Lehigh Football Nation

It's finally here - Lehigh and coach Coen have announced the class of 2010 ! A surprisingly big class with 29 new names and no transfers, coach Coen also surprised me with bringing in a couple of recruits from California - our first recruits from that state in quite some time. This is in addition to our normally strong showing in Lehigh Valley and NJ recruiting as well. Kudos to coach Coen for bringing together such a solid class even with the challenge of bringing a coaching (and recruiting) staff together at the same time. Unsurprisingly, coach Coen brought in some great-looking talent on the offensive and defensive lines, with 4 OL and 4 DL. Two of my five "Top faces to watch" in this class are linemen. There appears to be some good speed in the WR/DB's, but also some good playmakers as well. Some of the LB's on the list appeared to be converted offensive players (Heath Brickner, Al Pierce) on massively successful high school programs (Thomas Jefferson (PA), H...

If you're planning on going to the Lehigh/Lafayette men's basketball game this weekend, you have a chance to meet and greet new coach Coen . Show up at 12:30PM (a half-hour before tipoff) and you will be able to talk to the new coach! Also, next week we'll get our full list of recruits . According to the article, we'll get 30 new student-athletes, which is mighty impressive considering we went through a coaching transition through the entire coaching season! It's very encouaging to see that Lehigh seems well-known enough to attract great student-athletes in spite of the time it's taken to assemble the staff! Next week will be interesting! See you then!

Coach Coen has yet again proven that he can lure the best collegiate coaches in the business to South Mountain with the hiring of David Kotulski as Lehigh's defensive coordinator . A former defensive coordinator at Bucknell, Utah State (I-A) and most recently Holy Cross, Kotulski is known as a coach who creatively attacks offenses. Kotulski's 1996 squad won the Patriot League title, and last year Holy Cross' defensive improvement helped the Crusaders get to a 6-5 mark, their first winning season since 2000. Last year, Holy Cross had a +11 turnover ratio, meaning Kotulski presided over an opportunistic defense that forced a lot of turnovers. I was in the press booth at th Lehigh/Holy Cross game last year, and I sat right next to the defensive coaches' box. They were a firey, vocal, and motivated group who were focused on beating Lehigh. Although the Crusaders get a Herculean-sized assist with the weather, coach Kotulski did manage to successfully get his troops to f...

While waiting for the announcement of the class of 2010 and the rest of coach Coen's staff, I thought I'd pass on a short email interview I did with coach Coen. A while back I wrote coach Coen asking him what his thoughts were about coming back to Lehigh, and the difference between Penn and Lehigh fans. Here's the questions and answers below. LFN: So, how are you settling in back at Lehigh? Has much changed? Coach Coen: I am settling back into Lehigh slowly but surely. Facility upgrades are biggest change. The people are still great people to be around the alumni, staff, and community. LFN: What's the main difference between Penn fans and Lehigh fans? Coach Coen: Lehigh fans and Penn fans are both great in that they are passionate about football and their university. What make Lehigh exceptional is that we have such a loyal fan base in the surrounding community. People who have been die hard fans for years -- thats the biggest difference -- and, of course, no toast [th...

We won't get an official list until later this month (I think), but you can tune back to this space to find out the list of commits that are known as of this time. (Consider all of these names as not 100% until the official announcement.) [UPDATED 2/19/2006] If I find out more names - firms, almosts or otherwise - I'll post them here. Firms (printed in local press): Dane Trotter (Blair Academy, NJ), WR/DB Dan Parrish (Valley Forge Military, PA), RB/DB David Ackler (Council Rock North, PA), TE/DE Matt Cohen (Allentown CC, PA), LB Joe Dancho (Bethlehem Catholic), DL Jesse Sanchez (Bergen Tech, NJ), QB Anthony Fossati (Northern Highlands, NJ), FB/LB (PICTURED) Sean Lezgus (Morris Catholic, NJ), OG Stephen Brown (Wesleyan School, GA), DT Chris Bokosky (Daniel Boone HS, PA), QB Ben Harden (St. Francis DeSales, OH), OL Possible Only (unconfirmed): Mike Berta (St. Mary's, OH) C (did not orally commit to Rutgers or Colgate)

Today, it was announced on LehighSports.com that our new Offensive Coordinator is another coach from Penn's coaching ranks . Coach Trey Brown coached wide receivers at Penn, including two of the best wideouts the Quakers have ever known in Dan Castles (holds the career TD receptions total with 27) and Rob Milanese (holds the career receiving yardage lead with 3,407). Before that, he spent some time with Division I-A Stanford as an offensive assistant, and during his tenure Stanford captured their last Pac 10 title. He's replacing Chris Rorke, who chose to return to Trinity College (D-III) in Connecticut. 48 hours after it was announced at the football awards dinner that he was leaving, coach Coen struck fast and got his man. It's exciting that coach Coen is making Lehigh's staff with a guy with big-time experience like coach Brown, and who worked well with coach Coen at Penn. He seems like a great hire - a guy on the rise who was seen how things work at two other hig...

Press Release On Friday, January 27th, the fan blog Lehigh Football Nation announced (in conjunction with the Football Awards Banquet tomorrow evening) their awards of outstanding achievement to members of the Lehigh Football team. The awards are: Top Offensive Hawk, Top Defensive Hawk, Top Special Teams Hawk, and Player of the Year. Lehigh's 8-3 record last year marked the 8th straight season Lehigh has finished with more than 7 wins. Top Offensive Hawk: This year's Top Offensive Hawk award goes to senior RB Eric Rath . Eric was healthy all year and gathered first-team All Patriot honors while winning Patriot League Offiensive Player of the Week once. Like last year, his stats - 857 yards rushing, 164 yards receiving and 18 TDs, were only part of the story. Where really stood out was in the clutch. Against Delaware, on 4th down and needing three yards to keep the game going, Eric put in the afterburners and barrelled forward to get the first down to keep the drive alive. It...