Lehigh Football Nation

The landscape for spring football was quiet... too quiet. So I decided to get an update on the goings-on this spring. Here's what I found out, directly from coach Coen. LFN: Everyone wants to know how the QB position is shaping up. Is there any separation happening between the candidates? Coach: It's been fairly competitive. We have only had a few nice weather days so it really hasn't been ideal conditions for QB's, but we are moving in the right direction. I believe all three are better then they were in the fall. LFN: How is the "O" line shaping up? Coach: The group is doing OK. This is a spot were we have had a few dings. I think we are learning, but we need to get better the last 5 practices. LFN: How's the DB situation? Coach: I have been pleased by this group. Corners are doing a nice job (John Kennedy, Jarard Cribbs, Femi Ajewole). Our safeties also (Quadir Carter, Brendan VanAckeren, Steve Santora, and Jesse Sanchez), a very solid group....

It's funny. My family and I are moving in less than a week. Stuff still needs to be packed. Arrangements made. Closings to attend. You'd think that nagging voice inside my head would be reminding me about all the stuff we need to do to move. Instead, the nagging voice says, "Gee, Chuck, you haven't posted anything about spring football in regards to the rest of the Patriot League!" Yeah, that's me. One crazy fan. Every Patriot League school has opened spring practice to ready themselves for the 2008 season. I've already done a pretty good job covering Lehigh - now it's time to cover the highlights around the League as well. What's pretty clear after looking around the league: Lehigh is going to not have an easy time getting back to winning championships. The competition next year is going to be fierce. Without any further ado... You really, really hate to read this right from the spring report of Fordham , last years' league champion. ...

One football alumnus goes to show that Lehigh alumni aren't just big names on Wall Street (Lee Iaccoca '45) and on the movie screen (Donny Most '72, whose acting career includes one of my 3AM pre-Greeker run favorites: Stewardess School ). Joe Alleva ('75) is now commanding one of the most powerful college athletics programs in the world. This weekend, Joe was anointed the Tiger's next athletics director by the LSU system president Dr. John Lombardi. Joe had worked for Duke since getting his double degree from Lehigh in 1975 and his MBA in 1976. “Joe Alleva brings a wealth of experience and accomplishment to LSU,” Lombardi said. “I’m confident we’ve found a new leader for LSU athletics who exemplifies the vision and integrity needed to lead our sports programs to new heights, a champion of student athletes who believes in the highest standards of competition both on the field and in the classroom.” Best of all, he's a through-and-through football guy: “It’s int...

Quick hit: coach Coen was interviewed in today's Morning Call about spring practice. Here's some of the highlights: “We’ve gone away from any kind of option stuff that we did a lot with Sedale,” Coen said. “We’re concentrating on these guys being more dropback-style quarterbacks.” Coen said the three-way battle for QB will not be decided during spring sessions. “I don’t want to make a rash decision,” he said. Coen wants the competition to continue into August, although he doesn’t necessarily want it to come down to the final week before the Sept. 6 opener against Drake. “Bokosky has got a better grasp of the offense because he’s been here longer, but each day someone does something different,” Coen said. “The decision could possibly come down to our last intrasquad scrimmage [in August], but I hope I can say ‘here’s our guy’ before that. “This is a new situation for me. It hasn’t happened in my time here and it didn’t happen at Penn when I was an offensive coordinat...

Brett Snyder '00, forever and always a Lehigh football alumnus, recently appeared in the Morning Call detailing his fight against ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease. Keith Groller of the Morning Call has done a fantastic job bringing information about Brett Snyder's foundation, Tackle ALS . Keith has done so through his articles, of course, but has also talked about Brett in his blog as well. Last weekend, Brett held an Tackle ALS fundraiser in Starters Riverport in Bethlehem, where Brett presented a $15,000 check to another ALS foundation called ALS Hope: "The money we're donating is going to help the clinic that Dr. Heiman-Patterson runs at the Good Shepherd Rehabilitation Hospital in Allentown and also will go to her research and drug trials," Snyder said. "The pharmaceutical companies come to her, and she conducts her own research. We want to help people and increase awareness about ALS." "It's all dedicated to making a difference for peopl...

Some sharp eyes looking at Lehigh's spring prospectus have found another name added to the class of 2008: LB/TE Mark Wickware . Originally reported to have accepted a scholarship at a Division II school, he has chosen (much to the delight of Lehigh fans) instead to suit up in the Brown & White instead to play Division I football. (Note: I added his name to my original blog posting on the class of 2012 as well.) Heavily recruited by schools like Rutgers as a junior, an injury at the end of that year had him drop off the radar screen of other Division I schools. Even recovering from injury as a senior he did well enough to be an all-South jersey selection, and just recently was selected to play in the 30th annual North-South Jersey Classic which will take place at the Meadowlands on June 30th. Though listed as a TE, he will be playing the game as a LB - where he'll be playing alongside another Lehigh recruit, LB/FB Bryce Arruda, on the South while LB Mike Groome will...

Normally you'd see me more on top of the spring season right now, but our family is going through some interesting times (i.e. moving) that have prevented me from posting as much as I'd like. But with Lehigh releasing their spring prospectus and f ootball coaching clinic applications late yesterday I had to blog something about these right away. The Lehigh coaching clinic was a very successful part of last year's spring season. Fifty prospective football coaches showed up last year to get training from Division I professionals. Last year's instructor, Adam Scheier, then talked about what they emphasize here: "A lot of the coaching clinics are geared for a higher level and talk a lot about schemes, but we want to teach fundamentals here," said Scheier, Lehigh's receivers coach who is the clinic's director. "We talk about blocking and tackling, throwing and catching." This year, the clinic is Saturday April 12th and costs $20 to participa...