Hoyas

[Lehigh74]

Former Lehigh Football coach clearly has an ax to grind. I wonder if he was let go and still carries a big time grudge. Virtually nothing in his post is valid. For example Lehigh is at best an above average academic school. Really? The Wall Street Journal just ranked Lehigh as the 14th best school in the country, ahead of 3 of the Ivy League schools. Why the big jump in Lehigh’s rating? One of the items they started to consider was how successful students are after graduation. That just might be something that appeals to a recruit. I could go on and on, but why bother?

[Sundayamqb]

Some thoughts.

1. I am largely of the belief that it isn't message boards that mess up recruiting, it's people. The presence of a message board is to have a place for fans to bond, preen when the team wins, and possible vent their spleens when their team loses. If a kid or parent is hurt about something said about them on a message board, perhaps football in 2023 is not for them. (Google online at Big 12 or Penn State football message boards to see what abuse paid athletes are getting.)

2. You might have the criticism that I don't "airbrush" things around here. That's fine, but it's not my role to airbrush things. I think it's way better to have a moderated environment that accurately gets the mood than something like the Lafayette board that airbrushes uncomfortable realities. As long as things don't devolve to rumors about kids, personal attacks, doxxing or race or really stupid stuff I tend to leave it up and not edit it out. Many, MANY times the kids have made the posters look very foolish. But in the end there are a lot of Lehigh people care about the athletes and the program. JMHO.

3. I very much believe that this message board accurately portrays what people think in an unfiltered way, and again, as long as things don't get stupid I feel like the positives outweigh the negatives. A lot of times that will be a voice of frustration, especially when Lehigh loses (which - let's be real - has been a lot lately). What is written here can be right, wrong, stupid, genius, insightful or ill-advised, but it is what people think. I feel like that is valuable, and something that helps the program ultimately, even if it makes individuals uncomfortable at times.

+1

And someone else made the great point about coaches getting upset at the "beat writer." You can read stories about such conflicts regularly -- where Coach A kicks Reporter B out of the lockerroom.

And, remember, back in the day Lehigh's entire "social media team" (tongue in cheek) was Joe Whritenour (and games were not televised). Now look at what you can get on its social media channels, its website, etc. It's night and day, for better or worse.

[HFO]

When you cannot get 5000 Lehigh grads from within 50 miles to come to a game, you got big problems in selling your program. Stabler was built for Basketball and Wrestling to fill it. I have only been in it a few times in past 40 years where it has been full and essentially none in the past 10 years.

Since Likins left... the parade as ass hat clowns who have been President and Provost has been atrocious. The composition of current Board of Trustees needs a complete overhaul. The institution has been a complete mess for twenty plus years. It runs off it laurels of the past and ever increasing applicant pool for the Top 200 universities now that over 1 million foreigners apply to US institutions each year. Nearly any top school now gets 10,000 applicants. Penn State gets over 100,000 applicants. Lehigh struggles to get employers to recruit there. Nowhere near the depth of Fortune 500 companies that came in the 1940s to 1990s. The investment banks recruit Lehigh less for much lesser prestige training classes. Instead of Corporate Finance/I-banking Training Programs, it is now mostly accounting level finance group positions. Even Air Products in local backyard recruits more heavily outside of Lehigh for engineers of all types.

The research coming out of Lehigh is drivel with low percentage of highly cited whether by the institution as an aggregate or even a star professor who produces. Lehigh has become a mediocre business school and engineering school. It was never particularly strong in physical science, mathematics or humanities/liberal arts. So Lehigh is essentially now an elite MidAtlantic residential college safety school for students who do not get into Ivy League or elites liberal arts of Swarthmore, Amherst, Williams, etc.

Whose fault? In the aggregate, the entire Lehigh alumni for allowing these Boards to Trustees to be utterly incompetent and allowed to engage in malpractice in their roles of overseeing the institution. Lehigh has become the proverbial Shit Show.

[ngineer]

I cannot recall a more down in the mouth series of rant postings denigrating Lehigh by anyone in recent memory. Who pissed on your cornflakes years ago that has made you so mean spirited and bitter? The all-knowing Wizard of Oz...Obviously someone or something triggered you in the past resulting in your negativity. Why continue to punish yourself by dredging up your repeated litany of complaints and perceived Lehigh misdeeds? I guess most schools and organizations all have a few "Debbie Downers" who must always have a piñata to wack. Why not go somewhere you might find some happiness? You clearly are unhappy ruminating about Lehigh and all it has done to you. There must be something that gives you joy. Why not better spend your time focused on that? If what you continually spew on this Board gives you joy, then I truly feel sorry for you and hope you can find some happiness somewhere.

[HFO]

I cannot recall a more down in the mouth series of rant postings denigrating Lehigh by anyone in recent memory. Who pissed on your cornflakes years ago that has made you so mean spirited and bitter? The all-knowing Wizard of Oz...Obviously someone or something triggered you in the past resulting in your negativity. Why continue to punish yourself by dredging up your repeated litany of complaints and perceived Lehigh misdeeds? I guess most schools and organizations all have a few "Debbie Downers" who must always have a piñata to wack. Why not go somewhere you might find some happiness? You clearly are unhappy ruminating about Lehigh and all it has done to you. There must be something that gives you joy. Why not better spend your time focused on that? If what you continually spew on this Board gives you joy, then I truly feel sorry for you and hope you can find some happiness somewhere.

Seems you are part of the problem not the solution...so just shut your pie hole. Unlike current Lehigh to students, Lehigh was very good to me from time I entered in 1939...interrupted by the war and graduated and then interrupted by another war and graduated from medical school. Sometimes a good institution goes to SHIT and has to be recovered by those who don't sit back idling watching the carnage of destruction.

I'm 99...I lived a blessed life much longer than most, but also the horrors of life when the idle and uncommitted sat back and watched. I feel sorry for you because you worship happiness not obligation and achievement. So either join into being solution oriented or keep your personal opinion in your numbskull container called your head.

[LU808]

FOOD FIGHT!

[ngineer]

I cannot recall a more down in the mouth series of rant postings denigrating Lehigh by anyone in recent memory. Who pissed on your cornflakes years ago that has made you so mean spirited and bitter? The all-knowing Wizard of Oz...Obviously someone or something triggered you in the past resulting in your negativity. Why continue to punish yourself by dredging up your repeated litany of complaints and perceived Lehigh misdeeds? I guess most schools and organizations all have a few "Debbie Downers" who must always have a piñata to wack. Why not go somewhere you might find some happiness? You clearly are unhappy ruminating about Lehigh and all it has done to you. There must be something that gives you joy. Why not better spend your time focused on that? If what you continually spew on this Board gives you joy, then I truly feel sorry for you and hope you can find some happiness somewhere.

Seems you are part of the problem not the solution...so just shut your pie hole. Unlike current Lehigh to students, Lehigh was very good to me from time I entered in 1939...interrupted by the war and graduated and then interrupted by another war and graduated from medical school. Sometimes a good institution goes to SHIT and has to be recovered by those who don't sit back idling watching the carnage of destruction.

I'm 99...I lived a blessed life much longer than most, but also the horrors of life when the idle and uncommitted sat back and watched. I feel sorry for you because you worship happiness not obligation and achievement. So either join into being solution oriented or keep your personal opinion in your numbskull container called your head.

Whether a good institution has "gone to SHIT" is evidenced by what? Because it is no longer strictly an engineering technical school? All in the eye of the beholder. Further, such a "collapse" does not occur overnight. What were you doing 30 years ago when the supposed swirl started in the porcelain bowl? You can speculate all you want about what I have done with my life, but commitment has been a cornerstone in my life, and Lehigh has had a significant imprint throughout. It is why I have supported its various programs, both academic and athletic. I see no progress being obtained by sitting back and sniping at people and their supposed deficiencies.

[LU808]

PLEASE...both you get off your high horses and stop the sniping. This line of nonsense does nothing for the Board.

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

PLEASE...both you get off your high horses and stop the sniping. This line of nonsense does noting for the Board.

I'm of the belief that it would be beneficial to have a tab that allows ALL OF US who care first and foremost about Lehigh the institution the opportunity to discuss academic and administrative topics, facility development, community relations and higher education in general. Such a platform is sorely lacking.

With that said, we need to keep this about football!

[ngineer]

Agreed