Football looked good

Talk about the champions, or the Top 25 nationally-ranked team!
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drd5748
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Re: Football looked good

Post by drd5748 » Fri Sep 10, 2021 9:43 pm

Of course anonymity is commonplace here -- and why do you it's common? So people can make posts with virtually complete impunity

It's as simple as that. None of us started the tradition but the above is still true.

Why do you think reputable magazines and newspapers will only print letters with a name and a hometown ??

Because they're reputable.

The Allentown Morning Call decided they were hard up for subscribers about 2+ decades ago, so they began allowing unidentified letters. They're even more hard-up for subscriptions today, but in less than a year they realized their mistake after too much hateful trashy mail came in.

Done. Canceled. They realized the stuff was beneath editorial policy and dignity.


Sundayamqb
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Re: Football looked good

Post by Sundayamqb » Fri Sep 10, 2021 10:28 pm

TMH wrote: Thu Sep 09, 2021 1:25 pm I never really considered myself to be a real contrarian until I get on the forums :-)

I know, the wrestling community loves Peter Likens probably due to his wrestling roots but it was during his years that the University lost much of it's prestige. We also lost that backing from Bethlehem Steel. We went from the mid 30s per US News and World Report (again perception is reality) to the mid 50s. During this time we transitioned from the Engineers to the Mountainhawks. We ceased to be a engineering school as the College of Arts and Sciences became the largest college. The highly touted wrestling program reached it's depths. The once proud Marching 97 had only 45 members and the Greek system was being dismantled. Lehigh excelled at nothing.

My memory says that Greg Farrington turned that trajectory around. Upon his arrival Peter Rossin donates $25 M to resurrect the engineering program. Football begins it's big run under Higgins. Wrestling has a massive resurgence. The Marching band is back to 97. He introduces integrated learning to Lehigh which arguably is one of our biggest academic strengths and is about to expand and we are ranked in the Top 40 again. Some of it may have been a matter of timing but all of this was done with Bethlehem Steel.
I agree with much of what you said, TMH -- I certainly respect all of it; you make some great, well-informed posts.

Please do not blame Likins for Bethlehem Steel, which started going belly up about the time Likins arrived.

I saw Lewis before Likins as a caretaker, whereas Likins had to navigate the new reality: excesses at fraternities, increasing liability, the Steel's decline, the Valley's decline (Mack was having labor issues, too), increased co-education, pressure to expand into the arts, wrestling's decline, moving sports to Saucon Valley, etc.

I don't think Farrington or his successors brought LU along in the way it could been given all the money it raised. We've missed the tech revolution. While we've done OK; we're not at the level of many other institutions -- but that discussion is better suited for another board.
Mountain Hawk
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Re: Football looked good

Post by Mountain Hawk » Sat Sep 11, 2021 7:38 am

drd5748 wrote: Fri Sep 10, 2021 9:43 pm Of course anonymity is commonplace here -- and why do you it's common? So people can make posts with virtually complete impunity

It's as simple as that. None of us started the tradition but the above is still true.

Why do you think reputable magazines and newspapers will only print letters with a name and a hometown ??

Because they're reputable.

The Allentown Morning Call decided they were hard up for subscribers about 2+ decades ago, so they began allowing unidentified letters. They're even more hard-up for subscriptions today, but in less than a year they realized their mistake after too much hateful trashy mail came in.

Done. Canceled. They realized the stuff was beneath editorial policy and dignity.
It’s an anonymous board and a free country with a constitution that guarantees free speech.
drd5748
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Re: Football looked good

Post by drd5748 » Sat Sep 11, 2021 2:48 pm

>>>It’s an anonymous board and a free country with a constitution that guarantees free speech.

... Unabashed critics always cite freedom of speech but our legal system includes laws on libel and slander while (in court, at least) given the right to confront accusers.
... It's pretty hard to enforce libel laws even if the stuff includes defamation -- and even if a claim is false and meets other criteria by being made to someone other than the person defamed.
drd5748
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Re: Football looked good

Post by drd5748 » Sat Sep 11, 2021 3:20 pm

>>>I don't think Farrington or his successors brought LU along in the way it could been, given all the money raised

... A mixed bag; both Likins and Farrington scored pts for aggressiveness; sure, some mixed results. But the fund-raising efforts led by trustees and development staff historically have rarely matched up to the more exceptional schools, limiting our ability to play catch-up.

... Still unsure about the line about Farrington 'doing it all with Bethlehem Steel." He started in '98; BSC went bankrupt in '01, dissolution in '03. Yes, we got assets to die for but it was Peter Likins at the helm when Lehigh negotiated the sweetheart deal for 700+ acre Mountaintop for a mere $19mil. I was a fly on the wall, driving Peter to a club mtg while he shared his major concerns about taking on massive costs (while BSC pushed to get rid of more bldgs than we needed or wanted). But it was just too good a deal in the long run not to complete.
drd5748
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Re: Football looked good

Post by drd5748 » Sat Sep 11, 2021 3:29 pm

And football looked pretty good for a quarter or so before turnovers, soft defense and tackling helped right the Richmond ship, 28-3 at the half. For twenty minutes or so, I thought: "thank God the Spyders aren't as good as the Wildcats, then poof ! Wow. The score remained low after UR declined to go for 4th=and-short at midfield after averaging over 6 yds/per to get there. Even conservative NFL coaches go for it there. Yardage diff again huge; 96 yds tot O. Ouch. Yes, OUCH
Mountain Hawk
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Re: Football looked good

Post by Mountain Hawk » Sat Sep 11, 2021 4:53 pm

drd5748 wrote: Sat Sep 11, 2021 2:48 pm >>>It’s an anonymous board and a free country with a constitution that guarantees free speech.

... Unabashed critics always cite freedom of speech but our legal system includes laws on libel and slander while (in court, at least) given the right to confront accusers.
... It's pretty hard to enforce libel laws even if the stuff includes defamation -- and even if a claim is false and meets other criteria by being made to someone other than the person defamed.
You miss the point of free speech entirely. Just because you disagree with something doesn’t make it libelous.
Anyway, no sense teaching Mr Journalism anything. He knows it all already.
Mountain Hawk
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Re: Football looked good

Post by Mountain Hawk » Sat Sep 11, 2021 5:17 pm

Anyone got the ball score?

Oh, I guess another “scheduling mismatch”.
LUEngineer
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Re: Football looked good

Post by LUEngineer » Sat Sep 11, 2021 5:20 pm

Ouch is the proper term. We are pathetic & Sterrett must be very depressed as Football is his passion & being competitive with schools like Villanova & Richmond his long time goal.

With regard to Farrington, I will never forget his comments that if we didn’t change our image away from Engineering we were destined to become like RPI who at the time was ranked below Lehigh in USNews rankings.

At that time we were around #32 & they were in the 40’s. Today we are around #50 & they remain in the 40’s ahead of us. We lost our “Brand” when we marched down the “Ivy Wannabe” path of trying to portray ourselves as an eastern liberal arts school.

Our trustees brought in Farrington from an Ivy to reinforce their mission & in my mind both Likens & Farrington were not the problem but just puppets of our trustees bad decision.
gimpeltf
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Re: Football looked good

Post by gimpeltf » Sat Sep 11, 2021 5:43 pm

drd5748 wrote: Sat Sep 11, 2021 2:48 pm >>>It’s an anonymous board and a free country with a constitution that guarantees free speech.
All free speech really means is that you can't be arrested for it. "Congress shall make no law...". Even if some monitor here does something you have the right to create your own forum.
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