Carey: The Big Announcement?

This piece could rival Tolstoy’s War and Peace in number of pages. Good luck, Mike.

As far as splashes on the first day of the job go, Arthur Johnson’s as Temple University’s new athletic director could be epic today.

If he does what he SHOULD do, it will be.

So far this season, six college football coaches have already been fired. TCU’s Gary Patterson is No. 6.

Does Temple make Rod Carey Lucky Number Seven today?

Temple sports history says no, but Johnson is from Texas where they do things on a big scale and don’t tolerate fools, so there is a chance.

Put it this way: New President Jason Wingard read the riot act to the entire athletic department, including Carey, prior to the Akron game and the message was simply that Temple won’t tolerate anything but excellence.

Since then, except for what now looks like an outlier against Memphis, the football program has been a national embarrassment.

Maybe Wingard was waiting to get his guy in place to prove that he was serious and Johnson certainly is his guy.

Naming Gabe Infante the interim head coach, making Preston Brown the assistant head coach and keeping the position coaches seems to be a perfect temporary solution. Fire the head coach, and the offensive and defensive coordinators. Hold a press conference and tell the entire Temple community that the school will leave no stone unturned to find the best head coach available. Tell the players and the recruits to hold off on the portal and decommitting for a while, the cavalry is coming to rescue them.

At least one former Temple player talks about the current state of the program here.

Maybe Johnson feels comfortable in bringing in someone from Texas like Patterson. He could do a whole lot worse. The guy was unbeaten (13-0) in 2010 and would not face unreasonable expectations in Philadelphia. They would build a statue for him if he can win 10.

There is, though, a not-so-secret formula to win at Temple and it eschews the big-name type for the hungry younger guy.

Infante fits that profile. He is extremely popular with the players and was National High School Coach of the Year in 2018. He reminds fans of qualities of past Temple successful head coaches. One, a local guy wired into Mid-Atlantic recruiting. Two, an accomplished head coach who has been the CEO of a championship program. Three, a hungry go-getter type. The same players who probably will be going through the motions against East Carolina this week under Carey will be flying around and trying to make plays for Infante.

For a sure thing, though, Johnson could place a phone call to Cincinnati and gauge Al Golden’s interest in Chapter Two at Temple. Golden has already won here and has the formula for Temple TUFF secret sauce. Even if AG says no, Johnson can ask him about candidates who he feels certain could succeed here. It would be a productive phone call either way.

Or Johnson can do nothing on his first day on the job here. Push a few papers, make a few phone calls, shake a few hands.

We’re kinda used to that around here.

Doing what TCU and Texas Tech just did would be a most welcome and pleasant surprise.

Wednesday: Fizzy

Friday: ECU Preview

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10 thoughts on “Carey: The Big Announcement?

  1. Well put Mike !!! Can not be satisfied with those scores above!!Love Temple 🏈

    • Stomping on the gas with no brakes….terrible to witness. That loud thud you heard is the program crashing into rock bottom.

  2. We bought those Season Tixx , and so we will go to the next few games.
    My wife loves football and most all sports, so I am safe here.
    Her dad was track star at Drexel ( ?)
    Her brother was a track star at PSU, yup.
    I am fortunate to have a wife who loves college sports,
    Otherwise, I would not go the Temple Football the rest of the year.
    PS – we like the Oregon Diner before a game, its so easy…..

  3. The fact that Temple did nothing today is in the sad tradition of Temple not solving problems right away and making a bad situation worse. I thought we’d get new bold leadership. Evidently this is exactly the kind of do-nothing leadership the BOT wants.

    • Carey should resign. Is he an honorable man with midwestern values? He knows he has lost this team, he knows he can’t recruit in this part of the country, he knows TU would fire him if they could afford it.

      So we have persistent despair.

      And, it is hard to fathom anyone throwing good money after bad. TU should stop calling until they put an OCS shovel in the ground.

      • Ron Dickerson resigned and that night his wife reminded him he was making 400k a year. He rescinded the resignation the next morning. Carey unfortunately has a wife..

    • Difference is that Wallace was at the end of his contract and Carey still has a couple years to go, hauling in 2 mil per year. Temple, as Mike said, doesn’t buy out contracts. So the decision is whether to keep him till the end while he thoroughly ruins the program or suck it in, find the money and get his ass outta here before he can ruin it any further. He was given a ridiculous contract to begin with and I for one hope Temple doesn’t make that mistake again.

  4. Being the new AD was involved with football at Texas, and given how Texas has played under their last three coaches, not expecting a lot initially.

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