The case against Elijah Robinson

Unlike many Temple fans, I’m going to take Fran Brown at his word.

As someone who recently took up the sport of kings, I learned pretty early in the process to stay away from Maiden Claiming horse races.

Reading the thumbnails on The Daily Racing Forum, some horses got better reviews than others on the basis of their pedigree.

Pretty good return on a $2 investment on Tuesday at Parx because I picked the four horses with the most wins. Arthur Johnson will cash at the Temple football coaching hiring window if he takes the same approach.

You’d never really know if they could win a race until they did.

Some never did.

I didn’t start to consistently finish in the black until I stopped betting Maiden Claimers and stuck to the Graded Stakes and Allowance Optional races.

That’s because I had a “past performance” record to go on and my formula of picking exotics based on how many past first-place finishes put me in the black. Not a perfect formula, but a pretty good one.

That works, too, with college football coaches.

The big-time programs don’t take a chance on career assistant coaches because there isn’t a “past performance” sheet to check and double check.

That’s not the only reason why Temple shouldn’t take a chance on Elijah Robinson (or his Syracuse staff mate, Jeff Nixon), but it is the best one. Robinson, a career assistant, is 1-2 as an “interim” head coach.

With Texas A&M talent. Doesn’t give me the warm and fuzzies about what he might be able to do with Temple talent.

We were on record as being against the Manny Diaz and Stan Drayton hires BEFORE THEY WERE HIRED HERE for many of the same reasons we’re against any assistant coach, including Elijah Robinson and Jeff Nixon.

Here’s another: Every single great thing said of Robinson by an ex-player or ex-coach (or current one, even) was also said about Stan Drayton three years ago.

You know how that worked out.

Yes, Temple has had some success with assistants before, like Al Golden and Matt Rhule.

That was a different time and a different place in the college football world.

There was no NIL or transfer portal and an assistant could take the time to build a program from the ground up with high school recruits. Back then, you could recruit a high school guy, get him in the weight room, red shirt him and play him by his second season.

Nobody’s got time for that anymore.

You’ve got to get the transfer portal people to win right away.

An instantly recognizable guy with a winning record as a head coach not only would create the kind of excitement with the fan base that would drive NIL money into the program but might bring some of his own players from a winning team and inject that winning culture into Temple.

A guy like Scot Loeffler might bring players from Bowling Green. A guy like Geoff Collins might bring players from UNC.

Doubt very seriously Robinson (or Nixon) bring players from Syracuse.

Had Temple gone, say, for Jim Mora Jr. three years ago instead of Stan Drayton, do you think the Owls would be better off?

I certainly do.

Mora will have UConn–a team Geoff Collins beat 57-7–in two bowl games in the same three years Drayton had the Owls going 9-25.

Past performance is the best indicator of future performance and, with an assistant, there is really nothing to go on but hope.

Hope doesn’t get me to a bowl game but a guy who has proven he can win as a head coach and has Philly and Temple ties will. Go get a guy like that.

Friday: UTSA Preview

19 thoughts on “The case against Elijah Robinson

    • But 2+ million a year should attract some pretty good proven HCs (I would think). But if all they go after is coordinator/assistants, offer just half of that…..

    • From your lips to God’s ears. A big splash coach with rich Philadelphia connections (Gabe and Gruden qualify) would immediately pump money into the Temple NIL pipeline. An obscure assistant like Robinson and Nixon with be met with the same “meh” and a shrugged shoulder most Philadelphians reserved for Drayton three years ago.

    • With regards to Div II coaches one name I’ve seen mentioned is Jim Clements at Kutztown. Don’t know anything about him so did a little research. Prior to Kutztown he was HC ad Div III Delaware Valley where he was 66-24, moved up to Div II Kutztown where he is currently 90-28. Between both HC positions has never had a losing season, worst record was a 5-5 year at Del Val. I know we didn’t have great luck the last time we pulled a coach from DII but unlike Wallace, Clements is from the area and all of his coaching in PA so he should at least have connections with local HS coaches. Also, his DC, Eric Fargo is a TU grad and was a grad assistant for several years under Phil Snow. Keep Foreman, Knight and Wiesehan from the current who were all here under either Golden, Rhule and/or Collins and you at least have the makings of a staff that is familiar with what should be TUFBs prime recruiting territory

      • I once asked Mike Pettine Sr. (one of the two greatest coaches I have ever known personally–the other being Wayne Hardin) to apply for the Temple job after Bruce Arians was fired. He said: “Mike, I think Gerry Faust ruined it for all of us high school coaches.” In very much the same manner, Bobby Wallace’s failure here probably ruined it for Division II and III head coaches to make the jump to Temple. Love Clements. Love the Temple connection. I think he would do very well here.

  1. I’d like to see us go after Gabe Infante, he has ties to the area and the program. It seems as though he’s had success as an assistant elsewhere too. Now whether or not he’s interested in this job is a different story

    • 91-22 as head coach of a school and 4 Pennsylvania state championships) that held most of its practices at 12th and Cecil B. Moore. You can’t get more Temple than that definition of “finding Acres of Diamonds” in your own backyard.

    • How much did TUFB really benefit when Infante was on staff? How many starters did he recruit for Temple? What was net benefit of his locals ties?

      • Handcuffed by Carey who outscored his recruiting to the midwestern idiots: After an unofficial visit to Duke last week, William Felder, Jr knew he had found his place. The junior defender from Philadelphia, PA had numerous opportunities among his scholarship offers, but a long-standing connection with Associate Head Coach Gabe Infante gave him a connection that made him feel like Duke was home.

        “What made me commit to Duke was the fact that they made it feel like a family. I also love the school and the players made me feel welcomed. Also Coach Infante being a tri-state guy made the decision a whole lot easier for me. I made the decision on the way back home from my unofficial visit with my family. I also love the facility and the weight regiment over there and it gave the feeling that everyone cares about getting better and the main goal which is to win a national championship.”

        Infante and new Blue Devils’ head coach Manny Diaz recruited the Pennsylvania area hard during their time at Penn State, and Infante was one of Diaz’s first hires during his short stint as Temple head coach.

      • I guess my question for that (hate answering with a question) is how much does it come down to the HC to “close the deal” with recruits? Given he was here under Carey and from everything I’ve read Carey had poor at best relationships in the prime TUFB recruiting area could that have a negative impact on Infante’s recruiting, plus he wasn’t a midwest guy and a holdover from Diaz

      • Carey gave the cold shoulder to everyone who wasn’t from NIU when he was here at Temple. He was a disaster. The kids loved every coach on the staff who wasn’t from NIU and Gabe was right at the top of those they respected.

  2. Just based on what I’ve been reading at this point the guys I would look to interview are: Loeffler, Infante, Clements and Collins. As I’ve said in a prior post I would also look to keep the members of the current staff who have been part of past success as well. If Johnson goes the coordinator route it has to be someone who has coached in the Northeast

  3. I’d give serious consideration to K.C. Keeler. Yeah he’s an older guy, but he’s a PA guy; has won at every school he’s head coached and just maybe he still has a lot of gas left in the tank like Curt Cignetti.

    • Remember him at Rowan when I was getting my MBA there. Have to think TUFB can pay more than Sam Houston and the AAC is a move up

    • Definitely in the top 10. I know his brother Kevin pretty well. Kevin was a legendary boys’ basketball coach at Quakertown High when our own Doug Shobert (North/South game quarterback) was the head football coach there.

  4. Criteria, and questions Johnson should be asking?

    • Demonstrated fundraising ability
    • Plan for embracing the culture of 10th and Diamond
    • How do you define Temple Tuff, and single digit selection criteria
    • Do you have candidates for key staff
    • Recruiting network for the regional footprint, plan for building relationships
    • Coaching strategy, pass happy, stop the run, Tampa 2, or man, etc.
    • How are you going to use the portal, and manage NIL

    IMHO Johnson failed miserably w/the Drayton hire by not addressing any of the above.

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