South Mountaineer Volume 38, Issue 25

              DID YOU KNOW?
New Lehigh head men's basketball
coach Sal Mentesana served with
current Orlando Magic head coach
Brian Hill for 4 years at Lehigh.	
Spring Sports Results/This Week's Schedule
Women's Lacrosse Feature/Softball Roundup
Page 13
Page 14
Tennis Feature/Baseball Roundup
Page 15
South Mountaineer
Volume 9, Issue 25
Lehigh University Athletics Weekly
April 17, 1996
Sal Mentesana takes over hoop reins
Former Lehigh assistant coach returns to South Mountain
by Glenn Hofmann
Director of Sports Communications
Former Lehigh and William &
Mary assistant coach and East
Stroudsburg head coach Sal
Mentesana has been named head
men's basketball coach at Lehigh
University.
The announcement was made by
Joe Sterrett, Lehigh's Director of
Athletics.
Mentesana, 48, becomes the
25th head coach of Lehigh men's
basketball as the program enters its
95th season of NCAA Division I
competition.
Mentesana succeeds Dave Duke
who resigned following the 1995-96
season.
"I want to compliment the
efforts of our search committee and
thank the members of the
university community who
participated in this process," Lehigh
Director of Athletics Joe Sterrett
said. "Coaching at Lehigh presents
some unique challenges and in the
appointment of Sal Mentesana we
have someone who understands
those challenges, believes in the
place and brings nine years of head
coaching experience to the effort.
Sal's energy, enthusiasm, and
committment to student-athletes
will be contagious."
"I couldn't be more pleased,"
Mentesana said. "I'm thrilled to be a
part of Lehigh athletics again and to
have come full circle. I'm very
impressed with the athletics staff,
Lehigh staff and the professors I
met during the interview process."
John Bender
Former Lehigh assistant Mentesana.
Mentesana returns to Lehigh,
which is where he served as an
assistant coach under current
Orlando Magic head coach Brian
Hill, for four years from 1980-83.
Mentesana was on a staff that also
included Frank Sullivan, who is
currently the head coach at
Harvard.
"I'm really excited for Sal and
for Lehigh," Orlando Magic head
coach Brian Hill said. "Being with
Sal for four years I know he's an
outstanding basketball coach and an
excellent teacher of the game. His
energy and motivational skills are
what any program needs. Sal is
genuine and loyal and once you get
to know him you can't help but like
him."
Following his position at
Lehigh, Mentesana served as
assistant coach at William & Mary
from 1983 - 1987 where he
coordinated the Tribe's national
recruiting system and assisted the
head jcoach in daily practice and
game preparation.
Mentesana took over the head
coaching position at East
Stroudsburg University in 1987.
While at ESU he completely turned
the program around guiding the
Warriors to a 135-115 record. In the
previous six seasons (1982-1987)
East Stroudsburg had a cumulative
record of 23-111. He led ESU to its
first Pennsylvania State Athletic
Conference championship and
NCAA Division II Tournament berth
in 1990 and its first PSAC Eastern
Division Title in 1992. Mentesana
has led ESU to a pair of 20-win
seasons and one 19-win campaign.
Mentesana began his coaching
career at Notre Dame High School
in Easton, Pa. inheriting a
program that had achieved just
three wins in the previous two
seasons. He recorded a 62-39
record from 1975-79 winning the
first Centennial League
Championship (1979) and PIAA
District XI title in the school's
history.
"One thing I can promise you is
that our guys are going to play
hard every night," Mentesana said.
"We will play an exciting brand of
basketball. I'd like to think we'll be
very competitive and that together
with the women's program we'll be
able to put on a good show at
Stabler Arena."
Mentesana will take over a
program that has finished with a 4-
23 record in two of the last four
years and has not finished above
John Bender
Sal Mentesana will be the 25th head men's basketball coach in LU history.
the .500 mark since the 1990-91
season (19-10).
"Recruiting down the road is
very critical for us, but I'm pleased
from what I've seen with the
foundation we have here,"
Mentesana said. "We will build with .
the current players we have first. By
no means would I neglect the kids
we currently have in our program."
"I'd like to see our program here
be a contender for a Patriot League
Championship every year. I want us
to be in the upper echelon and to get
to the point where people are
worried about playing Lehigh."
Lehigh returns two starters
from last year's 4-23 team and the
Patriot League's All-Rookie guard
tandem of Brett Eppehimer and
Sean Tuohey. Four basketball
players have been admitted to the
university and have reconfirmed
their plans to enroll next season.
A 1969 graduate of Providence
College, Mentesana earned his
Bachelor of Arts degree in History
in 1969.
Mentesana said a decision on
his staffing will be made and
announced within the next several
weeks.
Lehigh finishes fifth out of 23
schools at Navy Invitational
Lehigh gave notice to the rest
of its district opponents that it
would be a force to be reckoned
with this spring and in years to
come with a strong showing April
13-14 at the Navy Spring
Invitational.
The Engineers finished fifth
with a two-day total of 639 shots,
28 behind first-place Penn State,
which had a total of 611.
Perennial Patriot League
powers Navy and Army finished
second and fourth, respectively,
and the University of Maryland
was third. Lehigh was just three
shots behind Army, which shot 636.
Junior Henry D'Alberto led
Lehigh with a total of 153 shots.
He finished in a three-way tie for
fifth. Teammate and sophomore
Kyle Smith was tied for eighth
and just one stroke back of
D'Alberto at 154. Junior Rocky
Morris shot 164 and was tied for
42nd in the 120-man field.
Lehigh finished ahead of
Patriot League rivals Colgate
(651), Bucknell (660) and
Lafayette (716). Other schools in
this impressive field included
Georgetown, Seton Hall,
Princeton, St. John's, Villanova,
Rutgers, Harvard and Columbia.