The Temple Bowl Quote We All Need

After almost a full week since Temple got gift-wrapped a bowl bid and hemmed and hawed and fumbled it away, fans deserve an answer.

No, not the scripted answer released by the university but at least a comment from the CEO of the football operation, head coach K.C. Keeler.

It’s not only the quote we want, but also the quote we need.

Reading between the lines, here’s what probably happened: The Birmingham Bowl went down the Rolodex of eligible teams and asked each one for a “yes” or a “no” and moved on from on from the ones who gave a “no” and a “maybe” until they could get to a yes.

Two of the Owls’ best players were interested, as was probably the whole team.

Temple probably was one of the maybes.

As soon as Appalachian State said yes, all of the maybes were moot and they get to play Georgia Southern. Now Temple fans who do dial into that game get to point at the TV and said, “that should have been us.”

Until we get clarification, we have to assume the bowl got in contact with athletic director Arthur Johnson, who said the Owls needed time to talk to other parties within the school.

Birmingham didn’t have that kind of time.

That leaves us to the quote we need.

Keeler strikes me as the kind of person who is a straight-enough shooter to NOT cover for Johnson. If asked, my guess is that he would say: “I would have said yes but nobody asked me.”

This notion that because Temple was 5-7 it didn’t deserve a bowl is ridiculous. App State is also 5-7 and played a significantly easier schedule. Temple was two points from being 7-5.

It would have been great to see Evan Simon hoist that bowl trophy in one hand and maybe an MVP trophy in the other.

The fact that nobody in the media has even asked Keeler for his version of events is an indictment of the Philadelphia media and its interest in even covering Temple football.

Do you think this happens in other cities that have college football teams?

No.

I’m sure we’ll hear Keeler address the issue honestly at some point but Temple fans should not have had to wait a day or even a week to hear what he had to say.

It’s just one quote, but it would clear up a lot.

Friday: Key Commitment Coming

8 thoughts on “The Temple Bowl Quote We All Need

  1. If Iʻm the AD, Iʻm empowered to make those decisions.

    I also have my finger on the pulse, and know exactly what is best for each of my programs. The primary purpose of my staff is to help implement my vision, and not to tell always me what I should do.

    My situational awareness is keen, and my antenna went up as soon as Notre Dame toppled the first domino.

    I say yes, put the phone down, count my blessings rally the team, and work my ass off to make it happen.

    No love lost for Pat Kraft, but there is no doubt in my mind Temple would be playing in a bowl game….,

    Is Temple Athletics better or worse off than it was four years ago? The current AD is not the right man to lead Temple Athletics in the current environment.

  2. I wonder if the costs (negative cash flow) involved in being in the bowl game would have come out of NIL $? Was Johnson thinking he had to find someone to cover the losses and wouldn’t accept until then?

    This situation will probably recur. Along with the list of coaching candidates to have ready, AD’s at G5 programs will need to have a Daddy Warbucks on speed dial who has agreed to cover losses to enable going to a bowl , or a prior commitment from the BOT that future opportunities will be accepted?

    • Speed dial is the definition of what happened at Iowa State and app state. amazing how fast IS got a replacement for Campbell and how fast App State accepted the bowl. Those are two well-prepared ADs who had a plan for both phone calls.

  3. AD should have totally had an agreement with head coach and school president on what’s the plan if bowl official’s call us… Hell, based on the 6-6 2014 snub & 8-4 2010 snub., this should have been an automatic HELL YEAH, we going bowling..

  4. Unrelated to the topic, but still of interest to Owl supporters:

    The North Alabama Lions are set to open a new on-campus stadium next season, and the school has revealed the date of the inaugural game and the name of the opponent.

    North Alabama will begin playing its home games at Bank Independent Stadium in Florence, Ala., next season. The football field will be named Bobby Wallace Field, and the brand-new stadium will reportedly seat over 10,000 fans.

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