He has trained NFL veterans and some of the brightest young stars emerging in college football, UCLA wideout Rico Flores among them.
In fact, Lem Adams has trained some of California's top prep athletes through the years and, showcasing his versatility, worked with some renowned UFC talents -- including Yan Xiaonan, Ryan Loder and Max Pain, among myriad others.
A transition into collegiate coaching seemed inevitable for Adams, who started his collegiate playing career under Mike Price at Washington State, finished at Florida A&M and then played quarterback at various levels of professional football.
After meeting with multiple Power Conference staffs and some of brightest young college coaches, notably UNLV offensive coordinator Brennan Marion, Adams had opportunities at the Football Bowls Subdivision level.
Mostly, however, the jobs were to start out in recruiting departments.
Then, Adams got wisdom from a trusted coaching mentor.
"He said, 'You need to go get a job because you want to be on the field, that’s your goal,'" Adams told FootballScoop. "'Stay strong in your goal, don’t waver from it. You don’t have on-field coaching, you don’t have field coaching experience.'
"I said, 'OK. I'm going to trust the process, all I need is opportunity.'"
Enter blossoming new NAIA program, Simpson University. The Red Hawks are preparing for their first full season in college football.
Now, Adams is preparing for his first season coaching college football -- as Red Hawks wide receivers coach.
"I met with Coach (Shawn) Daniel, the head coach, and Coach Sandow, who I had known from his time at San Jose State," Adams said. "They were so great and welcoming to me and they said we would absolutely love to have you, you can get your own (position) room, get your feet wet. It's a chance to learn more from an Xs and Os standpoint.
"It's a great opportunity for me. Coach (Troy) Taylor at Stanford, some coaches at San Jose State, Coach Marion, and they talked and shared their experiences with me, their paths in how they started and where they are now."
Adams has implemented a tiered process into his inaugural coaching role and prioritized the following elements:
-- Getting to know the guys during spring camp. "Learning the names of each player was my first step," he said.
-- Immersing in the system, formations, signals to become a better teacher to the players.
-- Setting up meetings with wideouts and scheduling field training sessions to create a dynamic culture in the room. Adams has studied many rooms and had been particularly impressed by top young coach Chansi Stuckey a year ago at Notre Dame.
-- Finally, "Implementing consistent techniques that break down steps to create a dynamic receiver."
Now, Adams is full speed ahead.
This is a great new program with some really good coaches and, I think we can be very successful here in the near future," Adams said. "We just joined the Frontier Conference, arguably the top conference in NAIA, we have a 10-game season this year.
"Being able to go into this first full year, get into a top conference, be a part of this staff, is a great thing for us and I'm excited to be part of it."