01.24.16
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5 Questions You Will Never Hear Pravda Ask

pravda-bg

On a snowy Saturday, while shoveling out of our driveway, a number of rhetorical questions occurred to us. Rhetorical, because they are the kinds of questions Pravda never asks once of Chairman Matt and probably will never ask. On the way out to the garage to pick up the shovel and the rock salt, I perused Pravda for some of the latest recruiting updates. There was one long posted update by one of the editors there and every word was glowing. In fact, I don’t remember a single word being written negatively about recruiting there in three years. One of the posters over there last week called a recruit “a reach” but prefaced that with the obligatory “I know we’re not allowed to be negative here. ….”

I wonder what gave him that impression?  It would have been nice to hear the answers to just one of these five questions:

gelb

Zach Gelb

  1. What happened to the hurry-up offense in Houston?

Only Zach Gelb of the reporters in Houston highlighted the Owls’ atrocious clock management in the 24-13 loss in the AAC championship game. Gelb dutifully reported he asked Matt Rhule, Jahad Thomas, P.J. Walker and Marcus Satterfield about it and said nothing was wrong, yet even Stevie Wonder could see wasting 20 seconds on every play call was very wrong. The fact that nobody else asked about it was also very wrong. We still have not heard a satisfactory answer. It could be about time we did.

stadium

  1. What did you mean by you are in favor of a stadium if they “do it right?”

Rhule has been quoted that he is in favor of an on-campus stadium “if they do it right.” One would presume that spending “only” $100 million is probably not conducive to doing it right.  A simple question to Matt on signing day is “what is your vision of a stadium done right?” A good answer might be comfortable 40,000 seating with a couple of state-of-the-art replay scoreboards and that’s probably not possible with the frugal price tag.

airhockey

  1. Would there be less air hockey at the next bowl?

Air hockey, touring the Everglades, bowling, liberal curfews and beach volleyball were all part of the Boca Raton Bowl experience. What wasn’t part of it was hoisting that bowl trophy at the end of the game. It was a learning experience for the first-year bowl staff, so maybe there will be a more business-like approach at the next one. It would be nice to get that on the record soon.

  1. If Missouri wasn’t a distraction, why did Tyler Matakevich say it was?

Rhule said his pre-AAC championship experience being interviewed for the Missouri job was not a distraction but Tyler Matakevich said on 6abc tv that Sunday afternoon that “it’s just another thing we have to block out and concentrate on the bowl.” If it wasn’t a distraction, there would be no need to block it out. Probably would have been better to tell Missouri no right away and say something like “I’m the Temple coach and the only thing I’m thinking about is winning a championship.” Instead, the “I can’t tell what the future holds” and “this is not about me” quotes let the papers talk about just that for two days when the focus should have been on the team and the school’s first shot at a title.

  1. If you had to put your finger on one thing, what was the main cause of the 3-4 finish?

This is something the staff will have to figure out in the offseason and inoculate against next season. It would be nice to know if they have identified the problem now so they can address it in the next few months.

18 thoughts on “5 Questions You Will Never Hear Pravda Ask”

  1. Freedom of the Press is the First Amendment for good reason. People in power often surround themselves with sycophants, and it’s the journalist’s job to point out that the king has no clothes.

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  2. we fans always want more, winning and only winning feeds our nature.., the maturation of MR is not for the weak or faint of heart.., we just have to hang in there…, a question for MR in 2016 concerns goals for the offense, “the beginning of last season you called the defense out and set goals for sacks, etc., what goals do you envision for the offense in 2016?”

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    • 3 league championships, 6 post-season appearances, 1 post-season win, seven wins over top 10 teams in eight seasons. Those are the standards set as minimum for a major sports program at Temple. One coach has achieved those goals and is much-maligned. One coach has not achieved any of those above goals and is much loved. Go figure. Give me 3 league championships and six bowls and I will happily settle for 1 bowl win.

      http://www.rantsports.com/ncaa-basketball/2016/01/24/temple-basketball-now-on-ncaa-bubble-after-handing-no-8-smu-first-loss/

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      • I want the coach to (1) recruit talent that can make us competitive, and (2) get the most out of that talent. I do not believe that Coach Rhule has gotten the most our of our player’s talent. I do not believe that Coach Dumphy has consistently recruited talent that can make us competitive, nor do I think that he always coaches to get the most out of his talent. This was a “very good” year by historic standards for Temple football, but you and I were both disappointed by the coaching at the end of the season. If we had the same record of league championships and post season appearances in football as the basketball team, yet the talent should have given the school more bowl wins and more wins over Power 5 teams I would still be disappointed and I believe you would be also.

      • Amazing Technicolor Whineathon.

  3. 1 coach has been the coach for over 10 years and 1 coach has been coaching the team for just 3 seasons. so of course the coach who has been coaching longer is gonna have more accomplishments.

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    • and 1 coach had 1 more post-season appearance and 1 more winning season in his first three years than the other. If Matt Rhule gets me 6 straight postseason appearances and three straight league titles, then he will have done for this Temple fan in football what Fran Dunphy did for this Temple fan in basketball.

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      • Mike, why do you even waste your breath. They will never acknowledge that as good as Coach Rhule has been, he easily could have been better. They will not admit that constructive criticism is part of the process and in the end might be helpful.

      • I’m still waiting to find out what happened in Houston. I guess he’s adopted the Sargent Schultz approach. Temple didn’t have time to dick around and spend 20 seconds on each play looking over to the sideline, yet it took the time to dick around. Everybody in Philadelphia was screaming at the TV to hurry the bleep up. Even the kids who covered the game for Temple TV said “this is what everyone is talking about down here.” I wonder why Pravda didn’t not talk about it?

  4. Mike, it is what it is at Temple. Fire a Bruce Arians type coach, hire a bunch of dolts one after the other after Arians. Hey, at least they lucked out with Golden to start to get things on track in the right direction. I really agree with kj and his assessment of “our nature” and although things could have been better the last 3 seasons, this season was without question, a great improvement. And between Golden, even Daz and now Rhule, this past 8 years has had more ups than I can remember for that long a stretch – maybe the best ever at Temple. Of course it is tempered, in terms of bowl games alone, with the fact that it’s much easier to get into bowls now-a-days. On the other hand, Temple is still the school that will get shafted if anyone is going to be – such as a couple recent exclusions from bowl bids and the NCAAs in basketball last year. I think it’s better not to expect the sky, wish for regular improvement and be satisfied with seasons like this past one. It is Temple we’re speaking of, don’t forget.
    And about the stadium? IMO, getting into a P5 conference is the only real reason to get into such an investment considering all the negatives at Temple (poor attendance, few donors of consequence, a history of not very good decision making, assessing other schools who had big flops with new stadiums, etc.). With all the millions they’ve already spent to keep the program going, if a P5 conference is a very long shot and/or they can’t raise enough money outside of raising tuitions and eliminating other sports (among other things), I frankly am against a new stadium. I just don’t see the point.

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    • I agree with “Matt” on a stadium. Do it only if they are going to do it right. Since Matt won’t say what doing it right is, I will: 40K seats, state-of-the-art scoreboards at each end, chairback seats (not bleachers). In other words, Houston. For $100 million, I fear they are going to only get Northeast High with 20K additional seats. If that’s the plan, no thanks. Plus, you always have to consider the P5 looks at Notre Dame and PSU games and says, “wow, here’s a school that can POTENTIALLY give us not only a tv market but revenue from crowds of 50K and up.” That dynamic would not exist with an on-campus stadium. In fact, an on-campus stadium might limit our P5 opportunities, not expand them. Plus, our recruits like the ideal of playing at the Linc.
      Northeast High

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  5. So Mike does your comment above mean you’re leaning against a new stadium? Again I say a new stadium should be considered ONLY if an invite from a P5 conference is a true and solid possibility and would require an on-campus stadium, because just building one, by itself, is not what’s going to attract a invite – not the way Temple will do it anyway. A certain capacity and filling the seats is what temple can’t promise. Seems that the Linc would satisfy any P5 conference stadium requirements, but is 25-30K attendance enough?.

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    • leaning against because the only “evidence” I have that this will beget a P5 invitation is the rumors at Cherry and White to that effect. To me, rumors are not enough.

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      • if the stadium stays at 35k then it doesn’t make financial sense.., now if every Temple alum boycotted the Eagles until they reduced the rent then this argument is mute….,

        Every Temple alum will be Temple as long as they live whether they like it, support the programs, or not…, being an Eagles fan is choice..,

        calling out every Temple alum to boycott the Eagles until they reduce the rent comparable to Pitt and USF…, now where is the loyalty?

        temple alums would rather beat themselves, attack each other than attacking the problem which is the eagles…, folks can make all kinds of dumb rationalizations they want but the bottom line is the Eagles fans base, which has a significant amount of Temple alums, has remained silent.., SMH….,

        really temple alum eagle fans?

  6. I remember some time ago when most of us were thinking 40K minimum with the capability for expansion. Now the great planning is for only 35K. Does that even satisfy P5 conference standards? When I lived in Nashville, Vanderbilt had to expand to 40K (and with other upgrades) I assume to satisfy SEC requirements.

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    • Another bad sign is KJ’s mentioning of the Tulane stadium people being involved with Temple. That is the crappiest and cheapest looking NEW stadium in all of FBS. I hope we’re not going for crappy and cheap.

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      • Temple took influential NoPhilly community leaders to New Orleans for a tour of the Tulane stadium last year…., the FAU stadium is better…

        i’m not in favor of building a half-tail stadium just to say we have an on-campus stadium.., we would be much better off getting the eagles to reduce the rent and getting more TU fans in the seats at the Linc

  7. doing a tulane would be a half-tail stadium. now, give me a 5-10K more fau and we’re cooking with gas. anything less, the flame should be out.

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