LUHawker
November 20th, 2008, 10:18 AM
According to the blog by Lehigh's beat writer, Keith Groller, Lehigh's head coach Andy Coen, will be back for 2009 per his, up 'til now, unverified, 4 year contract.
Here is the link with the text below: http://blogs.mcall.com/groller/
November 20, 2008
Newsflash from Lehigh luncheon: Coen will return
Total People in Discussion: 0
I talked to a bunch of people at today's Lehigh football luncheon and learned a lot of things.
But the most important thing to be learned was when I headed for the door at the Cooperhead Grille and Mike Stagnitta, Lehigh's football contact for the school's sports media relations office, stopped me on the side and assured me that Andy Coen would be back as head coach in 2009.
Mike was speaking on behalf of the athletic department, I am sure. Mike doesn't make those decisions. He was told what to say after I speculated about Andy's future in a story earlier this week.
Stagnitta said that Andy signed a four-year contract when he was hired and 2009 is the fourth year. He said that AD Joe Sterrett wanted to give Coen four years, a full class, to establish his program and get things rolling. As noted before, it took Kevin Higgins until his fifth year, 1998, before he really elevated the program to a consistently high level and began a glorious four-year run that people still talk about.
So, there you have it. There has been a tremendous amount of speculation about Coen's job status and I have wondered myself because there has been a tremendous of negativity out there. 6-5, 5-6 and 4-6 to this point has been very disappointing to many alumni and fans who got in the habit of expecting league championships and playoff appearances every year.
I am sure there will be plenty of folks unhappy with the news that Coen will return in 2009. He gets ripped to shreds on certain forums. They'll let him have it in a loud way if things go sour on Saturday.
But I still believe that Coen has been coaching players he didn't recruit and it's not fair to gauge him until he is coaching virtually all of his own players.
Coen and Sedale Threatt were not a good match at quarterback for instance. Sedale just wasn't the style of QB Coen wanted and while they got along well, it was a marriage destined for failure.
This year, sophomore QB J.B. Clark is certainly more in the traditional dropback mode that Coen wants, but he experienced growing pains and was simply not ready to win games late like he probably will be in 2009 and 2010.
On a more selfish level, I am glad Coen will be back. Maybe the jury is still out on him as a head coach, but as a person, you can't find many better and I've covered quite a few on all levels over the past 26 years. He doesn't play mind games with the media like so many others do. He doesn't change personalities. He is what he is and has been a pleasure from a media perspective. Not just for me either. I think my counterparts at the Express-Times and in the radio and TV business feel the same way.
It has been a tough three seasons, and the vast success at Lafayette and with some of his successors hasn't put him a positive light. He'll have one more shot at turning things around next year and we'll see what happens.
While fans can nitpick a lot of the gametime decisions that were made this season and fault this scheme or that one, you can't deny that the players kept playing hard for him. He never lost this team despite the heartbreaking losses and that says something about the man.
But even with the knowledge that Coen is returning, Saturday remains a pivotal game for the program. Lehigh needs to change perceptions and chase away a lot of the negativity and the only way to do that is with a win -- "even if it's by one point," Coen said..
Coen emphasized that Saturday's game is about the long-suffering kids, especially the seniors, who have lost three straight games to Lafayette and the two at Fisher Stadium haven't been close.
"They certainly deserve a better fate," Coen said. "Good coaches, and I consider myself to be one, have to take things very personally and I do. I feel horrible that things haven't worked out for these kids the way I thought possible. So, a win on Saturday, if we can find a way, would make it all worthwhile. It's a special group of kids and they do deserve something special. But they have to go out and earn it."
Here is the link with the text below: http://blogs.mcall.com/groller/
November 20, 2008
Newsflash from Lehigh luncheon: Coen will return
Total People in Discussion: 0
I talked to a bunch of people at today's Lehigh football luncheon and learned a lot of things.
But the most important thing to be learned was when I headed for the door at the Cooperhead Grille and Mike Stagnitta, Lehigh's football contact for the school's sports media relations office, stopped me on the side and assured me that Andy Coen would be back as head coach in 2009.
Mike was speaking on behalf of the athletic department, I am sure. Mike doesn't make those decisions. He was told what to say after I speculated about Andy's future in a story earlier this week.
Stagnitta said that Andy signed a four-year contract when he was hired and 2009 is the fourth year. He said that AD Joe Sterrett wanted to give Coen four years, a full class, to establish his program and get things rolling. As noted before, it took Kevin Higgins until his fifth year, 1998, before he really elevated the program to a consistently high level and began a glorious four-year run that people still talk about.
So, there you have it. There has been a tremendous amount of speculation about Coen's job status and I have wondered myself because there has been a tremendous of negativity out there. 6-5, 5-6 and 4-6 to this point has been very disappointing to many alumni and fans who got in the habit of expecting league championships and playoff appearances every year.
I am sure there will be plenty of folks unhappy with the news that Coen will return in 2009. He gets ripped to shreds on certain forums. They'll let him have it in a loud way if things go sour on Saturday.
But I still believe that Coen has been coaching players he didn't recruit and it's not fair to gauge him until he is coaching virtually all of his own players.
Coen and Sedale Threatt were not a good match at quarterback for instance. Sedale just wasn't the style of QB Coen wanted and while they got along well, it was a marriage destined for failure.
This year, sophomore QB J.B. Clark is certainly more in the traditional dropback mode that Coen wants, but he experienced growing pains and was simply not ready to win games late like he probably will be in 2009 and 2010.
On a more selfish level, I am glad Coen will be back. Maybe the jury is still out on him as a head coach, but as a person, you can't find many better and I've covered quite a few on all levels over the past 26 years. He doesn't play mind games with the media like so many others do. He doesn't change personalities. He is what he is and has been a pleasure from a media perspective. Not just for me either. I think my counterparts at the Express-Times and in the radio and TV business feel the same way.
It has been a tough three seasons, and the vast success at Lafayette and with some of his successors hasn't put him a positive light. He'll have one more shot at turning things around next year and we'll see what happens.
While fans can nitpick a lot of the gametime decisions that were made this season and fault this scheme or that one, you can't deny that the players kept playing hard for him. He never lost this team despite the heartbreaking losses and that says something about the man.
But even with the knowledge that Coen is returning, Saturday remains a pivotal game for the program. Lehigh needs to change perceptions and chase away a lot of the negativity and the only way to do that is with a win -- "even if it's by one point," Coen said..
Coen emphasized that Saturday's game is about the long-suffering kids, especially the seniors, who have lost three straight games to Lafayette and the two at Fisher Stadium haven't been close.
"They certainly deserve a better fate," Coen said. "Good coaches, and I consider myself to be one, have to take things very personally and I do. I feel horrible that things haven't worked out for these kids the way I thought possible. So, a win on Saturday, if we can find a way, would make it all worthwhile. It's a special group of kids and they do deserve something special. But they have to go out and earn it."