PECULIAR - Scott Jermain, head boys basketball coach at Raymore-Peculiar High School has been named the recipient of the 2020 Paul Lambert Coach of the Year Award. The award is presented annually to the top high school boys basketball coach in the Kansas City metro and is selected by a committee, including retired William Jewell men’s basketball coach Larry Holley. Because of COVID-19, no onsite presentation was made.
This season Jermain’s team finished with a 25-4 record, the most wins in 25 years for Ray-Pec. The Panthers were undefeated at home, champions of the Cardinal Division of the William Jewell High School Holiday Classic, District 13 and the Suburban Big 6 Conference, while advancing to the Missouri Class 5 quarterfinals. Additionally, the Panthers were ranked No. 1 in the Kansas City metro by 810 Varsity for five weeks.
The 2019-2020 season was Jermain’s 14th at the helm of the Raymore-Peculiar program. He was also named Coach of the Year in the Suburban Conference Gold Division for the third time as well as District Coach of the Year. He is the second Raymore-Peculiar coach to win the award, joining Bill Lenz in 1992.
Jermain began his coaching career as a student assistant coach at Northwest Missouri State University followed by one year as an assistant coach at William Jewell College and six years as the head coach at Pleasant Hill High School before moving on to Raymore-Peculiar. He is a graduate of Northwest Missouri State, married to wife Dana has three children, including his son Jordan who was a first team All-State selection for the Panthers this season.
The Paul Lambert Award is named after Paul Lambert Jr., a 1956 graduate of William Jewell College. Lambert died tragically in a hotel fire in 1978 and his widow, Carol Lambert Spence, established the award in his memory through William Jewell College. His coaching career began at the high school level in Moberly, Mo., and he coached at Drake University, Pittsburg State (Kan.), Hardin-Simmons (Texas) and Southern Illinois. He had just accepted the head coaching position at Auburn University at the time of his death.