Editor:

Just read your article, “Tigers to regroup after disappointing ’16” (Nov. 23). Believe me, I appreciate Coach Marty Favret and the way he resurrected the Hampden-Sydney College (H-SC) football program after the bathtub-drain level to which it had sunk in the late 1990s. And while I don’t claim to have any real knowledge of how the H-SC program actually operates it seems to me (and I have heard more than a few former H-SC football players opine) that until Coach Favret treats the defensive side of football with the same relish as the offense, things are not going to change. This means actively recruiting just as hard for defensive backs, linebackers, etc., as he does for the next strong-armed quarterbacks and sleek wide receivers. Once the other coaches in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference start to recruit to stop your high-powered offense, you’re not always going to be able to outscore teams 52-48 and finish 9-1 . . . and that’s where H-SC finds itself, I fear.

Mike Johnson

H-SC 1973

Salem