Some Resoultion... and some surprises

Well, I'm sure everyone heard about Lehigh hiring Andy Coen, the Offensive Coordinator from Penn. The Morning Call has weighed in on the hire, so I thought I would as well.

The first thing is, I'm kicking myself for thinking they'd hire Cecchini (the offensive coordinator from Harvard and former Engineer receiver) over Coen. Two things make Coen stand out:

• He's older. Lembo was very young when he was made the head coach at Lehigh, I believe as young as 30. The desire for a more 'seasoned' leader was always there in the background of fan chatter. Cecchini is younger than Coen, and would have been similar to the Lembo hire.
• He's a more direct tie to former head coach Kevin Higgins, a man that in the eyes of Mountain Hawk fans couldn't do any wrong. He was the Offensive Coordinator for the majority of his time there and nothing would make Lehigh fans happier than a return to that offensive of the late 90s.

In reality, Coen is a solid choice all around. There is no head coaching experience (neither does Cecchini) but all of the other ingredients are there on paper. From time to time a coordinator doesn't make the transistion to head coach well, but there is nothing in Coen's background to suggest he can't continue Lehigh's streak of excellence and perhaps even take them to the next level in national play.

So my Lehigh friends should be very happy. You've made a quality hire in a short amount of time. Now it's time to focus on the rest of the staff and recruiting.

Speaking of 'the rest of the staff', another Cohen (spelled differently of course) over at Hofstra made some news we might take interest in. Dave Cohen, formerly of Delaware and now the head coach at Hofstra, announced four staff members today; two of them have Patriot League ties. First, former Fordham head coach Ed Foley is named assistant head coach and will coach the offensive line. Next, John Perry, former associate head coach at Georgetown, is named the offensive coordinator.

It's nice to see both coaches get positions at a new program.