More comments from Coen, Tavani, Sterrett and others on the Patriot League's big day

FROM KEITH GROLLER

Today was a great day for the Patriot League, at least its football version.

The move to begin giving scholarships in 2013 is a good one for just about everyone who cares about the quality of football being played in the league, and it's especially good for the Lehigh Valley schools -- Lehigh and Lafayette.

It's good because it will (1) gradually improve the overall quality of football and help teams advance deeper in the FCS playoffs; (2) attract more quality kids to the programs and schools; (3) attract new members to the league and make scheduling easier, (4) keep associate member Fordham in the football league; (5) eventually create some exciting scheduling possibilities with FBS members.

Remember, FBS members will be more apt to play scholarship-FCS programs because those wins count toward bowl eligibility. You have a bunch of FCS vs. FBS games all over the place (Towson-Maryland; Temple-Villanova; North Dakota State vs. Minnesota) and now the Patriot League teams can better attract those kind of matchups.

Lehigh has been supportive of scholarships for many years, and Andy Coen said the possibilities of going to scholarships was one of the reasons he came to Lehigh in 2006.

And certainly Leopards coach Frank Tavani, has been an advocate even if some members of his administration haven't always been.

Those two guys are happy because now they can go into any recruit's living room anywhere in the country and say: "We've got a great school with a great academic reputation in a beautiful place called the Lehigh Valley and we would like you to come there and play football for us and get an outstanding education at the same time."

The important thing to remember is that the academic standards will not be lowered. You're still going to have to be a good student with a strong work-ethic to qualify at either school.

But as both coaches told me, now if you want to come to Lehigh or Lafayette, you won't have to jump through as many hoops, or fill out paperwork that would knock out half of a tree forest.

The financial aid process kept away many quality kids who were talented enough to play football and smart enough to qualify academically but had parents that made too much money and couldn't qualify for a large financial aid package. And let's face it, considering the cost of tuition at Lehigh and Lafayette, you need some kind of help. Without it, you're not going there. Even if you get a lot of financial aid, you still might have to pay a lot. And again, you're not going there.

Make no mistake, this whole process is going to take time and there are challenges ahead for the coaching staffs and a balancing act for schools because Title IX demands equality for men's and women's programs and where the money goes.

But the reaction across the Patriot League landscape has been all positive:

"Today's decision will strength the Patriot League in ways that not only benefit individual members, but also may allow the league itself to grow strategically," said Colgate University president Jeffrey Herbst. "In addition, the pool of recruitable student-athletes available to us will expand. We will become more athletically competitive without losing our focus on producing talented athletes with high graduation rates who consider themselves scholars first."

"The presidents believe that this move is in the best interests of our league's practices, stability, and overall goals, said Holy Cross presient Rev. Philip L. Boroughs. "It's a decision that is consistent with Holy Cross' long-held emphasis on upholding the highest standards in both academics and athletics."

"The challenges of recruiting student athletes in football and scheduling football contests against schools sharing our values and stature has made it necessary to seek a more flexible approach to awarding financial aid," Lehigh president Alice P. Gast said.

"This approach to providing greater flexibility in the awarding of financial aid to football student-athletes will enable us to recruit students who are attracted to Lehigh for our combination of athletics, academics and the overall student experience,” said Lehigh Dean of Athletics Joe Sterrett ‘76. “It has worked extremely well in our other varsity sports and I am confident this will be a positive step for Lehigh and for the Patriot League.”

Here are a few other comments from Coen:

"One of the challenges will be internal because you're going to have certain members of the team who are there on need-based aid and other kids who will be coming in on scholarships and it could lead to some particular issues. That's something we're going to have to handle.
"In recruiting, we're going to have less challenges than we currently face. You'll see our roster sizes decrease as we offer the merit-aid model. If you look at the roster sizes of a Richmond or Villanova, you're going to see smaller rosters than you see at the big-state schools and that's based on the tuition costs and the value of the scholarships and those things. Initially, you're going to have to be creative with building your roster."

"We're not spending any more money. It's more about equivalences than spots. Every kid isn't getting a full scholarship. So to go out and say right away we're going to give merit awards to 15 scholar-athletes, that's going to leave you short in your numbers, so you can't go about it that way. The key is we're going to be more permissive who you offer the merit assistance to.

"We've got some very good football players in our program and in our league that for whatever reason wind up going to Patriot League schools because they weren't offered a scholarship. Going forward, we want to make sure we get 22 or so guys into a class and that means you can't run out and give 15 full scholarships."

Here are a few comments from Tavani:

"It's a positive thing on a number of levels. It will enhance the level of play and allow our teams to go deeper in the playoffs and compete for a national championship and it's every athlete's dream to compete for not only a league championship, but also a national championship. At the FCS level we play toward a real national champion is crowned and it doesn't come down to a vote.
"It will also give the league a chance to look at further expansion which will only strengthen the league. We've got a great model of doing it the right way. We're looking to improve the quality of the student-athlete on both sides and a lot of the student-athletes we've never had a shot at, now we're going to be in that market and I know coaches from the CAA, like Villanova's Andy Talley, aren't going to be jumping for joy over this news because they know the quality of schools we have, and the facilities and all of those things. Our market has just greatly expanded.

"We know that there won't be any new money in our budget. The same equivalences that I had this year will be the same amount I'll have next year. Anything over that, we've already begun to put the wheels in motion to raise that money. And that's the way it should be done."

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