Lehigh Football Nation

Last Monday, the Patriot League presidents delivered a monumental decision to allow football scholarships. Since that day, the pride and joy of Lewisburg, Bucknell men's basketball, rated No. 70 in the Real Time RPI rankings and home to the Sojka Psychos, has not won a single game. Coincidence? It might not seem that way to a multitude of folks who have assumed that the Bison - who, at times has seemed to be a school that values hoops over halfbacks - were against allowing football scholarships all the way through. Reading the official statement from Bucknell president Dr. John C. Bravman , too, it looks like football scholarships are seen as much as a challenge to their athletics program than something to be embraced.

Earlier today, I took a look at the scholarship decision from the perspective of Georgetown and Dr. John DeGioia , who seems to see his school at a crossroads after the decision to offer scholarships was made. But on the other side of the argument for need-based aid, it should come as no surprise that the school that is most enthusiastic about the decision was  Fordham , who already offers scholarships and may now once again be eligible to compete for the Patriot League championship very soon. Before this past week, Fordham, under former president Fr. Joseph A. O’Hare , might have gone down in history as the school that nearly broke the league apart.  But with the news this week, Fordham, under current president Fr. Joseph M. McShane , they might become known as the school that saved the league instead.

Anyone who has followed the Patriot League in any capacity has some sort of opinion on the decision to allow football scholarships.  ( Including myself, of course. ) But in the end, it was only the opinion of ten men and women who mattered - the eight presidents of the full-time Patriot League schools, and the two presidents of the football-only members. Shortly after history was made , there were a flurry of different documents released - including an official Patriot League release of comments from all seven of the football-playing schools - as well. The varied documents provide a fascinating glimpse at a process that was, over the course of the past five years, basically closed to the public, save the occasional leak to the local press. It also gives a look as to which schools are enthusiastic about the move - and which ones are not.

The Patriot League presidents finally made a decision on football scholarships , allowing what the rest of FCS college football considers "scholarships" starting with the football recruiting class of 2017. It was a bold decision that many folks, including myself, thought might never happen. That's because bold decisions, by their nature, are difficult.  They entail risk.  They involve a break away from comfortable situations.  They involve a challenge of the status quo - a re-evaluation of the comfortable relationships and certain existence that the league has in the FCS football world they inhabit. It was a bold decision - and one that was a lot more difficult, I think, than folks realize.  But I also think, ultimately, it was also the right decision.

Today, a decision was made by the Patriot League. The decision on Patriot League football scholarships that many, many followers of the quarter-century-old league have been waiting for. The decision came in the official announcement that the Patriot League "endorsed a policy that will allow athletic merit aid for the sport of football, beginning with the class entering school in the fall of 2013." After a surprise press conference and official press release announcing the result of the presidents' deliberations on the matter, the Patriot League entered a brand new world. 

For the past few years, Lehigh and Lafayette folks have had informal talks about how to commemorate the 150th football meeting between the two schools, in the most-played college football rivalry in history. One of the ideas, mentioned on this blog back in April, was to possibly move the game to a neutral location, in order to accomodate all the added interest in that particular game. As the date of November 22nd, 2014, inches closer, some of the big ideas for the 150th continue to come into focus. This week, Barry Miller of the Express-Times reported the rumor that folks at Lehigh and Lafayette are "messing around with the idea of playing the 150th edition of their football rivalry in 2014 at Yankee Stadium". In a week where the football discussion generally involves the incoming classes, suddenly, the conversation shifted to the Yankees.

For the first time, I scooped them. Today, the afternoon before the football team is to be honored at halftime of the American/Lehigh women's basketball clash in Stabler , Lehigh athletics officially announced the members of the incoming class of 2016. For the first time, though, their list of 22 recruits did not match my 24 announced recruits that I had compiled over the course of the last two weeks . What came of the two names that were on my list that didn't make it to Lehigh's, ATH Conor Gum and WR Julian Turner ?