Coming off a Patriot League championship, the Lehigh football team will have a pair of new coordinators heading forward.
Head coach Andy Coen officially announced the staff changes on Friday, which includes three new titles but only one departure.
Scott Brisson, the Mountain Hawks’ recruiting coordinator and most recently wide receivers coach, will take over duties as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach after Drew Folmar left to take the same position at Elon. Lehigh enjoyed a high-octane offense under Folmar, including a No. 6 national ranking in 2016 for total yards.
“When Drew left, I promoted Scott Brisson right away and those guys were like hand in glove with each other preparing game plans and those types of things,” Coen said on Wednesday after announcing a new recruiting class. “… We’re not changing the offense. We’re not doing anything different from before.”
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On the other side of the ball, secondary coach Craig Sutyak has been promoted to defensive coordinator while Joe Bottiglieri, who handled that position for the last three years, will take on the role of Senior Advisor to the Defensive Staff. The veteran coach will continue to be in charge of the linebackers.
“It’s the same title that Dick Lebeau had with the Steelers,” Coen said of Bottiglieri’s new post. “Their roles are going to be exactly the same. Joe is going to have a little more time to walk around and see everybody and not just be tied into linebackers.”
Prior to his time with the Mountain Hakws, Sutyak served as the defensive coordinator at Franklin & Marshall for eight years.
Bottiglieri is in his second stint with Lehigh after coaching at Central Catholic and Emmaus in between. The Easton grad oversaw a much improved defensive unit in 2016 that played a big hand in the league title run.
Brisson, who is also in his second stint with the Mountain Hawks, was previously an offensive coordinator at St. Lawrence University and Lycoming College.
Coen is now in the process of hiring a new wide receivers coach to take over Brisson’s duties. He said on Wednesday he was sorting through 136 applications.
Greg Joyce may be reached at gjoyce@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @GJoyce9.
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