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Keith Groller, the respected sports editor of the The Morning Call in the Lehigh Valley is reporting on his blog at http://www.mcall.com that it is all but a done deal in having former All-American WR at Lehigh, Dave Cecchini return as Assistant Head Coach/Offensive Coordinator! This in the wake of The Citadel ditching their pro-spread offense and going to the triple option.

"Chick", in addition to being a First Team AP All-American at Lehigh, later became an assistant and rose to OC under Kevin Higgins and, then Pete Lembo, before leaving to become OC at Harvard in 2003. When Higgins left the Detroit Lions for The Citadel, he called Cecchini to be his OC, where he has been since. Cecchini also coached with HC Andy Coen when Coen was the OC under Higgins in the late 1990's and took over the OC position when Andy left for Penn, before returning to Lehigh.

This should be a huge shot in the arm for what has become an inconsistent and, at times, dormant offense. Trey Brown, who came to Lehigh when Coen returned as HC, just has not seemed to get the offense meshing, with a lot of tinkering and going with the flavor of the moment. What has also been lacking is an apparent inability to 'coaching up' the QBs, who seem to arrive with glowing credentials and athletic ability, but have not seemed to improve in their mechanics and reading the defenses.

With 17 starters returning from last year's team (ten on offense), there will be much anticipation and excitement on seeing the offense bring back the ghosts of some vaunted Lehigh attacks over the previous decades.

I think I have wet my pants...

According to Groller, this won't become official until early next week. The Gregorian chants you will be hearing emanating from the Lehigh Valley over the next 5 days should have a Lehigh Fight Song melody woven in....

So what happens to the current OC?

dbackjon wrote:So what happens to the current OC?

Better question is, what happens to Coen? He received a 1 yr extension, so is he being forced to hire his successor? Until Chick became unexpectedly available, I don't think there was any change coming from Coen regarding the OC, Brown. Chick's availability seems to have forced his hand. If Coen has a successful season then I think he remains; if it doesn't meet expectations, Chick is right there to slide in. Great spot for Cecchini, tough spot for Coen. However, with Cecchini at the offensive helm, Coen may have bought himself a few more years. This could ultimately be a great long-term situation for Lehigh.

I'm psyched!

Hate to see The Citadel lose Cecchini. He was a very smart young guy and a class act. He recruited my son to play at The Citadel [he ended up at Gardner Webb] and he visited with us at our home. I hate that he could not recruit the talent to The Citadel to run his offensive scheme effectively and be competitive in the Southern Conference. His scheme was the most exciting I've seen at The Citadel in a long time. I wonder what the Bulldogs will do if the Triple O doesn't work either - join VMI in the Big South?

elcid83 wrote:Hate to see The Citadel lose Cecchini. He was a very smart young guy and a class act. He recruited my son to play at The Citadel [he ended up at Gardner Webb] and he visited with us at our home. I hate that he could not recruit the talent to The Citadel to run his offensive scheme effectively and be competitive in the Southern Conference. His scheme was the most exciting I've seen at The Citadel in a long time. I wonder what the Bulldogs will do if the Triple O doesn't work either - join VMI in the Big South?

Exactly why we are psyched. What he brought to The Citadel was probably a lot of what has been called in the last 25 years "Air Lehigh", which began under Hank Small (now the AD at Charleston) and for whom Cecchini played, and continued through Higgins and Lembo. We have some QBs with good arms, a lot of WRs and some new found speed.

I also agree that he could well be the "HC in Waiting" if things don't turn around, but I think they will. As for Brown, either he'll be looking for new employment (back to Penn?) or take a demotion as a positional assistant. That would depend on anyone else moving along. At this level, turnover at the asst. position occurs quite frequently as the younger coaches try 'moving up the ladders' in the coaching carousel (how's that for mixing metaphors?).

Confirmed this evening. Dave Cecchini new OC at Lehigh. With a great core of the defense returning and 10 offensive starters, we're hoping for some new fireworks from what has been a very inconsistent offense the past few years. "Air Lehigh,,, I thinke we're back!"

He did a good job at Harvard with the Fitzpatrick gang in '04. Onward and upward at Goodman!

Dave is a high energy guy. Brown was much more "laid back". Plus Chick will be able to coach-up the QBs, which Brown was never able to do. Other than UNH and Villanova games, we should be either favored or in toss-up category with everyone else on the schedule this year. 9-2 is realistic, but anything worse than 7-4 and no PL championship will be unacceptable, at least as we look on paper. Injuries can certainly change the picture, but with what we have returning, we should expect to be in the playoffs this year.