John Hughes resigns as associate head coach

[gimpeltf]

Lehigh needs new blood, new ideas from outside the program. This is an opportunity to kickstart things and get out of the 10 -15 national rank rut.

Define "outside the program". Pat is from outside, John was from outside, Strobel was from outside. and to HFO's point- Chance is from outside.

[mookie]

Current staff - Santoro, Dillon, Hughes were together for 12 years, that's a long time for any organization. Things get stale and kids tune out.

[Mountain Hawk]

mookie, MH generally enjoys your posts. Want to make you aware of what a real wall we are up against trying to get into the top 10. The problem is really about the cost of a private university vs a public. These days its about a 20-30k difference for an out of state resident and 30-45k difference for an in state resident, depending on the state. So if you are out with your 9.9 schollies in hand and you show up with your deep Lehigh tradition and your love for blue chip kid and you give him the biggest best package you can give in terms of money, these state schools will come along and offer the EXACT SAME SCHOLLIE PACKAGE and the NET COST OF ATTENDANCE (which is a HUGE component of what really matters to the kid's parents) is 20-45k less per year than what we can offer. This is ignoring all the need based measures and the loan forgiveness stuff that is/was going on at the Ivies, none of which works to Lehigh's advantage. Even kids that have a professed love for Lehigh from birth sometimes slip away from us out of a pure cost of attendance difference. Maybe that doesn't matter to kids with parents who won't notice the extra 100-150k over 4 years but MH thinks you'll find those more the exception rather than the rule. At Lehigh we are forced to spread that 9.9 around so that VERY rarely does someone get 100% full $0 out of pocket ride. This is not the case with the pure blue chippers that a place like PSU pulls in and the kids go for free with the same package we have offered. Throw in the fact that the admissions office tends NOT to look the other way very much when it comes to wrestling admits relative to many other schools - even fancy private ones - and you have a recipe for a very high bar to jump over to compete for the kids that will keep Lehigh in the Top 10.
Until something changes, be happy with what's on offer here now: A top quality coach of the highest character who is developing lots of good talent into podium finishes and keeping the program perennially top 15 while at a massive financial disadvantage to the competition.

[D3 for LU]

(to ABOVE post) Wow!

LU Wrestling will miss John Hughes, major time.
Best Wishes to all his future endeavors.
D3

[LUEngineer]

I too will miss John & wish him well in whatever his new endeavor will be. I disagree with Mountain Hawk as one would expect. In wrestling with 9.9 scholarships you don’t spread those around if you want to be top 10 but rather use 2 per year to overcome any disparity for the very best wrestler we can attract with a full ride.

We have the same problem in football where we apparently spread around our 62 scholarships instead of attracting the studs with full rides to compete.

[mookie]

With only 75 Division 1 wrestling schools finishing top 15 isn't exactly the highest bar. Basically just takes 3 guys who can score at nationals.

[Mountain Hawk]

I disagree with Mountain Hawk as one would expect. In wrestling with 9.9 scholarships you don’t spread those around if you want to be top 10 but rather use 2 per year to overcome any disparity for the very best wrestler we can attract with a full ride.

You'd have 15 guys in the room, 2 forfeits, and no program within 5 years.

Old Abe nailed you perfectly: "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt"

[jdalu75]

The first half dozen years of the Santoro era what we used to hear was "we need more depth". You don't build depth by handing out two full rides every year and then relying on need-based aid for everyone else. If we didn't have that depth we wouldn't have won the last two EIWAs.


Regarding the coaching staff getting stale -- I can't comment on that but I know it's believed that companies that hire too many graduates from the same handful of colleges are making a mistake by not diversifying the background of its staff. Too many employees trained by the same faculty with the same philosophy. It's the same reason a college shouldn't hire too many of its own graduates as faculty. So it makes sense that coaching staffs should bring in outsiders who have been exposed to different ideas and techniques -- reduces the possibility of groupthink.

For that reason I've wondered if Cornell hasn't made a mistake with a head coach nearing 30 years on the job and three of his graduates as his assistants.

[ngineer]

Very sorry to see that John is leaving. A real class guy, as are his compatriots on the staff. From what I perceive, this is "personal" and not leaving for some outside offer. I think he could have left for an HC position numerous times over the years. Collegiate and high school coaching is extremely time demanding, and can cause one to miss a lot of family things when kids are growing up. I note that Karam's dad stepped down in order to be able to see his son wrestle. Of course, that changed with the injury, but it underscores the sacrifices coaches make that can wear emotionally on a person. All the best, John!

[Mountain Hawk]

For that reason I've wondered if Cornell hasn't made a mistake with a head coach nearing 30 years on the job and three of his graduates as his assistants.

very nice tongue-in-cheek humor.....hopefully