Tim Lester adopted a blue-collar mentality from San Francisco 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh during Lester’s last season as Elmhurst College’s head football coach.

That mentality was created to inspire players to work harder every day in workouts to have an edge over their opponents. Seeing it succeed for the 49ers when Harbaugh took over in 2011, Lester kicked the mentality into full drive at the start of Elmhurst’s 2012 season.

“We got blue-collar dog tags that said ‘BCM,’” senior wide receiver Chase Hamby said. “And we have shirts we wear before games and they say ‘BCM,’ too.”

Sticking with the blue-collar philosophy, Lester produced one of the most successful seasons in program history. Division-III Elmhurst went 10-2 in 2012 and snagged its first College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin championship title since 1980.

While the Bluejays hoped to produce another winning season, they got off to a rocky start after Lester departed for Syracuse in January. Starting quarterback Joe Camiliere was shocked when Lester left the program after the relationships he had made at Elmhurst.

Camiliere said the seniors took Lester’s departure even harder because he was the one that recruited them and helped them grow.

“At first I was disappointed because I had so much respect for him,” Hamby said, “but then I understood his opportunity and became concerned with what would happen to us.”

Off the football field, Camiliere described Lester as being more than just a coach to many of the players. In the two years Camiliere knew Lester and worked with him on offense, he became more than a coach to many.

“Coach Lester was almost like a father figure to us,” Hamby said. “He was a down-to-earth guy and he really took care of his players.”

Lester was mostly leaving for his young family, said Joe Adam, current Elmhurst head coach. The seven-day-a-week job as head coach didn’t give him a lot of time with his wife, Dawn, and four sons. The opportunity for a Division-III coach to go Division I, Adam added, was also a perk.

After Lester left for Syracuse, Elmhurst players didn’t know who their coach would be. But the team’s anxiety eased a little more than a week later when Adam — formerly Elmhurst’s defensive coordinator — was named head coach.

“When he was announced as the coach, everyone was back on board,” Camiliere said. “He’s been a part of the coaching staff for the last few years.”

Adam joined the Bluejays in 2007, a year before Lester. After spending five seasons as the defensive coordinator, Adam finally found himself in a position to lead the offense, as well.

One of his goals is to get back to the success the team had last year. When Lester and Adam implemented the blue-collar mentality, they achieved their long-term goal of winning the CCIW. It was a good place for Adam to begin with the 2013 team.

Adam kicked the blue-collar mentality into overdrive at the start of the season, putting more seniors in positions of leadership and introducing an NFL-style conditioning program to the Bluejays.

But after losing 19 seniors and having a new starting quarterback, three offensive linemen and a tight end, the offensive players are still acclimating to one another.

“This team is still trying to find its identity and who is going to drive the engine for us the rest of the season,” Adam said.

Now finding himself in a position of leadership for the offense, senior wide receiver Hamby hopes to get the team out of its 1-2 slump.

Though Elmhurst just suffered back-to-back road losses, Adam still feels the blue-collar mentality will work and help the school continue its legacy.

“What we are going through is not unlike coach Lester’s situation up there at Syracuse, ” Adam said. “It just takes a little time offensively to deal with communication and understand where routes are being run. ”

Some of the offensive struggles are no different than what Lester experienced in his second and third years at Elmhurst. Knowing that Lester has that experience, Adam reaches out to him when he can.

Adam said he is aware that an offense changes each season and accepts the challenges as the head coach that will lead the team in the right direction.

“With coach Lester’s help we put ourselves on the map,” Adam said. “Now it’s time to think big and dream big.”

Published on September 24, 2013 at 11:53 pm

Contact Melissa: qsbronso@syr.edu