Lehigh Football Nation

This just in: the Internet is great.  Really. Aside from all the wonderful, informative content it gives us (e.g. cat videos, the latest on Katy Perry 's choice of hair color, policy debates on the gripping issues of the day for example, do Jamie Lee Curtis and Sigourney Weaver think that the Alien movie franchise is scarier than Halloween oeuvre?) it gives college football fans a whole lot more than that. For those of us that aren't in the Lehigh Valley, it gives us a way to see everything online that you would be able to see on TV if your house happened to be a block from the Goosey Gander.  Some of the content is free; some of it isn't.  But the quality of the offerings has improved remarkably, even from just last year.  That's why I think it's well worth a season pass for the Lehigh Stretch Internet package .   (more)

At Grace Hall - a venue better known for wrestling matches (and - back in the day - varsity basketball) - Lehigh recently held a gala event to celebrate the end of Lehigh's "Shine Forever" campaign.  By anyone's yardstick this donation campaign has been an incredible success, raising $508 million - $8 million over the target. If you're an alum, you may look at this information, smile, and go about your day and not think about it anymore.  But if you're a fan of Lehigh Athletics, there's also plenty to celebrate when you look further at the numbers.  That's because the success of "Shine Forever" will also benefit the athletes currently at the university, too.  (more)

Being a rabid Lehigh sports fan during the holidays can be challenging, especially if you want to have any semblance of a normal home life. With time off my day job to celebrate Christmas - and dealing with the inevitable down-time that is necessary after a grueling four months of football coverage - covering all the goings-on foe Lehigh's winter sports, the final awards for Lehigh's football team and commentary on the wider football world is surprisingly tough, sometimes, to cover. (Add to that the the success this year of the NFL's Eagles and Saints, the Red Sox getting John Lackey and probably losing Jason Bay, and there's more opinions I have than time to post.) Add to that the fact that it's a different world from last with Facebook and Twitter entering the mainstream and the increasing expectation that they are a robust, often-updated tools for fans to use. For the football fan, tomorrow will probably provide a Lehigh mention on ESPN during their broadcast of...

(Photo courtesy the Chicago Examiner) The guys in the picture to my left are definite diehards. Though it looks like they might be Holy Cross fans, they're actually Baltimore Ravens fans that submitted their picture to the Chicago Examiner 's "Tailgater of the Year" competition. While it's not easy sometimes to summon up that football (or athletics) spirit during the offseason, there's a Lehigh alumni survey that is still open that, among other things, asks about the importance of athletics in your alumni experience. Ordinarily such a survey wouldn't raise many eyebrows. But then again, the landscape around collegiate athletics in general and football in particular has to make anyone have cause for concern these days. Ask the folks at Hofstra - who suddenly and dramatically had the plug pulled from their program thanks to a "double-secret" athletics study that is still waiting to be made public. Ask the folks at Northeastern - who made a deci...

(Photo courtesy CK0712 Blog ) For those of you in the Bethlehem/Philadelphia area that might have recently emerged from a cryogenic sleep pod, the Eagles have officially returned to Lehigh for their annual preseason training camp . Sunday marked the first day for rookies and selected veterans to report to Lehigh's campus, while it's today when training camp begins in earnest for the rest of the team. Eagle head coach Andy Reid was seen the other day ready to go - or at least, ready to hit the links on the John C. Whitehead practice fields. (Nice shorts.) (And are those really flip-flops, Andy? I've got to believe that Roger Goodell has some sort of rule against an NFL head coach being caught on film in non-regulation footwear. They are Nikes, right? Shouldn't they be taped?) Lehigh has hosted Eagles training camp since 1995, and it's a ten year relationship that has been greatly beneficial to both the Eagles and Lehigh over the years. Both Nick Fierro of the E...

With all the Spring football reports, coverage of FCS Players in the NFL Draft and free agency , maintenance on the Facebook page , and a general blog spring cleaning in progress (do I really need to have the 2006 schedule still up on there?), I almost missed a very important announcement made by Lehigh's athletics department in the days after the Spring game. It's the announcement of the Lehigh Football Partnership , an extension of the existing Lehigh Sports partnership: “This is just a first step, and an exciting one, in a series of steps we have planned to build sport-specific partnerships for each of our varsity sports,” said Bill Griffin, Associate Director of Athletics. “The mission of the Athletics Partnership is to provide a framework and support system that will enable our former student-athletes to remain connected to their Lehigh sports program, and all who participated in it, in a manner that’s fun and impactful for the sport they played.” Pete DeLuca ’79, a membe...

(Photo courtesy of Kevin Mingora of the Allentown Morning Call ) When I went to Storrs, Connecticut in 1997 to watch a Lehigh team go up against women's basketball royalty, I saw a 70-point blowout win that was not in doubt at any moment - and, to top it off, some UConn fan backed into my car and took out one of my headlights, making it a very dark drive home from Gampel Pavillion. While the scoreboard in this one also didn't give the Lady Hawks their first NCAA tournament victory this Saturday, rest assured that this team was very, very different than that hopelessly overmatched one in 1997. Michael Blouse of the Easton Express-Times said that the difference between Lehigh and Auburn was size, strength and speed , and also saw the Lehigh women's basketball team heap praise Auburn G DeWanna Bonner , calling her "by far the best player they've seen this year." Reading those articles and the Auburn reaction , you'd think that this was over after the open...

The Lady Hawks are going to the RAC to try to shock the world, and I'll be there reporting and commenting about it, live, at courtside. Here's the keys to the game for Lehigh: 1. It's going to take everybody. The Lady Hawks' depth is what have taken them this far. They'll have to do the same things they've done all year in order to pull off the upset - no intimidation factor allowed. The same jumpshots that put away Lafayette can also put away Auburn. 2. Get Ross involved early. Junior G Alex Ross, when she's on, can shoot the lights out. Getting her in rhythm - preferably, to jump to a quick lead - would be a huge boost. 3. Prosser vs. Bonner. Sophomore G Erica Prosser is known for offense, but it could be her defense - and how she handles one of the best point guards in the nation, senior G DeWanna Bonner - that could be key to a historic upset. Here we go! 12:17 p.m. I'm here at courtside. Lehigh fans dominate and they are LOUD. Students a...

Being a part of the NCAA tournament isn't just a fun trip to New York City and a "thank you for showing up, nice to be here" for the Lehigh women's basketball team. But it is a whirlwind of national media attention for the Lady Hawks - and for reasons off the court as well as on. Earlier in the week, Lehigh was recognized as one of 14 teams in the 64-team women's field that have a perfect 100% graduation rate . In the media day , head coach Sue Troyan expanded on that: “From my perspective, it’s why I do what I do. Being at Lehigh, the type of kids that we get there are truly exceptional in terms of having to balance the things in their lives and truly representing what it means to be a student athlete. This group epitomizes being able to excel academically and athletically. Their team GPA was 3.32, they’ve been ranked in the top 25 in team GPA in six of the last seven years. Our team GPA has been between a 3.25 and a 3.45 every semester, so it’s not a blip on ...

There's so much going NCAA championship action on right now that it's almost impossible to cover it all right now. But sure as heck I'm going to try. The NCAA Championships in St. Louis, MO started this morning , with the seven Mountain Hawk qualifiers all wrestling in the first session of competition. And already it's looking very, very promising for Lehigh as unseeded junior 141 lb Seth Ciasulli had a surprise fall against No. 11-seeded Cody Cleveland out of UT-Chattanooga in the morning session and then disposed of Anthony D'Alie out of Eastern Michigan. Junior 184 lb David Craig , seeded No. 8, also took care of business against Virginia's Rocco Caponi. No. 12 seeded senior 149 lb Trevor Chinn advanced after a forfeit by Virginia Tech's Peter Yates, while three qualifiers will try to earn all-American status through the losers' bracket: sophomore 174 lb Alex Caruso, junior 133 lb Matt Fisk , and junior 165 lb Matt Galante . Freshman heavyweight...

While a 15 seed may seem a bit disappointing, the fact that Lehigh women's basketball fans will be able to make a quick jaunt down 78 to 287 to Piscataway, New Jersey to see their Lady Hawks play in the first round certainly has to be a comfort. Lehigh will be taking on the No. 2-seeded Auburn Lady Tigers , and the other game at the RAC will pit No. 7 Rutgers against No. 10 Virginia Commonwealth. Lehigh's game will take place at noon - it will probably be the first game of the NCAA women's tourney to start or finish - and the second game will be immediately following. Tickets should be available through the Lehigh ticket office, and Rutgers' ticket office. Adult tickets for all three games are $40, while a "family pack" for Saturday is available for $60, including 4 tickets, 4 hot dogs, and 4 sodas. Auburn, ranked No. 8 in the AP poll, is a daunting challenge for the Lady Hawks, with a team that has four seniors and balanced production across the board - the...

When my wife and I drove up to Stabler to watch the Rivalry-tinged Patriot League women's basketball championship game yesterday against Lafayette, we saw a sharp-shinned hawk perched on a speed limit sign. Really. Despite this signal of good fortune, I was still nervous about the championship game. I know it didn't make much sense if you saw the matchup on paper - the No. 1-seeded Mountain Hawks were 25-6 and undefeated at home, and the No. 7-seeded Leopards were 10-21 and had been crushed by Lehigh in their two regular-season meetings. But this Lafayette team was different now. They had hit their stride with their two shock wins against American and Navy in front of quasi-home crowds. Now, fueled by "The Rivalry" and a nationally-televised game on ESPNU, the Lady Leopards had nothing to lose, and the Lady Hawks everything. It was everything a college basketball fan could ask for. Sure, Lehigh did their best to make the result inevitable early on. After both team...

It sure didn't look like this was going to be how the Patriot League women's basketball championship would end up going into the tournament. Not so much No. 1-seeded Lehigh's presence in the tournament - but that the opponent is the No. 7 seed Lehigh fans love to hate. My family and I were there yesterday, watching Lehigh overcome a slow start and a three point deficit at halftime to finally overwhelm the Army Lady Knights 61-42 . Facing off against an Army team that beat the Lady Hawks 54-52 at Christl Arena and who gave them a run for their money in a 66-58 game on Valentine's day in Stabler , I was worried about this game from the outset. But the ladies responded with an extraordinary second half where Lehigh shot 57.7% from the field and turned the screws defensively, only allowing 18 points in the second half. The unquestioned hero was senior G Tricia Smith , who came very close to a double-double with 12 points and 9 rebounds. When freshman C Alexa Williams ...

Yep, a week without blogging about Lehigh. I guess I just experienced my end-of-the-football-year crash, officially. I didn't even sum up last week's games - even the thriller against Albany this Monday, a very, very big December win for these Mountain Hawks. (You have to watch the final seconds on the post-game show. Trust me, it's worth it.) Fortunately for me, it's exam time - and there's nothing big on the Lehigh schedule this weekend. In the next couple of weeks, I hope to have some special football goodies available here, including a season recap, "Hawks of the Year", and other good stuff. Don't forget too that it's the "Final Four" in the FCS playoffs, featuring James Madison, Northern Iowa, Montana... and Richmond, the team that at one time was thinking about going to the Patriot League. I mentioned in my weekly preview of the FCS games this weekend to be afraid of the Spiders.

No, Virginia, Rutgers forward Corey Chandler's blank stare right here isn't from Lehigh's huge upset win today. But after Lehigh's 76-71 victory the day before Turkey Day, I sure can picture Chandler's face looking like this after this game. You thought this was a typo? Lehigh men's basketball team beating Rutgers ? Big East Rutgers? The Scarlet "We Last Lost to the Engineers.. In 1967" Knights? It's not a typo. Lehigh did indeed beat a Big East team for the first time since joining the Patriot League . The Mountain Hawks won at Rutgers for the first time since 1962 . John Feinstein, is Lehigh a wrestling school? How on this Good Green Earth did Lehigh do it? Normally, a "smaller" team wins a game over a power conference team by shooting lights-out - but Lehigh only shot just around 40% from the field. Instead, Lehigh won it by matching the bigger Scarlet Knight team rebound for rebound - with junior G Marquis Hall nabbing 15...

This is a very quick post just to share something that irritated me a little. The Morning Call was covering a charity golf tournament hosted by the Philadelphia Eagles' Brian Dawkins, and it naturallly gives an opportunity to interview some current players coming up to have a fun day and raise money for a good cause. Now, I can understand why the Eagles players think that coming up to "basic training" at Lehigh isn't exactly a picnic, but is this really necessary? The several Philadelphia Eagles who ventured to Saucon Valley Country Club on Monday for the Brian Dawkins ' Burn Prevention Foundation annual charity golf outing knew they were close to their training camp practice fields at Lehigh University . And they kept a healthy distance away.''On the way up [from South Jersey], I was like 'This is a bad drive. I remember this road,''' safety J.R. Reed said. ''I wasn't even there last year because I didn't sign with them...

Last week, senior C John Reese was the graduating male award winner at the Lehigh Athletics Convocation . The awards go to the most outstanding athletes in Lehigh athletics and Reese, a three-time all-Patriot League first team member and all-American, certainly deserved it. In addition to the "graduating male athlete" award, he also won a Distinguished Achievement award for displaying a high level of "scholarship, athletic achievement, and beyond and demonstrated service to the institution." A DVD of the athletics convocation is available for purchase from the Lehigh Website , too. Reese will be adding this award to the award he recently got from the South Side Boosters , too. He grabbed one of their annual senior awards, as did senior FS Ernest Moore (defense) and senior FB John Piascik (special teams). Congratulations to three deserving award winners! The South Side Boosters' web site has some pictures of the event for your viewing pleasure. Makes me w...

Lehigh announced today the availability of over 800 games available to purchase on DVD in football, basketball, lacrosse, wrestling, soccer, field hockey, softball and other sports. It's simply an unprecedented number of archived Lehigh sporting events that are being made available to Lehigh fans. “We are very excited to make pieces of Lehigh history available to our passionate fans and alumni,” said Jeff Tourial, Lehigh Director of Broadcast & Multimedia. “We’ve wanted to be able to provide our fans with a piece of the action they could take home with them, something they can keep for all time. With the addition of the DVD store on our web site, we think we’ve been able to do that.” Available are games from the past six decades - and a special list of all the "Goodman 20" specials from last season packaged with a special interview with Murray Goodman himself . On the football side alone there are more than 100 games - including never-before-seen footage of games ...

One thing that the long offseason affords me is the opportunity to look at things like Lehigh's 2006 self-study report and some of the academic numbers in there. And taking a fresh look at them certainly raised my eyebrows. Lehigh's sports teams this year have been struggling more than usual. Men's soccer, a year removed from a magical season including wins in the NCAA tournament, ended this year with a whimper. The men's wrestling team, usually in the Top 25, is unranked. The President's Cup standings put us, amazingly, in sixth behind the service academies. That begs the question, posed by LUFan in one of the forums : "Is it a coincidence that all the sports or struggling, or could it be that the academic standards are going through the roof and all the athletic programs are paying the price?" It's a good question, which prompted me to take a look at the self-study and if this could be the case. Are standards affecting all sports (except, perh...

You'd think I'd have more football news when there's only eight days until the Brown/White game (which is free admission). But there you have it; I don't really have much in the way of football news, except that sophomore OL Chris Aaron is off the spring roster and is supposedly transferring to Vanderbilt as a walk-on. Nothing earth-shattering here, though it does mean that it will be interesting to see about the depth on the "O" line eight days from now. Remember tomorrow is the Youth Coaches' Clinic for youth football coaches who are interested in learning more about coaching: techniques, drills and other information. The price is $20 and includes lunch. It's 8AM-1PM tomorrow at the varisty house close to the Whitehead practice fields. Plus, you get to sit in on Lehigh's afternoon practice! Dr. Gast's inauguration is currently in progress at Stabler Arena, where she is being inaugurated as Lehigh's 13th president. (Interesting. Ou...