Rocky: 0:00

no-transcript.

Coach Conlin: 9:44

Yeah, I got you there, you you are?

Coach Cahill: 9:46

I can hear you loud and clear. How are you coach?

Coach Conlin: 9:48

good, how are you?

Coach Cahill: 9:50

well, it's always good and we can talk fordham football. I'm excited I had to get the fordham shirt out for tonight I appreciate that shirt. I took notice of it I said it's so good to uh to have you on. I know you guys are right in the middle of camp so I'm not going to keep you too long.

Coach Conlin: 10:04

I know how important your time is, so I appreciate you jumping out with me tonight no happy to do it and uh, um, the guys are actually we're heading into our kind of our last meetings of the night, so so I have some time, so fire away.

Coach Cahill: 10:18

So, coach, let's talk about we'll get to the upcoming camp in the schedule. I know I was just talking to the audience. I said said I always talk to you guys in the Patriot League about the tough non-conference schedules that you guys play and I talked a little bit about you know, the Patriot League and the Ivy League, who you were fortunate enough to coach in both leagues about the rich academics and how much harder it is to recruit. But now the Patriot League offers full scholarships.

Coach Conlin: 10:46

Talk to us a little bit about how tough it is at Fordham and some of these schools. Academically it's a challenge. It's not that different from the Ivy in terms of you don't have to go as high as you had to in the Ivies. The league has done a good job of helping us out, especially post-pandemic, in terms of doing away with the academic banding system and things like that, and now it's just kind of based on a narrative about the student-athletes' academic success.

Coach Conlin: 11:19

So you have to cast a wide net and you stretch your staff pretty thin in terms of you know they're covering a wide area in recruiting but it's fun. You know you get to meet a lot of really interesting people. You have great kids. You know you're not dealing with a lot of issues within your team from a behavior standpoint. You know these guys, they know they have a future out there, so they do a great job on and off the field and in the classroom. So it definitely has its benefits. You know you just have to work out and be diligent and be organized in recruiting.

Coach Cahill: 12:01

Coach, how did the offseason go for you guys? I know obviously recruiting-wise, but offseason workouts leading in the spring ball and'd the offseason go for you guys? I know obviously recruiting wise, but offseason workouts leading in the spring ball and then obviously up in the camp, how's the offseason been for you guys?

Coach Conlin: 12:11

I think it's gone really well. You know, we're holding steady, pretty healthy at this point in time. In camp we just had our I think sixth practice today I think sixth practice today so we're doing okay from a health standpoint. Guys are bigger, you know. They're stronger, they're faster moving pretty well on both sides of the line.

Coach Cahill: 12:38

So you know, so far so good and I think the guys are in a good spot. So, coach, coming off last year I was going back and looking at my notes I said, man, your guys' schedule was brutal last year with away games. You guys, I believe you were at Lehigh, at Holy Cross, at Dartmouth, at Bucknell, I think you guys were even at Bowling Green last year and it was a tough schedule. But you guys had some injuries. I think you guys had some younger guys that had to step up for you. But I don't want to look at the past but talk to us about. You know the schedule last year and now last year. What you're looking forward to the most coming into this season.

Coach Conlin: 13:07

Yeah, I mean it was seven on the road and I think it was backloaded, so I think we were home twice and in the months of September and October we were at home twice. So yeah, that was a challenge. But yeah, I've been around some teams. You know where you rally around that Um and uh, you know, I I kind of like being on the road with the guys. You know it's just awesome, the hotel and and uh, you really get to spend time with your team, um, in those situations, which is a lot of fun. So, yeah, we had a decent amount of road games, um, we have the same amount this year. We're seven on the road this year. We're just kind of a more front-loaded home game schedule and it's spread out a little better. So that's good, you know. So there are definitely challenges from an injury standpoint.

Coach Conlin: 14:01

You know, I think it was for the back. You know the final eight games. You know we were down 17 guys from the two deep, uh, something like that. But that's you know, that's part of the game and you have to manage that and and uh, guys have to step up and and it kind of was what it was and and a lot of guys did get experience that maybe we would have liked to hold on for for a year and but that's okay and that's great.

Coach Conlin: 14:25

Now you kind of take your lumps and it was very similar to what happened to us at Yale in 2016. We had a tough year and we go to play the JV game against Harvard and we need all the talented freshmen on the JV team. So we lose that JV game. I think 63 to nothing JV team. So we'd lose that JV game. I think 63 to nothing.

Coach Conlin: 14:51

Um, we got to the hotel and, uh, coach Reno Tony was. He was kind of freaking out a little bit like, oh my, you know we could blow down a JV game like that. What's gonna happen in the varsity? I said you know just, we'll be okay. I said all our good JV players are playing tomorrow. We ended up. I think we started six freshmen on offense and I think Sean and those guys on defense. They started six or seven as well, but found a way to win the game and game-winning touchdown pass was from a freshman, kurt Rawlings, to freshman Reed Klubnick, with two freshmen offensive linemen protecting. So you know, it's good for those guys to get experience. They come in. You know they have a little bit different demeanor going into their sophomore year and we have a lot of true freshmen that played last year, that are now, you know, kind of considered veterans, and that's a positive thing.

Coach Cahill: 15:40

Coach, is there a position group so far at camp that you're really looking forward to? That's really impressed you the most so far.

Coach Conlin: 15:47

Well, yeah, it's kind of. You know, that's a good question, Interesting question. You know, two days ago I thought our offensive line had a really good day. You know, today I would say, you know, our defensive line has been pretty consistent. We have good depth there. We have, you know, upperclassmen. You know our defensive line has been pretty consistent. We have good depth there. We have, you know, upperclassmen Claudia Robinson, sam Burkle, john Scott. They've all played a lot of football for us.

Coach Conlin: 16:12

So the defensive line has been pretty solid. I think our secondary is doing a nice job for the most part. Obviously, we have James Conway back in linebacker, so he's been himself. Obviously, you have James Conway back in linebacker, so he's been himself. You know, I think our wide receivers are taking a big step forward. They're playing a little bit faster than they played last year. Running backs, you know, we're kind of finding out who's the guy and things like that, and that's been fun. And we have some guys taking some tremendous strides and we have Jay Allen back from last year of tight end, so that's been great. So each position's kind of taking their turn. I would say the defensive line has probably been the most consistent day in and day out.

Coach Cahill: 16:54

Coach, I feel like I've said James Conway for 100 years and it's like he's played it for him for 20 years and I know he was limited. Last year I think he only played in four games for you because of injuries. How nice is it to have him back anchoring that defense.

Coach Conlin: 17:06

Yeah, I mean, it's the greatest. You know he's a tremendous leader. He's a heck of a competitor. You know every offseason workout, every offseason lift, he is always at a high level. You know I've never seen him flustered or frustrated or discouraged. You know he always just gives you everything he has. And you know it's going to be weird. You know it was weird. You know I looked out there and I saw 47 for years and it was always great to have Greeny and now I have him as my director of ops. But it's going to be different when I don't see 48 in the middle of our defense. And I don't know if I'm going to like it, because he's special.

Coach Cahill: 17:55

Coach, talk to us a little bit. Of course, the quarterback room is always the fancy one. Everybody wants to know who's going to be under center for you and I know Jack played a lot of games last year and you know I think he played behind Tim or at the more at when he was at Fordham, and I think he played a little bit under CJ too. But you got a pretty good quarterback room too. Yeah, jack came in in 22.

Coach Conlin: 18:14

So he was here for Timmy's. You know the great year that Timmy had in 22 was here, was behind CJ in 23. And then, yeah, had to step in last year and you know, for a lot of time, did a really nice job for us and wasn't really protected like he should have been, but he fought. He's really back to back. He's put really two fantastic practices together. He's pushing the ball downfield. He's doing back-to-back. He's put really two fantastic practices together. He's pushing the ball downfield. He's doing a nice job. Gunnar Smith transferred in Gunnar's doing a great job as well. He's had his last two or three have been really fantastic. And Trip Holly is also doing a really nice job. So, yeah, it's been fun to watch those guys compete every day and you know they're really. You know we're completing a lot more passes downfield than we did last year at this time. So it's been good.

Coach Cahill: 19:17

So, coach, and speaking of that non-conference schedule, you guys will open up against Boston College on that August 30th. And then I was talking a little bit before you came on the air. You know of how much you know the history of Richmond now coming into the Patriot, how much stronger that it makes this conference. And I've always said and people will still argue with me, I still say the Patriot League still one of the best conferences top to bottom. You know, out there, talk to us about. You know what Richmond brings at a table, the history, and how much that just strengthens the. Yeah, I mean, it's I. You know what Richmond brings to the table, the history, and how much that just strengthens the pitchers.

Coach Conlin: 19:44

Yeah, I mean, I think you know this year and then, and certainly when Villanova and William Mary come in, you know it's going to be a higher-end FCS conference. You know multi-bid league, yeah, I mean I think obviously Richmondmond has historically been I mean I go back against those guys when I was at unh, um, you know, competing against the dave clausen led richmond team who was once the, you know, the head coach of fordham. So, um, yeah, I mean the richmond has always had talent. You know it's a very good school, nice, so it's a great fit for the Patriot League. They've done a tremendous facilities upgrade and they've been. You know they won a national championship 15 years ago. So within our kids' lifetime they've been the national champions. So I think it was 18 years ago or 19. So, yeah, I mean they automatically and they were a playoff team last year, so they automatically bring, you know, that kind of pedigree to our league, which is fantastic. And you know, at the same time they kind of uphold the academic standards of the Patriot League, which is great. So it's going to be a lot of fun.

Coach Conlin: 21:03

You know, I remember those days from the CIA, the old CIA, when you had JMU, nova, richmond, delaware, william Mary, unh, and you know it was a fistfight week to week and it didn't matter. You know even Northeastern and some of the quote unquote lower-end schools could beat you. You didn't if you didn't come to play and if you were overlooking, uh, what you perceived as a lower end school because you had jmu or delaware coming up, you know you were gonna get smacked around. So, um, it was really a tough but really fun um and uh, a great league to to be a part of. So that's what I'm looking for with our league and yeah, it's been really good the last couple years.

Coach Conlin: 21:46

I mean, obviously, lehigh coming on, kev's doing a great job there, cross has been really solid. Obviously, bob did a really good job there and Danny's doing a good job. So you know, now you got Lafayette. You know Johnny did a good job in 23. Bucknell, you know Johnny did a good job in 23. Bucknell, you know, made some noise last year and they were the only team to beat Lehigh in league. So yeah, I mean it's fun and you know, week to week, year to year, and we've always kind of acquitted ourselves well in the playoffs, especially lately. Certainly, cross and Colgate has made some runs. You know Danny had a good team at Colgate there in 2018. So it's been a really challenging league and it's really grown. You know, even since I've been in it just with the recruiting and how teams are recruiting and who they're going after and who they're getting you know it's been much more impressive and fun to be a part of.

Coach Cahill: 22:43

So, coach, some of the alum were messing with me because they were like you got Coach on, you got to ask him, you got to ask him this question, you got to ask him that. Some of them said make sure you ask him and just say what's Fordham have to do this year to get things turned around and have a bounce back year?

Coach Conlin: 22:55

Yeah, I mean I think obviously we got to protect the quarterback right. 61 sacks last year is just an astonishing number and there are a variety of reasons for that. It's not all in the offensive lines, I'm not pinning it all on them. We have to be a little quick with our decision making. We have to do a better job against press man and things like that, which we have been doing. We've also been seeing a lot more of it in camp, which is good.

Coach Conlin: 23:25

We've got to run the ball more consistently. Uh, you know we had a lot of games where we ran the ball for more than 200 last year, but then we had probably seven where we ran the ball for less than 100. So you know you got to have that balance. It can't be, you know, hey, we find something this week to where you know we're gonna have 250 on the ground, but then the next week, you know, against holy cross, we're gonna run from 90, just because we, you know we can't figure it out or we can't push those guys or we can't scheme it up.

Coach Conlin: 23:52

So, more consistency on the ground on offense, and we have to get back to the vertical shots downfield that you know we did so well in 22 and 23 um, and a lot of that last year was just soft tissue injuries at the receiver position, so we never had kind of a consistent group Defensively. We have to be a little stouter against the run and I think we will. With what we're doing and what we have up front, I think our secondary is going to be really good, so we'll be able to mix up coverage and things like that. So more consistency on defense, change the picture a little bit, some answers against some formational stuff that bothered us last year, and I think that staff Allen Gant and James Linehan have done a really good job this offseason, so I'm excited to see what they can do.

Coach Cahill: 24:40

So, coach, I know you don't need motivation, we're always looking for both in board materials. But so, coach, I know you don't need motivation, we're always looking for both and board materials. But I got on the patriotic because I'll be doing some stuff for them again this year and they had georgetown, colgate and fordham picked at the bottom three, so I know we don't need both in board material. Well, that's got to pump up you and the coaches and the staff as well, right in the players. Yeah, pick us, pick, I'm not gonna lie.

Coach Conlin: 25:02

And uh, it certainly put a smile on my face when I saw it. You know, anytime you kind of get a free thing you can use, certainly put a smile on my face.

Coach Cahill: 25:15

Well, coach, I'm excited because I think you come this way to play Colgate here. I'll get a chance to see you here and I'm going to bring my son out to a game this year, so hopefully I'll get a chance to say hi to you in person and cheer on a win at Fordham and see you here locally at Colgate.

Coach Conlin: 25:30

Yeah, absolutely, let me know a week of and we'll get you guys squared away, sideline all that stuff.

Coach Cahill: 25:37

Sounds good. Well, coach, get back to the team. I appreciate you. Go, rams, and I'll be pulling for it. I'll be be following you.

Coach Conlin: 25:42

Hopefully we'll chat again during the season. Thanks, rocky, always a pleasure.

Coach Cahill: 25:46

Alright, coach, thank you.

Coach Cahill: 25:53

Let me fix my screen here. Let me get back to where are you? There we go there. We go. Great to talk to Coach Conlon Always good to area. There we go there. We go. Great to talk to Coach Conlon Always good to me. I know these guys got meetings so I didn't want to keep him too long. We'll talk to Coach Cahill here in just a little bit. He'll jump on. But yeah, I mean, nobody needs bulletin board material, right?

Coach Cahill: 26:17

But Colgate, fordham and Georgetown were picked in the bottom three of the Patriot League and I know Coach had said in another article that I saw online I was going to bring it up. He said he's more motivated this year than ever and they had a lot of injuries last year, a lot of injuries. You heard that they had to play a lot of freshmen and actually his quarterback, cj Montez, just transferred over to Kent State to play for my roommate, another Fordham grad, mark Carney. So there was, he transferred. But I'm excited to see what they bring. I think they're going to be a lot better, I think, defensively, with Conway in the middle, I think they're going to be really good up front.

Coach Cahill: 26:52

Some of those young receivers last year Coach talking about. They struggle to get off that press man. If you don't know football, if you can't get off a press man, coverage, defense is getting after you. So they gave up a lot of sacks last year, um, so I think that'll help um the boys out a little bit too this year. Coming into the season is the ability to get off a press coverage um, and for them in the back end is going to be a lot better this year too. So being able to mix coverages up and being able to do some different things, but no matter what level you talk to any coach when I talk to the high school guys, they say the same thing. You got to be able to do two things. You got to be able to run the football and you get. You got to be stout against the run and if you can do those things, stop the run, run the football score in the red zone. You got a chance to be really, really, really good. So I'm excited to see um, see what Fordham will do this year and bounce back.

Coach Cahill: 27:46

The other thing they're going to have and Coach talked a little bit about it Conway is going to be the stud that's back. He was limited last year to four games. He is Fordham and the Patriot League leader in career tackles, so he's back this year. He's healthy. Hopefully he can stay healthy because he's a huge part of what they do defensively. Then on the back end, alex Kemper, who's a senior defensive back, is back and he'll be leading. He's the anchor that back end on defense Excited experienced quarterback room.

Coach Cahill: 28:21

He was talking about Jack, who played behind Tim DeMorad, was had one of the best seasons in fordham history, uh at fordham and then obviously played a little bit behind cj, uh before cj got hurt and jack stepped into the starting role. So, um, I think we'll have a good bounce back year. And that'll lead into talking to coach cahill, who knows about bounce back years because from his first year to last year one of the biggest turnarounds in FCS in all of Division I turned it around and won nine games last year, won the Patriot League, got into the playoffs, made some noise in the playoffs and now they are picked first in the Patriot League. So everybody is going to be coming for Lehigh this year and I got a surprise for Coach when I get him on, because I told him the last time. Next time I interviewed him. I was going to have a Lehigh shirt so I might just have a surprise for Coach when he jumps on. I didn't want to wear a Lehigh shirt with my album modern on. So we'll talk to Coach Cahill.

Coach Cahill: 29:20

And again, these guys. Last year Lehigh went nine and four four. They're five and one in the Patriot League. They had the big win over Richmond in the playoffs. They got beat to Idaho in the playoffs. The play at Idaho and that dome was was crazy. They had the big win over Lafayette.

Coach Cahill: 29:36

Who, lafayette Lehigh? I know you talk Ohio State Michigan, you talk Army navy, you talk auburn alabama. If you haven't experienced a lafayette lehigh game. It's one of the oldest rivalries in college football period fcs level, power four level. It's one of the best rivalries in college football. We'll talk to coach about that one. They won last year 38 14 over lafayette. So we'll talk to coach a little bit. They're going to open up against richmond, so they know each other extremely well.

Coach Cahill: 30:00

As coach conlon said, richmond's coming over to Lafayette, so we'll talk to the coach a little bit. They're going to open up against Richmond, so they know each other extremely well. As Coach Conlon said, richmond's coming over to the Patriot League and then you're going to get Villain League. You're going to get William and Mary coming over to the Patriot League. It's going to make the Patriot League that much stronger than what it already is. So we'll talk to Coach Cahill about that.

Coach Cahill: 30:22

And then they're going to be down here at Colgate this year. So it'll be nice to see Kevin come down here to Colgate. I'm sure a lot of the local people here across the Mohawk Valley that know Kevin will try to get out to that game. I know I'm going to try to get out to that game and watch him play Colgate and then they do play at Lafayette this year. So they'll travel. That'll be the last game of the season. We don't ever want to look ahead, but that one is always the last game of the season. They had their 13th Patriot League title. They won last year and they had the second largest turnaround last year, winning nine games. And, as I said, they're picked first in the Patriot League. So we'll talk to coach about that. We'll talk about how camp's going. You know his staff, their expectations.

Coach Cahill: 31:06

This year they had a great recruiting class coming in, as did Fordham, with a good recruiting class coming in, and recruiting now in the Patriot League is so much different than again recruiting years ago in the Patriot League. So you know again, with being able to offer full scholarships now versus, you know, years ago it was the grants and blah, blah blah, it was tough to get in academically. So a lot of that stuff has changed, which I think has helped. And I think the ability to play against big time college football teams like Fordham is going to open up against Boston College. They've played Navy before. They've played Army. They play a lot of the Ivy League schools. They've played Syracuse. Colgate plays Syracuse every year. So that's a great recruiting thing to come and play at Colgate if you get a chance to play Syracuse, which is really special. So a lot of that stuff has changed over the years and I think it really helps with recruiting.

Coach Cahill: 32:03

You know in that transfer portal that no coach wants to hear because every year you lose kids and it's like these at the FCS school, sort of like basketball, right, you get the mid majors in basketball and you get them for like a year and then they transfer out and you see them playing in like North Carolina or Duke or one of the big schools, and I think sometimes it could be the same for the Patriot League, because they may get kids for a year or two and then they decide to transfer. But again, you're coming to a Patriot League school to get a great education, play really good football and then when you graduate, the alumni base at these programs like Lehigh and Colgate and Fordham and Bucknell the alumni support that you get when you graduate is unbelievable. So a lot of contacts, a lot of doors for jobs, careers, which is great. I know they do it all over the place, but I've always said I think the Patriot League and Ivy League schools, the alumni base, is special. So when you go to those schools it's similar like the academies, right, you're going to the academies to get a good education and then you're going to serve our country for the United States and you're going to play big-time college football.

Coach Cahill: 33:14

Navy almost beat Ohio State a few years ago I think it was a few years ago, right. And you see now Navy, the Armies and the Air Force. I think Army and Navy are going to be ranked. I think the Rankins came out today. I think I saw Army in there, but Army and Navy are tough outs every year and Army and Navy will play the Patriot League schools. So a lot of experience. But again, recruiting, I think, has changed over the years.

Coach Cahill: 33:40

So we'll talk to Coach Cahill here in just a moment. He's just getting ready to log in, sign in now. I'll bring him on and then I got a special uh thing for him I'm gonna have to do live on the air, so you'll have to bear with me, um when he jumps on, because I think the last time he was on me, I think I did have the Ford, I'm sure, and he was gonna send me one, but I said, don't worry about it, I got one um. So, um, soon as I bring him on, I will, um I'll surprise him um with something that I have for him. So I'm I'm excited for uh for coach Cahill to come. He's got a great staff too. These guys all have great staffs. So coach Cahill has coach Nagy, who was my defensive coordinator Um when I was at Fordham. He also has Coach Hunt, who was the head coach at Colgate. So he's got a great staff um on his staff and, as a as a young coach like him, having those coaches available to you is awesome.

Coach Cahill: 34:38

So I'm going to keep my mouth shut. I'm going to shut up here and quit talking and bring coach on. Coach, hold down one second. I got a surprise for you. If I can, uh, take my screen off here. So I know you can. Uh, you can, can see me, but let me just switch up my my screen here. So just bear with me, I'm gonna switch this up, all right. So hold you can hear me, right, coach? Yeah, I got you do, you got me. I got me loud and clear. So I I was. I didn't want to do this on the air because I got the fordham shirt on and coach conlon would have kicked my ass. But I got to take this off because I do have a lehigh shirt on underneath. So give me a minute.

Coach Conlin: 35:15

There we go, there we go.

Coach Cahill: 35:23

All right, so hopefully he's not watching. I think he had a team meeting. I just got out of mind.

Rocky: 35:29

So I'm going to take a screenshot and send it to him, make sure he's aware. So he was busting my chops.

Coach Cahill: 35:34

He goes. I got to be before Cahill, I can't be after. I'm like Coach, I'm Fordham, I got to have you on first. Absolutely, what's going on, man? How are you?

Rocky: 35:42

We're good. We're good. We just finished another practice. We're going to practice five today, going on six tomorrow. We're in the heat of it. It's been good. You know it's been a fun preseason and a long way to go to get to where we really want to be, but it's fun to be around the kids.

Coach Cahill: 36:04

It's fun to. It's an energetic group and they're working hard. All I I got to tell you, all I see on Twitter man is like the nest is rocking and like all these Lehigh, like I haven't seen so much Lehigh on Twitter in probably the last few years and it's like all everywhere I look I see lehigh talk to me a little bit about um, the off season for you guys, from recruiting to what it was like for um, conditioning leading up to spring ball in the camp. How much excitement is there at lehigh?

Rocky: 36:28

yeah, there's a lot right now. It's, it's been, uh it's. It's a fun place to be at and and listen, like when we, when we took the job here, this is what we thought it was going to be. We thought Lehigh was a power. We thought Lehigh should be in the playoffs every year. We thought it just needed to be brought back. And we're not great year last year, but we're not where we really need to be yet. We don't have the stability. We need another recruiting class. We need another one after that until you have true stability. So it's good. The offseason was great. The kids are working.

Rocky: 36:59

You got to flush last year as fast as you can, which is hard Kids, I think everybody. It's human nature to fall in love with yourself and think you're so good and all that. And as a coach, that's the fun part. You got to bring them back down to earth and we did a good job of that and it took them a little bit to get past the playoff run and to move on from that and the championship and and now none of that matters like none of that is relatable to this team, while there's some guys on this team that were on last year's team, it's a whole new year and, uh, trying to to get kids to understand that is. It's fun and that's's that's part of the drive. As a coach, that's what you want to do. You. You'd much rather be in this position than the position we were in a couple of years ago, where everybody counted us out.

Coach Cahill: 37:42

So I was talking to coach Conlon. I said you know, coaches don't need bulletin board material. But I said, coach, I'm going to give you one. And he knows. I said Colgate, fordham, georgetown, picked in the bottom and it's the opposite for you guys. Right, you guys were picked at the bottom or the middle of the pack, to the bottom, I think, a couple years ago when you took the job, and now everybody's coming after you guys because you guys were picked to win the patriot league next to richmond. So talk to us a little bit about that it's a different mindset.

Rocky: 38:08

You got it, you got to talk through it. Um, you got to talk through to the players that it's last year is easy, you know, and nobody, nobody, had any expectations for you.

Rocky: 38:17

And this year, everybody has expectations for you so you know, we went, we did a lot of research in the off season and we put some projects on our players and research projects and stuff like that, and they did a really good job with it. And you know, really, really have the hunting mindset. You got to be able to hunt. You got it doesn't matter if you're predicted to win the league, you still have to be able to hunt and be on the attack mode and you know we'll see. I think we're in a good spot with that mindset. But you don't know until you test it and with any team, and and the team we have right now will be a completely different team than the one we have in mid-october, and that's when you truly know who you are and I was was just again from talking to Coach.

Coach Cahill: 38:56

I said now you bring you. Guys played Richmond, you got them in the playoffs at their place and you know, now they come in the Patriot League. And then you look and you see Villanova's coming in the Patriot League. You're going to get a really good William Mary team. Right, that's coming in the Patriot League.

Rocky: 39:20

It's going to strengthen this league even more. You know, top the bottom, talk to us a little bit about that here, with richmond come in, and then villanova and william and mary down the road. Yeah, this is pretty unique. We. We open up with richmond at home and you know we played them last year and finished their season last year. So obviously they're excited to play us. Um, they want to, they want to right the wrong from last year. Um, we know that we're, we're, why wouldn't you? Um, and then our league just continues to get stronger.

Rocky: 39:37

You know it's not like we lost anybody. You know Ross is still here, fordham's still here, colgate's still here. You know the true blue bloods of you know Patriot League football are all still here and all of us have gone into playoffs and made runs. And then you add you know Richmond, obviously. You add William, mary and you add you know Richmond. Obviously you had William and Mary and you had Villanova. You know Richmond and Villanova have won national championships. You know, and you mentioned Colgate. Colgate played in one not too long ago. You know and you know. So that's the stuff you grow with this league. It's pretty awesome. You know it's also challenging. It's also going to be a challenge. So you know you got to look at what you're doing recruiting-wise, what you're doing development-wise. Are you doing enough to get the talent you need to compete with those guys?

Coach Cahill: 40:21

Coach, you got a special defense alignment that was picked as a defensive player of the year. Talk to us a little bit of how special Matt is as a player.

Rocky: 40:29

Yeah, matt's different, he's driven. You know differently Matt. You know sometimes the best, you know the the sometimes the best. Um, the best players you have are really good athletes, like he's an exceptional basketball player actually when we had some pickup games and stuff like that and he's just super competitive. He doesn't want to be held down, he doesn't want to be held back, he wants to go. Uh, we have to put the governor on him in practice, otherwise we can't get anything done. You know he's going against some other guys that he just makes look foolish at times and he's just driven. He's driven, he's driven.

Rocky: 41:00

He's here because he wants to get his degree from Lehigh. You know it's last year he was poached. He tried to poach him and Matt didn't want to leave. Matt wanted to continue to finish what he started here and continue to go. He's a very loyal kid. He's a very loyal kid. He's a very hardworking kid, comes from a great family. I can't say enough good things about Matt. He's what Patriot League football is all about. You go and get a great degree. We'll see what happens after this year, but he's been a tremendous player for Lehigh.

Coach Cahill: 41:28

I know you talked about the expectations when you got here. This was the expectations, right, because when I played, lehigh was always the team to beat. They were always in the playoffs. When I was at Fordham and were you worried the season you had last year and I know you don't want to look back at it, but you, I would say you guys probably overachieved right in in your second year, but those were the expectations. You don't look back, but going forward. It's like the bar's already been set. Now it's really tough to stay at the top, right when you once you get there yeah, yeah.

Rocky: 42:00

And then, like I was saying before, like kids, kids want us, they want the instant gratification and that's kind of what we had. You know, in year two, all of a sudden we're winning a championship and it's like it's not typically how it goes and we were fortunate enough to to. You know, we we won the league last year. It was great, everything fell into our favor and we did a great job with it and we won a playoff game. It was awesome.

Rocky: 42:22

Lehigh's back and you look at that and like we're not quite. We have a lot of work to do. We have. We had a huge first year class last year. We had to develop and all they knew was success and there's some good things about that, like all they know is to win. So we had to build on that and we still have to build on that. And we'll have some bumps in the road. We'll have some bumps in the road in preseason camp, you know. We'll have some bumps in the road early in the season and it's just a matter of how do we manage those? We had them last year how do we manage those bumps in the road and how do we continue to focus on ourselves? It really doesn't matter what the rest of the league is doing is. Can we show up and be our best version every Saturday?

Coach Cahill: 43:03

And coach, you had so many guys last year, had great seasons. For this year you got seven guys named to the All-Patriot League and one of them I know that's special for in the back in the backfield is Luke. Talk to us a little bit about him and what he brings.

Rocky: 43:15

Yeah, luke's just gotten better each year. Just no nonsense. Does the work. One of our strongest players, pound for pound. One of our strongest guys, one of our most explosive guys. He actually won the award in the weight room in the offseason. He's a dedicated kid from a football family. Dad played in the league, dad played at Vanderbilt. Um, you know he, he knows football. He's very, very smart. Um, you know, we don't have to say too much to him. It's more calming him down because he's so excited at times and just keep bringing him back up. But we're successful because of guys like him and Matt. You know Matt Spatney and and, uh, luke Yoder do a great job for us. They're great leaders by example. You know, they don't have to be the rah-rah guys. They can just get out there and do the work and Luke has done it. Luke has done a great job and you know we're excited for this year. He's going to continue to grow and you know, bigger, faster and stronger.

Coach Cahill: 44:08

And he knows what it takes in this league now and you guys get a chance for you. I said he gets a chance to kind of come home right to this area. You get a chance to come here and play Colgate. I know you don't like to look ahead, but how special is that going to be for you to get a chance to come a little closer to home right and play here at Colgate.

Rocky: 44:22

It's awesome. I've been there a few times. There a couple years ago we probably played one of the worst games of my short career as a head coach up at Colgate. We looked terrible, we played terrible, it was bad, and so you want to go back up and have a better showing. But anytime you get a show, that's home to me. You know that's home. Playing at Hamilton High School is a rival of ours and you know it's always pretty special to go back there and you know I know a lot of people up there and it's great to stay in Utica and you know back where I grew up, and back where I grew up, it's pretty special.

Coach Cahill: 44:55

Is there a position group right now at Camp Coach that's impressed you the most? That might be ahead of where you thought they would be coming into camp.

Rocky: 45:04

I think we have experience at the running back room. We have experience in the D-line. The offensive line had a couple questions. They're doing a good job of pushing through the receivers. We've got a couple guys that have a little bit of experience here and there. I've been impressed with the linebackers. We lost an all-conference, all-everything Lehigh linebacker last year in Mike DiNucci. He graduated as a fifth-year grad student and we've got two guys coming in to fill in and they've done a good job from the spring until now. And kind of unfortunately, but fortunately for those two is they got to play a lot in the playoffs because we lost Mike in our last game of the regular season. He broke his ankle and he missed as a fifth-year senior. He won a Patriot League and didn't get a chance to play in the playoffs, which broke my heart because he gave so much to Lehigh. But he gave these guys an opportunity to play at Richmond and to go out to Idaho and have significant snaps, which is going to help us this year.

Coach Cahill: 45:57

And Coach, talk to us a little bit, if you can, about the quarterback room. You've got some upperclassmen, You've got some young guys. Talk to us about what that room looks like.

Rocky: 46:05

Yeah, we're young, we're young, we are. You know, last year it was kind of worked out exactly the way we wanted to. I think Dan did a fantastic job. Dan Hunt is one of the best coaches I've been around and he did a great job with that room and with a fifth-year senior and a freshman and the way he balanced it and just open and honest communication and just Dan being who he is, just a great human being. He did a great job with that.

Rocky: 46:28

And now we have a freshman that's had a ton of reps. That will be a sophomore for us. And we have another sophomore that comes in and plays as well. That will be a sophomore for us. And we have another sophomore that comes in and plays as well and they're best friends and they're roommates and they hang out all the time together and that's just. That's hard to do this day and age. It really is. Everybody wants their own, they're in for their own, they want to do whatever they want to do for themselves, but not those guys. They've done a really good job of putting the program first and whatever we've got to do to win. That's their mindset and that's a lot of the guys' mindset, but particularly in that room, and when that room is like that, you've got a chance.

Coach Cahill: 47:02

Yeah, I always brag and I know I bring it up all the time to you, but having the experience of Coach Hunt and then Coach Nags, who was my defensive back coach at Fordham, having that as a young coach like yourself, with those guys around you, I mean you can't ask for anything more than that.

Rocky: 47:16

No, no, there's so many days I go in and Coach Hunter will look at me and just start laughing. He goes I'm glad I'm not in your office, that's a your office problem, and I'm like, yeah, I know, I know, I know, just great quality men. That's what you want to be around. You want to have fun. It's it's. It's fun to come into work. We laugh, we joke, we get to work, we do it. You know, we were mentoring kids, we're having a blast with it and just good people. You want to be around good people and and coach Nagy and coach Hunter are two of the best and I was very, very fortunate to bring them here when we came in and, um, they've been awesome.

Coach Cahill: 47:52

So this year's team coach, and again, we're not going to look at last year's team, but what's different about this group compared to your group from last year?

Rocky: 48:00

I think we're a little younger actually. We've got probably a bigger senior class that's going to play for us, but we're only going to be sophomore laden probably. So it's going to be interesting. It's going to be an interesting team. We're not afraid to work, they're not afraid to work, they're not afraid to work, they're not afraid to, you know, put the work in and get out there and, you know, give the energy that we need at practice, all that stuff We've got to.

Rocky: 48:24

You know, as any coach is going to say, we're terrible at execution right now. We've had five practices so we're not very good. So it'll be interesting to see how we grow there. You know, we just had a team meeting. I just left it, challenging them in certain ways, and I'm interested to see how they're going to respond to each other. So it's it's going to be a fun team and that's just a matter of what we are now compared to what we are at the end of preseason and where we are by week. And when we get to the by week you got to see where you are We'll have two gate, two league games under our belt at that point and then, you know, see what's going to happen.

Coach Cahill: 48:56

Yeah, and I think too, bringing Richmond over. And then again, I think you know the league top to bottom is a tough game. You know week in and week out, yeah, and again I'm looking at some of the teams again in the schedules it's like you guys really got to grind. You know every week because every team I think has gotten better. You know every week because every team I think has gotten better. You know Bucknell's been there, Holy Cross has been there, fordham's been there in the past and you know Coach Fitz will get Colgate going. Oh yeah, at some point there's no doubt in my mind he'll get that thing going. But it just seems like with the coaches in this league it just keeps getting better and better.

Rocky: 49:28

Yeah, it is. It's a great league and and you just you named them all you know you look at Bucknell. In my opinion that's probably the team to beat this year. You know they've got that quarterback, that's really good. They've got a running back that's really good. They've run a really good offense. They've got a new offensive coordinator who's really really good. I've known him for years. He does a great job and you know everybody counts Col in November. It's not going to be easy. They're going to fight. Fitz has had a lot of success. He's going to do a great job there. He's going to get it rolling. It's not going to take him long. He knows what he's doing and he's got a good staff to do it. Fordham is it's going to come down to the fourth quarter If you make the play or not.

Coach Cahill: 50:23

I was really hoping you guys would play Colgate earlier in the year, because every time I go watch Colgate play Fordham Fordham plays them in November and it's either snowing out, it's a downpour and raining out and I'm like, can I just get there when it's like 85 degrees in sun?

Rocky: 50:36

yeah, and I'm like ah, I think there's three, I think there's three of those days in the summertime and, uh, in good old hamilton, new york, and you got to pick one of them that is very true.

Coach Cahill: 50:47

But all right, man, listen, I won't keep you much longer. I appreciate you jumping on and, uh, I know you've always been good to me. I, I pull for, I, I pull for you every game but one.

Rocky: 50:57

And I appreciate that. Gotta stay loyal, and I appreciate that and I agree with you.

Coach Cahill: 51:01

Gotta stay loyal, but I can't wait to see you. Hopefully I'll get a chance to see you during the fall and good luck I know we'll do it again.

Rocky: 51:08

Rock, thanks again. Thanks for having me on Always, always a pleasure.

Coach Cahill: 51:23

You got it, man. Good luck to you. Thank you. All right, coach. Bye now. So that's Coach Cahill, and he's always been good to me, and hopefully he didn't take a picture of me with the Lehigh on, because I don't want Coach Conlon to see me in a Lehigh shirt. But, as I just said, I pull for Coach every game but one, and it's a game he plays for them. I can't pull for him against my alma mater. So, thanks to coach conlon, thanks to coach cahill, two of my favorite coaches at talk, coach fits and colgate, will be on with me. As I said earlier too, we'll have the high school coaches will be on with me over the next couple weeks because they're getting ready to start here in a couple of weeks. So much more to come here on the 46 power podcast. So thanks, coach Conlon, thanks, coach Kale, thanks to you for tuning in tonight with me. Hope you enjoyed the show. We'll see you again here on the 46 power podcast. Have a good evening, everybody.