Temple University and Iowa Wesleyan University couldn’t have been more different universities.

Both were founded two centuries ago. That’s where the similarities ended because the Owls have a robust athletic program and IWU did not.

One still exists, the other fell victim to declining enrollment and closed in 2023.

While declining enrollment still affects most universities across the nation, Temple will welcome its largest freshman class ever when the moving trucks pull up to the residence halls a little over a month from now.

KYW radio chronicled that development five days ago by saying that the 2029 graduating class will be the largest ever–well over 6,000 students. Amazing since Temple appears to be one of the few schools to buck that national trend.

According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), between 2010 and 2021, there was a 15 percent decline across the board in the number of new students.

That’s where the football team comes into play.

Getting those kids in the habit of going to the games will depend in large part on how the team itself does.

The university can do a few things to get the kids to the stadium–they already get free tickets and a free pre-game tailgate with all the food you can eat–but getting them in the stadium requires winning. A positive experience with Temple winning creates a bond between students, the school and the team and those bonds last forever.

One of the biggest problems with the students is way too many of them remained outside and tailgated in the surrounding lots without going into the stadium. Maybe four-straight years of 3-9 had something to do with that.

Maybe it did not but the late great Peter J. Liacouras said that Temple’s national perception is tied into winning sports teams, specifically football, and he has proven to be right over the years because the school exceeded 40,000 full-time students only once (2017) and that was a year after the football team won the AAC title.

If the Owls can break out of that losing funk and create a positive winning experience, the bond between students and school is formed early.

That makes it a lasting one and means Temple is less likely to go the way of IWU.

Friday: Grading Marketing 101

Monday: The AAC Looks at Temple