TU-ND press conference a head-scratcher

If you say “big football announcement” it better mean a new conference.

Like a lot of people, I’m a creature of habit.
I get up a certain time.
I go to the gym a certain time.
I go to work a certain time.
I even blog at a certain time.
Always the same times for each task.
On big occasions, I’m able to rearrange my schedule.




TU and ND: Two schools with Subway Alumni

That’s why I was excited a couple of weeks ago to hear about the Steve Addazio Meet and Greet, scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 17, at 5:30.
Geez, I thought. I’m off Thursdays. I can go to the gym at my regular time and treat this Thursday like I’m going to work, except I’m meeting the new Temple head football coach instead.
Then I got this email from Temple University yesterday:
“Major announcement concerning Temple Football at 3 p.m., Fox Gittis Room, Liacouras Center.”
Well, that does it.
I’ve got to get there a couple hours earlier than I planned. Whatever needs to be said will be said between 3-3:30 p.m.
Then, I thought:
“Geez, what am I going to do between 3:30 and 5:30?”
(I didn’t feel like going to the Draught Horse or Maxi’s for an early Happy Hour and I certainly didn’t need two hours to browse the bookstore.)
All sorts of things raced through my head, but I narrowed it to these three, in no particular order:
1) Temple is moving to Conference USA for football only;
2) Temple is getting a practice bubble;
3) Temple is scheduling Notre Dame.

C-USA BOWL TIE-INS

Bowl (Site) Time (CT) Network

AutoZone Liberty Bowl (Memphis, Tenn.) 2:30p ESPN

Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl (Fort Worth, Texas) 11:00a ESPN

Military Bowl (Washington, D.C.) 1:30p ESPN

Sheraton Hawai’i Bowl (Honolulu, Hawai’i) 7:00p ESPN

Beef O’Brady’s Bowl (St. Petersburg, Fla.) 7:00p ESPN

Carriers New Orleans Bowl (New Orleans, La.) 7:00p ESPN

Certainly, ONLY No. 1 rises to the level of having its own press conference, separate and apart from the Addazio Meet and Greet. If Temple held a news conference to announce a practice bubble or a scheduling agreement, it would hold itself up for ridicule and I don’t like it when my school is ridiculed. No school in the history of college football has ever held a press conference to announce a scheduling agreement. Scheduling agreements, even with schools like Notre Dame, usually are released on 8 1/2 x 11-inch paper and double-spaced, not the subject of press conferences.
Now Conference USA is, as Bum Phillips once said, is a horse of a whole other fire department.
No. 1 would be REALLY big news. Nos. 2 and 3, very good news, but those could be addressed at 5:30.
I made a few calls and was disappointed.
The news is not Temple to Conference USA or The Big East.
It’s No. 3.
Yeah, that’s right. Temple is holding a press conference to announce that it signed a 2-for-1 deal with Notre Dame.
Temple at Notre Dame in 2013. Notre Dame at Temple in 2014. Temple at Notre Dame in 2015.
That’s all the news there is to print.
What was it cops say at the scene of the accident?
“There’s nothing more to see, you can move along folks.”
That’s pretty much how I feel now.
When you say “major announcement” I expect a major announcement.
This is a good announcement, not a “major announcement.”
Great news, mind you, but not big enough to make me waste a couple of hours. Certainly not big enough for its own separate press conference.
That settles it.
I will see everyone at 5:30 then.

13 thoughts on “TU-ND press conference a head-scratcher

  1. You know, TCU is not in C-USA… its in the Big East for football

  2. yeah, i know. it's a map of a proposed CUSA from Aug. 2010…. don't know how to take tCU out. I'm not that tech-savvy.

  3. Notre Dame has got a hot coach and will be a top 20 team this year. the good news for us is we probably won't get sucked into a 2yrs at ND, and 1 yr at TU type of deal because ND has a huge following in Philly and the East Coast.not sure if we have the overall talent and team speed to compete, but this does say a lot about our ambitions

  4. I'm mostly with TFF on this one; it's cool if we're gonna play ND(especially if we don't get outright demolished), but a conference change is much more impressive/welcome. Since we're already on the hypotheticals, and chalk this up to my lack of knowledge, but is the C-USA the next logical step for an improving Temple program? Too soon to jump back into the Big East?

  5. I find it very strange with all of this press speculation about Villanova and the Big East and (before) TCU to the Big East and now Central Florida to the Big East there is no credible press speculation of Temple to the Big East.No New York Post or New York Times or Boston Globe nibble about Temple.The Big East isn't putting us in its plans, apparently.We should not wait for the Big East.We have an offer on the table from CUSA. Let's accept it.Maybe next press conference, but not this one.

  6. If the offer from CUSA Football Only?

  7. I heard they are planning to announce construction of a new stadium. Thoughts?

  8. it's not going to be a stadium. Being in the Linc is the only thing that keeps Villanova out of the BE and that's what we want for the next 10 years.CUSA is willing to take Temple whatever way Temple wants to be taken, preferably with hoops, but will work with Temple on a football only if that's the only way to capture the nation's 4th-largest TV market

  9. Conference USA invite for football only? is that fact or speculation? I heard it was all or nothing what are we waiting for a much better conference, with better bowls and a ranked team or two every year on the schedule!!!!! I know its not the big east and i dont want to be in the big east again. They got what they deserved after tossing the owls. We turned our program around beat there conference champion in a beautiful win last year and there conference is now the laughing stock of the bcs! Also im a huge nd fan as well i love the schedule of a home and home! that game will sell out and ill be in my TEMPLE OWLS jersey!

  10. …I know that conference usa is not a bcs conference, but lets be honest we need to build a bigger fan base to ever get and invite. my dream is for temple to keep on the(AL) golden path. he brought us to the point of being able to mention my owls in public or at a bar or buddies house and instead of getting "temple what a joke" now its man temple really turned it around now there doing good these days benard pierce etc etc…

  11. and anyway im rambling because of my excitement but the notre dame game will give temple huge espn coverage and national media even more so then psu even a weakened notre dame of today is still the biggest brand in college football and a win( although even playing them and competing) will do wonders for the city and would be fans to pay attention and know the owls are for real not bobby wallace's and the big east owls any longer!!!! LETS GO TEMPLE when is the season gonna start im pumped i know this is the year we win double digit games and penn state and the old uconn coach now at maryland( i forget his name) are going down!!! BP for the Heisman and Addazio for coach of the year and lets let the JUICE loose(hopefully) because the mac is ours for the taking and this is our year to take the next step!!

  12. CUSA will take us right now, either all sports or football only. We delivered huge TV ratings for the bowl game (record for a college bowl game in Philly not involving Penn State) and this market is the biggest available market in the country without a BCS team.I have a feeling our admin is waiting for Villanova to make its decision.Even if Nova says no, I don't see the Big East looking our way.I love those CUSA bowl game tie-ins.

  13. I'm pretty stoked the Owls are continuing to invest in driving their program's (and the universtity's) cache. I hope coach A is able to pursue this goal with the same level of integrity as AG and not fall into Wallace's bag of tricks. While BE is a bcs joke it includes very good academic company and is a very respectable all-sports conference. If we don't get in, I hope we beat the snit out of 'nove and uconn(again).

Leave a comment