Lehigh Sports Forum Fan Interest

[Justafan]

Here's the Happy Holidays video from Lehigh Athletics. Nice and all, but I was struck by the fact that wrestling gets literally about 1.5-2 seconds of an extensive clip montage. I don't know anything about Troyan the Assistant Athletic Director (or something along those lines) who speaks at the end, but she doesn't scream "wrestling fan" at first glance. Just one of those things.

https://fb.watch/p5ZTr65nXF/

Re-checking my email, it appears wrestling got about the same amount of time as the other 23 sports.

[ngineer]

Interesting when you think back. When I was at Lehigh in the early 70's I think there were about 10 intercollegiate sports: Wrestling, football, X-C, track, baseball, basketball, lacrosse, swimming, tennis, soccer, golf (?),..I think there was a club ice hockey team. Of course, all male. Then with coed, the number gradually increased to, now, 25. So, with the pond of athletics becoming a large lake, the interest/focus was bound to become diluted amongst the many sports, not to mention all the distractions that never existed 50 years ago.

[Sundayamqb]

I think the great bulk of Lehigh alumni are only casually interested in Lehigh athletics (and a decent percentage likely have zero interest). It parallels the greying of the alums. The culture of young students is no longer 'into' getting together and having a great time together at a ball game or match. They rather hangout in their dorms/apts and drink and a few might catch the game on ESPN+. The athletes no longer 'cross-pollinate' with the student body. They live among themselves. If you the non-athlete students have only minimal contact with the jocks (in class), their interest in how their "friends" are doing on the field is nil. While Lehigh does not have "Athletic Dorms" as many of the 'factories' do, it's close. Very few athletes go Greek where strong bonds are created living with others with differing interests. The time demands of the student/athletes is much greater than 30 years ago. Most alums I come across who graduated after 2003 or so, have very little interest in attending athletic events or even follow any of the teams. And, it's not just Lehigh. All the Patriot schools are similar. Heck, Lehigh still has just as many in attendance AT Andy Kerr football stadium at Colgate as the home team. We always have more attending football AT Bucknell than the Bison. Grace Hall might get sold out once a year...and its capacity has been reduced dramatically! I doubt the posting numbers mean much at all. Some people on these sports boards live on them all day...and likely, many retirees with a lot of free time to shoot the breeze. As the NCAA's relevance fades into oblivion, the future of collegiate athletics, which always carried the unique distinction of the last bastion of amateur athletics, is becoming more murky due to its slavish devotion to the Almighty dollar.

+1

The segregation of athletes from the rest of the population, except in class, is all over, even to an extent in DIII.

This was particularly well said:

"As the NCAA's relevance fades into oblivion, the future of collegiate athletics, which always carried the unique distinction of the last bastion of amateur athletics, is becoming more murky due to its slavish devotion to the Almighty dollar."

Just look at the conference shenanigans from the Big (lost track of # of teams) to the PAC and he ACC to the EIWA.

Maybe it's time to finally stand up at Lehigh and just say NO!

[HFO]

Winning changes everything for interest. Who or what team is the last National Champion at Lehigh?

Wrestling Darian Cruz. Before that...Lehigh Football 1977...before that Men's Singles Tennis 1928...before that Lehigh Lacrosse before NCAA in early 1900s.

It is no contest that the university under funds and under promotes NCAA Wrestling despite it being the premier sport for 7 plus decades.

I doubt any student at Lehigh is putting in as much time as Darryl Burley. He ran South Mountain to top each morning at 5am. He practiced twice per day. He graduated and got into law school. Plus he had his high school aged brother living with him his senior year, Adrian Burley, now a famous drummer.

I do not buy students have less time or interest. Who goes to see a team lose? In 46 when GI came back, some played sports, were married, had children went to school and some even had PT jobs to make ends meet.

Winning put butts in seats. What sports at Lehigh consistently wins Patriot League? Few...maybe women's softball.

The problem is that current administration and Simon Administration are content in mediocrity whether hiring faculty, coaches, output or student outcomes. The slate of recruiters at Lehigh is pretty thin anymore.

Street has to go. Troyan is not the answer. If next AD didn't come from a D1 Top 15 wrestling school, Lehigh is falling behind. You get your executive search team out there prospecting Associate AD at there Top 15 schools. I'd start at Penn State Iowa and Missouri. I'd also ink Pat to a final 5 year contract and also sign Damian Hahn as Associate Head Coach at same time and designated successor.

Lehigh has to move beyond mediocrity. Board has to go. President has to go. AD and Associate AD have to go.
Lehigh has to be more demanding of Assistant Professors for Tenure. Metric should be 3 articles in global Top 5 journal in their field. Need to go to competitive hiring and salaries based on discipline and publishing/awards. A Top economist or computer science PhD demands more than a English or Psychology professor.

Lehigh needs to scrap whatever has been happening since Alice Gast left for Imperial College which she elevated even further. She was the answer and we the alumni allowed rouge students and Board to force her out. Huge mistake.

On we go...Lehigh becoming a pure shit show. No way is it worth the tuition now charged.

[martinsilvestri]

Men's Baseball 99 topics 157 total posts
Women's Softball 155 338
Men's Basketball 394 2,585
Women's Basketball 209 543
Men's LAX 275 625
Football 673 8,423
TOTAL (6) 1,805 12,671

Wrestling 1,249 27,369

Stipulating this is an unscientific poll, but very indicative of where Lehigh fans' interests lie.

Lafayette forum topics: 5
Lehigh forum topics: 3152
Moravian forum topics: 16686

Who is the TRUE king of the valley?!?

[D3 for LU]

Men's Baseball 99 topics 157 total posts
Women's Softball 155 338
Men's Basketball 394 2,585
Women's Basketball 209 543
Men's LAX 275 625
Football 673 8,423
TOTAL (6) 1,805 12,671

Wrestling 1,249 27,369

Stipulating this is an unscientific poll, but very indicative of where Lehigh fans' interests lie.

Lafayette forum topics: 5
Lehigh forum topics: 3152
Moravian forum topics: 16686

Who is the TRUE king of the valley?!?

FYI, martin... did you check when the LAST entry was made?
July 24, 2019... topics mostly initiated by NEWS.
(Maybe he has a connecting to Moravian? Sort of a "Stove Pipe" to that Div. 3 college, perhaps?)
D3

[martinsilvestri]

FYI, martin... did you check when the LAST entry was made?
July 24, 2019... topics mostly initiated by NEWS.
(Maybe he has a connecting to Moravian? Sort of a "Stove Pipe" to that Div. 3 college, perhaps?)
D3

I only hope that Lehigh can one day attract fans as committed as NEWS

[D3 for LU]

Maybe more than Moravian... NEWS seemed to have a hand in most of the other topics & forums, other than LEHIGH & Lafayette.
Just a quick look thru Moravian forum... I didn't see any others posting other than NEWS, but alot of views from there.
D3

[Justafan]

Personally, I'm not sure why any fan of Lafayette or Moravian would wander over to a website called lehighsportsforum.com

Based on my conversations with others, there appears to be a lot more lurkers than those who choose to post.
I suggest to everyone to spread the word that this site actually exists and that they should go to it for all sports related to Lehigh.

Merry Christmas

[Richb-3]

Maybe more than Moravian... NEWS seemed to have a hand in most of the other topics & forums, other than LEHIGH & Lafayette.
Just a quick look thru Moravian forum... I didn't see any others posting other than NEWS, but alot of views from there.
D3

I saw 17,000+ views one topic. I doubt if Moravian has 17,000 alumni. So?????