Lehigh Sports Forum

I believe that Goodman was set up as an "all purpose" stadium,even though it is used 99% for football, 5 or 6 days a year. LU benefits by having a big sports campus with specialty fields so the stadium gets used for football game day exclusively. No football practice, no lacrosse or soccer.

One thing that kind of works against for football is the oval shape, which brings the seating away from the field, making the game less intimate. The shape would enable wider use by other sports, but it simply has never happened.

Turning the old box into luxury seating is nice, but count me among those fans who would settle for a defense that holds teams to 17 points per game and say 250-300 yards total per game...

I would trade that for scoreboards, press boxes and lights.

True. In a heart beat. Yes the design was kept with the natural bowl where the Freshman games used to be played in order to accommodate the wider field used in soccer. Hosted the US Women's Olympic trials back in the late 80's or early 90's. While the distance from sideline to stands is much greater than old Taylor, it is better than those schools with 8-lane tracks circling the field.

ngineer wrote: ↑Thu Dec 06, 2018 8:48 pm True. In a heart beat. Yes the design was kept with the natural bowl where the Freshman games used to be played in order to accommodate the wider field used in soccer. Hosted the US Women's Olympic trials back in the late 80's or early 90's. While the distance from sideline to stands is much greater than old Taylor, it is better than those schools with 8-lane tracks circling the field.

The bowl was ever so much better than where we practiced on Taylor. Hated running the hill but that was preferably to tackling on the field. Swear I still have scars Sadly the bowl project was overthought and ill considered. Goodman is beautiful.but it could have been so much better.

Since Casese has taken over we have probably averaged one LAX game a year. Against the powers like Duke or MD usually

Even if we couldn't gain a single additional fan with Lehigh I suspect 17 Steel FC games a year would go a long way toward paying for lights in a decade or so,

Add 1-3 PIAA playoff football games annually, another opportunity lost. If you are a school from anywhere outside the greater Lehigh Valley, I am sure it is easier to find Goodman than Allentown or Bethlehem School District Stadiums. Quite possibly the most well attended games in the history of the PIAA playoffs were at Goodman.

I assume the shape of the Bowl, and the Stadium is an ellipse, gotta say a Oval is probably better, although isn't Madison Square Garden elliptical, It looked like that NCAA wrestling.

As I am writing this I am watching PIAA 4A finals. Imhotep has a giant OL named John Whitehead, suspect not a relative or quite there academically.

Richb-3 wrote: ↑Thu Dec 06, 2018 9:21 pm Since Casese has taken over we have probably averaged one LAX game a year. Against the powers like Duke or MD usually

Even if we couldn't gain a single additional fan with Lehigh I suspect 17 Steel FC games a year would go a long way toward paying for lights in a decade or so,

Add 1-3 PIAA playoff football games annually, another opportunity lost. If you are a school from anywhere outside the greater Lehigh Valley, I am sure it is easier to find Goodman than Allentown or Bethlehem School District Stadiums. Quite possibly the most well attended games in the history of the PIAA playoffs were at Goodman.

I assume the shape of the Bowl, and the Stadium is an ellipse, gotta say a Oval is probably better, although isn't Madison Square Garden elliptical, It looked like that NCAA wrestling.

As I am writing this I am watching PIAA 4A finals. Imhotep has a giant OL named John Whitehead, suspect not a relative or quite there academically.

Wow. Probably a coincidence as it is not an unusual name, but I don't remember where Walter, John's son, has gone. So I guess it is possible.

Hmmm...let's just say they is no resemblance to our venerable coach except body structure.

TMH wrote: ↑Fri Dec 07, 2018 11:03 am Hmmm...let's just say they is no resemblance to our venerable coach except body structure.

Wasn't this John Whitehead on our offer list at one time?

I was gonna say. Also, how can you tell if he's not there 'academically'?

ngineer wrote: ↑Fri Dec 07, 2018 12:52 pm I was gonna say. Also, how can you tell if he's not there 'academically'?

Actually he very well may be OK academically. Characterizing the young man based solely upon Imhotep's reputation is wrong. I note that he is on my prospects list.

TMH wrote: ↑Tue Dec 04, 2018 7:42 pm I don't know if I mentioned this but I was on the focus group when this project was proposed several years ago as part of a "partnership" with current architectural students. The primary purpose is to create a better visual for television. The cameras will now point to the home side (which lately is also a bad visual). The boxes were designed to be quite small at the time. Because of the renovations, Lehigh will be required to put in bathrooms and an elevator on both sides. If given a bucket of money to spend on Goodman Stadium, this project would have a priority in the mid 20s. Just my opinion.

Is having a good view for TV really that critical for a program that has most of its home games only televised on a relatively small, regional cable network that only some people in its market area receive and streamed on a league website?

I agree with what has already been said about the sun issue with having the press box above the east stands; it creates more problems than it solves.