01.14.16
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Least Sexy Choice Gets Head (OC) Job

stare

“You really want me to waste 20 seconds on every  snap waiting for a play call?”

Say what you will about Matt Rhule, but he has been predictable in his three-year tenure as Temple’s head coach.

Ten days ago, we wrote that Glenn Thomas’ resume was the weakest of our five possible candidates for the open offensive coordinator job but “Matt Rhule has shown a propensity to hire from within” so that’s probably why Thomas was the leading candidate. In our caption we said he was the “least sexy” candidate so that’s “probably why he was going to get a bigger office.” Sure, he had been Matt Ryan’s quarterback coach but, prior to that, a stint at Midwestern State wasn’t going to knock anyone’s socks off.

thomas

Sometimes, being right is a pretty hallow feeling and that’s the feeling I had this morning after hearing that Thomas was moved up to the OC job.  For all of the progress this offense had in the first 10 games of the season, it produced just 13 and 17 points in the two most important games at the end and probably could have used a different pair of eyeballs.

Unlike last year, this offense doesn’t need a complete overhaul, just some tweaking. Putting Jahad Thomas in the slot would be an explosive upgrade, as would giving Jager Gardner and Ryquell Armstead a real shot at the No. 1 tailback position. Those moves are a lot less likely to happen now.

After AAC championship loss, Zach Gelb was the only reporter in Houston with the gonads to ask the tough questions about the “dog stare” offense. The disgraceful time management when Temple fans were yelling “Hurry the F*ck Up!” from Philadelphia loud enough to be heard in Texas fell on deaf ears in the post-game presser. The answers from Rhule,  P.J. Walker, Marcus Satterfield and both Thomases (Glenn and Jahad) were that nothing went wrong. The answers seemed to be “something went wrong?” or “I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary” or the standard Sargent Schultz response: “I know nothing. I see nothing. I hear nothing.”

They had known no other way. A coordinator who had not been part of that fiasco might have been better able to map a new direction.

25 thoughts on “Least Sexy Choice Gets Head (OC) Job”

  1. If they don’t utilize Jahad like New England used Welker and now uses Edelman and others with their skill sets, they are doing a disservice to the team and Jahad, who cannot survive in the pros primarily as a running back because of his size. Moving him around while having others as the primary running back while also having Thomas on the field will cause opposing defensive coordinators fits.

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  2. Mike, I don’t know if you are being fair to Thomas by holding him up as part of the decision makers in the cluster f*ck that was the second half against Houston. I don’t know who was making the decisions. He may have had no part of the decisions. My guess is that now we will never know, since the people who know will not talk. I can’t disagree with your evaluation of his resume compared to the other candidates, but at this point I would give him a pass until we see what he does. We may get a hint at the Cherry and White game, but I don’t think we will know how good he is until next fall. We can only hope that he exceeds your expectations as well as exceeding the performance of our last OC.

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    • I hope he was biting his lip and calling Satterfield an idiot for the entire fourth quarter of the Houston game but, to me, he’s almost as culpable as Satterfield and not nearly as culpable as Rhule. The CEO has got to get a hold of this thing and take responsibility for the horrible clock management at Houston. To 1:29 p.m., on Jan. 14, 2016, we still haven’t heard Rhule say why they had no sense of urgency in the final quarter at Houston.

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      • Neither Rhule nor Sattefield have much experience in producing when the heat is on. I think that they let the moment overwhelm them. Hopefully, that will change as Rhule gains experience.

  3. i think the coaching staff wearied more than the players in the second half.., the Missouri drama was a huge unnecessary distraction going into THE CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP game.., i still can’t figure out why it couldn’t wait? what coach leaves before the CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP game? bowl games, yes.., 2015 could wind up as our best shot to win a conference championship in the next 10 years…,

    PJ will be a four year starter, he must gain the ability to absorb the game plan and make calls at the line.., the f*^ken dog stare should be stricken from the offense..,

    keep Thomas outside the tackles and healthy, and put more emphasis on taking what the defense gives you..,

    Alabama has the biggest, baddest, Heisman trophy winner dude at RB, not to mention all the first rounders on the OL, and how did they win? they threw the football because Clemson stacked the box…., stay committed to the run but if it is not there then have a Plan B

    let’s all hope Glenn Thomas learns the best thing about banging your head up against the wall is that it feels so good when you stop

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  5. So much for the expansion of the Big 12. (Not that TU had more than a puncher’s chance of being admitted). Let’s face it the NCAA gives the P-5 whatever it wants out of fear that they’ll secede. Again the G-5 is kidding itself that they’ll ever be relevant or equal. All of those teams are slowly bleeding to death drop by drop but don’t or won’t realize it.

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  6. the Big Ten gives out $32M per YEAR to each school, the Big 12 is around $25M…., the P5 won’t be sharing anytime soon.,

    a course of action for the G5 and Independents would be to have their own championship game, much like the old AFL, or even ABA.., the G5 would make as much or even more from the TV money than it does now..,

    i foresee a significant number of G5 schools who will opt to drop football.., G-5 schools are hemorrhaging money, to include Temple, no thanks to the Eagles

    http://collegefootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2015/07/18/big-ten-revenue-shares-jump-to-32-million-per-school/

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  7. We just lost another commit to the Big 10, this time to Rutgers…, bit surprised why this incoming class appears to grade slightly lower than last years class on paper…,

    I’m not buying this stars don’t matter, the facts are loud and clear.., the first step is to out-recruit your conference and right now our class is ranked 5th in the AAC despite our ‘record’ year

    I think if we had won the conference championship or the bowl game it would have made an impact…, kids like to see hardware in the trophy case.., we really have nothing to show for 10 wins.., having a bowl trophy in EO is better than reminding everyone the team won 10 games

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  9. Give me Temple Tough over sexy, exotic, or new kid on the block.

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  10. Rhule has had 3 seasons to gain “experience.” A good coach should be able to learn during a season, even game to game, what works and what doesn’t and make adjustments. Also as Mike has repeatedly said, The HC, aka CEO, should grab the bull by the horns when things are not working and put his foot down. I said in another article that I think the coaches became satisfied before the end of the season, became complacent and just didn’t put enough juice in their coaching those last few games. It was one of Temple’s best seasons that could have been the best. Just like the first 2 seasons that should have been better – seems like a pattern has developed. And I think the new contract has a lot to do with keeping the improved success embers glowing so the president and AD can add “new stadium” to their resumes.

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    • Key coaching moment: UMass game. UMass stacked the box. Temple went away from the run game, allowing UMass to come back. Somebody asked Rhule about it afterward and he said something to the effect that we couldn’t figure out what they were doing, so we had to try to win the game and then figure out the next day what happened. Huh? Pravda never even followed up with the obvious question: “You can’t figure out a way to make the run game work on the fly?” Just went on to the next question. Oh boy.

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  11. objective analysis, or constructive criticism not permitted on Pravda, drink the cool-aide or leave.., passionate but intoxicated from drinking their own bath water…,

    must admit to the pleasure from the pinched nerve reactions 😉

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    • I have to say KJ it is fun watching the “place guard” over there get all flustered with your posts. The best part is how they never stick to the same “story” when trying to marginalize any criticism or analysis. Like last year when concerns were brought up about coaching all the Pravda Parrots would say is that success is all about recruiting not coaching. Now when concerns about recruiting are raised, its all “hey look at all the 2 stars that have been coached up” or “well with B10 schools getting Temple recruits to decommit, shows this staff really knows talent”. Don’t get that reasoning by the way, lose 2 recruits to B10 schools and somehow that is a positive!!

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      • I’ve given up being civil to those kool-aid drinking sycophantic fools who sometimes post here. It’s not productive even to respond to them because they’re blinded by their admiration of Coach, which is clear from the idiotic and false comments they post here. As I’ve said, Matt is a decent and honorable man. Nevertheless, when his coaching is sub-standard their is nothing wrong with constructive criticism. By the way, who was the recruit who de-committed and is going to Rutgers?

      • Elorm Lumor

    • I find it extremely entertaining when KJ prods the sheep over there they scream “baaaaaaahhhhh” very loudly. I’m sure they can’t wait to see the latest edition of Pravda thrown into their pens every morning.

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      • Your talking about the KJ who

        picked Penn St to beat us
        wanted the RB back coach fired
        wanted them to replace PJ with Nutile in the middle of a game
        said we would lose the rest of our games after the SFU loss.

        Yeah that KJ, really brings a lot of insight to this site! #not

  12. kj’s voice deserves to be heard as much as yours.

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