Winning The Press Conference

Temple-made Morgyn Seigfried talks with Geoff Collins

So far, we can say new Temple football coach Geoff (pronounced Jeff) Collins is 1-0 after having won his opening press conference.

Certainly, it was a more impressive introduction than the last two.

Rhule also won his, but stumbled on the question of “wanting to sign a 15-year contract, if Bill would let me ” which does not look all that sincere in retrospect. Steve Addazio got a loss because just about everyone in the crowd smelled his loving “South Philly macaroni” comment as the baloney it was then and turned out to be after a two-year stay.

Why Collins won it was mostly because of the things he did not say, not the things he did say.

Collins never mentioned the macaroni or the 15-year commitment and that was just as well. Everybody in the room, or at least most, knows what the landscape of college football is these days and Temple is just a stepping stone to further greatness. Really, any Group of Five school is and some Power 5 schools are as well. Ask Vanderbilt fans if they felt like a Power 5 team when their head coach left for another Power 5 school.

That’s the world we live in, where the bigger schools who draw the biggest crowds eat their young.

If Collins is a tasty morsel in a couple of years, then he will have done his job here and Temple and its fans will be better for it. Anyone who has spent recent stops in Mississippi, Georgia and Florida probably does not plan to put down roots in Philadelphia and the room knows that and Collins did not try to toss the bull bleep at them.

Collins deftly avoided the “Elephant in the Room” which was the revolving door of head coaches at Temple. It’s best to avoid promises you cannot keep. They might have well keep a revolving door at the E-O office Collins will occupy for at least part of his five-year, $2 million-per-year deal.

It would have been nice for Collins to have said it was his goal to be the next Wayne Hardin at Temple, a guy who spent 13 mostly great years here but that was the college football of yesterday and that’s history. For another subject, at least Collins knows the geography, having worked close by in Reading.

“Me, Matt Rhule, Sean Padden at Albright College,” Collins said. “I was the defensive coordinator, Padden was the D-Line coach and Matt Rhule was the linebackers’ coach and we had a blast.”

If he keeps winning in his coming days like he did the first one, this stop along the way on the Collins Train should be another, albeit higher-paying, blast.

Friday: Mayhem’s Already Here

 

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12 thoughts on “Winning The Press Conference

  1. I’m all about the guy being transparent and not blowing smoke like his predecessors. If we get at least three years out of the guy and he’s able to effectively recruit, promote the Templetuff brand and continue to develop our kids in the classroom and on the field that’s about as much as we can expect.

    As part of the deal I expect him to challenge for the conference title in the toughest G5 conference and win some bowl games. This is going to be a tall task given the increasing level of competition on the field and in the HC roles. I don’t need to mention that the more coach we cycle through the more likely we are to end up with a dud who has an expensive buyout. This definitely introduces an increased element of risk into our ecosystem at a time when we really can’t afford it but as a Kurt Vonnegut wrote many years ago….’so it goes’.

  2. I’m expecting at least 6 to 7 wins next season.

    – Does that seem reasonable with Collins as our head coach and an Elite 11 QB?

  3. Collins’ success will be determined bu his staff. Need to see the oc and dc. Maybe a local hs coach on staff to help with recruiting.

  4. Pat Kraft won the presser, and Collins a close second. Now he needs to win over city council, which may require Russian hackers and Wikileaks.

  5. Right on Mike – the biggest bull line being “this is my dream job.” He didn’t say that, thank you very much. I just hope he starts out better, with at least 7 wins and another bowl, next year than his predecessor. Keep this ball rolling, y’know?

    • His best move would be to not change a thing, just improve it. Liked that he said in some interview that he’s not afraid to change the process when needed. Rhule stuck with the process one season too many. Had he adopted the offense he did his third season a year earlier, they would have won at least eight games that season.

    • He’s got the cushion of a lot of red shirts and seasoned underclass men that should carry him a couple of seasons. However, if we don’t get several #templetuff kids this year it will bite us in a few seasons, assuming he’s still here.

      I’d also add this team hasn’t been build on the four star players but I sure wouldn’t mind landing a few.

      • we have had four coaches in the last eight years.., and we lose two recruiting years (front end/back) on every coaching change.., such is life in the G5

  6. Has there been any word on the staff?

  7. Looking at recruits, happy to see a lot of OL, but nothing for DL.

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