Lehigh Mountain Hawks football The Lehigh Mountain Hawks football program represents Lehigh University in college football . Lehigh competes as the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level as members of the Patriot League . The Mountain Hawks play their home games at Goodman Stadium in Bethlehem , Pennsylvania . Andy Coen has served as the team ' s head coach since 2006 . The Lehigh program officially began in 1894 when student and future journalist Richard Harding Davis organized fellow students , forming Lehigh ’ s first team . Lehigh began playing neighboring Lafayette College immediately , establishing a rivalry which continues to today . At the start of the 2011 season , Lehigh is ranked among the institutions that have played the most games ( 1 , 241 ) , compiled the most victories ( 637 ) . Since 1986 , Lehigh has been a charter member of the Patriot League , formerly called the Colonial League . Lehigh has won nine Patriot League titles and has played in 18 post season games , winning 8 of the contests . Along the way , Lehigh has won a Division II National Championship ( 1977 ) and has been national runner up in the I - AA tournament in 1979 . Most recently , Lehigh was unbeaten in Patriot League play in 2010 , earning a berth in the FCS playoffs . The Mountain Hawks went on the road defeating Northern Iowa before dropping a contest to the University of Delaware . Delaware went on to play for the championship . History . Early years . Following the founding of the team , Lehigh , then known as the Engineers , was guided for the first eight years by volunteer coaches . The teams won 123 of those first 276 games ( 44 % ) , playing an average about 9 games per season . Lehigh ’ s first really successful period came in 1912 when Tom Keady was hired as head coach . During this period , Lehigh ’ s program grew stronger and the team moved into its new home , Taylor Stadium . Taylor Stadium would serve as the home for Lehigh football for 73 seasons ( from 1914 through 1987 . ) Along with the Yale Bowl and Harvard Stadium , Taylor was among the earliest concrete stadiums in America . Keady ’ s teams would go 55 - 22 - 3 ( 68 % ) during his nine years as head coach and produce many fine players , including All American quarterback Pat Pazzetti . Between the Wars . The years between the end of World War I and the end of World War II were somewhat poor ones for Lehigh . Seven coaches came and went , managing a record of 73 - 124 - 17 ( 34 % ) during this time . Better days were coming though , in the form of a young head coach named William Leckonby . Leckonby arrived in time for the 1946 season and within a year , had the fortunes reversed . Leckonby ’ s teams won 16 of their next 27 from 1947 – 1949 . This set the table for Lehigh ’ s first undefeated season , 1950 . That team went 9 - 0 , defeating Delaware , Carnegie Tech and Lafayette by a combined 125 – 0 . Overall , the team outscored opponents by a score of 301 – 77 . The team was led by the backfield tandem of Dick Gabriel and Dick Doyne . Gabriel ’ s name is still etched in the Lehigh record books having achieved 42 career touchdowns , 16 TD ’ s in a season and for having returned a kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown . Leckonby ’ s teams would win 85 games in his 16 years as head man , and take the 1961 Lambert Cup in his final year . Leckonby ’ s teams managed seven wins over Lafayette , including a 17 - 14 going away present in 1961 . Rebirth . A brief period of poor results came following Leckonby ’ s departure . Between 1962 and 1964 , the overmatched Engineers managed just five victories . Fortunately , they managed to go 2 - 0 - 1 against their arch rivals . Frederick Dunlap arrived for 1965 and was faced with a major rebuilding job . Dunlap ’ s first three teams managed 2 wins . The 1966 squad was particularly challenged , managing just 106 points and zero wins during the year . Dunlap ’ s plan for improvement was to implement the Delaware Wing T offense in an attempt to score more points . This offense was popularized by Delaware coach Tubby Raymond and featured misdirection , ball handling , multiple runners and numerous passing targets . The offense was perfect for a team with smaller players like Lehigh . Within a couple of years , Lehigh ’ s version , coupled with good recruiting resulted in scoring and eventually wins . By 1971 , Lehigh , with quarterback Kim McQuilkin at the controls was scoring 362 points . The Engineers finished 8 - 3 that year and set a tone that would see plenty of points scored , lots of wins and a long line of excellent quarterbacks . Dunlap ’ s teams would finish 36 - 13 - 1 ( 72 % ) over his final five years as coach . Dunlap returned to his alma mater Colgate University to coach and later serve as director of athletics . Dunlap ’ s replacement was John Whitehead . Whitehead served as an assistant under Dunlap and success continued . Following a 6 - 5 first season , Whitehead led the Engineers to a remarkable 1977 season which resulted in a national championship . Lehigh had participated in two of the first three Division II tournaments ( 1973 , 1975 ) so they were prepared for the rigors of post season play . Following a 9 - 2 year , Lehigh was invited to the tournament , but they had to play all games away from Taylor Stadium . Led by an explosive offense , Lehigh outlasted Massachusetts 30 - 23 , outscored the University of California ( Davis ) 39 - 30 , then clobbered Jacksonville State 33 - 0 in the Pioneer Bowl final in Texas . Lehigh spent one more season in Division II before joining the newly formed Division 1 - AA for the 1979 season . Lehigh finished 9 - 2 that season , made it to the national finals before losing to Eastern Kentucky 30 - 7 . Since 1980 . The past 30 seasons have been mostly successful at Lehigh . The program joined the new Patriot League and Lehigh has a 208 - 122 ( 63 % ) mark during this time . In addition to a national championship and national runner up status , Lehigh has won nine Patriot League titles , has participated in the FCS playoffs eight times , have been declared Lambert champs seven times as well as winners of 14 Middle Three championships ( Rutgers , Lafayette ) . Over the years , Lehigh has had seven 9 win seasons , four 10 win seasons , an 11 win season and three 12 win campaigns . All but four of these marks came since 1975 . In 1988 , Lehigh moved into Goodman Stadium , a 16 , 000 seat state of the art concrete structure located on the mountain top campus . The stadium is part of a complete sports complex serving the university . In 1995 , the school changed the name of its athletic teams to “ Mountain Hawks ” . Lafayette rivalry . The annual contest between Lehigh University and Lafayette College has been in effect for 126 years and for 146 meetings . It is college football ’ s most played rivalry . The discrepancy between the number of years and the number of games is due to the fact that the teams played each other twice a year prior to the turn of the 20th century . The game was not played in 1896 . This was due to an issue involving the eligibility of a Lafayette player . Only once have Lehigh and Lafayette played other than in Easton or Bethlehem . In 1891 the teams played a third game in Wilkes - Barre . In 1950 , Lehigh ’ s victory ended a 15 year losing streak against Lafayette . In 1963 , the game was delayed for one week due to the death of President Kennedy . In 1964 , the 100th game ended in a 6 - 6 tie . In 1987 ( game 123 ) , Lehigh defeated Lafayette in the last game played at Taylor Stadium . Although Lafayette won the first game played at brand new Goodman Stadium in 1989 , Lehigh has won 8 of the last 10 at Goodman , and 15 of 24 since Patriot League play began . Lehigh has won the last three contests , including an overtime thriller in 2009 . The overall record stands at Lafayette 76 , Lehigh 65 . There have been 5 ties . In recent years , Lehigh has enjoyed great success under winning coaches . Former assistant Kevin Higgins coached the team for seven seasons , compiling an overall record of 56 - 25 - 1 for a winning percentage of 68 % . His teams captured four PL championships and went 30 - 9 in league play . Lehigh enjoyed high national rankings during this period . Lehigh went 6 - 1 against Lafayette under Higgins and was 2 - 3 in five playoff appearances . Both wins were road victories . Higgins joined the Detroit Lions of the NFL following the 2000 season . The coaching job went to Lehigh assistant Pete Lembo in 2001 . Lembo ’ s team promptly went 11 - 0 and won the Patriot League . The team made to the quarter finals of the national tournament . In Lembo ’ s five years as head coach , Lehigh won 44 games , claimed two Patriot League titles , made two playoff appearances and dominated league play ( 26 - 7 ) . His teams were also nationally ranked in three of the five years . Lembo took on the challenge presented by the Elon University and left Lehigh following the 2005 season . Lehigh went outside of the program to hire Andy Coen . Coen had been offensive coordinator at the University of Pennsylvania . Coen had been a Lehigh assistant under Higgins , between 1995 and 1999 . Under Andy Coen , Lehigh has compiled a winning record and has won 69 % of Patriot League games , including two titles . Last year ’ s team lost only three games , all to full - scholarship members of the Colonial Athletic Association . His team made it to the second round of the playoff tournament .