What could go wrong? The buddy system

Stan Drayton himself was the beneficiary of the buddy system, going from working for Texas football to be hired by the former Texas football directior of operations Arthur Johnson.

One of the benefits of being a 50-plus-year Temple football fan is seeing what worked and what did not.

From my observation, the best Temple football coaching staffs had only a small element of guys who were past buddies and a larger composition of guys who applied for the job and were interviewed and hired by a head coach who really didn’t know the guys elsewhere before.

The staffs that qualified under the former were the ones of Wayne Hardin, Al Golden, and Matt Rhule.

You know how that worked out.

At least a couple of favorite Temple football coaching hiring stories come to mind.

Vince Hoch met Hardin at high school football coaching clinic in South Jersey. Hoch approached Hardin and asked for five minutes of his time then laid out defensive coaching philosophies. Hardin was so impressed he hired him on the spot. Hoch might have been the best DC ever. Hardin didn’t know Hoch from Adam.

A young assistant from West Carolina drove five hours to 10th and Diamond and asked Temple aide Nadia Harvin if could wait two more for Al Golden to be finished from his meeting. That assistant, Matt Rhule, wasn’t hired on the spot but he made such an impression on Golden that when the first spot opened Al hired him.

It helped that they both played at Penn State but Al didn’t really know Matt until then.

The rest is history.

Matt Rhule drove five hours and waited for two more outside Al Golden’s office to ask for a job at Temple.

The other staffs who failed here were the guys Rod Carey loved (an entire NIU staff pretty much), the Geoff Collins staff and, to a far lesser extent, the Steve Addazio staff.

At least with Addazio, he brought with him from Gainesville, Fla. significant pieces of the national champion Florida Gator team he left behind. Absolutely mind-blowing that a DC who Urban Meyer credited for half a national championship one year was in the same spot at Temple the next. Less mind-blowing but still impressive was that Tim Tebow’s quarterback coach (Scot Loeffler) turned Chris Coyer into the first Temple bowl-winning quarterback since Brian Broomell.

If Everett Withers posts consecutive shutouts his first season as DC at Temple like Chuck Heater did in his, a lot of Temple fans will be shocked out of their minds (most of all me).

What happened under Chuck Heater:

His Owls posted back-to-back shutouts. A Temple team hasn’t done the same since then.

What does that have to do with this year’s prospects?

If Stan Drayton’s Owls were to post even as memorable a season as Daz’s first Temple team did (8-4), it would be to buck a 50-year Temple football trend because the staff Drayton has put together includes three assistants from a couple of 2-10 Texas State teams and a head coach of that same team (Everett Withers) who never shut out anyone when his sole job was as a DC.

Drayton’s staffs pretty much mirror the staffs of Carey and Collins and probably aren’t even half as accomplished at Daz’s staff.

What’s that famous Bill Parcells’ quote?

“You are what your record says you are.”

The flip side of that coin is that Drayton’s resume as an assistant is as impressive as his aides are putrid.

This isn’t the 1987 Frankford High era when one head coach (Al Angelo) and one assistant (Tom Mullineaux) can lead a team to a 12-0 season without the help of a single other coach.

Or even 1950 Penn State where the only two coaches were Rip Engle (head) and a young assistant named Joe Paterno.

Drayton might be the head chef but he did not do himself a favor by hiring those who have surrounded him. There are a lot of cooks in this kitchen and one overcooked or undercooked meal could ruin the bowl prospects of a team without a large margin of error. They may be nice guys and he may be comfortable with them but familiarity can breed contempt if the bottom line isn’t met.

He will go to war with the devils he does know and it’s obvious he’s comfortable with it now. Let’s hope this staff is an exception to a well-documented Temple football past.

Monday: What Can Go Right?

6 thoughts on “What could go wrong? The buddy system

  1. Well gee whiz Mike, this doesn’t exude much confidence for a decent season. The resume of the DC is a real head scratcher if Drayton cares about winning. But as usual we’ll have to wait and see and hope for the best. And if this blows up it’ll be interesting to see how long Johnson keeps him around considering the AD’s propensity for replacing other HCs.

    • Absolutely amazes me that a guy like Stan Drayton who has been a winner develops these relationships with guys who come from places like Texas State where there is no history of success. It’s like in high school when you see a super hot girl be friends with a fat chick. I’m sure Stan knew Chuck Heater from his connections with Urban Meyer but he puts half the team in the hands of a guy who as recently as 2021 allowed 54 points to Texas Tech, 58 to FAU, 47 to ODU, 45 to Charlotte, 50 to Middle Tennesse and 49 to North Texas. I’d rather have a young guy from an FCS defense that shut out a few people in charge of my defense than someone with that baggage.

  2. https://footballscoop.com/news/biff-poggi-calls-out-charlotte-community

    “You are wrong. Don’t speak on what you don’t know. This is part of the problem. Apologists for mediocrity. Do your research”

    Biff Poggi called out the local Charlotte community and uni for lack of support. His response above during the back and forth is a classic.

    He defined that other TUFB Blog perfectly, apologist for mediocrity.

    • This is the only TUFB blog. 🙂 There are a couple of other sites that cover Temple football (OwlsDaily and Owlscoop) but this is the only “blog” I know of that covers Temple football exclusively.

  3. Hopefully the AD will not be patient with Drayton’s hires as Drayton may be if things aren’t going well.

    • The AD is now one of the elephants in the room. He is the BOT’s voice for the status quo. He doesn’t support NIL.., ever listen to that guy? A program death wish.

      Lousy leadership skills, he would rather fire that teach, coach, and mentor.

      TUFB is more suited for a Return of the Mack vice competing against the likes of Tulane, SMU, USF, and UConn.

      We were 25-15 in the MAC compared to a losing record in the AAC. The MAC is more aligned with where the TU BOT views athletics.

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