FRENCHTOWN — Les Meyer stood along the fence quietly watching Frenchtown’s football game versus Polson in the first round of the Class A state playoffs last Friday.
The former Fairfield coach is now the superintendent of schools at Frenchtown, having hung up his whistle in 2020 after 23 years — and 181 wins and three state championships — leading the Eagles.
“I don’t say too much, probably say some things under my breath,” Meyer said of his current position of fan and administrator rather than coach.
But while he was tuned in to Frenchtown’s 56-19 win over Polson, he was also receiving updates from around Montana. Four of his former players — Aaron Barnett, Tyler Palmer, Jaxon Allen and Derek Lear — coached teams into this year's playoffs.
(Meyer's sons, Tucker and Ryder, are also college football coaches. Tucker is a defensive analyst and nickels coach at Fresno State, and Ryder is a defensive assistant at Nevada.)
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Barnett has now taken over at Fairfield and guided the Eagles to a 31-8 win over Shepherd in the Class B playoffs. Fairfield will host Three Forks in the quarterfinals after the Wolves, with Palmer as their offensive coordinator, beat Anaconda 48-14 in the first round.
Allen is the head coach at 6-Man Grass Range-Winnett, which got a 50-30 win over Chester-Joplin-Inverness on Saturday.
Lear’s Lewistown squad lost to Hardin 22-14.
“They’re having success, so I think it’s about them and their staffs, and they have good players. I think what they’re probably learning is good players make good coaches,” Meyer said. “And just first and foremost, they’re really good people, and that’s exuding to their teams.”
No matter the talent, of which there was plenty, Meyer’s Fairfield teams all had the same expectations. They didn’t talk about winning, of which there was plenty, but the focus was doing everything they could to the best of their ability. They were physical, disciplined teams.
Meyer’s players learned more than blocking and tackling and Xs and Os. They learned respect and responsibility.
“He created such a structure that even 20-some years later, 25 years later, that structure that he created is still imprinted in my mind,” Allen said. “So, when I took this coaching job, first thing I thought of was like, ‘OK, what was Les’ structure?’
“Because I loved it, and we responded so well as high school kids to it, I want to bring that to the school, to Grass Range-Winnett.”
Allen has coached the Grass Range-Winnett co-op to unprecedented success. The Rangers lost to C-J-I in double overtime in last year’s state championship game. They’re undefeated this season, having beaten C-J-I in both the regular season and playoffs. The Rangers are hosting Bainville in this week’s quarterfinal round of the 6-Man playoffs.
The only state football title in the history of Grass Range or Winnett came when the schools were part of a co-op with Lewistown and Lear guided the Golden Eagles to the 2022 Class A championship.
In the Class B playoffs, a pair of Meyer proteges will be meeting in a head-to-head matchup when Three Forks visits Fairfield on Friday.
“I was telling the kids it’s personal in a lot of ways,” Palmer said of returning to Fairfield as Three Forks’ offensive coordinator. “I told them we’re going to be driving into town, we’re going to drive by my old house, we’re going to drive by the park where I used to ride bikes with my friends, we’re going to drive by the swimming pool where I used to swim, we’re going to go in the locker rooms that I was in and then obviously on the field.
“But I’m excited about it. It certainly feels different just because I have a lot of fun memories, and there’s still so many people there that I care about and have a good relationship. It’ll be really exciting and I'm looking forward to it.”
Barnett, on the other hand, is in his fifth season as Fairfield’s head coach. The Eagles were a whisker away from entering this week’s quarterfinals with an unblemished record. Their only loss this season came in a 34-33 thriller against Florence.
“Discipline, right? Come out and play with your heart on your sleeve one way or the other, always giving your effort," Barnett said of the lessons he learned from Meyer. “And that’s huge for any kind of success in life, right? And so not just on the football field, but everywhere else if we’re disciplined in the way we do things.
“And I learned a lot of that from Les. I didn’t get to go to school here for very long, but when I was here, Les was a huge influence on me.”
That sentiment is echoed by Meyer’s former players. Of course he’s a hall of fame coach, but the guys carrying on his football legacy consider him a hall of fame person.
“It was apparent to us how much everything meant to him, especially us,” Palmer said. “I don’t know anybody, whether it was somebody that I played with or other people, that wouldn’t have been willing to honestly die on the field for him. … It was a combination of things, but it was how much we meant to him and how much he cared for us.”
Meyer will again be monitoring multiple games this Friday.
But his wife, Jolyn, is ready for him to get back on the sideline. So too are his former players.
“I hope he gets back into coaching,” Palmer said. “The kids need him. Young people deserve a guy like that. And especially a game like football — I mean, I love football, and it's changed so many people’s life. The virtues and benefits the game provides will forever outweigh the risk.
“And we need more guys like that.”
If — when? — that happens, it won’t be quietly.
