11.24.24
by

Russell Conwell’s clear-cut choice: Gabe Infante

Two-time national high school championship head coach Gabe Infante’s teams practiced at 12th and Cecil B. Moore, which makes him the very definition of Russell Conwell’s “Acres of Diamonds” in your own backyard.

Wasn’t able to get the seance with Temple University founder Russell Conwell I requested over the weekend but did the next best thing.

Read everything he wrote.

Then I had my answer to the question I was looking for: Who should be Temple’s next head football coach?

Conwell’s clear-cut choice:

Gabe Infante.

Even before Conwell founded Temple, he was best known as the guy who wrote “Acres of Diamonds.”

The Cliff Notes version of that story is about a Persian farmer who sold his property to search the world for diamonds only to return and find the old farm was full of Acres of Diamonds in his own backyard.

With this Temple football coaching search, that’s clearly Gabe Infante.

Ever since Matt Rhule left Temple after posting a pair of double-digit-win seasons, the athletic directors charged with replacing him sold their farms looking for Acres of Diamonds far and wide from 10th and Diamond.

Turns out, like the guy from Persia, the diamonds were already here.

Knowing he wouldn’t achieve his goal of being a college coach if he stayed in high school, Infante gave up his comfortable career and accepted Manny Diaz’s offer to be his first Temple assistant. He and Rod Carey didn’t get along (a plus for Infante and a minus for Carey) and Infante would up as a valuable assistant at Penn State. When the Lions’ defensive coordinator (also Diaz) took the head coaching job at Duke, Infante became the Duke assistant head coach.

Former Temple and current Buffalo Bills RB Ray Davis gave his opinion of Gabe Infante here.

Other than Indiana, Duke has become the feel-good story in college football this season and Infante has had a big role in that.

Much like Rhule, who had to leave Temple for a year of apprenticeship with the New York Giants, Infante acquired similar experience at both Penn State and Duke.

He’s ready.

I’ve never met Gabe, but, having covered Pennsylvania high school football since 1975 for both the Doylestown Intelligencer and Philadelphia Inquirer, I’ve gotten to know people I respect in the high school football world on both sides of the river and they all rave about him. Not a single one has said a negative word about his ability as both a head coach and a CEO of a program. The reviews about him as a person are even more glowing.

Not only that, in his two years as an assistant coach at Temple, he gained respect of the players.

Gabe Infante is a legendary high school football coach in Philadelphia.

I have seen plenty of his games when he was head coach at the Prep and his teams never jumped offsides, never had false starts and always made dynamic plays on special teams. Their offensive line sprinted to the line of scrimmage for every play. (No lie. Check the film.) They were more well-drilled than most college and NFL teams.

When Temple fired Stan Drayton a week ago, I initially thought it might be a good thing for Arthur Johnson to hire Geoff Collins because Collins is the only coach in Temple history to never have a losing season. The soundbite of Johnson saying “Ladies and Gentlemen, I reintroduce you to the only head football coach in Temple University history to never have a losing season: Geoff Collins.”

Would have been a classic line but Collins already had his time here and left.

This is Gabe Infante’s time.

Just ask Russell Conwell.

Friday: North Texas Preview

25 thoughts on “Russell Conwell’s clear-cut choice: Gabe Infante”

  1. Great Conwell analogy. Gabe is in his first year as assistant head coach and special teams coordinator at Duke. He also coaches Duke’s defensive tackles. Gabe would be great for Temple having local ties as former head coach at The Prep for nine years as well as assistant coach at Temple. Before his collegiate coaching career began, Infante spent 22 years at the high school level as both a head coach and defensive coordinator in Pennsylvania (The Prep), New Jersey, and New York. Great regional experience. But I think it would be tough get him to leave his new position at Duke. Worth a try though, I guess.

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    • My thoughts was the bleephole new President just poisoned the well on the coaching search. What big-time guy is likely to come here when he has the sword of Damocles hanging over his head in the form of this study?

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      • we did get this email this morning:

        Dear Temple University Football Letterwinners and Alumni,

        We are writing today to address recent media coverage, which misrepresented Temple’s position with respect to our football program. Football is an integral part of our identity, and we want to honor and reinvigorate our tradition and legacy. For generations, Temple football has been a source of pride and community, bringing us together to celebrate teamwork, perseverance, and excellence on and off the field. 

        As we write this, we are actively engaged in discussions with several highly-qualified head coach candidates. We are searching for a coach who will infuse energy into the program and position us to compete for conference championships and play in bowl games. We look forward to making an announcement soon. 

        We recognize that the landscape of college football, and intercollegiate athletics in general, is changing rapidly. Conference realignment, the transfer portal, and Name, Image, and Likeness opportunities, among many other factors, are reshaping the dynamics of competition. These challenges demand that we adapt and innovate to ensure Temple football not only survives but thrives in this evolving environment.

        Last spring, under the leadership of Vice President/Debbie and Stanley Lefkowitz ’65 Director of Athletics Arthur Johnson, and with oversight from the Board of Trustees, the university began a comprehensive review and assessment of the athletics program. This evaluation started prior to President Fry’s arrival. No single program is the focus of that review. Any indication to the contrary is not accurate. Like many other schools across the country, this proactive step was taken so the university can strategically plan amidst a dynamic and shifting landscape.

        As we move into the next chapter of Temple football, we want to reiterate our commitment to the program and send our appreciation for your continued support. We have an opportunity now to position Temple where it belongs in the college football landscape and none of that would be possible without you.

        Go Owls! 

        John Fry
        President

  3. Meanwhile–ONLY AFTER THE FACT–he released this (if he didn’t leak shit to Philly Business Journal he wouldn’t have to backtrack):

    Dear Temple University Football Letterwinners and Alumni,

    We are writing today to address recent media coverage, which misrepresented Temple’s position with respect to our football program. Football is an integral part of our identity, and we want to honor and reinvigorate our tradition and legacy. For generations, Temple football has been a source of pride and community, bringing us together to celebrate teamwork, perseverance, and excellence on and off the field.

    As we write this, we are actively engaged in discussions with several highly-qualified head coach candidates. We are searching for a coach who will infuse energy into the program and position us to compete for conference championships and play in bowl games. We look forward to making an announcement soon.

    We recognize that the landscape of college football, and intercollegiate athletics in general, is changing rapidly. Conference realignment, the transfer portal, and Name, Image, and Likeness opportunities, among many other factors, are reshaping the dynamics of competition. These challenges demand that we adapt and innovate to ensure Temple football not only survives but thrives in this evolving environment.

    Last spring, under the leadership of Vice President/Debbie and Stanley Lefkowitz ’65 Director of Athletics Arthur Johnson, and with oversight from the Board of Trustees, the university began a comprehensive review and assessment of the athletics program. This evaluation started prior to President Fry’s arrival. No single program is the focus of that review. Any indication to the contrary is not accurate. Like many other schools across the country, this proactive step was taken so the university can strategically plan amidst a dynamic and shifting landscape.

    As we move into the next chapter of Temple football, we want to reiterate our commitment to the program and send our appreciation for your continued support. We have an opportunity now to position Temple where it belongs in the college football landscape and none of that would be possible without you.

    Go Owls!

    John Fry
    President

    Arthur Johnson
    Vice President/Debbie and Stanley Lefkowitz ’65 Director of Athletics

    Reply

  4. We do not know the entire story. Media sometimes takes things out of context for a story. The Philadelphia media loves to hate Temple. They will do anything to bury the school. Even hearing Johnson being interviewed Friday night, it did not sound like the school was dropping football. Look at the story in The Inquirer a week ago by a reporter suggesting Temple drop Football after Drayton was let go. So many of his facts were wrong in the article. I have said this before, while Temple is not blameless in its recent Football woes, our biggest competitor is the media, as opposed to other AAC schools. I am willing to give Fry the benefit of the doubt on this since he is new. If we get a good coaching hire then he can be vindicated.

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    • Good point but if the Philadelphia Business Journal asked Fry he should have politely said we’re in the middle of a coaching search and I’m not going to comment. Of course, this whole story could have been made up but I think Fry is half right and the Business Journal is half right and in totally that can’t give any candidate the warm and fuzzies about the Temple football coaching job.

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    • He has plenty of coaching contacts in the Philadelphia area as well as his contacts at Temple, Penn State and Duke. He can bring in Terry Smith from Penn State, the strength coach from Kennesaw State (who played at Temple), and some great head coaches from the Catholic and Public League who can reinvigorate those recruiting pipelines. I’m tired of seeing Kyle McCord (Prep) go off to Ohio State, D’Andre Swift go to Georgia and the kid from Roman (who was recruited by Infante) go to Duke. We can’t keep them all in Philly but Infante can get a lot of good ones to stay. He’s also DIaz’s “Howie Roseman” of the transfer portal, able to identify good backups at other P4 teams and put them on the field for Duke. He can do the same for Temple.

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    • Not me. I read his Wall Street Journal piece against football. Drexel is a scrub school not because it gave up football but because it was never big enough to have football. Temple is a huge school. It should have football.

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      • Drexel undergraduate enrollment is 13k.

        Wake Forest undergraduate 6k.

        I’m not a Drexel alum, but the school is plenty big enough to have football.

        TU has 3x the enrollment of Wake. Rice has 5k undergrad. Both smaller then Drexel.

        I’d take Wake Forest program over TU’s, even with significantly smaller enrollment. Rice and Temple both have had rough football history of late.

        No NIL $ is the killer. Nobody cares about Temple Tuff, no recruit cares if the coach has a good relationship with their HS coach. Come to App State and you get 150k, or go to TU (with a coach that has great ties to the area) and get nothing.

        where do you think the recruit goes?

        money- unless you have it, you aren’t going anywhere. Different time.

  7. Five Point Plan for TUFB

    1. Increase revenue and NIL pool
    2. Cut costs, renegotiate the Linc lease
    3. Replace the AD
    4. Hire a dynamic HC
    5. Mobilize political, community, and stakeholder support

    Hard to fathom sustained success w/o obtaining a passing grade in each of those five tracks.

    Reply

  9. Getting back to your Infante article Mike….for all the resaons you like Infante is exactly why the dumb ass higher ups at Temple won’t hire him! It makes too much good sense. But there are other good ones out there that will give it a try for 2+ mil a year. But our higher ups will pass them by too.

    Reply

    • Six days before Manny Diaz was hired I wrote I had a “sinking feeling” that Diaz would be hired and a week before Stan Drayton was hired I wrote here I had a “sinking feeling” he would be hired. We are approaching about six days before the next head coach is hired but if I had a “sinking feeling” it would target a trio of Kyle Flood, Elijah Robinson and Jeff Nixon. We can do better. If we don’t, we’re done.

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      • If my choices are only between those 3 guess I would lean towards Robinson for the recruiting. IF it wasn’t for the player misconduct scandal while at Rutgers I would say Flood does meet a number of points for a new TUFB HC. He wouldn’t be in my top tier but that scandal just completely knocks him out of consideration for me.

  10. Wife of former UMass coach put out tweet that the NIL budget at UMass is all of 36 thousand bucks. Maybe new coach hire is paid “just” 1.25 mill $ and balance goes to NIL (as long as that’s OK by any state funding regulations). The couple funding the AD chair need to speak quietly to the BoT (if they haven’t) and leverage their influence. Fry’s statement an on-campus stadium is “dead” makes adjustments in Linc deal extremely urgent.

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    • If Temple goes the AC route, then it’s time to bring back Bill Bradshaw as a consultant. His recruiting process identified and hired Al Golden, Steve Adazzio and Matt Rhule. The wheels fell off the cart after he departed.

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    • I have a hard time believing that a search firm was even involved in the Drayton hire. If so, what did they tell Johnson: “Hey, Arthur, we found this guy named Stan Drayton and, guess what, he used to work in the same Texas football building you did? Isn’t that a coincidence?”

      Reply

      • What exactly did Parker Exec Search do for Temple in 2021, and what was the statement of work are great questions.

        Who was on the short list, and who didnʻt Johnson interview?

        Temple is a public institution and the public has a right to know.

        The burning question. Is Johnson using Parker again? What is the criteria, did it change?

        SMH

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