Patenaude: Watch What He Does, Not Says

performance

Spring practice is fully underway and Dave Patenaude handled the first questions thrown his way like Freddy Galvis used to handle hard hit balls to his right.

Flawlessly.

Galvis isn’t around town anymore, but Patenaude is and he said all of the right things about the quarterback position in a recent Temple News story—that Frank Nutile, despite being a bowl-winning quarterback, has to win his job and that Anthony Russo and Todd Centeio are both significantly better than they were at this time last year.

To get a better perspective, though, of what was said this year by the Temple football offensive coordinator, it helps to dig deep to find out what he said a year ago at this time. Patenaude was enthralled with the running ability of Logan Marchi—a player he tried to recruit for Coastal Carolina—and seemingly gave Marchi the benefit of the doubt despite a subpar performance in the Cherry and White game. To the fans watching under umbrellas on that rainy day, Marchi was easily the fourth-best quarterback behind, in no particular order, Nutile, Russo and Centeio.

russo

 

Will Russo get the chance that Nutile did a year ago in a “real” game—not a practice—and prove to be even a juicier upgrade?

 

That benefit turned out to be a detriment for the Owls as Marchi went way too deep into the season, starting seven games, and the Owls almost did not recover.

Pardon me if I don’t trust Patenaude as far as I can throw him. I’m from Missouri this year. He’s going to have to show me he’s playing no favorites and gives everyone a chance to move the team in a game. I didn’t see that last year until the eighth game.

When Nutile finally got his chance in a real game—not a practice, but a game, as Allen Iverson would say—fans saw the kind of difference they saw on Cherry and White Day.

It was obvious to anyone who watched the Army game last year that Nutile was the far better leader and winner than Marchi ever was.

That was probably just as obvious to Marchi, too, who saw the handwriting on the wall and got out of here.

Will Nutile be last year’s Nutile or this year’s Marchi? Certainly, Nutile deserves first dibs on defending his job. He does not deserve to play seven unimpressive games before another guy gets a shot.

Will Russo get the chance that Nutile did a year ago in a “real” game—not a practice—and prove to be even a juicier upgrade? Will Centeio’s “packages” result in real gains in terms of yardage or will they be blown up by defenses like they were last year? Will Trad Beatty get the benefit of a redshirt year that Nutile, Russo and Centeio enjoyed? They all benefited from the extra year of film study and in the weight room and if Beatty is headed to the pros, he deserves the same advantage, too.

Those are the questions that can only answered by deeds, not words but trusting what everyone sees in the upcoming  Cherry and White game might be a good place to start.

 

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13 thoughts on “Patenaude: Watch What He Does, Not Says

  1. His answers were not flawless because they showed that he is not enthusiastically on board with Nutile as the starting QB. He was patronizing and appeared resigned to the fact that Nutile is the starter. His tone changed immediately when talking about Centeio and he lit up when doing so because Centeio can run his system. I’m worried because he’s still here and can influence Collins to demote Nutile at the first sign of trouble. He’s a danger to a successful season and should have been fired for the way the team played the first seven games.

    • Nude loves dual-threat QBs. Nute’s accuracy is impressive, and his mobility is fine. A balanced offense, like Temple’s, needs a QB with a great arm not or legs.

      • Last year, Temple had receivers up the wazoo and did not need a “running” quarterback. They needed someone who was tall enough to see the field and who could make all the throws. That they didn’t figure it out until it was almost too late is more than disconcerting.

  2. In the recording of his comments on Pravda he did mention that he made 6 bad calls last seasons. I was surprised at that since I thought I saw three bad calls on multiple series last season.
    He believes football is an art and that is why he wants to coach from the sideline so he can feel how the game is going and interact with players. After seeing him coach from the sidelines, I prefer him him in the press box, from where the team was more successful. Apparently Coach Collins agrees that he should coach the press box, because Coach Patenaude admitted that he expected Coach Collins to tell him to get a Diet Coke and go the press box.
    He also took a shot at bloggers who don’t what went into the game preparation when critical of him or the offense. I don’t understand that comment. When the offense runs an inappropriate play given the game situation or the personnel on the field, what does the preparation for the play have to do with bloggers pointing out that it was a bad play? His calling a running play on 3rd and ten, when time was running out and we needed to hold the ball to have a chance to win comes to mind. The play went nowhere. His explanation for the call was that we knew we would have to go for the first down and he wanted to have a fourth and five. Instead we had a fourth and ten. I think the amount of preparation that went into that play has nothing to do with bloggers calling that a bad call.

    • Don’t subscribe to Pravda anymore but it’s nice to know that Mr. Patenaude is reading this blog. Hi Dave. Use Nitro in short-yardage goal-line situations as a blocker for Rock on first and second downs and you’ll find that you won’t have to worry about scoring on third. Don’t get fancy. Temple TUFF is about imposing its will in those situations. Just a friendly reminder.

      • He doesn’t read the blogs since bloggers do not know what they are talking about. However his wife does read them and apparently reports the criticism to him.

  3. Dr Giannini canned by La Salle today . Maybe Bill Bradshaw ( Temple’s old AD) can do Temple a favor and hire Dunphy ( Who is an La Salle alumn) . Everyone wins in the end.

    • Now that would be quite the deal.

    • Thought the same thing yesterday. Frankly, LaSalle is going bankrupt and it’s only a matter of time til they close the doors. They play in a glorified high school gym that was old 30 years ago. The days of armies of Catholic kids going there are over as are the days when a Catholic league star would. Want thinking outside the box? TU should buy it and call it the TU- LaSalle campus and build the stadium there.

      • I have a feeling the neighbors at 20th and Olney would fight just as hard as the ones at 15th and Norris. Liacouras probably should have followed up on his bluff to move the campus to Ambler years ago. Plenty of land to hide the stadium there without neighborhood opposition.

  4. it took MR a few seasons to figure out the best OC for TUFB…, it all comes back to ‘identity’. Nutile fits, Patenaude does not and that is the real issue.

    PJ was a great college player who accepted and embraced the square peg in round hole…,

    just the opposite w/our current OC…, he has the right pegs (Nutile/Russo) for TUFB but is changing the hole…,

    crazy!!!

    TUFB is line up and beat the man across from you. We have never done well when we deviate from our ‘identity’.

    Sadly, it will take Collins another season to embrace the true TUFB identity.., look for a new OC in 2019

  5. All I know is that good old loveable Ed Fokey is just as responsible for Patenaude being at Temple as Coach Collins.

    Dave reported to Ed Foley at Hofstra back in the 90s. Foley was Hofstra’s OC, just b4 Hofstra cut the program. Coincidence ???

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