Checking in with former South Carolina special teams coordinator Pete Lembo

Former South Carolina special teams coordinator Pete Lembo was one of the most well-liked assistant coaches during his time in Columbia and now the former Gamecock coach is running his own program again at the University at Buffalo.

Lembo, whose Bulls are off to a 3-1 start, joined the GamecockCentral Takeover on 107.5 The Game this week for a check-in about his current team and some thoughts on South Carolina.

Below is a transcript and video.

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GamecockCentral Takeover: First of all, congratulations on the big win this past weekend over Northern Illinois. I imagine there’s a lot of good vibes and good moods around the program this week, huh?

Pete Lembo: No doubt. But we’re trying to take it in stride, and we got a really good UConn test coming up. They just dismantled Florida Atlantic last week at home, and we got to travel down there. So there wasn’t a whole lot of time to celebrate. We got back pretty late on Sunday. Saturday night and turned our focus to UConn by Sunday night. But thank you so much.

GCT: Coach Lembo, Chris Clark here. Thanks for taking the time to do this on short notice. I know you’re busy. I want to go back to the end of the game there, and if you could just recap that for the fans here. I thought that was probably particularly fun for you because there was a little “Lembo ball” at the end of the game there with you guys making a huge special teams play, I believe, in regulation to send this thing to overtime.

Pete Lembo: Yeah, well, first of all, I got to tell you, it’s so good to hear from so many Gamecock fans on Twitter and things like that and just the text messages. And, you know, in a lot of ways, I feel like I’ve never left. I think everybody knows that the Lembos are extremely grateful for the fabulous three years we had in Columbia, and that’s home for us still in many, many ways. So just staying in touch with people like yourselves, it’s really special for us.

But, yeah, the end of the game—first of all, our defense played fabulous. The last three plays of regulation forced a field goal when NIU could have won the game. That sent it to overtime. Then we had another three fabulous plays of defense to force them to kick a field goal, and we blocked that one. So now our offense goes out there, and we could be pretty conservative and just get it in position to kick the game winner ourselves. So it was really an incredible finish to the game and really cool that special teams played a part in it.

GCT: Coach, Wes Mitchell here. Great to hear your voice. I’m curious, I know obviously you’ve been a successful head coach before, but the game has sort of adjusted. It’s a different game than maybe it was then. What do you think your time here, having command of the special teams at South Carolina, taught you, and what have you taken from that experience into your job there at Buffalo?

Pete Lembo: Sure. Well, whether it was Shane Beamer or some of the other guys like Mike Norvell that I worked for when I went back to be an assistant, you know, you pick up some good nuggets everywhere you’ve been. South Carolina was certainly no exception to that.

But the nice thing about coaching special teams is you’re still always building relationships with every guy on the roster. I went from 15 years as a head coach to several years as a special teams coordinator, but that entire time, your mindset never changes in terms of the relationships you’re building from the top to the bottom of your roster. So jumping back into this position here, I feel like my time as a special teams coach really helped in that regard.

And then the second thing I would say is just recruiting in the SEC and the competitive nature of recruiting. Seeing what we did and how we did it at South Carolina and working with some fabulous staff, it really allowed us to hit the ground running here and put together what we think is a pretty good Group of Five-type recruiting class so far.

GCT: Talking to former South Carolina assistant, now current head coach at the University of Buffalo, Pete Lembo. Coach, of course, the objective is to win every game, but what does success look like for you in your tenure at Buffalo going forward?

Pete Lembo: I think it’s always just reaching your potential. Sometimes you don’t really know what the potential of your team is until you get to December and look back. I can tell you these kids have been on board since day one. They’re really high-character guys. They practice hard, they play hard, they’re resilient, and they’re poised. I think they’ve bought into what we’re doing as a staff. So we’ll see how it ends, but right now, we’re just taking it day by day.

It’s certainly good to be ahead of schedule in terms of the wins and losses, but I don’t think that would affect what we’re doing and how we’re doing it. We realize we still have a really long way to go to build the program.

[Win two tickets to the South Carolina-Ole Miss football game]

GCT: Coach, you mentioned it earlier, trying to put that big win behind you—24-hour rule, I’m sure—and get ready for UConn this week. For the Gamecock fans here who maybe want to check you guys out, can you give us just a little preview of a couple of things to watch in this matchup?

Pete Lembo: Absolutely. Well, our defense has really played lights out all season. It’s been fun to watch those guys; they just have a zeal about them. Our defensive coordinator, Joe Bowen, was actually a GA with us at South Carolina, Shane’s first year in 2021, and he’s doing a fabulous job running that unit for us. So we definitely play hard and inspired on defense.

We’re still a work in progress on offense and special teams, but we’ve got a solid O-line and a good group of running backs and an athletic quarterback who can run it a little bit. Hopefully, we’ll do a better job this week of staying on the field offensively and geeting those defensive guys more of a break. But overall, we play hard, we play with some pride, and we play for 60 minutes. I think knowing the wonderful fans at South Carolina, who know and understand football, they would appreciate that about this team.

And, hey, we love to be somebody’s second favorite team. So hearing from all these Gamecock fans who we know are rooting for us down there in South Carolina is really special for Jen and me.

GCT: Coach, since you mentioned South Carolina again, I feel like I’ve got to ask. Have you had a chance to keep up with what’s going on in Columbia from a team or special teams standpoint?

Pete Lembo: Oh, absolutely. Following it closely and always rooting for the guys. I know Kai is having a great year. It kind of reminds me of two seasons ago. We know he was a little banged up last year, but it’s great to see him respond. And just the special teams, but really the whole team.

Before I left in late January, I really felt like we were putting together a special team. To see the success—how they’re running the football, how hard the defense is playing, and how some of the veteran guys like Tonka and Boogie are stepping up and taking a real leadership role — it’s so rewarding to see. In a lot of ways, it feels like I’ve never left because our hearts are still there in a lot of ways. The friendships and relationships are a really big deal to Jen and I and our entire family.

GCT: Well, Coach, like you said, you’re still very much beloved here in Columbia. We certainly miss the history lessons and movie reviews in your weekly press conferences.

Pete Lembo: Well, you just got to turn on the UB press conference. Just go on YouTube. You guys are missing out on your fix—have at it.

GCT: Absolutely. We appreciate your time, Coach. Best of luck to you and Buffalo as the season moves forward.

Pete Lembo: All right, Go Cocks, Go Bulls!

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