When Peter Rossomando took on the Lamar head coaching role after a challenging 1-10 season in 2022, he saw potential where others saw struggle. With the appointment of Jaime Taylor as Lamar’s 16th president in 2021 and the arrival of Director of Athletics Jeff O’Malley in 2022, there was a clear shift towards a more sports-focused approach.

The improvements began off the field before the 2023 campaign with the installation of a new state-of-the-art, video-integrated scoreboard and some quality-of-life improvements for the student-athletes, such as upgrading the fieldhouse’s water fountains. On the field, the Cardinals began to shine.

The 2023 season was a historic one for Lamar (6-5), marking its first winning season and the most conference victories (5) since 2018. This success has boosted the team's morale and garnered support from a growing fan base.

“Our players bought in right away from the time we got here,” Rossomando said. “They jumped in with two feet. Many players made a leap of faith to stay here when they could’ve left, and hopefully, we made their experience a little bit better in year one. Now, we’re full steam ahead. There are no more low expectations. There are just expectations.”

What are the expectations for a Lamar football program that was one win over Nicholls away from winning a conference championship and possibly winning a tiebreaker for an automatic bid to the FCS playoffs?

“We sniffed around the conference championship a bit last year, and now we have to make a splash,” Rossomando said. “We have to be in the conversation (for the title) the last week of the season. That has to be the goal, and our players believe that. The recruits we brought in understand that we’re moving in that direction. We’ve reached a point where we need to temper some of the enthusiasm to get our football team ready to play.”

While Lamar was vastly improved on the football field last year, Rossomando understands he and the staff need more time to build the quality depth necessary to compete with the best FCS programs. However, the veteran coach believes his football team has advanced to a new level of study.

“The operation of what we do is way better,” he said. “It’s the way we take the field, the way checks are made (at the line of scrimmage), it’s just way different. It feels like we’re in ‘Football 200’ to use a college acronym. We’ve taken that step above ‘Football 100’, and we’re headed to the next level.”

One reason for optimism entering 2024 is the improvement of senior quarterback Robert Coleman, who passed for 1,954 yards and 16 touchdowns with only seven interceptions.

“We showed up last year with a lot of unknowns at the quarterback position. We brought in Robert to compete, and he won the job,” Rossomando said. “He was more of a game manager last year, which is what we asked him to do. This year, he has an opportunity to grab hold of the team and make us exponentially better on offense.”

The area where Rossomando expects to see the most improvement from Coleman this season is against the top competition. Lamar’s offense scored more than 21 points in only one of its five losses, yet equaled or surpassed that mark in each victory. 

“When your margin is just a little bit smaller, as far as the level of play, that quarterback has to play well and put you in a situation to win,” Rossomando said. “(Coleman) was able to make the big plays in the games we won. But in those games where maybe the talent was superior to ours against UIW and Nicholls, he didn’t make enough plays. He understands that, and that’s where I want to see him improve this year.”

While optimism around the program has risen, Rossomando sees areas where Lamar needs to improve.

“Being older doesn’t make you better. Being better makes you better,” Rossomando said. “One area we didn’t hold up well against UIW and Nicholls last year was up front, so we made some moves there. We still need some guys on both sides of the line, but we see the improvement.”

DCTF’s Take

Lamar was one of the best surprises last year, though it wasn’t a surprise to Rossomando. He was adamant the Cardinals would show improvement last year, and he was right. However, some believe Lamar might’ve overachieved by a win or two based on its talent level and depth at key positions along the line of scrimmage.

What should we make of Rossomando trying to temper the enthusiasm? Simply put, he’s a veteran coach who understands it takes time to build a roster capable of competing with the best FCS teams, and that’s where he expects to be every year. Lamar might not be ready to make a deep playoff run or earn an at-large bid to the playoffs. But the Cardinals are closer than they were last year, and that’s quite a leap forward.