Fizzy: Groundhog Day

Editor’s Note: Fizzy wrote this BEFORE the press conference but we did not see this until a day before. His points are still well-taken here. 

                                            By Dave (Fizzy) Weinraub

 

Once more, the alarm clock sounded at 6AM, and the Temple athletic director groggily got to his feet.  Stumbling to the mirror and looking at himself, he groaned.  Not again, he thought. For the fourth time in recent years, another school stole our head football coach.  Not only that, but he took the first plane to Georgia Tech and won’t even stay to coach our bowl game. The athletic director shook his head as his thoughts continued to flow.  And we have no head coach to meet our recruits, so who knows how many we’ll lose? 

The above scenario is quite familiar to Temple football fans, as well as those from many other universities across the country.  Run by the big “Power Five” schools, the impotent NCAA does absolutely nothing to preclude student football players of less wealthy schools from getting the shaft.  After a letter of complaint I sent years ago, the executive director of the NCAA responded by basically saying it was illegal to restrain someone from working wherever they wanted.

As General McAuliffe said in the Battle of the Bulge in WW II… “Nuts!”

For example, my oldest son works for a large corporation and I asked him if he was looking around.  He said, sure, but I can’t go to the companies most likely to hire me because I signed a “non-compete letter.”  When I questioned its legality, he said his company sued a person who left for a new job and won.  Perhaps Temple should have its new coach sign a non-compete agreement and see what happens at the next Groundhog Day.

There are other remedies.  In the NFL, coaches can’t leave unless they receive a promotion. Head coach to head coach in the Football Bowl Championship Division is not a promotion.  Head coaches would have to fulfill their contracts… imagine that.  At least, the NCAA could also punish the hiring school by saying if you steal a coach under contract you lose the opportunity to go bowling games or win the championship of your conference.  Without question, coaches should have to stay until the end of the season.

Turning this around, maybe Temple is losing a business opportunity.  They could go in the head football coach training business (Ph.D. in Football) and earn a substantial fee.

Tomorrow: Press Conference Reaction

Monday: Where Did We Hear This Before?

 

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15 thoughts on “Fizzy: Groundhog Day

  1. this is the world we live in, unless your name is Saban. Look at the Top 25 teams, coaches don’t stay.

    Kraft is right, it’s The Program stupid. The brand is more important than the coach. For pro players, their individual brand is more important than the team. We are in the age of branding, and fortunately for us Temple has a brand.

    Embrace and enhance the Temple brand and you will win, and go on to realize your dreams. It doesn’t get any better than that.

    Diaz gets it, and Temple is in the catbird seat if he makes game winning decisions on Saturday. All indications are he is better prepared than the last three which is saying much.

    Go Owls!

    • KJ, you very may well be right. But I just cannot stomach the idea of marketing being the wind under the wings. It must, or at least should, be solid coaching as the foundation of program building. Case in point: Matt Rhule winning brought fans into the stadium. Collins $$ Downs, Star Wars licenses, and silly paper bills around the stadium did not fill any seats. I’d argue Collins branded better than the others, but that’s not why we’re going to a bowl game. We did that off of talent on the bench. You can argue you need the marketing to get the talent on the bench, and I’m just not sure I’d buy that. Others before Collins did it through mentoring young players, offering competitive scholarships, and giving the kids a game plan to show off their talents. Seeing the list of Owls in the NFL and playing at a current NFL stadium are solid brands we already have, and few can boast to play in an NFL stadium.

  2. If Temple is such the great stop over for upand comer HCs, then they should be able to deal stricter contracts when hiring. And anyway, all the NCAA has to do is change the date for recruiting signings or say that coaches have to coach thru bowl games. And, how come Diaz is able to coach Miami in their bowl game instead of devoting all his energy to Temple recruiting? Is just keeping all Collins recruits all he cares about? And if it’s that easy why do Temple coaches have to skip ship before Temple’s bowl games? Temple hired quickly to get a guy for recruiting but somehow he has time to coach his old team? Somehow the comparisons don’t make sense. Is Temple getting screwed immediately even with this new coach?

  3. This what Collins said during his acceptance of the GT job: “At his introductory news conference after his hiring was announced early Friday, Collins said he will install “NFL-based” schemes on offense and defense.” Why didn’t he do it at TU where he already had players to implement that offense? Thank goodness that clown is gone. GT will quickly regret hiring him.

    • I definetly got the impression from his “having established relationships” with recruits that he’s going to try to poach some of the Temple recruiting class. Not cool.

      • Hopefully Diaz can do the same with a couple of his Miami recruits. I may be wrong but of our three prior coaches who took P5 jobs only Addazio didn’t poach 1 or 2 TU recruits when he moved on.

    • wow…, sounds like super great news, FB was Temple’s best recruiter.

      He was schooled by Phil Snow the last six years.., and the Diaz defensive scheme is radically different.., very, very interesting.., just can’t see FB as the DC running the Diaz scheme

  4. Some good is coming out of Collins’ departure.

    • Very interesting development and have to agree with your point about some good coming out of Collins departure. As far as OC, what it the thought of DiMichele being ready for that role?

  5. I agree with you completely. The present system is a disgrace, and the NCAA either does not have the gonads to fight and fix this, or it is owned and operated by the Power Five leagues and teams. Rabbi Dick White PS While I do not always agree with what you write, I always read it avidly and appreciate your insights. I subscribe to Owlscoop, but I want to get your point of view as well.

    > WordPress.com

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