Lehigh University Athletics
From Head Coach Pete Lembo Dec. 14, 2004
12/13/2004 12:00:00 AM | Athletics
Dear Alumni and Friends -
I hope this e-mail finds you and your family looking forward to a terrific holiday season.
The coaching staff and I have seen plenty of holiday "hustle and bustle" as we are drawing to the close of a three week NCAA football recruiting contact period. Since the day after the James Madison playoff game in late November, the six full-time assistants and I have been in hundreds of high schools and homes around the country visiting with and evaluating our top prospects.
As you may be aware, Lehigh's admissions standards have risen steadily over the last several years. This jump has had a direct impact on the academic quality of the student-athletes we recruit. When I arrived at Lehigh in 1998, with little exception, we could count on drawing the vast majority of our incoming players from Pennsylvania, New Jersey and a few surrounding states. We also successfully recruited Florida and the Atlanta area.
Now, we are annually visiting cities such as New Orleans, Detroit, Chicago, Boston and Dallas as well as Atlanta in search of outstanding student-athletes. In addition, we are spending significant time in states outside of our region including Ohio, Virginia and West Virginia as well as continuing our efforts in Florida. The academic profile of the average football recruit has increased by over 100 points on the SAT in just the last four years.
Fortunately, Lehigh's academic reputation and football success has reached a point where our name recognition has improved in these outlying areas. Our consistent ranking in the I-AA top 25 polls has provided great visibility. However, it is still necessary for our coaches to educate parents, high school coaches and guidance counselors about the uniqueness of high admissions standards, need-based aid and life in the Lehigh Valley.
As you can imagine, it is significantly more expensive to recruit on a national level. In addition to coaches recruiting off campus in December, January and May, we must then fly in our top prospects to campus in January and early February for official visits. Out of approximately 60 official visits expected in this current recruiting cycle, I anticipate that over 20 will require air transportation.
With this in mind, your financial support of our efforts is absolutately critical. The staff and I work very hard to be efficient and effective - stretching every dollar in our travels and only extending visit offers to qualified recruits. However, the reality is that we have become an Ivy caliber institution from an admissions standpoint. Now, as the prospects that meet our requirements are more spread out, we need additional resources in order to find them and attract them to Lehigh.
Our football program has enjoyed incredible success - not just in the last seven years, but fairly regularly since the early 1950's. We have earned multiple Lambert Cup trophies, Patriot League Championships, Division I-AA playoff berths, Division II playoff berths and a Division II national championship. However, while we are way ahead of many of our peers in terms of wins on the field, we are lagging far behind in our fund raising for the program (and for athletics in general).
In the last fiscal year, only 15% (286 out of 1940) of our football alumni made a donation to either the Football Restricted Fund or to the Athletics Partnership Fund. If we are going to maintain our current level of success and operate a first class I-AA program, then these participation levels must improve. In addition to our recruiting budget, which comes directly from Athletics Partnership gifts, restricted gifts to football have covered the cost of critical items for the program including video, field equipment, awards, strength and conditioning, nutrition and off-season research and development.
When we recruit a young man to join our program, we often talk about the "football family" and the long term benefits of playing football at Lehigh. Our football alumni need to appreciate that their financial support after graduation impacts the success of the program as much as touchdowns and tackles do while wearing the brown and white.
As you may recall, I began a personal e-mail newsletter to football alumni and other friends of the program when I was promoted to Head Coach over four years ago. During that period of time, my e-mail database has grown to over 650 subscribers. Approximately 500 of the 650 recipients are football alumni. I am absolutely certain that this method of communication has served to reconnect many alumni who were distanced from the program. At the same time, it has kept all recipients well informed about every aspect of the football program.
However, much to my disappointment, this increased level of communication has not made a noticeable impact on our fund raising efforts. While this was not the primary reason for increasing communication, I certainly hoped there would be a ripple effect in time. Perhaps now that I am using this medium to be more direct about our needs, we will make some progress both in terms of participation and in dollars raised during this current fiscal year.
If you do not currently receive my bi-weekly e-mail during the football season and wish to do so in the future, simply e-mail me at jpl5@lehigh.edu and request to be added to my database.
Thank you for your time and your interest in the football program. Again, best wishes for a wonderful holiday.
Sincerely,
Pete Lembo
Head Football Coach
