Archive For The “Patriot League” Category
I am an outlier. I’m a fan of a 1-6 college football team, and I’m headed out to Bucknell next weekend, rain or shine, to watch two Patriot League squads with losing records face off against one another.I realize somewhere in my head t…
I am an outlier. I’m a fan of a 1-6 college football team, and I’m headed out to Bucknell next weekend, rain or shine, to watch two Patriot League squads with losing records face off against one another.I realize somewhere in my head t…
It’s the spring, and what that means is that the weather (hopefully) is getting better, the flowers are blooming, and – most importantly – we’re in the middle of spring football season.Soon I am planning on posting an update on what has gone on i…
It was a surprise. Well, to me, anyway.
Most people assumed that Lafayette head coach John Garrett was safe as the Leopards’ head coach. Though his five year record wasn’t great, he had beaten bitter Rival Lehigh in two out of the last three Rivalry games, despite a tough 17-10 loss to Lehigh the final week of the year.
Listening to the post-game press conference, I also didn’t pick up on some of the signs that his job security might be in jeopardy. Garrett was a bit prickly, but it was understandable – he had just lost a game to Lafayette’s Rivals. “The future is bright for Lafayette football,” he said, not letting on that he might not be a part of that future.
But by Monday, the announcement was made – after five years leading the Leopard football team, “Lafayette College will not renew the contract of head football coach John Garrett,” a short press release stated. “A national search for his replacement will begin immediately. Defensive coordinator Doug McFadden, who just finished his 12th season with the program, will serve as its interim head coach.”
This winter’s Lafayette offseason took a decidedly interesting turn as a result.
One name that will not be on this list was Notre Dame coordinator Brian Polian, who somewhat inexplicably showed up in the rumor mill when some “insider tweets” linked him as “being close” to signing as Lafayette’s new head coach. May Lafayette fans and I were deeply skeptical, and today that skepticism was justified, as he announced that he’s joining his former boss Brian Kelly at LSU.
Polian, a former head coach at Nevada, never made an ounce of sense as Lafayette’s head coach – he had no ties to the area, had already been a head coach at a Group of Five school, and it seemed clear to me that he was going to command an astoundingly high salary.
I don’t have any super-insider viewpoint as to whom Lafayette will be hiring to lead the Leopards next year. But I do have a list of ten candidates that I think could be in the running, in alphabetical order.
I wish I thought this would actually happen.I wish the Patriot League was proactive, and thinking several steps ahead.But as an observer of the Patriot League for more than twenty years, I don’t think the Patriot League Presidents, or any of their athl…
I wish I thought this would actually happen.I wish the Patriot League was proactive, and thinking several steps ahead.But as an observer of the Patriot League for more than twenty years, I don’t think the Patriot League Presidents, or any of their athl…
2015 was a great year for Patriot League football. It was a season where two Patriot League schools would qualify for the FCS Playoffs, and Dan Hunt’s Colgate team would have a one of the Patriot League’s most epic runs through the bracket o…
The Patriot League could very well be in a huge bind assuming the Ivy League goes forward with their college football restart plans.
According to Mark Blaudschun of TMG Sports, the Ivy League is considering two plans for their 2020 college football season – neither of which allow for any out of conference games.
13 out-of-conference games involving Patriot League teams would be on the chopping block, and when you add to it the Patriot League presidents’ guidance to not fly to games, every single member of the Patriot League is affected. If you add to that the fact that the opening of the college football season is going to at best start in late September (yes, you read that correctly), the Patriot League would count as one of the most deeply affected by Covid-19-influenced delays and decisions in the entire college football landscape.
It is a bind to be sure – but not one that should see the Patriot League cancel the 2020 football season.
If we start with the assumption that the season will start late at best, and we assume that the TMG Sports report is accurate (and nobody has come forward to deny the basic thrust of the report), it should be possible to craft a nine-week Patriot League football season with seven league games and two out-of-conference games. There are a lot of moving parts, and the Patriot League would need some partners. But it should be possible.
Are you like me – not all that sure of what to do this weekend now that there’s no Lehigh football to watch?
Fortunately, there’s loads of college football game to watch – there are games on Friday and Saturday to enjoy to scout out Lehigh’s upcoming opponents – and they don’t even impinge on College Football Gameday at Happy Valley, either.
All WR Troy Pelleiter and OL Zach Duffy ever wanted was a shot at the NFL.After the NFL Draft concluded this past Saturday, they learned that they both would be getting a chance.Troy, whose name is plastered all over the Lehigh record books, was invite…
