Higgins, Lembo and Coen were all first time head coaches. They all had to learn on the job which offers some amount of leeway given everyone does get a grace period (relative to the program) to get their footing. With that said, firing Troy Brown and hiring Dave Cecchini following the 2009 season in large part saved Coen's behind at Lehigh. Cecchini immediately came in, benched JB Clark (2x Lafayette game MVP iirc) turned to Lum which further established a new culture on offense and the rest is history. This is pure "connecting the dots" speculation but my guess is Strerrett would have turned the reins over to Dave had the team struggled to win games in 2010? Ironically, Cecchini's first game as LU's OC was a shutout loss to defending national champs and #1 ranked Villanova. With that said, the team also had a good (team still gave up points to better offenses) defensive coordinator in Kotulski. It was the combination of very solid defense and timely offense that led to the 10 win season in 2010 that included a 14-7 playoff victory over UNI.lfnadmin wrote: ↑Wed Sep 07, 2022 2:15 pmKevin Higgins in hist first four years as HC went 22-21-1, after inheriting a Patriot League Championship team. Lembo inherited one of the greatest teams in Lehigh football history and guided them to three more playoff games and the legendary home playoff victory. Andy struggled mightily his first few seasons and very, very nearly got fired in the late 2000s. The point being that the last three head football coaches either 1) inherited a once-in-a-lifetime team or 2) struggled mightily for four years while building a winner - and realistically had five years to do so. I don't know what Tom's record will ultimately be here, but it seems quite unfair to hold him to a different standard than all of the head football coaches of the last twenty years. Do you think the dysfunctional 3-8 team that lost to Georgetown that Tom inherited was an all-time Lehigh team?Go Lehigh TU Owl wrote: ↑Wed Sep 07, 2022 10:14 amI am personally not bashing Gilmore rather stating that based on observed evidence over the course of his head coaching career that he is a below average coach incapable of turning this ship around. I firmly stand my ground that he will never succeed at Lehigh at the level Higgins, Lembo and Coen did. Nor come close. Plus, I seriously question his demeanor/ability to control his emotions for the betterment of the team/program.
The Villanova game went almost exactly how I anticipated. Better, because you can't get worse than "historically" bad, but still nowhere close to good enough. Which is why I had it 44-17....
Chuck, I appreciate the time you put in covering Lehigh football but I challenge your predictions (generally extremely skewed) and overview of the state of Lehigh football based the fact I think your takes are significantly flawed due to bias and a predetermined agenda to shed as positive a light as possible on the Lehigh program given your time at CSJ. It's basically your civic responsibility to always take a glass-half full approach....
BTW, how about the mess Dakosty took over at Colgate with little to time to adapt as a head coach? Led them to a second place league finish...
Trials and tribulations are relative and the manner in which they are dealt with comes down to the individuals who are called upon to lead the masses to a better place....
I'm also glad you brought up Dakosty, who went 5-6 last year and lost to (checks notes) Brown and Cornell. I'm not saying he did a bad job - beating Fordham at the end of the year was a good win, even if Fordham was playing for pride at that point - and he definitely deserves credit for exceeding expectations by a lot. But you're making it seem like he's the second coming of Fred Dunlap. He may be, but it's pretty quick to crown him that after one 5-6 season.
It's your prerogative to believe what you want about my writing, and I make no apologies for seeing positivity in the program, but I do think I am fair about it. I was livid about the 47-3 loss last year and I let people know how I felt about it publicly. When Lehigh was in the midst of the historic losing streak I didn't shy away from it. I am not all puppy dogs and ice cream. What I can unequivocally tell you is that that loss and this loss were night and day different. Last year's loss had me wondering if they would win any games last season. This year's loss showed a team (players and coaches) that can compete with one of the best teams in FCS, but needs to grow up quicker if they want a successful season and a title shot against Holy Cross. The game against Georgetown is a must-win and it won't be easy. But if they do they should be in a decent spot to get through the roughness of the rest of September.
More importantly - let's see what happens. Let's see who's right.
Unfortunately, Brisson was not let go despite last year's historically inept offense. 2019 wasn't much better. Why was he retained?
Gilmore came to Lehigh with nearly 15 years of head coaching experience at a league peer. MORE IMPORTANTLY (and this cannot be overstated in terms of importance) he had the unique qualification or taking over a Holy Cross program who was rocked by the tragic passing of head coach Dan Allen following the 2003 season. Gilmore has been through the process of assuming the responsibility of institutional/program healing, re-establishing football specific stability, re-building a staff, reaching out to alums/fans/community etc. This is an extremely unique professional qualification that should have allowed for a much easier "rebuilding" process". I say with absolute conviction this was a significant factor in Gilmore's hiring. Yet, this is just another area where Gilmore has failed at Lehigh.
Colgate smacked around Lehigh last year, finished 4-2 in the league by winning the season finale over a 6-5 Fordham team. Not bad for a guy with no coaching experiencing who was given the job in April following the firing of Hunt? What experience, qualifications did he have to fall back on to guide him along? It was simple cognitive skill/leadership talent...
Lehigh appears to be an honest underdog to Georgetown. Is that acceptable?