12.06.12
by

Red Flags and Temple hirings

This is the only (somewhat) Red Flag I care about.
If Temple athletic director Bill Bradshaw listens to the players, chances are better than even he’ll be sitting with the one or two who might come back and watch the Owls in an empty stadium a couple of years from now

If they made a movie about the current Temple football head coaching search underway, they’d probably call it “Eight Days in December.”
Good title, a take-off from the 1962 novel thriller “Seven Days in May” by Charles W. Bailey.
Eight days because that’s how long the last coaching search took and I don’t think this one should take any longer than that.
 Seven Days in May had a red flag theme, about a President (played in the movie by the late, great Henry Fonda) whose nuclear disarmament policy caused a revolt among the generals who feared a war with a red flag country (the then Soviet Union).
 This one has a red flag theme, too, the “non-CEOs”, meaning players, trying to tell the CEO how to do his job.

‘If Temple can get San Jose State coach Mike MacIntyre, a former Owls assistant who built something quickly in San Jose, I wouldn’t worry about how long he stays. That’s exactly the kind of hire Temple needs to make.’
_Mike Jensen, Philadelphia Inquirer

What’s that Dick Vermeil said when the fans booed Ron Jaworski?
“If you listen to the fans, it won’t be long before you’re sitting with them.”
Good line, Mr. Vermeil.
That also applies to the players.
Players play and athletic directors pick coaches.
If Temple athletic director Bill Bradshaw listens to the players, chances are better than even he’ll be sitting with the one or two who might come back and watch the Owls in an empty stadium a couple of years from now.
 I hope Bill Bradshaw, like Henry Fonda, sticks to his guns and hires the best proven head coach out there, with the best proven head-coaching record and heeds this red flag.
I also hope Matt Rhule gets a head-coaching job at a lower level (the Kent State and Ball State jobs will be available) and then proves his worth to Temple by building a proven head coaching record, like Darrell Hazell and Pete Lembo did.
If he does, I will personally climb to the top of the Bell Tower and wave the Matt Rhule Flag after Mike MacIntrye, Pete Lembo, Dave Clawson, Mario Cristobal, Ken Niumaltalolo, Bill Cubit or Tom O’Brien lead the Owls to a couple of BE titles and bolt for Tennessee. (I think there are a couple of high-character guys in that group who will stay, though.)
And it will be a Cherry Flag, not a red one.
Other red flags ignored in past Temple hirings:

The Red Flag File

JERRY BERNDT _ For some reason, Temple President Peter J. Liacouras was enamored with Berndt, who never had a real record as a winning head coach before. RED FLAG: He was 0-11 with the Owls (Rice Owls) the year before he was hired by the Temple Owls. He also got to go 1-10 with the Temple Owls, making him the only head coach in history to go a combined 1-21 for two teams named the Owls. Berndt could not recruit his way out of a paper bag.

RON DICKERSON _ Joe Paterno, no big lover of Temple football (thank God in retrospect), urged Dickerson not to take the Temple job. When Dickerson was adamant about taking it, Joe supported Dickerson, saying that “Ron is the best defensive coordinator in the country.” RED FLAG: The “best defensive coordinator in the country” allowed 55 points in his last regular-season game, a bowl loss to Clemson. Dickerson was in over his head as a CEO. He could recruit, but he couldn’t coach his way out of the same paper bag Berndt recruited from.

 BOBBY WALLACE _ The man won three Division II titles, but those were Division II titles, taking the scraps of players not wanted by the big Southern schools like Auburn and Alabama. Because he was hooked into the Southern recruiting system, he found some good players for that level. Those kind of players would never work for Temple and Wallace found out that the hard way. RED FLAG: He didn’t have the level of drive or commitment needed to succeed at football’s highest level, no desire to live in the Northeast and Temple wasted eight years of their fans’ lives as a result.
In these eight most important days in Temple hiring history, going over the red flag mistakes of the past might be the best way of avoiding a big one now.

8 thoughts on “Red Flags and Temple hirings”

  1. I think Temple has gotten wiser and more attractive over the years. The last two coaching hires have been a significant step up from the run we experienced post-Bruce Arians. I think your observations on Daz were dead on the money regarding his inability to tailor and execute specific game-plans against competition. This was evidenced in his one-dimensional offense and his inability to figure out how to adjust at the half in their blow out losses.His limitations were further evidenced by his lack of compensating for his team's weak point with unique schemes (e.g. blitz the frosh QB and get turnovers). Given time he may have been a good recruiter but the MAC (with MAC talent) owned the B10 and BE games. Temple had MAC talent this season. What he didn't have was AG talent.I'm pretty comfortable with Daz moving along and opening things up for a more innovative coach. The manner in which he left Temple (recruiters unaware of his decision, five minute speech to players, and immediately preceding an important week for recruiting speaks volumes. I wish no person ill but genuinely feel we'll be in a better place without Daz.

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  2. will not renew my season tix if Temple hires Rhule

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  3. I've got nothing against Matt, but his resume has too many holes in it to be named Temple head coach.If they hire Rhule, they are getting an unknown as far as a proven winner holding the clipboard on game day.When there are so many proven winners out there as a head coach who WANT the Temple job, why take that risk?That's like taking the $17 million it cost to build the E-O ($7 mil in 2001, 10 more mil this year), going to Parx Casino and throwing the $17 mil on the crap table.Guys who have gone on the Millionaire TV show wouldn't gamble with 1/17th that money.I've think I'll walk, Meredith.

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  4. Make that, I think I'll walk, Meredith. Still haven't found the edit button on these comments.

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  5. Looking back on the past, How did Liacouras allow Bobby Wallace to stay for 8 years? Did they just punt any type of review of his work?Were they happy with a couple 4 wins years? I know I was….

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  6. The first 4 years, he lived off that Va. Tech win. The next 4 years, he lived off getting kicked out of the BE. Then they realized he was just taking their money and living in Alabama 6 months a year and forced him out.

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  7. Wallace was a disaster whose evil lived long after he was buried (to paraphrase the bard). I'm sure what good he ever brought to the program outside of the WVU upset.I think the good AG has done lives on but is diminishing as time goes on and we become less competitive in a less competitive BE conference. The next coach needs to utilize the current talent and ensure we get more competitive in the near term in the conference. He also needs to build the pipeline for talent with a program that doesn't have a great track record for retaining coaches.

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  8. Great season you got going on there, owls! Yall need to drop back to the competition you were playing in the “golden” era. I used to feel sorry for you guys until I found out how delusional you are. If golden had coached the owls instead of Bobby Wallace, their records would have been similar. Yes, go back to the mac, to the ball states, akrons, kent states (Not that the caa…aca.. whatever the hell it is, is much better). You don’t belong there anymore than you did in the Big East when it really was BIG. LOL

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