Street & Smith

Back-to-back PL champs 2016 and 2017.... but need to get back to relevance in the national FCS scene.
Sundayamqb
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Re: Street & Smith

Post by Sundayamqb » Tue May 21, 2019 7:12 pm

Go Lehigh TU Owl wrote: Mon May 20, 2019 8:57 pm
Lehigh has lost All-American skill players for 40 years without really missing a beat.
I'm a Lehigh fan, too, and thought we had a great tradition. I didn't doubt you too much, but ...

I just looked at some numbers going back to 1976, the beginning of the Whitehead era.

JW: Six years winning more than seven games, including five in a row. Four years winning six or fewer.

HS (1986): Three years winning seven or more, including two in a row; five years winning six or fewer.

KH (1994): Four years winning seven or more, including the last three in a row. Three years of five or fewer.

PL (2001): Five years in a row winning eight or more!

THAT'S WHAT WE ALL REMEMBER. THAT"S WHAT WE EXPECT. Eight years in a row winning eight or more.

AC (2006): Five years winning seven or more, including four in a row. EIGHT years winning six or fewer.

Except for the eight straight, eight-win years under Higgins and Lembo -- dating back 13 years -- our team has been brutally inconsistent.

Maybe this is why attendance lags.

As good as Brags and that OL was, in his four years we managed only one season winning seven or more games.

After three- and five-win seasons, and now a new coach, I'm afraid we're in rebuilding mode.


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RichH
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Re: Street & Smith

Post by RichH » Tue May 21, 2019 7:16 pm

Sundayamqb wrote: Tue May 21, 2019 7:12 pm
Go Lehigh TU Owl wrote: Mon May 20, 2019 8:57 pm
Lehigh has lost All-American skill players for 40 years without really missing a beat.
I'm a Lehigh fan, too, and thought we had a great tradition. I didn't doubt you too much, but ...

I just looked at some numbers going back to 1976, the beginning of the Whitehead era.

JW: Six years winning more than seven games, including five in a row. Four years winning six or fewer.

HS (1986): Three years winning seven or more, including two in a row; five years winning six or fewer.

KH (1994): Four years winning seven or more, including the last three in a row. Three years of five or fewer.

PL (2001): Five years in a row winning eight or more!

THAT'S WHAT WE ALL REMEMBER. THAT"S WHAT WE EXPECT. Eight years in a row winning eight or more.

AC (2006): Five years winning seven or more, including four in a row. EIGHT years winning six or fewer.

Except for the eight straight, eight-win years under Higgins and Lembo -- dating back 13 years -- our team has been brutally inconsistent.

Maybe this is why attendance lags.

As good as Brags and that OL was, in his four years we managed only one season winning seven or more games.

After three- and five-win seasons, and now a new coach, I'm afraid we're in rebuilding mode.
Well the numbers are all correct but results between non schollie and schollie eras are not really comparable. Nor is the general recruiting landscape. Whitehead thru Higgins PL and Lehigh had a definable niche with very little competition in it. It was a luxury to have squads of over 100.. The downside was thecrecurring need to recruit outside that niche for talent as the niche shrank.
The Coen issues go back 3 years and over his tenure to the loss of Coach K to Stanford and Ceech to Valpo and Folmar to Elon.
Our D has never recovered from Coach K. Andy's loyalty to assts led to disastrous choices for DC for the rest of his career. We have all seen the results. The fortuitous hiring of Kashurba at LB asst may turn out to be the needed catalyst to to turn this D around. We'll see if the combo of Gilmore and Kashurba can do that.
Go Lehigh TU Owl
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Re: Street & Smith

Post by Go Lehigh TU Owl » Tue May 21, 2019 7:46 pm

Sundayamqb wrote: Tue May 21, 2019 7:12 pm
Go Lehigh TU Owl wrote: Mon May 20, 2019 8:57 pm
Lehigh has lost All-American skill players for 40 years without really missing a beat.
I'm a Lehigh fan, too, and thought we had a great tradition. I didn't doubt you too much, but ...

I just looked at some numbers going back to 1976, the beginning of the Whitehead era.

JW: Six years winning more than seven games, including five in a row. Four years winning six or fewer.

HS (1986): Three years winning seven or more, including two in a row; five years winning six or fewer.

KH (1994): Four years winning seven or more, including the last three in a row. Three years of five or fewer.

PL (2001): Five years in a row winning eight or more!

THAT'S WHAT WE ALL REMEMBER. THAT"S WHAT WE EXPECT. Eight years in a row winning eight or more.

AC (2006): Five years winning seven or more, including four in a row. EIGHT years winning six or fewer.

Except for the eight straight, eight-win years under Higgins and Lembo -- dating back 13 years -- our team has been brutally inconsistent.

Maybe this is why attendance lags.

As good as Brags and that OL was, in his four years we managed only one season winning seven or more games.

After three- and five-win seasons, and now a new coach, I'm afraid we're in rebuilding mode.
The PL has had one team in the last two years with a winning record, Colgate. Everyone is in a rebuilding mode or
hoping to take off except Colgate heading into 2019. And one could argue even Colgate has to at least significantly "reload" to 3-peat.

Lehigh certainly is not immune to "down stretches" but they rarely last long and are often followed by a run of sustained success or at least one or two elite type teams. Even when Lehigh was struggling early in Coen's tenure they remained pretty competitive in the PL. Only one sub .500 record. Then they run off 3 straight 10 win seasons. Had Coen's health not failed him I believe they were positioned for a similar type run in 2016, '17 and 2018. You could feel momentum building in the middle of 2015 that ultimately peaked heading into the 2016 playoffs. Then everything started to fall apart prior to heading to Durham.

Colgate has arguably been more inconsistent than Lehigh over the last 15 years. Yet both have still "consistently" dominated the PL over that same time frame. It's really hard for private schools to remain great year in and year out. The PL restrictions make it even more difficult. Look at the rut the Furman has been in recently. Check out Talley's record at Villanova. He produced several elite teams sure but there's also a several of 4, 5 and 6 win seasons on his resume. The Wildcats are still trying to find their stride under the new regime. Richmond's last 25 years or so is similar. Lots of ups and downs. One of those ups resulted in a national title.

Lehigh doesn't have to be great every year to be a really good FCS program. What they need to do is have 2-3 teams a decade that can reach their ceiling (legit Top 5/10, Frisco threat) another 2-3 that are Top 25 good. The remaining 3-4 are rebuilding seasons of varying degrees. Sometimes you might win 6 or 7 while others the wheels might fall off completely and you win 3.
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Re: Street & Smith

Post by Go Lehigh TU Owl » Mon May 27, 2019 12:52 pm

Lindy's Predictions
1. Colgate
2. Holy Cross
3. Lehigh
4. Lafayette
5. Georgetown
6. Fordham
7. Bucknell

It's clear Colgate being the favorite for the title and Bucknell being the cellar dweller are the only agreed upon predictions heading into the season.
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RichH
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Re: Street & Smith

Post by RichH » Mon May 27, 2019 1:02 pm

Well a project for the morrow. Off to get Lindys :D
Agree on 1st 2 picks, if Chesney finds a QB.
Us in the middle of the pack seems right. We can go up or down.
Fordham that low just seems wrong. My gut puts them in top 3-4.
ngineer
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Re: Street & Smith

Post by ngineer » Fri May 31, 2019 1:14 pm

Agreed. I see Fordham, Holy Cross, and Lehigh in a jumble to challenge Colgate. Not sold on Georgetown being a challenger, though, I see in the "lower middle". No idea what is seen in Laughyette. Garrett doesn't seem to have a handle on a lot. Can't keep staff. And, what he sees in his QB is beyond me. Bucky should be expected to struggle in their transition since not much in the cupboard for Chick. Of course, once camp starts and the injury bug bites this all gets tossed in the air.
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