Last donation: Ed P., Yardley, Pa. (1/9/23; thanks, Ed,, your generosity is greatly appreciated) Lawrence S., West Chester, Pa., 12/28/22, our first contribution in over a month (thanks Larry, this will help in having to replace the printer we purchased in the summer that went on the fritz); Bob C., Chadds Ford, Pa., 11/27/22 (thanks Bob, our first contribution since September) Ed P., Perkasie, Pa. who donated 9/24/22 at the UMass game and Ed and I both remember and love Pennridge coach Wayne Helman; Joe S. (Delaware County), 9/3/22 (thanks Joe, hope to see you at Lafayette or RU); James G. (thanks James and for all the great posts you make on this site),, 7/29/22: Matt P. (former Al Golden player, thank you Matt for the generous donation it will be put to good use as we will explain in Monday’s post), 6/9/22; Matt F., Horsham, Pa. (thanks, Matt!!), June 6, 2022; David, B., Milton, DE (thanks, Dave), April 11, 2022: Andy B., Philadelphia, Pa. (our first donation of 2022, thanks Andy), March 3, 2022; Ed P., Yardley, Pa. 12/25/21 (thanks, Ed for the Christmas donation); Matt F., no hometown found (“a celebratory donation for Carey’s firing”), 11/30/21 thanks, Matt; Jon E., Cincinnati, Ohio, 11/29/21 (thanks, Jon for the donation and the great comments on this site); James G., Royersford, Pa. 11/28/21 (thanks, Jim, for the donations and your comments on the website); Anonymous (no home town given but donation really appreciated), 11/20/2021; Roger D., Rehoboth Beach,, Del., 10/24/21; Joe S., Drexel Hill, Pa. 10/3/21 (thanks, Joe) At the BC game (9/18), John from Landenburg (thanks, John for being a great friend of this site for so many years); Three Aug. 21 donations: Eric A (former player), Atlanta, Ga; Anonymous (by request), Cincinnati, Oh; Tim R., Buffalo, N.Y. (sincere thanks to all); David N., Silver Springs, Md (thanks Dave) 7/10/21; former Temple player Matt P., who lives in Columbus, GA now (thanks Matt) 7/9/21; Joe F., Philadelphia (4/7/11, thanks Joe) Matt F., Horsham, Pa., 3/27/21 (thanks, Matt); Jon E., Cincinnati, Ohio (1/31/21, thanks Jon) Ed P.,, Yardley, Pa. (thanks, Ed, much appredicated), 1/16/21; Mitchell S. , 12/21/20, our first contribution since (10/8) earlier, Former Owl Bruce G., Flourtown, Pa, who generously donated $100 in “honor” of the Ambler guy 10/8/20; (if they hate you in Ambler, we love you in Flortown,” BG says). Thanks, BG, we appreciate it; Earlier: James G., Philadelphia (7/21/20, thanks James) Robert B., Philadelphia (7/13/20, thanks, Bob, hope to see you at the tailgates again this fall); Previous: Jon E. from Cincinnati 6/15/20, our first donation this calendar year (thanks, Jon); Earlier, John from Landenberg; Kurt B., Wyomissing Hills, PA (former Temple player, 10-15-19) Earlier: David B. , Springfield, PA (9/26/19 … thanks, Dave!) also John from Landenberg (9/21/19); Tom W., Palm Coast, Fla. (8/22/19, thanks Tom!! Also, 10 days earlier, Bob. C and Joe S. and, on June 26, first bowl MVP Mark B.
Earlier: Matt F., Philadelphia; Matt P. (former Temple player) John from Landenberg and Jon E. from Cincinnati
Jay M. no hometown found ; Earlier: William B. Chicago; John from Landenberg, ; Mark B, South Jersey, Joe S, Springfield, PA…,
Also:
Ed P., Perkasie, Pa; and Richard W. (no hometown given); Phil E., Lorton, Va.; Tim C., no hometown available; Bob C., David B., Springfield (Montco); Mark B., from South Jersey; John from Landenberg, Pa.; Joe S., Primos, PA; Thomas W., Palm Coast Fla; Jon E., Cincinnati; Mike S.,no hometown; Ed P., Yardley; William B., Chicago; Matt M., Philadelphia; Matt T.., Oreland; Kevin H., Philadelphia; John from Landenberg, Pa.; Carl M, Silver Spring, Md.;; Brett K., Swedesboro, N.J.; Joe S., Primos, Pa.; Ed M., Paoli, Pa.; Phil E., Lorton, Va.; Ross M., Garden City, NY; David K., Malvern; Jon E., Cincinnati ; Jon, SE Ohio; Cordalia and Jim S., Eastampton, NJ.; Herb G., Newport News, Va.; Richard W., Royersford; Matt T., Philadelphia, Pa.; MWB, Mechanicsville, Va.; Phil E., Lorton, Va.; K.J., Alexandria, Va.; Jeff D., Philadelphia,; Michael R., Philadelphia,Matt T, Philadelphia, Pa.; Ed M., Paoli, Pa.(8 in a row for 8 in a row, thanks EM); Jake and Diane Gicker, Dunmore, Pa.; Ed M., Paoli, Pa.; Adrian R. Sr., Harrisburg, Pa.; Frank M., Marlton, N.J.; Ernie, Millville, N.J.; ; Jay M., Salem, Ore.; Joe S., Primos, Pa.; Phil E., Lorton, Va; Tom W., Palm Coast, Fla.; Matt M., (five donations in a row); Kevin F., Philadelphia, Pa.;Matt M. (three donations in a row, thanks, Matt); Matt M.; Matt M.; Brian C., Philadelphia, Pa.; Matt M., Hometown ;Unknown; David N., Silver Spring, Md.; Matt M., hometown unknown; Frank K., Horseheads, N.Y.; Mike F., Montauk, N.Y.; John, Landenberg, Pa.; Michael B, D.C.; Joe S., Primos, Pa.; James G., Philadelphia, Pa.; Michael R., Philadelphia, Pa.; David N., Silver Spring (Md.);
Mark H., Gilbertsville, Pa.; Lisa M., Hummelstown, Pa.; Johnny Who, West Chester, Pa.; John T., Medford, N.J. (formerly North Catholic, Philly); Jon, SE Ohio; Jay M., Salem, Ore.; Dan M., Moscow, Pa.; Cyrus, Oklahoma City; Jon E., Cincinnati; Chris K., Harrisburg, Pa.; Chip M., Silver Spring, Md.; Dave B., Springfield, Pa.; Kent J., Alexandria, Va.; Ross M., Garden City, N.Y.; Joe S., Primos, Pa.; Ed F., Philadelphia, Pa.; Frank P., Jamison, Pa.; Jon E., Cincinnati, Ohio; Phil E., Lorton, Va.; Matt G., Haddonfield, N.J.; Tom L., Charlottesville, Va.; Thomas S., Landisville, Pa.; Jack D., Haddonfield, N.J.; Heriberto S., McDonough, Ga; Dr. Jim S., Mt. Pleasant, S.C.; Dick White, Milton, Del.; Matt T., Philadelphia; Jerome S., North Caldwell, N.J.; Mike D., Fairview, N.C.; Tim W., Myerstown, Pa.; Edward P., Yardley, Pa.; Tom W., Palm Coast, Fla.; Kurt B., Wyomissing, Pa.; Joe S., Primos, Pa.; Tom S., East Norriton, Pa.; Jon E., Cincinnati, Ohio; Matt T., Yardley, Pa.; Steve C., West Chester, Pa.; Floyd, Blackwood, N.J.; Jim J., Chalfont, Pa.; John, Landenberg, Pa; Jon E., Cincinnati; Ron A., Camp Hill, Pa.; Jay S., Jenkintown, Mr. John H.; Jonathan N., Atlanta, Ga.; Michael E., Levittown, Pa.; Ted D., Media, Pa. Nick and Sharon, Upper Bucks County; Phil E., Lorton, Va.; Todd H., New York City; Alex H., Westport, CT; Joe S., Primos, PA; Kent J., Alexandria, Va.; Ross M., Garden City, N.Y.; Stanley G., Mountain Top, Pa.; David N., Silver Spring, Md.; Micah F., Philadelphia, Pa.; James S., Mt. Pleasant, S.C.; Tom W., Palm Coast, Fla.; Johnny B. at the Hill Studio, Paulsboro, N.J.; Nick C., Philadelphia; Tom C., Birmingham, Ala.; Phil. E. (Fast Phil), Lorton, Va; Jerome S., North Caldwell, N.J.; Kent J., Alexandria, Va.; George P., Downingtown, Pa.; Edward F., Philadelphia; Bryan S., North East, Pa.; Josh P., West Chester, Pa.; Brent Z., Atlanta, Ga.; David B., Springfield (D), Pa; Lisa M., Hummelstown, Pa.; David H., Pottstown, Pa.; Brian O., Ambler, Pa; Frank P., Jamison, Pa.; Brian C., Philadelphia; Mark B., Manlius, N.Y.; Ted D., Media; Scott J., Columbus, Ohio; Thomas H., Mullica Hill, N.J.; George T., Rehoboth Beach, Del.; Rob G., Fleetwood, Pa; Steve C., West Chester, Pa.; Fred A., St. Augustine, Fla.; Michael S., Westfield, N.J.; John, Landenberg, Pa.; Kent J., Alexandria, Va.; Frank P., Jamison, Pa; Matt G., Basking Ridge, N.J.; Joe S., Primos, PA; Nick and Sharon, Upper Bucks County; John T., Medford, N.J.; Cap P., Finksburg, Md; Coolowl, New York City; Michael B., Washington, D.C.; Oakee, Salem, VA; Rob from Fleetwood; John from New Kensington; Kathyrn, Bloomingville, Ohio; Rockland Owl; Matt, Haddonfield, N.J.; Anthony, New York City; Jason F., Berlin (N.J.); Ed, New Hope; Mark B., Manlius, N.Y.; Mike, Lindenwold, N.J.; Tom C., Birmingham, Ala. Jim, Mt. Pleasant, S.C.; Kurt, Wyomissing Hills, PA;
Dave, Ocean City, N.J.; James, Chalfont; Ross, Garden City (N.Y.); Schmitty, Ocean City, N.J.; Sarge (via Schmitty);
Broad Street Leon; Martin, Encino (Calif.); John, Boston; Mike, Susannanoa, N.C.; Francis, Lansdale; Tom L., Charlottesville, Va.; Mark, Gilbertsville, Pa.; Frank, Sebastian, Fla.; George, Toms River, N.J.; Tom, Branchburg, N.J.; Chris, Philly (our first Philly donation!); John, Landenberg, Pa.; Tom S. East Norriton, Pa.;
Temple Football Forever 
Just got this email from former Temple and Seattle Seawhawks kicker Don Bitterlich. Will post it as a comment here:
Mike ,
I agree with your sentiments posted. I feel a high risk { and potential reward} , more so, high risk in a SEC coordinator over Golden, or Gabe or Preston. In that order.
There is no sure thing, but, I put my faith in the program back upon Al Golden, keeping Gabe and Preston as a potential successor.
Al understood the strength of the Temple brand, from the line play on both sides, then surrounding the trenches with potential star skill players.
Seems you are making the salient points on the blog and we hope this happens.
Don
Thanks, Don!!!
Reports today say Fran Brown
what’s the reason for delay? other schools moved with deliberate speed, not to miss the early signing period.
Being the last to fill a HC vacancy doesn’t speak well for TU’s process. The carousel stopped spinning and Temple is w/o a horse.
Always behind the curve with everything….par for the course.
This is exactly why I wrote after the USF game that we needed to fire Carey now and not wait until the end of the season. Gabe could have held everything down while they were using the last month of the season to vet candidates.
Word on the street is that Fran Brown will be the next coach and is finalizing the deal.
**Correction – they have been seriously considering him but still not confirmed.
Brown was my first pick. He’s local, familiar with the recruiting area, young and energetic. Al Golden may be available as an AC if the Bengals miss the playoffs.
Al is not going from an NFL assistant to a college assistant. Heard from many of his ex-players he didn’t want the job and it turned out they were right. It’s a shame because hiring any assistant is a crapshoot. That said he’s 100x better for Temple than Stan Drayton.
I wonder about the guidance, if any, the BOT gave the AD.
Did they say, “Arthur, take all the time you need. Don’t worry about the early signing period, or making offers to star student athletes in the portal. We wrote off 2021 and will write of 2022 for the right HC.”
The delay has a severe negative ripple effect. The first and second choices for assistant coaches and staff are no longer available. That means any new HC will be forced to hire third and forth choices this upcoming year. And, replace those guys for the 2023 season…,
Source say the AD had his guy a week ago. Who was that guy and what happened? Dunno.., maybe it is still the same guy.
In any event TUFB lost opportunity. The ripple is a multi-year negative effect
The fact that a full day after the footballscoop.com leak came out about Brown that more reliable sources like Thamel, McMurphy or Feldman haven’t been able to confirm it is troubling. I will say one thing: If it’s Drayton after all this excitement over Brown bubbled over, there will be a lot of pissed off fans.
Not really big on either of the alleged “finalists” for the HC position but given those choices Brown seems to be the better one given his recruiting connections.
Agreed
I don’t think a school like temple has the luxury of low risk / safe hires. You end up with mediocre to below mediocre guys like Carry. Just like we used to recruit, it’s about finding the diamonds in the rough. We need a head coach that can recruit and help turn these boys into men academically, athletically and personally. Rhule could do that and in return his boys would run through a brick wall for him. Fran has learned from Matt and I believe he could do the same. He’s one of the highest paid coordinators in the country for a reason. Yes there would be learning curve but if you have the right guy at the right place in the end it’s going to be a success.
Fran Brown – head coach
Gabe Infante- offensive coordinator
Elijah Robinson- defensive coordinator
Ed Foley- special-teams coordinator
Might not be the most experienced coaching staff with the exception of Ed but we would be the top recruiting class in the American every year!
The longer this drags out the more I’m afraid it’s going to be Drayton. Between Brown and Drayton, a lot more juice in the fan base if it’s Brown Reaction to Drayton would be a universal: MEH
Beginning to think you are going to have to hold off on your Friday: Reaction to Hiring post until next week the way this is dragging out
Already here we’ve lost at LEAST 2 more years to bad football by not being ready to go at this first signing date.
Tuff to recruit into a bad football team, and no one will come here now with this indecision. SO then, maybe 1 or 2 miracle HS kids under the radar come to TU, which do not get picked up by organized schools and scholarships, that’s my only hope now.
You have to wonder how much the BOT cares. It’s as if they are building in excuses to be bad. “Oh, we lost the 2022 recruiting year due to the late HC hire. Now, we will give this HC another 4-5 yrs to build a competitive team.”
Do they realize college football is moving forward at lightning speed? TUFB is going backwards.
It would be refreshing to learn the BOT’s vision for Temple Athletics.
Memphis will be the next team to leave the AAC. They have a strategy, means, and ways to achieve.
https://gotigersgo.com/sports/general
Looks like I was right all along: Drayton will be the guy due to his ties with Johnson, not his ability to do the job. No connections to Temple, plenty of connections to Johnson. Bradshaw begets Dunphy+Kraft begets Carey+Johnson begets Drayton=another Temple hiring disaster. I was hoping Johnson would break this cronyism syndrome but I guess I gave him too much credit.
SMH…, according to sources the AD made this decision over two weeks ago.
What happened to make TUFB lose valuable recruiting time?
TU owes everyone an explanation. And shame on all the columnists who don’t press the issue during the news conference.
Mark my words, this is the beginning to the end of TUFB. Terrible process, worst in all of college football, led to a terrible hire. Terrible results will follow.
Temple is the least talented team in the AAC by a wide margin. Over the last three seasons all the stars left. Drayton will be recruiting for a losing team during his entire tenure.
Cronyism sucks.
Drayton is more qualified for this job. I have no clue what your guy’s problem with him is. He has local recruiting experience, he has national recruiting experience, as a run game coordinator, he’s likely to want to run an offense you can get behind, he has NFL experience and he had plenty of other chances to leave Texas, so he wants this job. I have no clue where your hatred for this move is coming from. Because it’s not the guy that you know and are familiar with but the guy that Johnson knows and is familiar with? This kind of hurt feelings stuff is how we ended up giving Carey a king’s ransom in exchange for his buyout figure. Grow up.
Penn and Nova is not Temple
Kraft was familiar with Carey too. How did that turn out? You grow up
This is a fence swing hire. Stan either brings the program back to a higher profile or he may be the last head coach in the history of the program.
He comes with a strong resume’ and sterling reputation. Much of this will depend on his staff. Important to keep Gabe and Preston in their current roles. His background is the strongest since Al was hired. My hunch is he will do well. I found it telling that Sarkisian retained him after taking over at Texas. Most of that staff was jettisoned.
I’ve heard conflicting info about where the Fran Brown candidacy went off the rails. But it went off the rails last time as well. I would have been happy with Fran at this point.
Reality was that Al was never coming back. He has an idea of what the next decade looks like for him and none of it includes college coaching. Putting Gabe or Preston in the role would have been absolute insanity with their lack of collegiate experience. They may be more viable as candidates if the Drayton administration has a good run over the next 4 years.
I will be rooting for Stan as The Man!
Well there’s nothing we can do except hope everything goes well. Here’s a clip of Drayton coaching the RBs at Texas. Great RB coach but we’ll have to wait and see how that translates. All we can do is hope for the best..
Another interesting interview. Like I said, all we can do is hope for the best and hope it translates to being a successful head coach. Hopefully Gabe and Preston get coordinator positions.
Gabe and Preston would have almost certainly had huge roles if Fran Brown had been hired. This guy is going to want to bring a lot of Texas people with him. We’re just replacing a midwestern staff with a southern one. Didn’t work out with Wallace or Carey and not getting my hopes up here either. We needed to go Temple-centric … either Golden, Brown, Mike Siravo, etc. and cronyism reared its ugly head again.
I do think though that because he hasn’t had any head coaching experience he won’t be able to bring as many people over as someone who was a head coach like Wallace and Carey. Carey had a whole staff and brought them over. Drayton doesn’t really have a staff to bring with him.
However he’s been all over the place and might want to bring one of his guys he’s met at OSU, Tennessee, Texas Florida or wherever else he’s been. —– I REALLY HOPE NOT and I hope he was strongly urged to keep TU connections.
This guy doesn’t know Philly at all. Penn & Villanova more than 20 years ago and even now is not TU. So I’m hoping he’ll surround himself with TU guys. We’ll see.
Penn might as well be a California school for the types of students it gets and Villanova a Boston school. They are about as non-Philly as any Philly schools can be.
Veeeerrrrry Interrestingk as Arty Johnson would say behind the bushes on Laugh In. Stan Drayton is low-risk, which is how AD Arthur Johnson interpreted your headline. High-Risk would have been Fran Brown. Be veerry careful what you wish for.
Mike Aresco and Texas. No small coincidence Aresco moved the AAC HQs to Irving, TX. The new AAC will have 4 teams from Texas, 1/3rd of the AAC teams will be from Texas.
And who do you think gave Johnson’s resume to Temple? Now, Johnson hires a Texas position coach.
28 HC vacancies this year, Temple was the last to fill. Of the 28 new HCs only two were position coaches, McGuire (LBs at Baylor) Texas Tech, and Drayton (RBs at Texas).
This is a high risk swing for the fences, and a move to get Temple closer to Texas. Drayton is regarded highly by only a few folks. See link below:
https://www.on3.com/news/50-rising-star-position-coaches-2021-college-football-season/
We’ll all hope for the best. the reality is very, very, very rarely do position coaches with zero coordinator experience move up to be HC, and enjoy success.
Can anyone remember the last time a position coach moved up to HC and had a winning record in the first or second year? TU fan base needs to calibrate expectations, it may be awhile, or it may be never.
Jim stated it best, “This is a fence swing hire. Stan either brings the program back to a higher profile or he may be the last head coach in the history of the program.”
Al Golden would have been low risk since he already performed the exact same job at a high level. Pretty much everybody else is a crapshoot.
Mike, I think you should wait before making judgements on our new coach. I know you wanted Golden, but I also remember years ago you complaining about his game day coaching and how he never beat a MAC team with a winning record. Drayton was very impressive in today’s press conference. He now has the job, complaining about his hire instead of Fran Brown will not change anything. At least wait until he hires his staff.
Hope for best, we must.
In the mean time, doing the required reading of articles about the new HC I see he played college football at a school named Allegheny in wester PA. Truth be told I don’t think I’ve ever heard of football from there. Oh well…..
After watching the press conference, hard to not come away really impressed and encouraged by what Stan brings to the table. I’m skeptical as much as anyone, but came away feeling excited.
Should have waited one more day and picked up Urban Liar. LOL
I Love Temple OWL Football, let’s give this Head Coach a chance!!! I agree he needs to keep some of our Temple coaches and hiring his OC and DC is going to be interesting. I also feel if a man is a good recruiter, he can do it anywhere!! I did hear people say when Coach Ruhle and Brown went to Baylor that they would suffer in recruiting and how did that work out? Plus does anyone else even know if any of these other people were even interested? We cannot use Carey as an example of what just happened to this program in the last 3 years with this hire !!! Good Luck Coach and let’s get Temple Owl Football Respectable again!!!
Mike
We all know how you’ve felt about this choice from the get go and I can’t disagree.
I was hoping to come away impressed with the introductory conference, but did not at all.
While I was pleased to see Drayton didn’t grab for cliches on cheesesteaks and South Philly, I was underwhelmed.
Drayton sounded and looked much older than 51 years to me. Is he gonna have the juice to attract players and to connect with young men? What was with the dabbing of his mouth and face multiple times with his towel? Was he sweating? Nerves?
No matter what, he’s got to succeed or we won’t see Temple football in 5 years.
Agree. Wanted to hear the word win a lot more. Heard him talking about how great it was that his ex players were good men and married and all that. Frankly I don’t give a damn. I want him to say we are going to upgrade the roster to the point where we are handing out the 61-14 beatings and not receiving them.