Cleaning out my notebook one last time

Jeffrey Kordenbrock kicks the winning field goal at Lehigh out of a Sean O'Malley hold.
All photos courtesy of Lafayette communications.

So, season No. 138 of Lafayette College football is in the books. The 16^th time the Leopards have finished with four wins. The last time was 2011.

Breakthrough? Coach John Garrett declared that after defeating Lehigh for the first time. I think it was too soon to tell because this year was the weakest for the Patriot League overall. But it had a look of potential. And remember, it was I who said the Leopards had a shot at running the table after not winning a nonleague game!

Now as we come to the end of another football season, I am also come down the homestretch of my direct involvement with the program at Lafayette, having been The Morning Call’s beat writer from 1968-77 and more recently during my formal retirement years, 2008-2019.

With my 80^th birthday staring me in the face, it’s time to take a seat in the stands, and having had some issues this year with bladder cancer caused me to alter the way I handled the beat. This season didn’t give me the same satisfaction of past years and I think it’s time to turn it over to someone else.

So, that makes this my final “official” report on Leopard football. It’s going to get wordy because I want to address the most recent season overall, the Leopards’ future, #155 of The Rivalry and some other thoughts from my notebook.

THE RIVALRY: Trivia and a mea culpa

JEFFREY KORDENBROCK

I’ve been thinking a lot of Lafayette’s 17-16 win over Lehigh last Saturday in game No. 155 of college football’s most-played rivalry.

I have been trying to figure out how I would play it in one of my final blogs with which I plan to assess the 2019 season. Every season, after all, is in some way affected by the outcome of the Lafayette-Lehigh game.

This is a game that produces all kinds of trivia, so here’s what I think is the best addition of 2019.

This is the first time Lafayette has won the game by a single point.

It is also only the second one-point game in the entire series. Lehigh won the 1929 game 13-12 in a game where quarterback Arthur Davidowitz kicked what proved to be the winning extra point. Lehigh broke a 10-game losing streak to Lafayette in that game and the Brown and White blocked two extra point attempts and a late field-goal try to preserve the win.

Here is the second paragraph that appeared in The Morning Call the next morning, Nov. 24, 1929, courtesy of my favorite historical website these days, newspapers.com. The sports writer is not mentioned.

“Scenes such as probably never before been witnessed in the concrete saucer of Lehigh University were witnessed in the hysterical demonstration following the final whistle of referee W.C. Crowell. Out onto the field rushed the Lehigh partisans, fairly smothering the Lehigh players in their frantic efforts to reach them, and one swaying mass of humanity ushered the players off the gridiron. Staid old grads for the time forgot themselves to join in the wild demonstration and the steel city was truly a typical college town last night in every sense of the word.” 

Reinhard: A chat with Colgate's Dan Hunt

No current Patriot League football coach – assistants included -- has spent more time in the league than Colgate’s Dan Hunt. It may be only his sixth year as the head coach, but Hunt spent another 19 years as a Dick Biddle assistant.

Hunt won league Coach of the Year honors in three of his first five seasons. He’s not getting it this year – in fact, he will finish with fewer wins this season than any other since he succeeded Biddle in 2014.

At 3-8, he’s having a tough time, but he could still have a say in who represents the league in the FCS postseason tournament. Lafayette would to well to put the blinders on this week and focus on nothing but the Raiders, who have a whopping 45-13-4 advantage in the head-to-head series.

I caught up with Hunt the other day to get some comments for my Morning Call preview of the game. But before we hung up, we talked about lots of other things as well. So, I thought I’d simply post the interview in full.

Lehigh-Holy Cross-Gilmore: A flashback

When Kevin Higgins left Lehigh to becomes quarterbacks coach of the Detroit Lions in 2001, he gave Lehigh athletic director Joe Sterrett three recommendations for the head coaching position.

Pete Lembo, Higgins’ assistant head coach.

Dave Cecchini, the offensive coordinator.

Tom Gilmore, the defensive coordinator.

Together, those four guys had put their talents together to make Lehigh virtually unbeatable. In Higgins’ last three seasons as head coach, the Brown and White lost only one regular-season game. Won 32.

Sterrett got Higgins’ decision on a Sunday. On that same day, Sterrett met with the entire coaching staff and learned that, if he was willing to stay inside for Higgins’ replacement, all of Higgins’ coaches were committed to staying to maintain the momentum.

Sterrett met with each of Higgins’ recommended staffers for about an hour apiece.

A paralyzing snowstorm the next day kept Sterrett from doing anything on Monday, but he did call the college president. He had a decision, he told Dr. Gregory Farrington.

On Tuesday, he met with the coaches as a group again.

On Wednesday, he announced that Lembo would become the head coach.

During the press conference confirming all the decisions, Sterrett told us that the three coaches “never viewed [the interview process] in competitive terms, so this is not a case of one winning and two losing. I told them none of them was good enough [to replace Higgins] but together they have a chance.”

Leopards replay: The start of something good?

Selwyn Simpson celebrates his winning touchdown. Photo courtesy of Lafayette Sports.

I got a bunch of grief when I came out with my Lafayette-Leopards-run-the-table prediction for the Patriot League portion of the schedule.

They had a bit of a stumble in the opener against Georgetown, a game they might have won.

But the tables turned for them big time on Saturday against Bucknell – in a game they just as easily might have lost.

My point is this: the 2019 Patriot League has no such thing as a lock to win or lose.

Proof? Look at league leader Lehigh. A win Colgate on a last-minute TD … a win over Fordham in overtime … a win over Georgetown on the final play.

Can what took place on Saturday be contagious for Lafayette?

Can Lafayette use that rare touchdown-off-turnover victory over a Bison team that has to be stunned today be the “breakthrough” we haven’t heard Coach John Garrett talk about for several weeks?

Until that fourth-quarter rally against the Bison, the lead to my Morning Call game story was probably going to be about the Bucknell punter.

My story was trimmed in several places, including my last paragraph. Here’s a piece of what wound up on the cutting-room floor.

Lafayette FB: A QB shakeup, scouting the Hoyas

I admit to getting a bit nit-picky. One of my favorite targets is the depth chart released by Lafayette football coach John Garrett.

I have come to accept the fact that the two-deep list that usually comes with sports information director Phil LaBella’s weekly game notes may not be an accurate indication of who will or won’t play in that week’s game. Garrett is super protective of information concerning injuries.

Last week was the worst. The notes for the Leopards’ game with Princeton came with no depth chart page. To compound the dilemma, Princeton Coach Bob Surace also provided no two-deep for the Tigers. Garrett and Surace are long-time friends, so I don’t know if they were playing some kind of mind game before the undefeated Tigers and the winless Leopards met last Friday night.

When I arrived at the weekly media luncheon on Tuesday, the first thing I wanted to see was whether Garrett would again be withholding information, fearful, perhaps, that he was giving Georgetown Coach Rob Sgarlata some secrets in advance of Saturday’s game in Washington.

I’m happy to say depth charts for both the Hoyas and the Leopards were handed out. I immediately began looking for names of previously injured players who might be making a return for what Garrett would say “almost feels like a second season” consisting of all six Patriot League contests.

(NOTE: I’m not going to address the “almost” remark, except to say that if what’s about to begin this week doesn’t feel “exactly” like a second season, the next six Saturdays won’t be much fun for Leopard fans. No one should be happier than the Leopards to have a clean slate and something to play for.)

Can the Leopards solve their third-down dilemma?

Two Ivy League football teams, one Patriot League team and one of my “favorite” all-time FCS teams – the Leathernecks of Western Illinois – all outrank the 0-6 Lafayette Leopards in third-down ineptitude in 2019.

According to the latest NCAA FCS football statistics, through games played on Saturday, WIU ranks No. 124 in third-down conversions, having been successful just 21 of 90 times in six games for 23.3 percent.

The three C’s – Columbia, Colgate and Cornell – rank No. 119-121, respectively.  The Lions and the Big Red have played just four games, while the Raiders have played seven and been successful on just 25 of 91 chances on third down.

All that should come as no consolation for John Garrett, the head coach, offensive coordinator and play caller for the Leopards, who are 25-of-86, for 29.1 percent to sit in 115^th place on the national list.

Leopards: The 2019 Patriot champs? Or not!

I, Paul Reinhard, being of sound mind (obviously questionable) and body (doubtful) do hereby, with great trepidation, make the following declaration:

Lafayette College will win the 2019 Patriot League football championship -- without losing a game.

WHAT?!?!?! Have I gone mad?  Did someone slip me a Mickey?  Do we need that guy Adam Schiff to start some witch-hunt-type investigation?

It’s nowhere near April Fool’s Day, so it can’t be anything like that April 1, 2003 column I wrote exposing the “fact” that Mario Andretti was coming out of retirement to drive for his son Michael at the Indianapolis 500. That’s a story for another time.

But the idea of the 2019 Leopards winning the league title might sound just as preposterous as that Andretti challenge. They are, after all, 0-5 as they take their midseason bye week. And the next opponent, Ivy League favorite Princeton, the No. 2 offensive team in the FCS after its first two games, doesn’t figure to set the stage for a title run for Coach John Garrett’s team.

As a matter of fact, Lafayette is now mired in the longest losing streak (eight games over two seasons) since it lost 14 in a row from Oct. 20, 1951 through Sept. 26, 1953. It had a 14-game winless streak from 11-2-63 through 9-18-65, but two ties, including to Lehigh in THE GAME No. 100, figured in there. It lost seven straight during that drought. I’m pretty sure the Lafayette sports information guys won’t be including that information in next week’s game notes.

Where have all the Leopards gone?

With 11 freshmen listed on the two-deep this week, this might be a good time to look at what a disastrous season this has been for the Lafayette football team.

Coach John Garrett doesn’t make a habit of talking about injured players, but when he was asked by Mike Joseph at Tuesday’s luncheon whether he expected to see some of his key players returning to the lineup against Penn on Saturday, Garrett said:

“We certainly hope so, Mike. We look at it every day. We have constant communication with Matt Bayly and the staff. We check in with them three-four times a day just to see who’s available for practice and to what extent and then start to make those prognoses for the weekend. So, we hope to, but nothing is definitive now.”

I looked at the participation chart from last week’s game at Albany and compared it to the roster. While I know the head coach has been hedging on this player or that player, I didn’t realize exactly how many were NOT available for that game against the Great Danes.

Will Shoemaker, Leopards 'clean up' for Albany?

I wonder how good Lafayette football coach John Garrett thinks freshman quarterback Keegan Shoemaker can be.

At Tuesday’s weekly luncheon, Garrett praised the youngster from Texas, saying, “ … he allows us to play explosively … I’m really pleased with his play.”  But later, he said, “… he has a lot to clean up on his game.”

Shoemaker has completed 64 percent of his passes (57-for-89) in his first three college games. He has an efficiency rating of 148.53. How good is that? Well, last year, Sean O'Malley's rating was 93.97, and in 2017, it was just over 104. Shoemaker already has more touchdown passes than O’Malley had all of last season (four).

Leopards: A look back, and a look ahead

Caught on the tape recorder at Tuesday’s football luncheon:

“It came down to a fourth-and-1 and they jumped into a wildcat and they were able to knock us off the ball and run out the clock. So, we were right there and pleased how team played.” – Coach John Garrett. He was referring to the closing minutes of last Saturday's game, when Monmouth was able to control the clock while Lafayette needed a stop. That fourth-and-1 play resulted in a 16-yard gain and the Hawks were able to finish it off from there because Lafayette could not stop the clock.

“[Special teams coordinator Greg] Frantz has done great job building a culture on how important special teams are. A lot of kids coming in never had to play special teams because they were the best kids on their teams. Everybody was all-conference, all-state, something. So, when they got in the room, Coach Frantz really made it an emphasis point that you’re going to have to earn your spot and some of you guys aren’t going to be able to make the bus, especially for Patriot League games … We want 11 guys out there that are going to want to hit and make a difference in the game. I and the other seniors try to emphasize that you can change the game just by a punt, by a kick, by a huge kickoff return.” – Ryan Monteyne, who got the first punt block of his entire football career, on the lead role he can play as a member of all the special-teams units.

More on the QBs and other Lafayette stuff

So, what is Lafayette College football coach John Garrett thinking when he releases a depth chart with a three-headed starting quarterback position?

Can there be anything positive about telling the public and his season-opening opponent, William & Mary, that he will start Sean O’Malley OR Cole Northrup OR Keegan Shoemaker on Saturday night in Williamsburg, Va.?

I sat alone in the visitors’ grandstand at Fisher Stadium on Saturday to get my first in-person look at the 2019 Lafayette Leopards. Two other guys sat halfway up the home-side grandstand; as far as I could tell, no other visitors were present. I doubt very much that a W&M spy was lurking in the bushes, looking for the answer to one question: Who do we prepare for this week in practice?

Faced with the task of putting together a season preview package for The Morning Call, I figured I’d better see the team in action at least once. And, sure, I wanted to know who was emerging as the cream of the crop among the seven QBs who were in preseason camp.

In that respect, I guess the fact that freshman Shoemaker had moved in front of highly touted sophomore Fisher was the biggest revelation of the night.

Mario and I: More thoughts on Pocono

The NTT IndyCar Series likes to think of itself not only as the premier open-wheel racing series of the United States, but arguably the most competitive in the world.

But you have to wonder how those people can make such a boast when they are apparently willing to drop a bomb on their last meaningful race in the population-rich Northeastern portion of the U.S.

All because some of their super-talented drivers don’t want to be challenged?

Pocono Raceway has taken some pretty vicious criticism from some in the racing community in the past couple of days. But, consider that

·         Nothing any architect could have done would have prevented the freak series of events that resulted in the death of Indy-car driver Justin Wilson in 2015.

·         And, when multiple cars crashed on the seventh lap of last year’s ABC Supply 500 and Robert Wickens wound up with a paralyzing spinal cord injury after his car was thrown into the fence, Turn 2 was exactly where it was when the Monroe County track first hosted Indy cars in 1971.

·         And, finally, Pocono’s “tricky triangle” configuration had no role whatsoever in the first-lap disaster at the 2019 ABC Supply 500 on Sunday, either.

Lafayette FB: An overview on Day 1

Okay, here we go. Saturday, Aug. 3, 2019. Day 1 of the 138^th season of Lafayette College football.  Year 3 of the John Garrett era. Practice 1, noon-2:30 p.m., in Fisher Stadium. Eighty-six players, according to Coach Garrett.  Twenty-four freshmen.

Coach Garrett took part along with the rest of the Patriot League coaches in a media teleconference call on Wednesday.  I sat through the entire thing, so I have some decent ammo on the rest of the league.

I was hoping for something on the Lafayette Leopards, too, but what I got from Coach Garrett was pretty much everything he’s been saying since the day he was hired.

But one comment has been haunting me for three days. He said, “So, there’s really nothing wrong with the system.”

The thing is, Garrett IS the system  -- at least offensively. Ever since Rich Bartel left town before 2017 summer camp ever started, thus leaving the offensive coordinator spot vacant, it has been clear that Coach Garrett wants to do things HIS way.

Celebrare, Mario: A year to remember

My autographed copy of the 1969 program.

How well I remember the “Arrivederci, Mario!” Tour of 1994.

Everywhere Mario Andretti went that year, people showered him with accolades one last time. It didn’t matter whether he won on the track or not – at least, not to anyone except Mario himself. For everyone else, it was a matter of giving a good friend a deserved sendoff.

But somehow, I can’t think those 12 months could have compared to what should be tabbed the “Celebrare, Mario!” month the world’s most recognized race car driver is experiencing right now at the Indianapolis 500.

He is being blown away by it, and he doesn’t mind admitting it.

CELEBRATE!           

Twenty-five years after he stepped out of the cockpit as a full-time speed merchant, no one is saying “goodbye … see you later … bye-bye” to the Italian immigrant who has put Nazareth, PA, solidly on the map. People everywhere are opening their arms and embracing him, maybe like no other time in his life.

Some health issues will prevent me from attending the 103^rd Indianapolis 500 next weekend to watch the final chapter of this special time for Andretti as he is hailed for not only his only Indy victory 50 years ago, but also as the principal ambassador of his life-long pursuit.

But I have to say it’s been enjoyable for me to step into that time capsule and take myself back to my early years in the newspaper business. To re-read old stories and stir up old memories. But most of all, to talk to Mario again about those days and maybe to learn some things I never knew or even thought about.

My story that appears in The Morning Call. But we talked about so much more, so I thought I’d share some of the conversation with you.

Can Leopards benefit from some Sooner advice?

I think I found the answer to Lafayette football’s offensive problems.

Or, I found AN answer worth trying. And, it comes via another collegiate head coach who has no offensive coordinator.

I have been saying Lafayette Coach John Garrett needs to hire an offensive coordinator and actually give him charge over the Leopards’ attack, which produced an average of just 13 points per game in 2018 and 12 ppg in 2017.  

Lafayette won three games in ’17 and scored a grand total of 31 points in the three games combined. The Leopards got a lot better in winning in 2018, scoring 81 points in their three wins. But they also had five games in which they scored six points or less.

The one statistic that stuck out above – or below – all others was that Lafayette scored only four touchdowns on pass plays in 2018. Eleven games, four passing TDs. Only one other team in all the FCS had fewer TD passes (Jacksonville with three), and that team threw just 63 passes all year. Lafayette threw 361. It was horrible.

Spring football '19: The rest of the story

It sounds a lot like a cliché, but it really isn’t.

“A day like today is tough because when the defense does well, it means the offense isn’t, and when the offense does well, the defense is not. Either way, somebody on Lafayette is going to win. That’s a positive.  How we play is most important.  One fumble, a couple of tipped passes on which defensive players did the things we’ve been stressing all spring, not a lot of penalties. Spring ball goes quickly, mainly because you’re having fun.”

That was Lafayette Coach John Garrett’s glass-half-full assessment of the final practice of spring football camp on Saturday. They called it the spring game, but it didn’t have much of a game look to it.

That’s understandable because, as I wrote in my story for The Morning Call, the number of players not taking part (20} was nearly as large as the number of available offensive players (23, including the kicker and five quarterbacks) and more than the number of healthy defensive players (18).

The list of “watchers” starts with running backs Selwyn Simpson, J.J. Younger and Mike Dunn … goes to o-linemen Jake Marotti, Casey McCollum, Austin Pyne and Taron Hampton … and tight ends Scott Zadok and Jake Taggart.

That said, I’m giving the running game pretty much of a pass. Devin On, a walk-on, gave a good effort running and receiving; tight end-turned RB Ryan Monteyne got what looked like a parting of the Red Sea late in the day and ripped off an uncontested 55-yard “touchdown” run.

Are you ready for some Lafayette football?

Spring football camp at Lafayette College begins on Tuesday. Coach John Garrett has not yet posted a preseason depth chart, but I can almost give him a pass this time because he has so many new coaches who haven’t had a chance to do any evaluations yet.

I can also say this. We can make some calculated guesses based on the starting lineups from the final game of the 2018 season against Lehigh. No one involved with the Leopards’ program wants to rehash that game, right? Neither do I.

But, for the record, Lafayette last-game starters who are back this year are: quarterback Sean O’Malley; wide receivers Julian Spigner and Nick Pearson; tight end Steve Stilianos; offensive linemen Jake Marotti, John Burk and Gavin Barclay; defensive linemen Malik Hamm, Harrison Greenhill and Demetrius Breedlove; linebacker Major Jordan and defensive backs Yasir Thomas and Eric Mitchell.

One other starter was wide receiver Tim Payne, but the freshman has decided he will leave Lafayette at the end of the current semester. The last sentence of his “goodbye note” on Twitter was a bit disconcerting to me. “My next goal is to find a school where I feel at home, comfortable, and will allow me to excel not only in track and football, but in life as well,” he wrote.

I thought that’s exactly what the Lafayette experience was supposed to be all about. In fact, I have always thought the Leopards were student-athletes, not athletic students. Have great Division I athletics exposure, but also work hard in the classroom and come away with a degree that will translate to success for a lifetime.