Edgar grad now leading Stratford football

MARSHFIELD – When Marshall Lehman tells members of his Stratford High School football team what it takes to become a state champion, he speaks from experience – both as a former player himself and as a longtime assistant coach.

Lehman is now the head coach of the Stratford Tigers, following the departure of Jason Tubbs, whom Marshall also replaced as defensive coordinator when Tubbs took over head coaching duties from Cal Tackes in 2013.

“Jason Tubbs had said that he was ready to step down from coaching football and I was interested in possibly taking on the role of doing that,” Lehman told us, as his team prepared for its week 2 non-conference show down with Edgar. “Initially when I was getting out of high school and going on to college, I had it in my mind that I thought I would be a coach someday.”

Lehman is a 2004 graduate of Edgar High School and played football for Head Coach Jerry Sinz from 2000-2003. During that time, Lehman and his teammates twice played in the Div. 5 state final, losing to Osseo-Fairchild in 2000 and defeating Kenosha-St. Joseph for the title in 2001.

In both of those seasons, the Wildcats knocked the Tigers out of the playoffs – first in a Level 3 contest at Stratford in 2000, followed by a state semifinal win in Medford in 2001.

As a player, Lehman and his Wildcats went 3-3 against the Tigers. As a Stratford assistant coach, Marshall is 5-6 versus his alma mater, where he learned a lot from a Hall of Fame coach.

“Just the mentality of being a championship player, being a championship program, always working hard in the offseason to be in the weight room and get bigger, faster and stronger, so that’s something that has come with me wherever I’ve coached. That’s where I feel athletes should be year-round,” said Lehman. “I brought the same kind of workout program that they did in the offseason there to Stratford when I first came here. And then just always being somebody who has emphasized blocking and tackling and hard work in practice all the time every day. That kind of mindset is something that I’ve taken with me in my coaching.”

Lehman served as a varsity baseball assistant coach in Stratford from 2013 to 2019, when he became the head coach and led the Tigers to the Div. 3 state championship. Drew Spaeth took over the head baseball job last year.

“I got my first coaching job in Bruce, WI as a defensive coordinator and also coaching baseball at the varsity level,” Lehman recalled. “I realized that it was definitely something I wanted to continue doing, and yeah, I had an idea in my head that at some point I thought maybe I’d be a head football coach. I ended up being a head baseball coach first. That kind of prepared me for the chance to be a head football coach, and it’s really helped me.”

Since 2013, Lehman has coordinated a Stratford defense which has shut its opponents out 43 times, including eleven in the postseason and 12 in a row during the 2019 season.

“When I was doing the defense, I got to work with the defensive side of things and a couple coaches that were a part of the defense. When you’re the head coach, you’re kind of working with all of the athletes and all of the coaches and all aspects of the game,” Lehman said, when asked what his biggest challenge is going from an assistant to the head coach. “So, there’s more, because now you’re more concerned about special teams, offense and defense instead of just defense, so you get more involved. You also get a chance to be more creative, too, because you can help out on all sides of everything because you are the head coach and you have a say in all of it.”

Lehman got his shot at coaching in Stratford only after his uncle, Troy Bargender, stepped aside to give his nephew an opportunity.

“When I came to Stratford, he was really excited about me coming here and he did step down from some of his coaching roles so I could get an opportunity on the coaching staffs for baseball and for football,” Lehman told us.

Among Marshall’s assistants is his brother Blake, who works with receivers, defensive backs and special teams. Both are also Technology Education teachers in the district, and Marshall serves as the Youth Apprenticeship coordinator. Their brother, Reed Lehman, is the head football coach at Neillsville High School.

Marshall and his wife Brook have two girls, who turn 10 and 8 in September and October.