Coaching a high school football team is one thing. Coaching a team when your son is an integral part of it is a different scenario.

Just ask long-time Barrington High School assistant coach Jim Anderson and head coach Sandy Gorham.

Jim’s son, James, is a senior who’s in his first season as the Eagles starting quarterback.

Anderson Sr. is in his 32nd year as a volunteer assistant for the Eagles.

“I started coaching (James) when he was seven years old in Pop Warner football,” Jim Anderson said. “I’m a football guy and wanted to stay involved. I’ve been involved with all of his sports. It also was youth basketball and baseball.

“It was something natural for me to do as a coach. I’ve been coaching in the town for so many years (he started in 1990). It was natural for me to make sure that I stayed involved especially when my kids (including his daughter Primrose) were coming through the system.”

Having your father as a coach theoretically can be a path filled with pot holes.

“It has its good and bad parts,” James Anderson said. “Obviously living in the same house, everything’s about football. It’s also nice to have him out there to finish my senior year with him.”

Fortunately for James, he’s received zero flack from his teammates and the community in general because he’s part of the same team as his dad.

“Nothing like that has happened,” James Anderson said. “Everything’s been good and that’s how I have fun.”

The Eagles certainly had “fun” last spring when they captured the Division II Super Bowl. Their quest for a repeat currently is headed in the right direction. This year’s team finished the regular season 6-2 overall and 4-2 in Division II-A.

Gorham also knows what it’s like to coach a son — his son Luke was a standout player on recent Barrington football teams. Luke graduated last year.

“I always told Luke you’re not going to get a position because you’re my son and vice-versa,” Gorham said. “They have to be treated like any other player. It can be a great experience or not so great an experience.

“The father has to realize his son has to be treated like anybody else. Sometimes it’s hard. A lot of times I would defer to other coaches.”

Jim Anderson also has the same mindset.

“The best advice I’ve given James is that when we step between the white lines I’m a coach and you’re a player,” he said. “You’ve got to respect that. As long as we keep that line, once we go home we can be father and son.”

Gorham can tell when he has a player whose father has coached that boy.

“Most of the time kids have knowledge of the game that other kids don’t,” he said. “Kids have knowledge of the game because their father loves the game. They go to games together and watch games on TV.

“Luke grew up on the sideline. Brigham Dunphy (last season’s starting quarterback) grew up with his father in Pop Warner and they got into a coaches point of view as opposed to a parents point of view.”

Dunphy was an All-State selection last season. James Anderson was his backup.

“James changed from center to quarterback his freshman year,” Gorham said. “That requires a lot of hard work and a different mentality especially with the (triple-option) offense I run. It took him awhile to get accustomed to playing quarterback. Brigham always was a quarterback while James was learning to be a quarterback.

“He had a great player in front of him and didn’t get as much playing time mostly because we had 24 seniors. He got mostly third- and fourth-quarter minutes against second-team personnel.”

Jim Anderson, who played football at Brown University, has seen up close the effort his son has put in while guiding the Eagles to a winning record.

“The dedication and commitment and the work ethic James has put into his sport has been phenomenal over the last two or three years,” he said. “He wanted to excel and wanted to continue to grow and learn that quarterback job.

“He’s been working diligently with a lot of passion, enthusiasm and focus. He’s earned every bit of what he’s been able to do over the last few years.”

James, who plays cornerback on defense, realized from Day One that he wasn’t going to morph immediately into a high school version of Tom Brady.

“Obviously with one year’s experience it’s tough to step in and work at it,” he said. “I’ve been learning on the fly…

“I think I’ve progressed a lot throughout the season with the option. It’s worked out well and we’ve been winning games.”

Gorham seconded that opinion.

“He’s gotten better every game,” he said. “In a large part I tell the kids you have to trust your eyes and be confident in what you see. Sometimes you get paralysis by analysis. It takes them a while so that when they see something they react right away.

“The last couple of games you can see his confidence soar. Against Coventry (a 30-22 victory), he had about 100 yards rushing and 200 yards passing.”

James Anderson waxed philosophical when asked the most important thing he’s learned from his father about playing football and what advice he would give to other boys who find themselves in the same position.

“My dad’s told me you can do anything you want if you put your mind to it and work hard,” he said. “You set your goals and make it a point to complete them.

“As for other guys in my position, I’d say give it a chance. Don’t go into it with a bad attitude and mindset. Just act like it’s a normal season and keep playing every day.”