Typical crowd at an Eastern Michigan game, Rynearson Stadium. For Chris Creighton to win there, he must be the best head coach since Vince Lombardi
One of the things that makes me proudest to have my Temple B.A is that you also get an honorary degree in B.S on graduation day.
There’s nothing like going to college and living in the heart of a hard-scrabble (emphasis on scrabble) city to sharpen your bullshit meter.
Just about everybody I know who has a Temple degree is able to separate the bullbleep from the regular bleep. For instance, the Bruce Arians’ guys who tailgated on the first Cherry and White Day of the Steve Addazio Era told me that Daz was a phony they could spot a mile away and compared him to Jerry Berndt. They loved Arians. They hated Berndt.
The Steve Conjar tailgate group never warmed up to Geoff Collins for some very good reasons. Collins thought Temple football did not exist prior to Al Golden. Upon being introduced to Paul Palmer, the Minister of Mayhem said this:
“Hey, coach, nice to meet you. What high school do you coach for?”
He had no idea he was talking to arguably the greatest player in Temple football history.
Ugh.
Can’t imagine Nick Saban having the same conversation with Joe Namath.
Have you seen the promised Mayhem yet?
I didn’t think so.
All I got was a lousy cotton T-Shirt that I paid $33 for and a “darkside defense” that allowed far too many points this season. Collins was a big fat blip on the bullbleep radar that should have been shot down by the committee two years ago.
Everybody has that kind of radar except the Temple Football Search Committee, if there is indeed one.
They didn’t spot Steve Addazio.
They didn’t spot Geoff Collins.
They didn’t spot Manny Diaz.
Chris Creighton is for real
As good a regular artist as Norman Rockwell was, that’s how good a bullbleep artist those three are.
So why was I not surprised that the name “Joe Rudolph” came up on Tuesday and “he was impressive” in the interview?
My first reaction was “are they going to let another assistant coach bullshit his way into the Temple job?”
Geez, I hope not.
The criteria this time should simply be this: Deeds over words.
It’s that simple. Temple is looking for a head coach, not an assistant coach, and this time the university has the big bucks to pay an accomplished guy for the job and not roll the dice on another assistant.
Rudolph, to me, is not an exciting name because no one knows what his responsibilities are/were at Wisconsin. We hear that head coach Paul Chryst called all the plays and he probably did.
If Rudolph shined in an interview process, it was probably because he said what the committee wanted to hear.
One exciting name emerged
yesterday and it wasn’t
Rudolph. It was Eastern
Michigan coach Chris Creighton …
He would fit right in here
and maybe take Temple TUFF
up a notch. He’s that good.
“Will you keep Fran Brown?”
“Yeah, I love the guy.”
“How about Ed Foley?”
“Yeah, me and Ed would work well. Love that speech that went viral.”
“How about Gabe Infante?”
“Who? Yeah, him, too.”
“What about the other assistants?”
“I know some of the best people. Great minds. All FBS coordinators. I’m going to bring those guys in here. No FCS guys like Collins.”
“You’re doing great, Joe. What about commitment to Temple? Will you be outta here in two or three years.”
“Nope. If I sign a five-year contract, I’m staying the full five years. When I played with the Eagles, I’d go up and down Broad Street and see those Temple flags and think to myself, ‘I’d love to coach there one day. That’s my dream school.’ ”
The lesson of Daz, Diaz and Collins to take away is to avoid the silver-tongue devil promising the world and gravitate to the better angels who have a track record. This time, Temple should look at what the guy has done not what he tells the school he will do.
One exciting name emerged yesterday and it wasn’t Rudolph.
It was Eastern Michigan coach Chris Creighton. There is no more impossible place to win than EMU. If you have been there, and I have, you know there are literally no more than 1,000 or 2,000 people at any home game. I’ve watched that team and it plays with a toughness level very similar to Temple. He would fit right in here and maybe take Temple TUFF up a notch. He’s that good.
For him to have taken that team to Purdue and win and to two bowl games in three years is more impressive than anything Addazio and Collins did at Temple.
If you are going to make a splash, go get that guy or Lance Leipold. Guys who have done pretty impressive things in the very job Temple is looking to fill. Don’t let another bulls hitter talk his way into a job that should be earned.
You are Temple. Act like it. After Diaz, everyone’s bullbleep radar should be on DEFCON 1.
Friday: Smoking Out The Winner
Temple Football Forever 
Mike, as per the poll you have if it’s coming down to a choice between Rudolph or Fran Brown, I say just roll the dice on Brown. Either one is going to have to learn to be a HC next year and with the talent coming back should be able to at least match last years record. While I think this should be a better than an 8 win team taking into account the learning curve mistakes. The way things are going it wouldn’t surprise me to see Rudolph suddenly state that he is moving onto his “dream job” at say Pitt right before bowl season. I have no illusions that Brown would be a “lifer” if successful but I think we get at least 3 seasons from him over the “hot” big time coordinator
Not in favor of Brown from the beginning because I’d want a HC in here but if it’s going to be between Rudolph and him, got to go with Brown. It’s a HUGE insult to Brown to bring in another coordinator now. It’s not an insult at all to bring in an accomplished head coach to mentor and tutor him for the coach in waiting position.
Totally agree with your logic.
I had Logic 101 at Temple. It was an elective. 🙂
That Creighton is being interviewed is encouraging. So two MAC head coaches apparently being considered. Maybe your consistent preaching has helped adjust thinking?
If either of those HC’s would be hired, they probably feel they died and went to heaven when they get on campus considering the gulf between TU and their programs (facilities, budget, and what they can offer recruits in terms of opportunity). But at the same time, neither have had much, if any, east coast exposure.
Absolutely. To me, Kraft has a chance to reset the goal and get a BETTER guy than Collins and Diaz. Rudolph would not be better than either and potentially worse. Creighton, Leipold and Carey have done it on the field at a higher level in the very same job that they are being hired for and the very same job Collins tried to perform at Temple. I know seeing Leipold across the field would scare the living daylights out of Collins and Patenaude when they bring GT to LFF in September of this year and that’s almost worth hiring Leipold in itself. The more I look at Creighton and what he’s done in an impossible place, the more he looks like the best guy.
If Creighton or Carey we’re hired it would have to be with the the condition of keeping the current staff on, at this point I think that is only Brown, Infante, Foley and DiMichle, for the local recruiting connections.
Agree. Hiring Diaz made these interviews very tough sledding because they have to find a guy who is going to keep the key holdovers. Rudolph might be the only one so far who has agreed to Temple’s terms and, if so, that’s sad.
The Pic of Stadium for Eastern Michigan is too sad for words.
How the F (un) do they get an OK stadium , not great. and we get shitand shovedinitandkickedforstinking ?
I don’t know how he recruited guys who were good enough to beat Purdue to that environment. Maybe he just coached up a lot of underachievers. If so, Temple should want whatever he can offer. They gave Army a much better game than Buffalo and probably should have won that one, too. It’s funny. I watched that team a few times (the entire Army game, the Georgia Southern game and most of the Purdue game) and came away thinking this is one of the best-coached teams in college football. If Temple has a chance to get a guy like that, it should take it.
Yes how did he get it done , that is the question.
Now He is my kind of candidate.
For him even when we have a shippy crowd of 20K he will be amazed
what happened to Todd Orlando, did he interview again, or did he turn the job down?
So, we stumble upon a successful formula that for the first time, ever, provides Temple with consistent competive winning and a national identity. And because of small burns, we’re going to abandon that, panic, and hire Rod Carey, a bad coach and a hiring that says “we’re panicking and going to hire a guy we don’t fear will get poached”…Brilliant strategy. Welcome back, Bobby Wallace.
I don’t understand where you have a coach like Carey who has been successful on a relatively consistent basis at NIU and Creighton who has gotten EMU to a bowl doing it with probably a lot less than he will have at Temple yet people are “underwhelmed”. Yet the “hot” coordinator du hour is all the buzz where most of these guys not only have to learn in the job, they have to do it with generally less resources than their used to at Wisconsin, Texas, etc.
Diaz wasn’t a small burn. He was a 5-alarm conflagration. Temple has been playing with 🔥 with these coordinator hires for years. The next one is just as likely to be Bob diaco as he is Matt rhule. I don’t want to take that chance; nor should temple
And why can’t Carey, Leiopoldt or Creighton turn into Charlie Strong, Tommy Tubberville, and Randy Edsall?
Remember when those schools got “established head coaches?” Meanwhile The last 3 Winners of the conference: Houston, Temple, UCF all won with first time Head Coaches who were nationally respected Assistants.
1)Every coach, whether they have a year or 10 years experience, is always “learning on the job” at the new program. You have to adjust to new players, coaching staff, location, fan base, media, etc.
2)Carey’s best success is with Doeren’s players at NIU. Meanwhile, since all those guys left he’s failed to surpass 8 wins despite playing in an easier conference at what was at one point the best G5 program not named Boise State. Oh, and he’s also registered ZERO bowl wins in 5 tries.
3)This move reeks of a panic on all sides. It’s a panic for Temple to get a mediocre head coach cause the chance of him getting poached isn’t severe, and a panic for Carey who clearly hasn’t impressed enough to get a P5 job at NIU so he’ll try to go to the one school that’s been churning them out.
4)The “hot coordinators” have been responsible for the best success this program has ever had. But, yea, let’s take a guy who clearly has plateaued at a weaker G5 school as if he’s gonna “figure it out” here.
Of the coaches who have had the best successes at Temple (Hardin, Golden and Rhule) I would only put Golden in the “hot” coordinator category.
Who says it’s going to be Carey? Creighton is the latest name, not Carey
http://www.philly.com/college-sports/rod-carey-temple-football-coaching-search-northern-illinois-20190109.html
Nard Dog/Reddit saying Carey
Thanks Rob…although he would be my 3d choice hard to make a case that 52-30 with the most recent Mac title on his mantle is plateauing
True, he has great numbers, but when broken down you get this.
2013: 11-2
2014: 11-3
Now, two great years, yes. However, these immediately come off the Dave Doeren/Jerry Kill era. Kill started the build and Doeren took it to the next level. Hence both got promotions to P5 schools where if not for health/scandal reasons I still think Jerry Kill is still coaching Minnesota and Doeren has grinded out NC State to a more consistent level.
Once those players cycled out
2015: 8-6
2016: 5-7
2017: 8-5
2018: 8-6
He’s also 0-6 in bowl games. To me, that suggests a guy who expected to ride the first couple of years to a P5 job, and once they didn’t come, has leveled out and showing his true ceiling, and is looking to rehab his own image by going to the school that gets you P5 jobs and gets them quickly.
It should be concerning that NIU Fans (granted, online so take with a couple of grains) don’t seem too heartbroken about losing him.
Now, I could certainly be wrong (I didn’t think Doug Pederson would last two years when he was first hired, I thought Dabo Sweeney would be out early in his tenure at Clemson) but I just can’t get excited about this hire *IF* it goes down.
Time to stop beating this horse. It has already died. The crew picking the new coach can’t be changed. They likely figure they succeeded with the last three coaches (Diaz excluded), all coordinators, so why not continue with what they figure is a winning strategy. They are deluding themselves and not considering how many more wins the Owls could have had the coach they hired been ready from day one to be a head coach. Like I’ve said multiple times before(now I’m beating a dead horse) D-1 is not the place to learn how to be a head coach. If only those on the committee understood that.
I wonder if USF is happy with an “established Head coach”? I wonder if Cinn was happy when Tommy Tubbs was there. I wonder if UCF is enjohying their first time head coaches?
Tuberville didn’t exactly kill it at TCU and Strong was a failure at Texas. I like the fact that Temple is hiring a 52-30 guy. Fran Brown can take care of the recruiting.
According to the link Rob just posted looks like they are picking Carey
The way the process has gone this time I think I’ll wait until spring practice to see who is on the sidelines at E-O to see who is HC😟. Maybe Carey, given what I’m assuming his relationship is with Kraft from Indiana, was the one guy who had no issues keeping Brown and Infante. Not the best reason for picking a new coach. Given the talent coming back next season hiring someone who has had success at this level is not the worst thing that could happen. To Rob’s point about winning with his predecessor’s players, kind of has the opportunity to do that here and if Brown is as good a recruiter as it appears we’ll see.
Todd Bowles is going to Tampa w/Arians…,
Jets are hot on MR, if that happens FB will go w/MR.., I predicted both MR and FB going to the Jets
This process has been so botched from the get go that I would be surprised by that at all. MR and FB go to the Jets and Gabe Infante gets hired as the Baylor HC..LOL.!! Maybe Ed Foley will end up as the Temple HC after all…:-(
i was wrong, MR is staying in Waco.., FB is still in limbo
And now I question this Kraft guy.
Why does his process take soooo long when other schools get it done in 4 days ?
What is his problem ?
Is temple FB so bad he has to kiss ass to get a coach for HC.
Doesn’t make sense especially since he had all those previous candidates.
Either over his heads or up to something.
In the mean time the bath tub of talent at TUFB is draining out , nice and steady drain.
The Diaz hire was a disastor. Kraft needs to take his time and if he has a good hire, the negativity will go away quickly.
Take your time and get it right. There’s a reason Power 5 teams only hire successful head coaches. Temple wants to eventually play in the Power 5. It’s got to step up and get the best available HEAD coach now that it has the Power 5 bucks to do so.
Why is JR the hot head coaching candidate.As OC he doesn’t call the plays.He is more a loyal trusted asst. much like Foley. Chris Creighton HC record is ottawa 32-9 wabash 63-15 & drake 44-22 with 8 conf. titles. He took over an 0-12 team and took them to two bowls in the last 3 yrs. I feel he is the best choice.As far as FB not having experience Dabo Swinney was a position coach when he became interim HC at clemson. Eleven yrs. later look how that turned out.
I would be over the moon if they picked Chris Creighton. I now feel he is the best choice.
both Creighton and Carey career’s have been mediocre at best, they would not be where they are now if they were great coaches..,
I think betting on up and coming coordinators is the best path to the next great HC..,
look Memphis, Cincy, and UCF all have better HCs than Temple and all of those guys were coordinators first
If 52-30 and 4-2 against big 10 teams is mediocre, I will take mediocre all day long. 30-30 is mediocre. That winning percentage is better than any coach in Tu history. Temple is 5-64 all time against big 10 teams.
I think either approach to hiring a new coach is somewhat of a crapshoot. I know everyone keeps saying the upcoming coordinator model has been the way to go but in all honesty I look at AG in that category. Matt Rhule had beenat TU for several years ina variety of coaching roles so I look at his situation differently. Then you have Addazio and Collins hiredvia the upcoming coordinator role. Results for Temple, one coach who resurrected the program and 2 mediocre to average coaches whose combined record Is 28-21 with 2 bowl wins. If the choice is Carey and he just maintains the same kind of record as he has recently he bests what Dax and Collins produced, obviously i would like to see him win a bowl game
52-30 > 28-21
Mike, why are you ignoring that nearly half of those 52 wins came in his first two years? And why has he not been offered a P5 job?
Are you ignoring that he is the CURRENT champion of a league that Temple never won?
Not at all. But we’re no longer in that league, we’re in a stronger league, one WE HAVE already won (with a first time HC). He also won the league while losing 5 games.
All you need to know, is that NIU Fans are celebrating him taking the Temple job. Welcome back to irrelevancy.
Irrelevant is a loss to Villanova destroying both any street cred you had in your hometown and home attendance for the rest of the year
Pardon the Interruption but a Change of Pace: something nice here with Temple Basketball looking pretty good now, I just won’t go into the city weekday nights, a shame.
Back to Football and new Coach, The Fake Sports news throws every thing and anything out there I guess with 4+ names now
According to Footballscoop.com NIUs Rod Carey is the next HC at Temple, according to Temple sources today. Never heard of football scoop.com, but apparently they are Temple insiders. BTW- Great Blog Mike ! Now the wheels are in motion….
http://footballscoop.com/news/source-rod-carey-expected-next-temple-head-coach/
well Kraft is going to hire his friend, Carey. we’ll just wait and see, dunno much about him
One can plausibly argue that he won with his predecessors’ guys. That may merely mean that he was not as successful a recruiter as the previous guy and not that he was a bad coach. He won most games he should have and some he shouldn’t have on paper. That to me shows that he can coach. With Infante and Brown on the staff, I am not worried about recruiting. TU has facilities that match those at any school and theysurely are a lot better than NIU’s. The predilection of many of those on this site for an established coach has been met. Hope he fulfills our hopes that doing so will lead to more wins and no more losses to inferior teams.
meh…,
we shall see.., hope he leaves his OC at NIU, they sucked on offense
Me and John Belli will do it for free. Wright at tailback led through the hole by a fullback, 2 tight ends, plenty of play-action downfield strikes to Sean Ryan and Branden Mack. Keep pocket clean for Anthony Russo. No empty backfields.
watched yesterday for his intro to Temple. Not all that impressed with his style and so I hope he is not the bullshitartists like the last few HC’s.
Bowl Games 0 for 6, now that is a puzzler and cause for concern.
May relevant info will come out as to conditions and issues for all those loses, like good reasons for the loss.
What’s it take to recruit to good players, that I have no idea. Do recruits need to see and hear Flash and Bling , with Big Lies and Promises ?
Seems like a safe hire
A HC with actual HC experience. He will have good coordinators to help recruit. Not a splash hire but a stable one that on a good year can compete for an AAC Championship.
Safe and stable, that’s what Kraft wanted. He’s an established HC. Now factor. Just a football coach. And that may be okay. We need stability too, not just a coach that goes 6-6 year one and 8-4 year two with a shot at the AAC East and then bolts so the nextone can restart again.