By Mike Gibson
Richard Nixon was elected president on the campaign pledge of having “a secret plan to end the war,” meaning, of course, the Vietnam War.
One of the things Al Golden promised Temple fans is that they will see a program with a plan.
It’s not a war, but Golden’s plan to end the suffering of Temple fans certainly is a secret one.
And that’s fine with me.
Just ending the suffering will suffice.
Key players disappear for a game or two or three or four and the silence coming from the Edberg-Olson Football Complex is deafening.
No one knows if they’re injured, stolen cookies from the Coaches’ Lounge or disabled the cookies on one of the coach’s laptops.
And that’s fine with me.
However Golden feels it needs to be done is the way it’s going to have to be.
Yet he’s offered enough clues along the way about why he’s doing what he’s doing and it makes sense.
“I’ve learned when I was at Boston College that it serves no purpose to talk about injuries,” Golden said.
The rest of the plan is murky, but some pieces of the puzzle are emerging from the E-O.
If anything is obvious from the first third of the season, it’s this:
There needs to be an immediate infusion of big-time talent into the program.
Golden appears to be addressing that need by bringing in transfers from BCS schools and bringing in up to nine high-quality academic and athletic Junior College players.
This represents a small shift from Golden’s stated goals of buidling the program with almost exclusively high school players. It’s a shift brought on by the lack of quality at some key spots, like the offensive line.
Already, Temple has a transfer from Syracuse and one from Minnesota in the fold.
Expect more.
Expect Temple to bring in immediate impact JC players and incorporate them into the spring program. Think Walter Washington, Tim Brown and Phil Goodman in terms of talent, Eliot Seifert in terms of character and dedication to academics.
If this plan can be implemented, the days of 62-0 losses to BCS schools and 41-7 losses to the likes of Western Michigan are over.
If Golden brings in the kind of immediate help he’s seeking, look for some tangible on-field results as soon as next year.
As far as this year goes, he’s buttoning the lip when it comes to team personnel matters and that doesn’t matter to me at all.
This year isn’t all that important in the plan. Next year is. From all signs, Golden appears to be taking that bull by the horns.