I respectfully disagree on a few points. I'm not seeing a Lehigh program in good shape at all. I think we can agree that the defense is in shambles. All of the offensive fire power is gone on offense. Our kicking game is a complete unknown. There is no real known commodity at QB which can very much inhibit the productivity of our young corps of receivers. The roster size is exceedingly small and our recruiting class prior to TG's arrival was generally considered to be near the bottom of the PL. In the month since TG arrived, the staff had to be remolded. The current recruits had to be contacted and mollified. Still the 2nd installment of recruiting has provided some of our best talent at least on paper.Go Lehigh TU Owl wrote: ↑Fri Feb 08, 2019 9:51 am Both coaches enter their gigs with a lot to prove so motivation shouldn't be an issue. I think there's a reason why the best head coaching jobs Cecchini could land are Valpo and Bucknell. Arguably 2 of the 10-15 worst programs in FCS. The hurdles in Lewisburg are well documented.
Gilmore enters a much better situation but his resume is equally as questionable. I'm hopeful the defense is improved but until I see it happening I'll fail to believe it. Especially knowing/watching how poor the Gilmore-Kashurba defenses were in Worcester. Overall, statistically they were average to below average by PL standards for Gilmore's entire tenure.
Of all the hires in the league Chesney is the best one without a doubt. He won't be i Worcester long but his ceiling will be higher than Gilmore's, Cecchini's and Garrett's imo. I'll reserve judgement on Conlin until after this year. I have a large enough sample size from the other guys....
As for Gilmore's record. I don't expect him to stay 14 years here so I'm focusing on the HC turnaround. He inherited a team that was 1-12 and took them to a winning record in his 2nd year. In his next 4 years, they finished no worse than 7-4. In years 4 through 8, HC finished no worse than 2nd in the PL. At Lehigh he walks into a program with a rich history, ample support but a team in disarray. If we can get anywhere near the same degree of improvement from him here, I'll be delighted but I'm not setting the bar all that high in Year 1. The real test begins in Year 2 IMHO.