Mountain Hawks still believe turnaround coming soon
Despite an 0-5 record and no touchdowns, Lehigh believes it can still salvage the season
Tom Gilmore has enjoyed many memorable football days at historic Franklin Field.
As a Penn Quaker in the early 1980s, Gilmore was a three-time all-Ivy League selection on three championship teams and was a two-time All-American. In 1985, he won the Asa S. Bushnell Cup as the Ivy League player of the year.
Gilmore has never faced his alma mater as a head coach before. He’ll get his first chance at 1 p.m. Saturday when his Lehigh squad takes on the Quakers in Philadelphia.
And, if somehow, someway, the Mountain Hawks can beat Penn, it may mark Gilmore’s most memorable day ever at a place he used to call home.
That’s because Lehigh is off to an 0-5 start and hasn’t scored a touchdown in the season’s first five games that have been decided by an average of 33 points.
Lehigh has lost 12 straight games counting the final four in the 2019 season and three during the spring of this year. The stretch ties the 1925-26 teams for the longest skid in school history.
That’s why a win at Penn might be the most savored in Gilmore’s career as either a player or coach.
He continues to believe in his team and has repeatedly noted the positive attitude and work ethic of the players, but he also knows that teams are measured by final scores.
“Our players continue to work hard and effort is not the issue,” he said during Wednesday’s weekly media session on campus. “Our ability to execute on a consistent basis as an individual and as a unit is the issue. We need everyone to trust in each other to do their job and you do yours.”
Lehigh players continue to push forward, believing a turnaround is not only possible but what they expect.
After Saturday’s game, the Mountain Hawks have a bye week and then play five consecutive games against Patriot League opponents.
“Our biggest thing is consistency,” said junior defensive tackle Dean Colton.
“We’ve shown flashes of being really good, or even great in some instances. It’s a matter of doing it for four quarters. One quarter, one half, is not enough.”
Colton said he’s aware of what he calls “outside noise.”
“We met as a team on Sunday and changed our normal routine to talk about just that,” Colton said. “No one has lost confidence. It’s just the opposite. I
think we’re even more passionate, more ready to win after we talked as a team. We believe we can turn the tide.”
Jack Fris, a senior offensive lineman, said he has been on teams before where the players wouldn’t have as much determination and drive to keep pushing forward. But this team does.
“This team has been relentless in terms of its effort and spirit,” he said. “It has been impressive every week and this week is no different. I’ve never lost confidence. We’ve had some very promising things, some improvement week after week. We just need to put it all together and play as one unit.”
Gilmore knows there are Lehigh fans and alums who are disappointed in the current season. He is, too.
“It is tough and I’d be lying if I said otherwise, but as I said before, tough times don’t last but tough people do,” he said. “I’ve tried to stay focused, not only for myself but also for the team, on what we need to do to improve. It’s not always an X and O thing; it’s not always a technical thing, it’s sometimes an intangible thing. We had positive conversations earlier this week about what we’re thinking, what we’re feeling and how can we take the steps we need to take? We are capable of executing a lot better.”
In terms of the fans who have expressed their disappointment on social media, Gilmore said he respects the passion.
“I appreciate their passion and their high expectations for the program,” he said. “The only part I don’t like is when it gets overly negative because the players and the coaches are working very hard to change the circumstances. We could use the support more than the negativity. But I do appreciate their passion and the expectations should be high for Lehigh football. We’re very optimistic that we’re going to be back in a very positive position sometime in the near future.”
He would love it if the positives start coming Saturday against a 1-2 Quakers team coming off consecutive losses to Lafayette and Dartmouth.
“When you look at our lifting sessions and the focus at meetings and things like that, we’ve been as strong as we’ve ever been because there’s a hunger factor there,” Gilmore said. “There’s a lot of desire to flip the circumstances. It all starts with attitude. If you don’t approach things with a positive attitude, you’re not going to be able to do fight through the adversity. It all starts with the right attitude.”