Well, it’s official.
Geoff Collins is packing his bags this morning and heading out that revolving door which is the coach’s office at the Edberg-Olson Complex.
The ex-Temple head coach turned back-to-back 10-win seasons into a seven- and 8-win season (with 10-win talent all four seasons), so excuse me for hoping that door hits him in the ass and leaves a few bruises.
The bottom line is that Temple
has been playing a game of
Russian Roulette by hiring
assistant coaches over the
past decade or so. Four clicks
so far and the program is still
alive. It only takes one bullet
to kill the program. …
Time to put the gun down
and hire a proven head coach
All it takes now is for one bad hire to blow this whole thing up and, to me, the only bad hire would be hiring another assistant coach who we have to find out can’t coach his way out of a paper bag once he gets here.
Just because you are a good-to-great assistant coach doesn’t mean that will make you a good-to-great head coach. The world is strewn with bad examples of that. Can you say Ron Dickerson? While the defensive assistant at Penn State, Dickerson was named the top assistant coach in the country before taking the Temple job. He almost ran the program into the ground. Can you say Bob Diaco? Diaco won the award for FBS coordinator of the year at Notre Dame and did run UConn into the ground.
I like Fran Brown, the Baylor assistant head coach. I’d like him to prove he could be a head coach first before we can offer him the Temple job. Otherwise, he’s Ron Dickerson and Bob Diaco to me.
Temple needs to hire a proven head coach now to take this talent to the next level. Fortunately, there are five fits that check those boxes:
Al Golden–Checks all of the boxes. Proven winner? Yes. Good CEO? None better. Contacts with FBS experience? You bet. Knows the recruiting footprint? Yes. Moms like him? Yes. High school coaches in Pennsylvania and South Jersey welcome him with open arms? Absolutely. More importantly, can he win “at Temple.” He’s the only guy on this list who has proven that. Golden applied for and finished second in the Maryland job to Mike Locksley. He’s looking. Temple should approach him first. His last words when leaving his office at Temple (got this from someone who was there at the time): “God, I love this place.” He was 100 percent sincere. He can bring back Fran Brown to be the recruiting coordinator. Temple probably doesn’t want Mark D’Onofrio back so Al would have to find a new DC. Chuck Heater is available. Al, who first hired Ed Foley and Adam DiMichele, also is the best guy to provide much-needed continuity. Temple should court him like Prince Harry courted the Duchess of Sussex.
Temple’s first call should be to Buffalo’s Lance Leipold. He has absolutely crushed it w/the Bulls
— Brett McMurphy (@Brett_McMurphy) December 7, 2018
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Lance Leipold–Checks most of the boxes. Who better to kick Geoff Collins’ ass next September than a guy already has proven to kick Collins’ ass with lesser talent. Leipold was 109-6 (yes, that’s not a typo) at Wisconsin-Whitewater. I thought that was a rafting school. Anthony Russo would thrive under the same pro set offense that Leipold had Tyree Jackson run. He’s 10-2 at Buffalo this season, soon to be 11-2. If I were Collins coaching against this guy next Sept. 28, I’d worry. Leipold’s current salary: $325,000-a-year. Collins was making $2 million per at Temple. This guy would jump in a heartbeat.
Greg Schiano–Checks some of the boxes. Knows the area, is a good recruiter and, like Golden, a “decent enough” head coach on game day who won’t knock your socks off but can win. Schiano proved he could win at a place that might be harder to win than Temple: Rutgers. Deserves a close look.
Turner Gill–Checks most of the boxes. The one-time MAC coach of the year at Buffalo (he beat Temple on an infamous Hail Mary in 2008) just “retired” at Liberty after getting that team bowl eligible this season. Ruined Matt Rhule’s debut at Waco with a win. His wife has a heart condition and probably a move to a great medical hub like Philadelphia would help her recover. Liberty is a hard sell. Temple is not. A tremendous head coach who is only 57. Probably could convince him to unretire.
Mike MacIntyre–The former Temple assistant coach had San Jose State in the top 25 and was 10-2 before taking the Colorado job. McIntryre is probably a better fit in the G5 than he is in the P5 and is a helluva game day coach. Would work wonders with Temple talent. Understands Temple and winning. Could do a helluva lot worse than him (Fran Brown for instance).
The bottom line is that Temple has been playing a game of Russian Roulette by hiring assistant coaches over the past decade or so. Four clicks so far and the program is still alive. This six-shooter has only two chambers left and it only takes one bullet to kill the program.
Time to put the gun down and hire a proven head coach.
Monday: Fizzy Checks In On Coaching Search
Wednesday: 5 Questions Pat Kraft Should Be Asking
Friday: 5 Popular Guys, 5 Red Flags
Monday (12/17): Pros and Cons of The Collins’ Era
Temple Football Forever 
ok, let’s agree to disagree :), Fran Brown has learned much and is ready.
I think the point Mike’s trying to make is that nobody can KNOW Fran Brown is ready. You can THINK he’s ready but sorry that’s not enough to gamble five years of losing on … I agree now is the time to get a HC to move this talent to the next level. Mike’s logic is irrefutable.
Aside from the HC position, who on the current staff do think goes with Collins (please I hope the DC and OC are already looking for housing in Atlanta) and who stays. Aside from Foley, I would like to see Paganos, Wiesehan and DiMichele stay
I know you are all in on Golden Mike but until he shows me he can coach on game day he’s off my list. He was bad at TU and worse at Miami where he had numerous future pros. If they don’t hire a guy who runs a pro type power running offense, it will just be more of the same frustration we’ve experienced for two years during Rhule’s term and all of Ge-off’s. To me his quitting and taking Patenfraud with him are early Christmas presents. Dream would be Arians coming back as coach and hiring Bowles, McNair, and Ross as assistants.
Don’t know why Bruce says he will only coach in Cleveland. Philadelphia is much warmer than Cleveland. Bottom line is that there are plenty of guys out there who are FAR BETTER than Collins and Temple better not blow this by hiring some assistant coach again.
Mike the guys that built and maintained this program (Golden, Adazio, Rhule, Collins) were all assistant coaches prior to getting their shot in the big chair. The formula that has worked to sustain success has been to hire guys on their way up. It has fallen apart in retaining them but there may be another approach on that end like creating comp packages with draconian exit clauses.
I understand the point about this similar approach failing in the past with Dickerson but we also failed with Wallace an established HC. Like much of life every situation is unique and while there should be a criteria for the next HC it needs to be viewed on a continuum not in a binary manner.
Big difference. Wallace was an established head coach in Division II. Never proven at the FBS level. No contacts in the East. All of my candidates are proven HCs with Eastern connections. That’s the way to go.
One name I never hear is Sharon Hill native Bill Cubit who was very accomplished as a MAC coach. I’m not advocating hm as next HC but he certainly has local connections.
Accomplished MAC coach? How many championships did he win? To me, he was a mediocre MAC coach. Temple can and must do better.
Zero, the same number as Temple. Unlike Temple he consistently beat MAC teams with winning records and won coach of the year after turning around the program. I don’t think he’s right as our HC I’m just curious why his name never comes up given the guy has the local ties everyone seems to want and HC experience.
Probably because he didn’t turn Western Michigan around enough to be offered the Miami job or the Colorado job or win a MAC coach of the year award like Gill did.
Thanks Mike that was the answer I was looking for on this thread. I never thought he was the answer but given some of the other stiffs whose names arose in prior searches I was curious why the rumor mill never included him.
There is risk in playing it safe, too. Getting hungry young(er) guys with enthusiasm and a history of recent success as assistants has taken the team a long way in the post-Wallace era. Getting an “established” guy on the rebound doesn’t mean you’ll get the better, earlier version and still leaves you at risk of being poached if they rehabilitate their careers.
I wish Temple wasn’t a “stepping stone” school for coaches…but it is. Short of a few jobs in the P5, every college coach is looking. Hell, had USC picked up the phone for Franklin, he’d have been as gone as O’Brien.
When Penn State has to worry about losing a coach, you know the carosuel is getting out of control.
Leipold looks good. Agree with JBelli about Golden – he has all the boxes checked except game-day coaching (which is pretty important). But damn it, get HCing experienced this time, there’s good guys out there that would jump at 2 mil per.
Ruffin McNeill?
Bad look to hire someone perceived to have failed at a fellow conference school, although he did better than Montgomery.
I never saw it as a failure. 42-34 as HC at ECU. you go 5-7 in your second year in a new conference. the fans didn’t give the guy a chance.
108-6 and 10-2 are a lot more impressive to me than 42-34. That’s what Temple should strive for, greatness, not just above mediocrity.
Mike AG never beat a MAC team with a winning record and he is your first pick
Schiano is out. There were protests when Tennessee tried to hire him because he coached at PSU when Sandusky was there. The snowflakes already are making protest signs for this blog simply because you mentioned his name. LOL. I would think he’d be a good hire. Knows the area and has been an urban Meyer assistant for some time.
Schiano had about as many ties to Sandusky as Rhule, Tom Bradley and Golden did. I wouldn’t hire Mike McQueary but not all Penn State guys should be punished for the sins of Sandusky.
That’s true but every campus has snowflakes who would come out of the woodwork to protect their narrative. Truth has nothing to do with it and at Tennessee they derailed his getting the job. The same thing would happen at TU if they tried to hire Schiano.
i know financials are hard to come by, but can we find out if Kraft grew a pair and put some kid of buyout clause. We should start seeing these poachings as paydays.
Temple had a zero buyout clause for Daz. I don’t know about Rhule. I hope to God Kraft wised up and added one for Collins. Amazingly, I’ve read on OwlsDaily a post that said Temple won’t include buyouts because it’s a detriment to recruiting coaches. That’s crazy. Protect the ‘][” at all costs. UCF’s buyout for Hoeffel is a reported $10 million. That might buy a successful P5 coach if he leaves Orlando. This would be a good story for Marc Narducci to investigate although I don’t think Kraft would give him the particulars.
A buy-out clause is necessarily necessary. If BC wants SA, but TU has SA under contract, BC must buy out the contract. if not, TU says FU.
Per the ‘independent’ media Kraft is very well-respected which should help in recruiting a new HC. Given the nature of the talent coming back I hope we’re able to get back to the #templetuff brand of football.
just read that the rest of the coaching staff is staying on for the bowl game. absolutely freaking wonderful. another repeat of miltary bowl.
Emotional Roller Coaster now for We Temple Fans.
First the let down and angst over a HC leaving, ( a big GawdDamnit ).
Now the Anticipation and reserved excitement awaiting our new HC.
New HC, Come on Down !!!!
Collins blocked me on Twitter for basically supporting your article and sayiing I couldn’t wait to hear his b.s. about how much he loved the players and Temple. To be honest, I never really liked him or his gimmicks (“Money Down”, Above The Line, etc.) Collins is obviously thin-skinned and a phony if he actually took the time to block Temple alumni/supporters for “telling it like it is”. (Mike: Did he block you yet? )
I have never interacted with Collins on twitter. Never sent him a tweet. Never responded to any of his tweets. That’s one way not to be blocked. I only blocked two people. One guy who said I was rooting for Frankie Juice to get hurt (I clearly was not) and one guy who has never said a nice word about any of my tweets (I thought I would spare him the pain of reading them by taking him out of the loop.)
Mike, I remember what you said. I won’t quote it verbatim but it was something to the effect that “if Frank gets hurt and Anthony Russo plays, Frank will never come back into the game.” Hardly rooting for the guy to be hurt. You saw Russo play in real games. You knew the guy. You were right. Unfortunately, our idiotic coaching staff was wrong at that position for two straight years.
Temple is one of the 10 best G5 jobs. Kraft will find a good one, but the timing is simply awful. In the last four years we have had two less than stellar recruiting classes, due to coaching changes.
The real hurt will come 3 years from now, which is just about the time the next guy will be leaving. It’s called the TUFB treadmill. every new guy steps on and runs really hard and fast for 5 minutes then jumps off.
Meanwhile the program doesn’t really move forward like it should. The coaches get to move on in order to realize their full coaching potential. Our program never gets a chance to realize the real potential of TUFB. Life on a treadmill..,
Dickerson was never DC at Penn State. Tom Bradley was DC when Dickerson was there.
Good call: Dickerson was a the DB coach.
Dickerson was DC for a strong Clemson defense before coming to Temple. He recruited some great players, and players liked him, he was genuine. Polar opposite from Bernt. He struggled to have a solid well rounded group of coordinators and assistant coaches.
Why not Foley?
Foley 7-16 overall as a head coach. Being 7-15 at Fordham between the two most successful head coaches in Fordham history (Dave Clawson on the front end and Joe Moorhead on the back end) is a HUGE red flag. The other red flag was having Rock and Jahad as the running backs in the bowl game and only running the ball once behind a second-round draft pick (Dion Dawkins). Fifteen of the first 16 running plays were run to the RIGHT side, not the left. (Dawkins was the left tackle). Could this guy be that tone deft to head coaching? Yes. If he beats the crap out of Duke, he will change my mind but I’m not touching Temple laying the 3.5. One way to beat the crap out of Duke would be two-back set with Nitro as the fullback leading the way for Rock. If he’s learned that much, he has my support but I think we will have a HC before 12/27.
You’re consistent and know your history. Foley is a great assistant head coach.
and that’s where I want this wonderful and beautiful man to stay. The Peter Principle is real and if Kraft ignores it, he will be bitten in the ass.
Well, at least we don’t have to see the “money down” thing any longer.
Fran Brown is the guy. Next year’s seniors will be playing for their 3rd HC, absolutely crazy. We need someone who will stay a minimum of 3 years, Fran Brown absolutely would stay.
and don’t mention age or HC experience, look at the Los Angeles Rams
If it’s anyone other than Fran Brown or Greg Schiano I would be surprised.
Fran makes the most sense, this is truly his ‘dream job’ no bull****. Plus he’s been the best recruiter at Baylor and at Temple. Local ties including Philly wont’ need to look elsewhere.
No Philly has been waiting and looking for Temple to deliver Mr. Goodbar to end the misery.
Hello Fran Brown.
If he his hired and we find out he can’t coach on gameday, the program is dead. Can’t return to those 1-11 seasons and have the BOT sustain the Linc contract. Too much of a risk.
I hope it doesn’t take until 12/27 for a new HC announcement. I would’ve thought the administration would have had a prioritized list of candidates drawn up as soon as the whole Georgia Tech thing surfaced for Collins. With some informal discussions with them. Anyway, I hope it’s AG for all the reasons that have been commented on by different posters. But, yes, his game day coaching was lacking. He had some really talented teams that should’ve been MAC champions. But I hope all of his experience since then will help him to be much better in that regard.
He never had a qb (adm was around only when he was bringing the program back from the dead)…at Miami he did not have a qb nearly as good as Russo). You would be surprised how good a coach becomes with a great qb.
Al Golden would not get the kids excited, it would be Rany Edsall-esqu. I’m passing him a 2nd time around. We need young energy, not 50 yr old head coaches.
Al Golden is far from old. He relates well to the kids. Unlike Fran Brown, he’s a proven winning head coach at Temple. I’ll take that over “potential” any day of the week.
I am now Hopeful on a new coach.
Ever since I focused in on Ohio U’s Frank Solich, a winner in my book, I have considered his type a great fit for Temple.
Coach Solich was booted out of big time football, I don’t know why, but he found a home at Ohio U and brought great knowledge, success.
He beat the crap out of our Owls in the MAC playoff game 10 years ago.
We need his type, and that’s a wrap. Oh well, we’ll see.
When you have the talent in place, that’s the way to go. Advance the program to the 10-12 win stage with an accomplished guy who has proven it on the head coaching level and then the program recruits itself. Temple lost so few seniors that handing the keys over to an unproven assistant coach who is learning how to be a head coach is courting disaster. Let’s go find an accomplished FBS head coach who never failed before. That’s the Buffalo guy.
Thanks, Apollo. You gave me a great idea for a poll question. Not putting any names in there, just a general direction.
I hate the idea of hiring a coach that failed somewhere else. Edsall and strong both have been disappointments. Hire the best young coach on the rise. If that’s fran brown do it. Better to hire a coach every three years because of winning than hiring to replace losers like wallace.
Fran Brown has local connections and a familiarity with TU, some current coaches, and some of the players, factors which will cause the least disruption. That moght assuage a lot of recruits that TU is the same place they signed up to play for. Will that keep him here if he’s successful when the P-5 comes calling? Tough to say. before hiring him, the administration better know what offense he intends to run and whether it fits Russo’s skill set. Would hate to see what happened to Mike McGann when Wallace implemented a RPO offense with a guy who was not suited to for it. Russo has enough talent to be a pro qb and it would really be a shame if that talent is squandered by the new coaching staff. Know someone who is very friendly with Coach Foley and Foley told him that he was disgusted with Patenfraud and his refusal to stick with a power run offense.
it would not surprise me if Collins leaves Patenfraud behind
If Patenfraud is left behind, he will be living in a cardboard box at Kensington and Allegheny because Kraft ain’t allowing anyone to hire him. I’m sure Coastal Carolina can find a job for him, though.
I do need to give Collins two points. He said he saw the assistant coaches shuffling back and forth two years ago between Waco and Philadelphia and how that hurt the preperation for the Millitary Bowl. He does not want a repeat and wants his asistant coaches with Temple through the Bowl game regardless of wether or not they are following him or not.
amazingly, there is still the possibility of fulfilling the Top 3 Priorities:
1. Go find two or three recruits who can start next year.
2. Win the bowl game, put the recruiting hardware in E-O.
3. Replace the OC.
All those guys with the exception of Al Golden will jump ship to the 1st big time program that comes calling… Hire Al Golden and he will be here for the Long haul. He has learned his lesson that the grass isn’t always greener!
Agree, Kevin. Hire Al. He’s got a binder for how to win at Temple, recruited far better classes than Collins and will keep Foley here to be the best special teams’ coach in the nation. No-brainer.
Pat Kraft will not interview Al Golden for good reasons. Among them is lack of judgement. Golden kept D’Onofrio, a very poor decision. Two, his during the game decisions were awful. Three, the college game has passed him by.
Coaching at Temple is part of the journey for anyone with aspiration and talent, Temple is not the destination.
We just need someone willing to stay on the Temple treadmill for 3-5 years, until their dream job presents itself.
Daz has been at BC for six years now; and, we are going on our 3rd HC! we need someone with recent history at Temple.
Heard this expression a lot “its not the X’s & O’s its the jimmy’s & the joes. If FB hires and experienced asst. head coach much like Arians did with Paul Davis it might work out great.
decision made, offer being finalized to the frontrunner, announcement on Wed/Thur if everything goes well..,
not feeling good, last time Collins came out of nowhere to get the job, he wasn’t mentioned anywhere as a candidate.. Pat Kraft may make another surprise announcement..,
my gut tells me MR owes us FB after he endorsed Collins two years ago
Joe Juliano of the Inquirer, who covered the Army-Navy game, said he saw Al Golden talking to Pat Kraft in the Temple box at the game yesterday. Could not hear what they were saying and Pat politely said nothing and waved Joe off. Put two and two together …
yes, I would go with Arians and Davis again over Fran Brown or Ed Foley
it is time to reconsider a welcome back to old coaches who did well for Temple in the past, ie Golden or Bruce Arians.
I also like hearing about old Schiano of Rutgers, he has what I want to see.
It is promising se read many qualified types want t considered
But I am nervous the Alabama asst coaches would be here and gone in 2 years. We are a great Proving grounds, aren’t we.
get a more mature dog who is not so prone to roam
No to any more assistant coaches. This is a ready-made winning team. It needs a head coach who was a proven winner elsewhere. Arians and Golden fit that bill better for Temple than anybody else because they can bring the stabilitiy Foley and Brown might bring but the certain winning Foley and Brown have no history of as the guy in charge.