Author Archives: Mike Gibson

03.16.25
by

Only one way to convince the doubters

Watching the NCAA basketball selection Sunday reaffirmed my doubts about the future of college sports.

You pay to win.

After years of complaining about Cinderellas getting access to the 68-team tournament, the Power 4 finally devised a way to keep out what they see as deplorables.

NIL and transfer portal.

Each year there are less and less Cinderella types and more and more of the bluebloods. The SEC got a record 14 teams in the tournament. The ACC got a team with a Quad 1 record of 1-11.

One and eleven against the best dozen teams on the schedule.

When it comes to Temple football, the outlook is slightly different because college football’s rough equivalent of March Madness is a 12-team tournament and the way things have been structured for awhile, the Temples of the world are not getting into something like that.

All new Temple head coach K.C. Keeler has to do, though, is to make the top 80 teams in the country to create some excitement around here. There are 130 FBS teams and 80 of them make bowl games and that’s a reasonable expectation for Temple football.

After four-straight 3-9 seasons and a 1-6 season before that, getting to a bowl game is going to feel like winning the national championship around here. The top 40 of those bowl teams pay to play but the bottom 40 get there through grit, guile and organization.

So far, Keeler has shown signs of improvement in that latter area yet there are doubters among Temple fans. Some say he’s “too old” and doesn’t fit the profile of a young hungry coach fans were used to under Matt Rhule and Al Golden.

Those were different times, though, where the “young and hungry” coach could recruit high school players, put them in the weight room for a year and redshirt them for another year before they would be ready to shine. Now try that and the player is gone after the “shine” year and Temple gets out of the deal is developing a kid for another program.

One day, maybe far into the future, a more equitable system might be in place but we have our doubts about that.

What we have no doubt about is that Keeler is the right guy for Temple at this time but we won’t know for sure until December.

If he’s able to pull it off, it will be worth the wait.

Next step: Humor

03.14.25
by

Temple: One season over, one begins

Like many Temple fans, watched the finale of the Adam Fisher Story on Thursday night as the men’s basketball team lost to Tulsa.

Unacceptable.

Temple is a great school in the only World Heritage City in the United States with nearly 40,000 full-time students and many more famous alumni than Tulsa and Tulsa is in the middle of bum-bleep Oklahoma with only 3,200 full-time students.

If there is a legitimate leadership council at Temple, heads should roll.

That’s a discussion for another time and probably the next Board of Trustees meeting at Sullivan Hall.

One season is over and one is beginning.

Temple is led on the football side by a CEO who proved he knows what he is doing at three separate schools.

There is no reason to believe that won’t happen at a fourth.

On the other hand, Fisher’s major claim to fame was editing videos for Jim Larranaga at Miami.

Pretty wide gap between the two hires.

K.C. Keeler’s first week as a Temple head coach at an “official” spring practice will end tomorrow and there is a lot of good to say about his production.

Temple’s “Employee of the Week” showed an impressive grasp of the personnel under his disposal.

As a hard-core Temple fan for the last four years, I’ve studied the roster pretty well and think I have a firm handle on the ability of the holdovers.

In his first press conference as Temple’s head coach, Keeler demonstrated an “off-the-charts” kind of knowledge of the individual skills of every player who every reporter asked him about. That proves to me he both already studied the film and had an honest sit-down with all 105 scholarship players in the program.

Now all that needs left to be done is a clean evaluation of a month of practice and a further determination of what must be done in the transfer portal to plug a hole here and there.

That’s the kind of knowledge that Stan Drayton never showed in his three years here.

Will it translate into more wins?

That will all be determined by how Keeler’s staff fills the 10 or so holes that will inevitably need to be filled after spring practice is concluded.

Put it this way: I have a lot more confidence in a football guy leading my football program than a video guy leading my basketball program.

Monday: Doubting Thomases

03.10.25
by

Spring Football Returns to Temple tomorrow

While spring practice officially starts tomorrow, the Owls have been hard at work all winter at the indoor facility. Temperatures approaching 70 degrees on Tuesday no doubt will push practice outside.

Some things change and some remain the same, even in the transfer portal/NIL environment.

Those who attended the men’s basketball home finale against North Texas on Sunday (a 66-61 win) saw a senior day that honored more players who didn’t spend four years at Temple than did. That’s sad because watching the journey of these players from freshmen to seniors was always a fun part for fans.

On the football side, things are just beginning as K.C. Keeler’s first spring practice begins tomorrow (March 11).

There are five big days in college football and the opening of spring practice is one of them. Opening of summer camp is another, as is the first signing day and the regular opening day.

The fifth one for a school like Temple has to be bowl selection Sunday because the top 80 teams in a 130-team FBS make it. A couple of bad coaching hires and Temple has been outside that loop for the past six years and that’s a disgrace.

The Owls decided to find someone who knew what he was doing rather than a guy (Stan Drayton) who they HOPED knew what he was doing.

More Temple fans follow football than the next two most popular sports combined, as this poll on OwlsDaily.com proved.

Already, Keeler has made an important spring practice decision in that the Owls are going to have their Cherry and White game. That’s important because with this new hire is a new enthusiasm for the sport at Temple and getting people out in April to see the new staff at work can only help drive up season tickets.

Hopefully, Keeler has checked out the game film for important players like running back Torrez Worthy (who came into his own in the second half of last season) and quarterback Evan Simon, who proved to be Temple TUFF despite a playing behind a line who didn’t give him much protection.

As important as the work is on the field in the next month, it’ll probably be even more important to scour the portal to get some pass rushers and pass protectors on both sides of the line.

That’s because we don’t get to see players developing from freshman to seniors anymore. While that’s sad, if you get a ready-to-play guy into the program by summer, there’s an opportunity now for an upgraded roster that did not exist back then.

03.07.25
by

Delaware: Schedule them and beat them

Temple not only got Delaware’s best current player but stole its best recruit as well.

When a first-year Temple head coach named Wayne Hardin was asked about scheduling Villanova, he came up with his succinct response:

“I’m all for scheduling them and beating them.”

Another first-year Temple coach, K.C. Keeler, would be wise to adopt the same policy in the near future about not only the Wildcats, but his alma mater.

Temple puts fannies in the seats in Delaware and the Blue Hens would do the same in Philly.

Hardin pretty much did both in his 13-year Temple career. He also believed in scheduling smaller school power Delaware and doing the same.

Temple hasn’t scheduled Delaware since Bruce Arians ended that series by saying: “I’m all for scheduling smaller schools but not when you are the biggest game of their season.”

Now, with a former Delaware head coach and the Blue Hens moving up to FBS, it’s time to renew this longstanding rivalry.

There are a couple of reasons for that.

Wayne Hardin’s record against Delaware and legendary coach Tubby Raymond was 8-4, proving that when both teams have a legendary head coach, Temple is the better football school.

One, the storyline.

Former Delaware player and legendary head coach K.C. Keeler is now the head coach of Temple. Keeler stole not only the best Delaware player in the transfer portal but the Blue Hens’ best recruit this year so there’s that.

Two, fannies in the seats.

What visiting team STILL holds the Delaware single-game attendance record?

Temple.

Delaware hailed the acquisition of RB Keveun Mason. He is now at Temple.

That was set when a Joe Klecko-led Owls’ team spanked the Blue Hens, 31-8, before a record crowd.

Temple needs fannies in the seats and visiting Delaware would bring a significant amount (maybe 30-40 percent) of a crowd that could exceed 30,000 at Lincoln Financial Field.

Delaware has asked to play Temple before but the Owls (rightly) demanded a 2-for-1 deal. Delaware wanted a 1-for-1. Temple said thanks but no thanks.

Now that Delaware has joined FBS, maybe the Owls can relent and settle for a home-and-home.

That’s a deal that makes sense for both ballclubs.

Kind of like the Eagles sending Nolan Smith to Cleveland for Myles Garrett. Cleveland gets younger at the same position without losing a whole lot of talent and Philly gets a possible two- and three-peat.

Monday: Football Season is Here (Kinda/Sorta)

03.02.25
by

Temple schedule: Some catching up to do

Temple’s schedule is rated one of the hardest in the AAC.

Anyone who tells you what Temple’s record is at the end of the calendar year is a fool.

A year ago at this time, knowing who Stan Drayton brought in and who he needed to bring in, we took a stab at the 2024 record and came up with 2-10.

We were wrong.

K.C. Keeler needs to take a page out of Howie Roseman’s book and load up on both lines.

The Owls went 3-9 for the third-straight year under Drayton.

No stabs this time because, with the release of the 2025 schedule, it looks pretty daunting for anyone, not to mention a first-year staff.

One thing we do know: Both the gameday coaching and the talent acquisition piece seems to be upgraded even though the schedule is tougher.

So any guess at a final record is a crapshoot.

If Drayton had been retained, we could only see four potential wins on the schedule (UMass, Howard, Tulsa and Charlotte).

Maybe that’s what new head coach K.C. Keeler gets as well. A lot of it will be determined how he uses the available transfer portal scholarships (right now, it stands as nine). If he the Drayton route and gets JUCOs, then he might finish with four wins. If he gets some solid FBS and FCS starters, then he could grab another game or two and reach his stated goal of getting to a bowl game in his first seasons.

Going the “Howie Roseman” route and loading up on both lines probably is the way to go because the Owls seem to have an abundance of skill players and a lack of depth on both the OL and DL. Drayton’s 2023 season fell apart when he didn’t address that depth in the portal and, due to injuries, had to play linebackers at defensive end and safeties at linebacker.

So Keeler has some catching up to do between now and Aug. 30 to achieve his minimum goal. Drayton did this time a year ago. The difference between the two is that one headed to Houston for a two-week vacation while the other probably will focus on upgrading the roster.

Friday: An Old Rival

02.27.25
by

Football: The Game where coaching matters most

Some great stuff about hockey here but advance to the 41-minute mark for the Keeler comments.

There has been a procession of coaches at Temple throughout the past few years and most gave passing props to the school’s football history or former stars.

Geoff Collins was the most clueless.

Temple’s only Heisman Trophy runner-up, Paul Palmer, applauds the hire of K.C. Keeler. (He hasn’t aged a bit since 1986.)

At a Temple alumni function that coincided with one of his first spring practices, Collins walked up to a bunch of Temple football alumni who were wearing varsity jackets. Collins assumed they were high school coaches who he also invited to the same practice.

“Hey, I’m Geoff Collins, where do you coach?” he said to one.

That one was Temple football Hall of Famer and arguably GOAT Paul Palmer (really, the only other GOAT is Joe Klecko but since this is just for Temple stuff and not for pro football stuff, Palmer’s got to be the guy).

Swing and miss by Collins right in his first at-bat.

Palmer was way too humble to say “I’m Paul Palmer, the greatest Temple player of all time” so instead he said he coached at Haddon Heights (N.J.), which was also true.

Collins had no idea who he was talking to that day.

Al Golden and Matt Rhule both understood and respected Temple history. Golden said when he played at Penn State no team hit him as hard as Temple so he went back to TEMPLE on the helmets to honor that time. Rhule adopted many of the Temple traditions passed on to him by his former boss.

Temple has played football since 1894 and never hired a national championship coach who got that title in Division I or above. That all changed in December and the impact should be felt on the field.

Steve Addazio was the guy who got rid of the greatest helmet in Temple history and put the block T back on it so he also swung and missed on traditions.

When it comes to Temple football, Collins wasn’t the only tone deaf guy but he certainly holds a spot in the Tone Deaf Hall of Fame.

The same certainly cannot be said about new head Temple football coach K.C. Keeler. He not only recognized Temple right away, but said the only reason he didn’t end up at Temple was because Wayne Hardin ran out of scholarships and so he ended up at Delaware.

Good stuff and, yes, he knows who Paul Palmer is.

Came across this great podcast by former Temple tight end Bryant Garvin and Temple fan Monty Moss (give it a like and a sub) talking about Temple’s new coaching hire and Palmer endorses Keeler for all of the right reasons.

Palmer talks about not only what Keeler did at Rowan, Delaware and Sam Houston but his commitment to all three institutions. He makes the very valid point that Keeler is in his mid-60s and that’s not an age where you think about moving on but one where leaving a legacy is more important.

Why not make that legacy at the school where you wanted to be as a 17-year-old kid?

Keeler brings with him all the “how to” stuff he brought to those other schools but the “want to” stuff has always been there with Temple.

The Temple GOAT understands that. The rest of Temple Nation is about to find out.

Monday: An under-the-radar recruit

02.24.25
by

Football in February: Reasons for optimism

While one major sports team at Temple University appears to be imploding, there will be a “Football in February” event held by the only other major sports team at Temple.

K.C. Keeler will be appearing at Maxi’s today to answer all your questions and outline his plan to bring immediate respectability to Temple on a national level that we really haven’t seen around here since the first four games of the AAC basketball tournament in 2024.

Temple hoops had a great opportunity to build off that national momentum but blew it as new acquisitions never panned out.

Since I have a “real job” that I have to be at the time, I won’t be able to attend but if I could ask him a couple of questions these would be it:

“One, since you talked to OwlsDaily.com editor Shawn Pastor about 10 days ago and said you haven’t watched any film on the current Owls, did you get a chance to do so subsequently?

“Two, what were you pleasantly surprised by and what areas of concern do you have going into spring practice in a couple of weeks?

That’s pretty much it.

If not, why not and do you plan to check out the game film of the guys who showed enough loyalty to the school and the program to stay?

The community outreach could not have come at a better time and we’re not talking about 5 p.m. on a Monday afternoon. We’re talking about the overall malaise this winter with Temple sports.

The Temple basketball Owls started their conference season with a 4-1 record followed by a 6-3 record and are now sitting at 6-9 in the AAC. They were the only team to beat Memphis in the conference at one time.

Now a complete implosion has occurred.

One site that covers Temple basketball after an 80-64 loss at UAB used the term “moral victory” even while suggesting that it wasn’t. Hell, that was no moral victory. It was an immoral loss. I clapped back on that suggesting that a Pearson Hall rec team of non-scholarship athletes could have lost to UAB 80-16 or so and there’s not a whole much of a difference in national perspective between 80-64 and 80-16.

Not good and maybe there are some lessons to be learned on the football side.

A second-year hoop coach relied on high-profile transfers from Penn State and St. Joseph’s who never panned out and maybe better vetting should have been involved. Maybe some semblance of hustle on defense could have helped.

It doesn’t even look like the basketball team is trying on defense (not to mention rebounding) and that’s never a good look.

Now Keeler appears to be focused not only on talent but on vetting and coaching and playing defense with a modicum of heart, which will always keep you in the game in any sport.

Keeler will explain all that and more this afternoon and maybe for the first time in a long time, Temple fans will leave a venue with smiles on their faces.

02.20.25
by

Last on Keeler’s to-do list: Film Study

Temple is blessed to have a great returning quarterback in Evan Simon.

Every new head coach has to have “to-do list” and, frankly I’m surprised by one thing new Temple head coach K.C. Keeler admitted he has not done.

Study game tape on the current Temple team.

The answer I was looking for here was: “Yeah, Shawn, I saw all those against Utah State and Evan Simon is a pretty special QB.“

Not being a College Football Hall of Fame head coach but someone with a solid grasp of Temple football history and a graduate degree in Wayne Hardin University, that’s the first thing I would have done had I gotten the job.

Color me surprised that he told OwlsDaily.com editor-in-chief Shawn Pastor that he had not reviewed any film of the current Temple holdovers.

Some pretty good Torrez Worthy highlights here. Kinda reminds me “a little” of Saquon Barkley.

It’s not too late for Keeler to put the projector in the team meeting room and take a look at a few players he now has under his control.

My first duty as a new Temple head coach would have been to study game film on every single Temple football player.

There is a simple reason for that.

I want to know who I want to keep as a starter and who I want to replace.

Don’t know how Keeler could move forward without that information but it’s not too late to do soon.

I will offer this current bit of advice: Please study the game film of two players in two games against teams that would have fared pretty well against any G5 team, Utah State and UConn.

The first player is Evan Simon. The second is Torrez Worthy.

Simon made five great throws under pressure for touchdowns in a 45-29 win over Utah State.

Torrez Worthy had 95 yards on 12 carries, including a 35-yard run that set up the Owls on the UConn 1 to win the game against a bowl-bound team. Instead of going with the leaping handoff to Worthy on a 4th-and-goal (think “Sam Bam Cunningham” here), the Owls went with a tush push to a 160-pound backup quarterback.

Instead of a 26-23 Temple win (which 99.9 percent of the CBS Sports audience thought they would see), the soaking wet 160-pound QB fumbled the football and it went the other way for a 29-20 loss.

Not the No. 1 reason the old staff got fired, but certainly near the top.

If Keeler is the coach I think he is, he will find out the film doesn’t lie about two of his players.

Both Simon and Worthy are special talents.

Temple can win big with both.

The Owls need to upgrade most of the other 20 positions. (Really, not many because the Owls have a lot of good returning players, particularly on defense.)

Keeler has crossed everything else off his to-do list before the start of spring practice on March 11.

This one last thing should be at the top of his list. Get that damn projector and walk a couple of feet outside of his Temple football coaching office to the film room and take some notes on Simon and Worthy and maybe four or five other returning Temple loyalists.

Then we can move forward to fill his other needs.

02.16.25
by

Stan Drayton proves the Peter Principle

K.C. Keeler representing Temple at the Philadelphia Eagles Super Bowl parade.

Hate to say I told you so but I told you so about Stan Drayton.

His hiring as Penn State running backs coach proves what we said in this space in December of 2021. He was a career running backs coach and that’s where his level of competence rested.

Helluva nice guy, heart in the right place and his wife did the best Electric Slide we’ve ever seen at a Cherry and White tailgate but not cut out to be a head coach in either the pre- or current NIL and transfer portal environment.

Temple paid a hefty price by hiring him and I’m not talking about $2.5 million a year. I’m talking about all the pain on the faces of those great Owl fans after suffering three-straight needless 3-9 seasons on the backs of a prior 3-9 season and the 1-6 season before that.

Much more worried about the impact on the Temple fan base than the $8 million Temple gave Drayton for doing basically what a guy like Ed Foley could have done.

That’s OK because it proves The Peter Principle and if Temple learns anything from that, it will be a valuable lesson.

Our post on Dec. 3, 2021 which was 18 days before Stan Drayton was hired. If the Temple brass followed our advice, Temple could have saved the pain of $8 million and 27 subsequent losses.

That Principle says “you rise to your level of incompetence” and that’s exactly what happened with Drayton. He rose to the level of head coach. That’s incompetence. He’s competent as a running backs coach and Penn State should benefit from that.

Already Temple has benefitted from this loveless divorce.

New head coach K.C. Keeler hasn’t immersed himself into the Temple community, it feels like he’s been here forever.

Keeler repped Temple with an Owls’ ski cap at Friday’s Super Bowl parade. Temple as an institution stepped up with a huge banner congratulating the Eagles in the middle of the parade.

Say what you will about Philadelphia Eagles’ fans but Temple needs to woo the “Joe Philly Football Fan” who has been priced out of Eagles’ games. The “average” price a single ticket at the NFC championship game was $1,300. The average price of a ticket at a Temple football game is $10.

Temple showed up in force to congratulate the Eagles.

Nobody is going to pay 10 cents to watch 3-9 but it is realistic to expect a significant number of Philadelphia football fans priced out of the Eagles will watch a 9-3 Temple team every season and have a fun experience, including the tailgating.

National championship is not the goal nor should it be. A bowl right away should be followed by a bunch of 9-3 seasons.

Stan Drayton had an abundance of “want to” but Temple needs the “how to” factor that Keeler brings to the table. If Keeler ever leaves Temple (and we don’t want that to happen), it will not be for a RB coaching job at a Big 10 or an SEC school. He’s already risen to his level of competence and it’s about three levels above running backs coach.

The Peter Principle strikes again.

Friday: Checking The Film

02.14.25
by

Not long until we see greatness at work

An argument can be made, maybe for the first time since 1983, Temple football fans will have a chance to watch greatness at work fairly soon.

Arguably, because while Bruce Arians, Al Golden and Matt Rhule did some great work for Temple since Wayne Hardin retired that year, all were “learning on the job” types who did their better work after getting acclimated to the demands of being a first-time head coach.

When Hardin first stepped foot on campus in 1970, he was not only a championship pro football coach with the Philadelphia Bulldogs, he was one of the five best college football coaches in the nation before that.

In 1961 at Navy, Hardin had the Middies ranked No. 2 in the country. That was an amazing, incredible accomplishment in the year that Navy players were ineligible to play in the NFL due to a five-year service requirement.

Wayne Hardin’s proven dominance over Tubby Raymond and UD.

You think the NIL and the transfer portal are hard?

Try walking into Roger Staubach’s house and telling him he can play at Navy for the next four years but won’t be able to play for any NFL team until he’s 26.

That’s exactly the sales pitch Hardin had for him and he was able to sell it.

Staubach not only bought it but got a Heisman Trophy as a result, as did his teammate and future Temple football radio analyst Joe Bellino. Hardin was a pretty good salesman.

Then Temple hired him in 1971, which was like Temple of today hiring Notre Dame’s Marcus Freeman a decade from now.

Hardin is in the College Football Hall of Fame now and no doubt current Temple head coach K.C. Keeler will join him in a few years. After all, Keeler is already the winningest FCS coach in history and that’s probably enough. No one is likely to catch him since the FCS coaches on his heels probably will get FBS jobs.

Keeler has to do something Hardin never had to and that was navigate the choppy waters that are both the NIL and the transfer portal.

Nobody has a better understand of the genius of Hardin than Keeler, who was recruited by him but the Owls overcommitted on scholarships that season so Keeler ended up at Delaware.

Keeler understands the history of Hardin’s battles with legendary UD coach Tubby Raymond, where Hardin went 8-4 against him including a 31-8 win at Delaware before the (still) largest crowd in Delaware history and a 31-14 win over an otherwise 12-0 Delaware team that Keeler played on in 1979.

Hardin proved he could win at Temple.

Keeler already proved he could do it at a tougher place (Sam Houston State), leading that program from an FCS national champion team to a 9-3 FBS team in no time.

He will apply that same kind of blueprint to Temple starting with the first spring practice on March 11. That’s less than one month from now.

If you see greatness at work, take notes. Or you can watch this space because we will be doing exactly that.

Monday: Difference between want to and how to

Friday: That’s my quarterback

Monday: The AAC Schedule