Forum › Forum › Lehigh Sports › Lehigh Men’s Basketball › OT – Football question w/ basketball implications
This topic contains 6 replies, has 1 voice, and was last updated by Bison137 13 years, 2 months ago.
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November 23, 2011 at 3:48 pm #4009
I know it is a crazy longshot (probably zero possibility), but curious what people think on the topic. With all of the conference movement at the Division 1 level recently, how would you feel about a Lehigh football move to Division 1? Many successful programs at the 1-AA have jumped up to Division 1, and Villanova is considering it currently. Lehigh has shown to be a top 1-AA program over the last decade plus. It, of course, would require a true scholarship model, which would be expensive, and an expansion of the stadium, and probably a million other issues. Conference wise, there is no logical destination, but it Temple goes to the Big East, how about a move to the MAC for D1 football? I know it is a pipe dream, and goes probably against everything the PL is about, but we can dream. It would certainly improve the basketball program if the entire Athletic Dept jumped up to the D1 level.
Or, how about this twist. Lehigh jumps out of the PL, and into Colonial conf. Then you get to play all of the 1-AA powerhouses in football, and you get to renew ECC rivalries in basketball vs. Drexel, Delaware and Towson, plus add some quality in Hofstra, Mason, VCU. Big step down academically, but would be interesting in sports.
November 23, 2011 at 4:01 pm #4010Unlikely we could compete on a weekly basis in CAA w/o a couple of yrs of merit aid under our belt. For Bball I dont see where it improves our situation. We can and have scheduled those schools. ON that note a few less NEC games would be nice. I know they are local and convenientbut this is where I think we could boost our OOC shedule
November 23, 2011 at 4:40 pm #4012You don’t think playing in a conference that put 2 teams in the last 5 Final Fours would help the basketball program?
November 24, 2011 at 5:20 am #4021Putting the football part aside… Lehigh Basketball is in itself a terrible fit. You have to understand the landscape of the CAA. Essentially 3 teams dominate… Old Dominion, VCU, And George Mason. All three are huge state schools (Mason is the largest school in VA, like close to 25,000 students.. Bigger than VA Tech and UVA) with lower academic standards than LU.
Your best bet with something from the CAA happening would be if the big football powers (Delaware, James Madison, Towson, ODU, etc) leave that league for FBS football. Leaving a William and Mary, Drexel, and possibly a New Hampshire looking for a home and coming to the Patriot with football being the big carrott. At least that’s my 2 cents on that situation.November 24, 2011 at 7:15 am #4023"lehigh90" wrote: You don’t think playing in a conference that put 2 teams in the last 5 Final Fours would help the basketball program?
Anything to help the basketball team sounds good to me. I would assume that the players would love to take on the challenge of a more difficult league. While they may not fair well initially, it would force them to meet the challenge. Again, this is my humble opinion. I have no idea what all of this entails.
November 24, 2011 at 1:47 pm #4025This thread is a waste of time, there is less than 0 chance Lehigh football going to BCS in our lifetimes. Count the number of BCS schools with 4500 enrollment, won’t need two hands.
November 25, 2011 at 2:14 am #4029"van" wrote: This thread is a waste of time, there is less than 0 chance Lehigh football going to BCS in our lifetimes. Count the number of BCS schools with 4500 enrollment, won’t need two hands.
Absolutely correct. The chance of LU going to the CAA isn’t much higher. I doubt that league is looking for basketball programs with home attendances of 800, and I seriously doubt Lehigh is looking to greatly increase their travel expense for all of the other sports. I also doubt the LU administration/BOT is looking to sever its connection with Lafayette, Colgate, Bucknell etc to start a relationship with a lot of schools that it has nothing in common with.
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