South Mountaineer Volume 36, Issue 23

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Volume 36, Number 23
April 12, 1994
Bethlehem, Pa.
LEHIGHLIGHTS
TOP PATRIOTS - The spring sports season
has already seen a showering of accolades on
Lehigh athletes. In the first week, the Engineers
swept the Patriot League Player of the Week
awards in lacrosse with Matt Sweetman
(Madison, Conn.) taking the prize on the men's
side and Liz Brode (Blue Bell, Pa.) doing the
honors for the women. That same week, Nina
Rems (Allentown, Pa.) took the award as Patriot
League Pitcher of the Week in softball. And
last week, two more Lehigh athletes were
honored as Jeff Jenkins (Bel Air, Md.) took
the men's lacrosse Player of the Week award
and freshman Amanda Wessner (Allentown,
Pa.) was named Patriot League Player of the
Week for softball. Jenkins scored seven goals
and added three assists in two games as Lehigh
pasted Lafayette, 16-5, and threw a major
scare into No. 11 Duke before falling 9-8 in
overtime. Wessner, meanwhile, batted .487
(7-15) on the week as Lehigh swept a home
doubleheader from Monmouth and split a pair
with Army in West Point.
ASSISTANT COACHES ANNOUNCED -
- With spring practice getting underway, new
head football coach Kevin Higgins wasted
little time in assembling his staff forthe 1994
season. They include: Dave Clawson
(Offensive coordinator, quarterbacks and
backs), who served as running backs coach last
year at Lehigh, Andy Coen (Offensive line),
who was offensive coordinator at Kings Point
last year, Todd Bradford (Defensive
coordinator, Defensive backs), who was
secondary coach at New Hampshire last season
Jim McCarthy (Defensive line), who was the
defensive line coach for last season's nationally-
ranked Delaware team, Tim Moncman
(Defensive assistant), who served as an assistant
coach at Albany State a season ago, Barry
Fetterman (Wide receivers), a former Lehigh
offensive coordinator and most recently head
coach at Kutztown University and Rod Rust
(Linebackers), a former head coach of the
NFL's New England Patriots. There is one
more full-time position to be filled which wasn' t
available at press time.
INSIDE the Mountaineer
The writing on the 'Wall' 2
Winter sports awards 2
Spring sports roundup 3
Spring sports slate 4
DID YOU KNOW?
New Lehigh head
football coach Kevin
Higgins has won a league
championship at every
school where he's been an
assistant coach. The list
includes:
Gettysburg (Centennial -1984)
Richmond (Yankee - 1987)
Lehigh (Patriot - 1993)
The Higgins Era begins
Defensive coordinator takes over as Lehigh's 26th head coach
Kevin Higgins has been named head
football coach at Lehigh University. Higgins
has been promoted from assistant head
coach to head mentor following completion of anational search. He succeeds Hank
Small who stepped down March 14 to pursue other coaching opportunities.
Higgins becomes the 26th head coach
of Lehigh football as the program enters its
111th season of varsity gridiron action.
"I'm very excited about Kevin's leadership abilities and energy. He knows our
program, the special challenges we face at
Lehigh, and he has been a major part of the
success in every program of which he's
been a part. I look forward to seeing our
team and our community share in Kevin's
enthusiasm, confidence and vision for
Lehigh football," said Lehigh athletic director Joe Sterrett.
Higgins, a 1977 graduate of West
Chester University, recently completed his
sixth season as assistant head football coach.
"Today is an exciting time for my
family and me," Higgins said. "I'm very
excited about the challenge and feel confident that we can continue the past success
which the Lehigh football program has
enjoyed. I will be calling upon many football alumni and friends for their help in our
efforts."
In addition to serving as assistant head
football coach of the 1993 Patriot League
Champion Lehigh squad, Higgins has also
overseen a defense which was ranked first
this year in Patriot League scoring defense.
This marked the third time in four years that
Lehigh has been among the top two in the
league in that category.
Prior to coaching the defense, Higgins
served as offensive line coach in 1988. That
season, the line allowed only eight sacks
Kevin Higgins at the press conference announcing his hiring. -Photo by joe Ryan
and was a major component of the top-
ranked Division I-AA offense.
Higgins also implemented Lehigh's
first national recruiting program for football, a program which has in part led to the
Engineers recording a 26-18 record over
the last four years. He also designed and
structured Lehigh's new football weight
Kevin Higgins
training facility in the Varsity House and
strength/conditioning program.
"I'm confident that our players will play
with the enthusiasm, discipline toughness that it
takes to build a successful football team,"
Higgins said. "Playing football should be a fun
experience and we're going to try to make it like
that for everyone."
Prior to coming to Lehigh Higgins served
as assistant coach at the University of Richmond from 1985-87 where the Spiders participated in the Division I-AA playoffs and were
1987 Yankee Conference Champions.
Higgins' initial collegiate coaching experience came in 1981 as an assistant coach at
Gettysburg College, a position he held until
1985. During Higgins'four years at Gettysburg
the team compiled a 29-11 record. As defensive
coordinator and secondary coach in 1984 the
Bullets ranked fourth nationally in Division III
defense. Higgins also served as offensive line
coach when
the offense
was third nationally in
points per
game.
Higgins
played
collegiately at
West Chester
University
and starred as
a free safety
for the Rams.
He was also
named the
team's most
outstanding
back. Following graduation he returned to Emerson High School, his
alma mater, as an assistant football and basketball coach for two years.
In 1979 he moved to North Warren Regional High School in Blairstown, N.J., serving
as head basketball, baseball and assistant football coach. In 1981 Higgins received his masters
in education from East Stroudsburg.
Lehigh returns only four offensive starters and six defensive starters from last year's
Patriot League Championship squad.
Higgins and his wife, Kay, have three
children, Timothy, nine, Meaghan, seven,
and Kathleen Rose, two.
New coach is
nothing like the
old one
By CORKY BLAKE
Easton Express-Times
The uniforms will still be drab brown and
white. Offensively, the ball will still travel predominantly through the air. That is where the
similarities probably will end between former
Lehigh University football coach Hank Small
and his successor, Kevin Higgins.
Higgins, who at one time coached three
different sports at North Warren High School in
Blairstown, was on Small's staff for six years
before being named the head coach last Tuesday.
Small resigned in March to pursue other
coaching opportunities. Small is in limbo and
Higgins is searching for coaches to complete his
staff. The 38-year old Higgins will be hiring five
full-time assistants, two or three part-time aides
and two graduate assistants.
While the door in the Lehigh football office
had been frequently swinging out this past winter, expect it to be swinging inward during the
next couple of weeks. Higgins has been swamped
with applicanrs for the openings on his staff.
Part of the reason is that Higgins will be a
head coach with no other responsibilities than to
oversee the program. Small, by his choosing,
was head coach, offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach.
Consequently, Lehigh's staff will have
offensive and defensive coordinators reporting
to Higgins, along with other position coaches.
Higgins promised he'll be a "hands on"
coach. That means every player on the Lehigh
practice field better believe the head coach will
be watching his every move. A third-string defensive end can't be thinking the head coach is
over on another field working with the first-team
offense.
Higgins guaranteed his club will represent
Lehigh with "emotion and enthusiasm." It's the
same way he plays pickup basketball games, he
said.
It's an all or nothing proposition. Play for
Higgins, you better lay it on the line or someone
else will be replacing you. It's the type of out-of-
body effort the Engineers need to competitively
play the Delawares and Idahos of the Division I-
AA world.
Players have told me that it was Higgins
who delivered the fire and brimstone pep talks
before games. Will this translate into more non-
league victories? A successful defense of the
Engineers' Patriot League championship? Better recruiting classes? More fannies in Goodman
Stadium?
So far, Higgins and Lehigh are undefeated.