BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Lehigh head football coach Andy Coen has announced two appointments to his football staff. Donnie Roberts, most recently the head football coach at Allentown (Pa.) Central Catholic High School, will become a defensive assistant at Lehigh, and Brett Sawyer, formerly an offensive assistant at Penn, will join Lehigh’s offensive staff. Both appointments are effective Monday, January 23.
“We are very excited to have both of these men on our staff,” Coen said. “They are both quality individuals who view themselves as both teachers and motivators. Having worked with both of them before, I know we share the same values and passion for the game that we need in order to keep this program moving forward.”
Donnie Roberts returns to Lehigh after having served as an assistant coach at Lehigh from 1994-1999, along with then-assistant coach Andy Coen. Roberts then moved on to the University of Connecticut as an assistant before returning to the Lehigh Valley in 2002 to accept a position at Allentown Central Catholic. At Central, Roberts served as the head football coach and assistant athletics director, in addition to teaching social studies. In 2005, the Vikings posted a 9-3 record, and won the Eastern Conference championship at the 3-A classification.
Roberts earned his bachelor’s in secondary education from Kutztown in 1986, and he worked at Lock Haven University for six years before joining the Lehigh staff in 1994.
“Donnie brings back a wealth of experience,” Coen explained. “Having coached here previously, he has a good understanding of Lehigh University and its winning tradition.”
Brett Sawyer joins the Lehigh staff from the University of Pennsylvania, where he spent the past two seasons coaching the Quakers tight ends. Sawyer also has prior coaching experience at Princeton University (three seasons), the University of Virginia (two seasons), and at his alma mater, Muhlenberg College. Sawyer was an All-Centennial Conference center at Muhlenberg in 1997, and a three year starter. He earned his bachelor’s in history in 1998 from Muhlenberg, and added a master’s degree from the University of Virginia in 2003.
“Brett has Ivy League coaching experience, which will prove useful,” Coen said. “He possesses a great knowledge of the game, and knows how to recruit the type of student-athlete needed to be successful.”
Coen was named Lehigh's 28th head football coach earlier this month.
