Lehigh Football Nation

The official announcement comes from lehighsports.com on coach Coen's first two assistant coaches. One is a name I dropped yesterday from the rumor mill, and the other is from coach Coen's days at Penn. Both have ties to the local area, and are, like coach Coen, being "brought home". Coach Coen nabbed TE coach Brett Sawyer (pictured here), who comes to the offensive staff from Penn where last year he coached Quaker TE Chris Mizell to become an honorable mention all-Ivy selection. A former offensive lineman at Muhlenberg ('98), Brett has spent the last three years coaching at Princeton and Penn, where he has gotten a reputation of being an excellent recruiter. Interestingly, Brett's recruiting area at Penn includes some areas that haven't been largely represented in years past at Lehigh: North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin. Another name who is coming "home" is Allentown Central Catholic head coach Donnie Roberts...

All of Lehigh Nation is anxiously awaiting the announcement of coach Coen's staff, and trying to divine the tea leaves from the various announcements, the press conference, and (of course) what Marty overheard Joe tell Frank at the basketball or wrestling games. Everyone wants to know: Who's staying? Who's going? Are there players who have left the program, or maybe staying another year? Is OL coach John Powers (pictured here) staying or going? It's an odd place for Lehigh Nation to be right now. Normally we're counting the days until spring football or eagerly going to lehighsports.com to find out when the Class of 2010 will be announced. Instead, we're trawling every corner of the web trying to figure out who's in and who's out. After an exhaustive search, I've identified three serious issues that fans are looking at. 1) OL line coach John Powers: staying or going? I've heard reports that he's already been out the door, with coach Coen t...

Yes, I *did* just discover Print Shop - and in tune with LehighSports.com 's online makeover, I've decided to start the year with a brand-new logo on the top of the ol' blog. (That, and the fact that my header was cribbed from Lehigh's website, necessitated a change.) Has everyone moseyed on over to LehighSports.com and seen the changes? Although I will miss the overhead shot of Goodman (filled I might add), it's a really snazzy job and brings the site more up-to-date. Leave a comment and let me know what you think!

Ain't this picture (courtesy of Harry Fisher of the Morning Call) a beauty? The press conference was reviewed by the local media (and AP as well), and there's nothing but gushing praise from all corners. The Brown & White hasn't checked in yet, but we'll forgive them - after all, it's still winter break. The jury is in, and Lehigh Nation seems extremely excited. Lehigh Dean of Athletics Joe Sterrett ('76) seems to have made an outstanding choice. There's still a lot of intrigue left. Coach Coen will need to fill out his staff - part of that is deciding who on the current staff stays or goes - and we'll have to see the all-important "class of 2010" announcement, coming up in only a couple of months. For now, though, here's your press roundup and your press digest. (Oh yeah, I also need to summarize 2005 too.) Allentown Morning Call: Andy Coen Is Named Lehigh Football Coach Groller: Coen Hopes To Make Football Fun Easton Express-Times:...

Hope your money was on Andy Coen and 5:1 odds! The decision was in this morning, and... it's Andy Coen, former offensive coordinator at Penn! There's no doubt in my mind that he's an excellent choice for head coach, and I'm already excited for spring football to start! We are getting a guy that was the one of the architects of the more dominating Lehigh offenses under head coach Kevin Higgins in the mid-to-late '90s. Beloved by former offensive players and an emotional leader, coach Coen boasts a truckload of experience with both the Patriot League and the grant-in-aid scholarship environments. While at Lehigh, he was the offensive line coach in 1994 and 1995, and went on to become Lehigh's offensive coordinator from 1996 to 1999. He coached future NFL RB Rabih Abdullah ('97), RB Ron Jean ('99), WR Brian Baker('97), WR Brett Snyder ('00), and QB Phil Stambaugh ('00). When you look down the rushing and passing milestones, you see these names o...

There's precious little news on the head coaching front, so I figured I'd make my own "odds" as to who the new Lehigh head coach will be. Please don't use these odds to make actual bets - these lines are purely for fun. Harvard OC Dave Cecchini 2:1 Muhlenberg (D-III) HC Mike Donnelly 4:1 Penn OC Andy Coen 5:1 Former Buffalo (I-A) HC Jim Hofner 6:1 Former Gerogia Southern HC Mike Sewak 8:1 Chicago University HC Dick Maloney 8:1 Philadelphia Eagles LB coach Mike Spagnulo 10:1 Lehigh WR coach Adam Scheier 10:1 Lehigh OL coach John Powers 10:1 Vanderbilt RB coach Kenny Carter 15:1 Lafayette OL coach Bob Heffner 20:1 California (PA) (D-III) HC John Luckhardt 20:1 New Hampshire OC Chip Kelley 25:1 Field ...

Coach Lembo at Elon has officially hired two Lehigh assistant coaches to join him at Elon to rebuild their football program. Defensive line coach Jay Bateman and linebacker coach Tony Trisciani are joining Elon. Jay Bateman is joining Elon as defensive coordinator, while Trisciani is keeping his same position, linebackers coach. Both Bateman and Trisciani were in their first years as the defensive line and linebackers coach, respectively, in 2005 for the Mountain Hawks. Trisciani was known as an excellent recruiter for New Hampshire (his previous coaching stop), and Bateman had a wealth of experience coaching -- not only had he coached every defensive position imaginable, he was also head coach at Siena before they stopped football there. Lehigh didn't have a dominating defense in 2005 (partially due to injuries), but this mass defensive defection to Elon means that the new Lehigh head coach may also need to get a brand-new defensive coordinator in there as well - the third in thr...