Lehigh Football Nation

First of all, merry Christmas, dear Readers. Like every one of you, I have wishes for Christmas as well, and I'd like to share them with you. * As a Lehigh fan, I'd like a better offense for the 2010 season. Sure, there were flashes of what was possible in 2009, but I really don't want to sit through another home shutout anytime soon if that's OK with everybody. * Maybe part of that wish above might involve Lehigh hiring a quarterbacks coach, Santa, to help the quarterbacks with mechanics and the like. I know university athletic departments aren't exactly teeming with money right now, but what about inviting a local guy that cares about the program, like former QB Phil Stambaugh , to work with them sometime? This isn't just for next year, either: this would pay off for the next generation of Lehigh quarterback, too. * While I'm wishing, Santa, I could use some Saints playoff tickets. And some round-trip tickets and accomodations to New Orleans for me and my ...

(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...

Lehigh returns to the hardwood this weekend after a twelve day layoff for final exams. On the men's side, the 3-5 Mountain Hawks (Real Time RPI: 198) have the quintessential trap game against 2-6 Dartmouth (Real Time RPI: 311) tonight at 7:00 PM at Stabler Arena (that will also be broadcast online courtesy of Yahoo! Broadcast). LU65 on the Lehigh Sports Forum has done such a good analysis of the game, I'm just going to reprint it here: There can never be a "must win" game in OOC play, right? Well, this one comes close. Lehigh has dropped its last three (one excusably to Dayton, one we could have had against Columbia in well played game and the other a truly awful effort in a 19 point loss to Stony Brook) after winning three in a row and beginning the year with two other losses to solid programs in Richmond and Rider. Now, it's time we got back on track and formed an identity - especially on defense - against a team who was picked to finish at the bottom of the I...

Two more All-American teams were announced with Lehigh players on them this year, one from the ECAC and the other from the Associated Press . Senior LB Matt Cohen added to his Walter Camp All-American nod by making it to both the ECAC and Associated Press All-America Teams. The ECAC list, given to the best football players in the Eastern region, was a first-team selection, while the national AP list was a second-team selection. It's great to see the quiet Allentown, PA native get recognition for his great defensive performance as a member of the Mountain Hawks. Cohen wrapped up his Lehigh career with 177 total tackles, 18.5 sacks and 44 tackles-for-loss (which may not be an official Patriot League record, but it most likely is). Senior DT B.J. Benning got his first all-America as a part of the ECAC team. This put Benning in such heady company as James Madison senior DL Ryan Moats and William & Mary senior DE Adrian Tracy , both in the running for the Buck Buchanan award...

Senior LB Matt Cohen can now add something else to his trophy case: all-American . Cohen becomes Lehigh’s first First-Team All-America since 2004 when DL Tom Alfsen and TE Adam Bergen garnered the accolade from various outlets. Cohen, who is a three time All-Patriot League selection, is just the 14th player in Patriot League football history to be named to the Walter Camp All-America Team, which is voted upon by the head coaches and sports information directors of the FCS schools. Cohen was one of three linebackers from around the nation named to the Walter Camp All-America Team, joining J.C. Sherritt of Eastern Washington and Brandin Jordan of Southern Illinois. A native of Allentown, Cohen led the Patriot League in sacks (9.0) and tackles-for-loss (13.5) marking the second consecutive season he has accomplished that feat. A business supply major, Cohen was the first Mountain Hawk to win a major award from the Patriot League since PK Jason Leo in 2006 and the first Lehigh playe...

Earlier this week, I posted some of my thoughts about why I am still mad about Hofstra dropping football . Reaction was fairly positive - but some folks, in so many words, questioned what a CAA schools' problems with supporting football have to do with Lehigh, the Patriot League, or even private school football programs in general (gently reminding me that the name of this blog is "Lehigh Football Nation", not "Hofstra Football Nation", " Defiantly Dutch " or anything else). The answer to this question is: Hofstra's decision means a whole heck of a lot to every football program in FCS. But it especially means a lot to the Patriot League's seven football schools. ***** Hofstra is a private university, just like Fordham, Lehigh, Georgetown, and every other school in the Patriot League. And Hofstra's president - by many accounts, unilaterally - made the decision to drop football. Hofstra's president, Stuart Rabinowitz, cited costs and l...

(With sincere apologies to anyone involved with the movie Network , and the estate of one of my favorite writers, Paddy Chayefsky.) "I don't have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It's a depression. Everybody's out of work or scared of losing their job. The dollar buys a nickel's work, banks are going bust, shopkeepers keep a gun under the counter... [and now Hofstra's president, in the blink of an eye, drops its football team.] Well, I'm not gonna leave you alone. I want you to get mad! I don't want you to protest. I don't want you to riot - I don't want you to write to your congressman because I wouldn't know what to tell you to write. I don't know what to do about [the demise of Hofstra football]. All I know is that first... you've got to get mad!" - Howard Beale, UBS Newsman This wasn't really what happened in the movie Network , but the way Hofstra's president suddenly and surpris...