From an Allentown Morning Call, a notes column on Lehigh football:

But the days of Lehigh featuring a strong Valley presence could be ending, not only in football, but in all sports.

Stiffer academic standards mean that Lehigh coaches have had to extend their recruiting base to find students who qualify.

''We're now the 32nd-ranked university in the country academically and we're now being mentioned in the same category as Vanderbilt, Tulane, Georgetown, Northwestern and William & Mary, and some of the great academic schools in the country,'' Lembo said. ''When you have become that, it becomes a lot tougher to be admitted to the institution.

''We had almost 11,000 applications last year for a freshman class of 1,200. As a result of the increased standards, we've been forced to diversify our recruiting.''

So, Lembo's recruiting map now nearly encompasses the entire country.

Which begs the question: Does this mean Lembo now has to recruit transfers from Texas Jucos who flunked out of the safety school they originally played at?