opening and tour for fans and the guy looked to be in incredible shape still. He played his rear off at Nebraska his senior year and we almost got it done in OT there. I hope this year we get it done.
August 22, 2008 at 8:18 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
txrockchalk (anonymous) says...
Adam also did an incredible job his first game to appear in for KU, a relief role on the road at Texas A&M. That was another close one we almost won.
August 22, 2008 at 9:47 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
troutsee (anonymous) says...
I'll never forget his 400+ performance against NU in Lincoln his senior year. I was there. Barman and his gritty band of Hawks silenced the overflow crowd that witnessed an electrifying comeback by the Hawks. We lost that game on a 3rd and forever when a husker wide out obviously pushed off our CB (not called of course). That was one of our 6 heartbreaking losses that year but served as a spring board to last year. There will be no let down this year....bank on it.
August 22, 2008 at 10:05 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
rgreene (Ryan Greene) says...
Adam Barmann is an absolutely great man. Hope this is the start of a fruitful coaching career.
August 22, 2008 at 10:15 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
Appoggiatura (anonymous) says...
I agree, he never gets credit for that A&M game in '03. That was a very hostile situation he was thrown in and I thought he played well. Too bad about Nebraska in '06, would have been sweet vindication for him. That one's on Quataro.
August 22, 2008 at 11:37 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
sevenyearhawk (anonymous) says...
Good luck, kid ... the cards just never seemed to fall right for you after that debut at A&M.
I was at Northwestern when they ran a fullback option, and Barrman was the receiver - he just about had his head separated from his body!!
August 22, 2008 at 11:45 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
jhwkfan162515 (anonymous) says...
Adam Barmann never really lived up to his potential here. He hit a wall sometime in his sophomore season and kept KU mired in mediocrity a lot longer than they could have been. What kinds of "experiences" does he have to draw from when he coaches? Throwing one incomplete pass after another each game? Getting pulled from games to make way for better quarterbacks against K-State in 2004 and Colorado in 2006? Being a major contributor to the quarterback soap opera that plagued Mangino and kept us out of bowl games in 2004 and 2006? If I were a Free State player, I would find it difficult to look up to him. Thank goodness we're living in the Todd Reesing era now!
August 23, 2008 at 9:31 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )
nschmi04 (anonymous) says...
162515,
Why be such a prick?
August 23, 2008 at 9:45 a.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )