Author Archives: Mike Gibson

04.17.17
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5 Questions Dr. Kraft Should Answer

Some questions need to be answered

Cherry and White Day is high noon on Saturday at the Edberg-Olson Complex.

The day means different things to many people, but mostly it is a gathering of fans and friends who have not had the opportunity to meet in months all over the shared passion that is Temple football.

It also has been another thing in recent years and that is running into people who are plugged into what the university is thinking, like Dr. Patrick Kraft, the athletic director, and DIck Englert, the school’s president.

Both are approachable and friendly and both TRY to answer fans’ questions honestly.

Cherry and White Day would be a good time to get answers from them, particularly Dr. Kraft, on these five questions:

best

Why is C and W Still at the E-O?

With the opening of the sports complex four blocks south that includes a 2,000-seat soccer stadium, why cram 5,000 fans into a 500-seat hole anymore? South Florida has proved for the last two seasons that you can hold a spring game in a soccer facility and Temple should do the same. Two thousand seats plus the 500 portable seats the school brings to the E-O every year should make everyone comfortable. There is a field hockey game at 1 on the adjacent field but the soccer stadium is open. It should have been used this year and certainly should be used next season.

nonew

How close are we to an announcement on the stadium?

We’ve been hearing behind the scenes that all systems are go on the new stadium, but there have been mixed messages. Moody Nolan, the architect, has been quoted as saying that the stadium is on hold. Is it? Or have the reassurances that everything is a go are meant to keep the private donations flowing? Why can’t the university set a date to make an announcement one way or another? It is time to bleep or get off the pot.

artwork

What’s the holdup?

We’re aware that the city certainly is an obstacle, as are the 20 or so people from the community who seem to come out to Stadium Stompers’ meetings. Why hasn’t the school approached City Council with even an initial proposal?

When Will the Revolving Door Be Replaced?

The doors to the Edberg-Olson Complex seem to open in a normal fashion. You pull them open and hold them open for the women and the older fans to enter. Around the head coach’s office is a revolving door, and has been since 2010. What is the university doing to assure fans and recruits that the new coach they hire one year isn’t going to leave the next?

Was the subject of coaching stability ever brought up in the Geoff Collins’ interview?

Or was it conveniently ignored like the Elephant in the Room? Inquiring minds need to know and there would be no better day to know at least some of these things than Cherry and White Day.

Wednesday: 5 Football Things To Look For

Friday: What They Are Saying ….

Monday: Complete Cherry and White Review

04.12.17
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Coach Hardin: A Life Well-Lived

hardin

Coach in this great Sheldon Morris photo taken Saturday.

Nothing is ever given in life on this earth, especially the knowledge of the time that you have here.

All of us know what day we arrived; none of us knows the future day we will depart. All we know is to do our best to live the best life we can.

No one lived a better life than Wayne Hardin, the legendary Temple coach who passed away Wednesday, a couple of days from attending Alumni Day at the Edberg-Olson Complex on Saturday. By all accounts, coach was in good spirits and gave a great speech about “filling the stands” for future Temple football games to the 120 or so alumni players in attendance.

On a personal note, I have known coach Hardin since I was 17 and covered his football teams for the Temple News and for the Doylestown Intelligencer later. He was the greatest college coach I have ever known (hell, the greatest coach, period) and this was something I was convinced of since my college days. Sadly, his death came two months after the greatest high school coach I ever knew,  Central Bucks West’s Mike Pettine Sr., passed away.

I had always been convinced of Hardin’s greatness, but it was nice to get affirmation from other writers, too.

During a game in which Hardin put a big-time scare into Penn State for only what seemed like the umpteenth time, John Kunda, the sports editor of the Allentown Morning Call and a Penn State beat writer, broke the silence in the press box.

navy

How fitting was it that the last championship game coach saw was Navy vs. Temple?

“Hardin’s out-coaching Joe again,” Kunda said.

The press box erupted in knowing laughter.

Later, when Tubby Raymond schooled a young Bruce Arians in a Delaware upset win over Temple, Philadelphia Inquirer writer Chuck Newman similarly broke the silence in the Blue Hen stadium facility.

“Will Wayne Hardin please report to the press box?” Newman said  over the public address system.

More laughter because Hardin had beaten Raymond in eight of the 10 previous years.

I was overwhelmed with pride, knowing that my school was the smartest school on the field every Saturday afternoon that Wayne Hardin was on my sideline and, because this was college football, that meant a lot.

Maybe everything.

Hardin always out-coached Joe Paterno, the way General Robert E. Lee always outcoached Ulysses S. Grant. Paterno, like Grant, always won because what those guys had at their disposal was more than what Hardin and Lee had.

Still, it was fun watching Temple move those chess pieces around and checkmating the bad guys time and time again.

Bill Belichick followed Hardin around as a 7-year-old son of an assistant coach to Hardin, and then followed Hardin’s teams at Temple. He took copious notes and is admiration for Hardin is documented for posterity.

“I’d say Wayne influenced me more than anybody else,” said  Belichick in a recent article by CSNNE’s Phil Perry. “Honestly, I saw other coaches at Navy take a different approach, and looking back on it, even though I didn’t know it at the time, but I would say looking back on it, I would rather be like him. I’ve seen these others, but I would rather do it the way he did it.”

I was there in the press room underneath the stadium at Colgate the day Hardin quit. I asked him why and he said simply: “Mediocrity is not my cup of tea.”

He was a very young 55 at the time.

It was Hardin’s idea to take the goofy-looking Owl off the helmet and spell out TEMPLE on the side.

“We want people to know who we are,” Hardin said. “We’re Temple.”

That “TEMPLE” became the brand during the winningest TEMPLE years and, when Al Golden arrived, he changed the ‘][‘ back to TEMPLE because, as Golden said, “that’s the brand Temple football had when it was respected throughout the country.” Perhaps a fitting tribute to Hardin this fall would be to bring back TEMPLE at least on one side of the helmets.

People in sports like to talk about records that will never be broken, mentioning Joe DiMaggio’s 56-game hitting streak. Heck, I’m convinced no coach in Temple history will ever do what Hardin did, which is win 80 games in 13 years at the school. No coach might ever get Temple into the final Top 20 again because a Temple coach who gets the Owls on the brink will probably be gone by the bowl game. Hopefully not but that’s the reality of college football today.

Joe Morelli, a former Temple quarterback who never played for coach Hardin, made sure he drove coach to the games and that’s why we were all able to enjoy his company over the past few years.

“Joe takes good care of me,” coach said.

Last year, I asked coach if he still golfed at 90.

“Last time I did that was last week,” coach said. “I fell three times. I don’t do it any more.”

He asked me to walk him over to where his ex-players, led by Steve Conjar, moved their tailgate and I was more than happy to do that.

“Look who I found!” I said to the guys.

“God bless you, Wayne,” Mark Bresani said. “I love that you come to the games. I’ll tell you what, when I’m 90, I will probably be here, too.”

About 20 years ago, Hardin finally introduced me to his wife, Jane, who stopped and grabbed me by the arm.

“We like you,” Jane said. “It’s not just because you have red hair like we did.”

She remembered my articles on the coach and said she appreciated all of the nice things I wrote.

I told her I meant every word and did.

Now coach and his beloved Jane are together but those of us who remain behind and knew him are grieving now. Perhaps the most important lesson he taught us was how to live a life well.

Monday: 5 Questions Kraft Needs to Answer

04.12.17
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No Punter, Big Problem

blackhelmets

Hopefully, Temple finds a nice spot to bury those unlucky black helmets and unis.

By Temple University’s own account of Alex Starzyk’s accomplishments, he was a “Ray Guy candidate” for nation’s best punter in 2016.

Starzyk did not get the Ray Guy Award, but just being up for it is just the lesser of two important clues how valuable he was for the Owls and how hard he will be to replace.


If Logan Marchi can
do the job, he is
the preferable candidate
because you can always
run a trick play out
of that formation. Marchi
can both run and throw.
With Boomer, you are
pretty much restricted
to punting the ball.

The second one is the most concerning one to Owl fans because there is no backup punter listed on the roster. There are backup placekickers, third-string offensive guards, backup defensive backs and four quarterbacks.

Until Saturday, there was only one punter.

Starzyk’s “indefinite suspension” hopefully will be the like the ones Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski hands Greyson Allen—one game and he’s back playing—but Temple usually does not operate its athletic department like Duke.

For some reason, a suspension at Temple is usually a starter and usually means more than one game.

It does no purpose here to speculate on why Alex was suspended. He’s a great kid and a great student, so we will leave it at that and hope he returns to the team soon. (He was on the athletic director’s honor roll last year.)

Otherwise, the general overall impact to Temple football of losing a Ray Guy candidate who was the team’s only punter is something that needs to be addressed. New head coach Geoff Collins, who handed down the suspension, went into scramble mode at Saturday’s scrimmage and put Boomer (Aaron Boumerhi) back there.

One possible candidate is quarterback Logan Marchi, who was a pretty good punter at St. Paul’s (Conn.) high school. If Logan Marchi can do the job, he is the preferable candidate because you can always run a trick play out of that formation. Marchi can both run and throw. With Boomer, you are pretty much restricted to punting the ball.

I like the kind of “Mayhem” you can throw at an opposing defense with a triple threat back there punting the ball.

If Marchi can’t do it, then punting could be a nerve-wracking experience for Temple fans this fall and that is a big problem.

Friday: 5 Questions Kraft Needs to Answer

04.10.17
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It’s (Not Always) Sunny in Philadelphia

kraft

While the helmets look great, Geoff Collins and Pat Kraft never addressed the question of football coaching stability at Temple.

Today starts about the best week of weather in Philadelphia this season, splashing sunshine for most of the rest of the week.

chumpie

With this kind of weather, Collins should be out-recruiting Florida, Georgia Tech, SMU, UCF and UNC.

There will be sunshine all over the city, except for that little cloud that seems to always hover around Geoff Collins’ head.

It’s there simply because of what he did not say in his signing day presser. Sometimes, I think the guy could have used a good speechwriter because, while a lot of his bullet points hit home that day, it was what he did not say that will always cause some Temple fans like me to look at him with askance.

A simple speech like this AFTER THE WAKE FOREST DEBACLE would have done the trick, as short at the Gettysburg Address:

Tapping on the microphone, Collins opens up:

“Test. Test. Is this thing working? You will all have to excuse me because there  were a few words I did not say on the day I was hired that I feel I should say today. I have a few prepared notes for this occasion so I thought I’d jot a few down. Four scores and less than a month ago, this great program beat Navy and looked poised to enter the final AP Top 20 for the first time since 1979. That Navy team was playing better than just about any team in the nation going into that game, so a convincing win for us should have assured a final Top 25 spot.

“That did not happen for a couple of reasons. One, Matt Rhule, who is a good friend of mine, took what he thought was an opportunity of a lifetime and was faced with the difficult decision of leaving the very kids who helped give him that opportunity. Having been at that Wake Forest game and witnessed the half-hazard lead-up to it, I can say that, while Ed Foley did a great job, he did not have the requisite staffing support leading up to the game to adequately prepare the team.

“While researching this job, I came across a couple of sentiments I want to express today.  The day Al Golden was hired here, he said he wanted to build a house of brick, not straw, and I echo that statement today. The day Steve Addazio was hired from the same school which produced me, he said he wanted to reach out to the Wayne Hardin guys and so do I. Those are the true Temple legends, not the guys who graduated after 2010.

“When Matt was hired, he said he wanted to sign a 15-year contract. To me, a contract is a two-way street. My signature means I will hold up my end of the bargain. All I can say about that is to tell you right now that this is my opportunity of a lifetime, Temple. Not Baylor. Not Florida. Not Mississippi. While I cannot tell you what the future holds for me, I can promise right here and now to you and them that no future Temple team will be without the full coaching staff, including me, while going for a bowl win and a Top 25 ranking. That means too much to this great school and I will never dishonor this school. I wanted to clear this up because I felt I left some things hanging on the day I was hired. Thank you, and I want to open this up for questions.”

Thunderous applause all around would have greeted similar sentiments, but none of the sort came. Instead, Collins followed up on signing day by recruiting a class that suggested the house would be more straw than brick, and propped up by the foundation his predecessors laid. That leads to the inescapable conclusion that this staff is outta here with the first overachieving season, maybe even this one. Some people say that we as Temple fans should accept our fate as a steppingstone, but I’m not ready to do that. The notion that this staff might use Temple, heck probably will, is not good.

Looking up into the sky, that’s not a sunny prospect for the long-term viability of Temple football. There is still time for Collins to change that perception, but those days are dwindling down to a precious few. Cherry and White Day would be a good day to clear this up and remove that cloud for good.

Wednesday: No Punter, Big Problem

Friday: 5 Questions Pat Kraft Needs to Answer

04.07.17
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Geoff Collins Could Be Better Than Rhule

collins

Geoff Collins will be speaking at Rutgers and telling them to get ready for an ass-kicking in 2020.

When a former Temple quarterback called me on the phone to break the news that the Owls had hired Geoff Collins back in December, the news came from somewhat out of left field.

I had heard all of the names, but Collins was not one of them.

Until, of course, the day he was hired. I was headed out the door to work when the phone rang and not paying attention to the news or sports.

“Mike, what do you think of this new guy Temple just hired?”

“What new guy?”

“Geoff Collins. It’s all over ESPN. I really like him.”

“The Florida guy?”

“Yeah, him.”

I knew Geoff Collins was the defensive coordinator at Florida, but that was about it. I also knew that Florida’s defense was to the SEC what Temple’s defense was to the AAC, so that was a big plus.

I did know another, more important, thing. Compared to some of the clowns Temple either released to Marc Narducci or Nardo came up with on his own, Collins, to me, was Vince Lombardi. Surely Temple could not have been serious about hiring a coach fired by Delaware (K.C. Keeler) or some of the other suspects mentioned.

Compared to those guys, Collins was solid as a rock.

Take away the worst recruiting month I’ve ever seen at Temple, Collins has not disappointed.

He has said all of the right things.

He has emphasized making a system tailored to the players he has in the program now, rather than bring a system and try to force it onto what could be ill-fitting players. I like the way that he has bonded with the players in practices. I like the way he appreciates fullback Nick Sharga, like we all have learned to do, and plans to feature him. I like the way he is letting the quarterback situation play out, rather than naming a quarterback now and regretting it later.

I also like the way former head coach Matt Rhule leaned on him to make some key decisions within the program and the way Collins has followed the program from afar for the last four years.

All of these things suggest than Collins will hit the ground running, unlike the stumbles and bumbles of the first two Rhule years.

There are two sides, in my mind, to the Geoff Collins’ coin. We glossed over the shiny side in today’s post.

Monday: The Other Side

04.05.17
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QB Departure Might Offer Clue for Leader

reps

             Logan Marchi is getting more reps with the ones.

In a program as large as Temple’s, there are all sorts of comings and goings even in the best of times.

The Owls are the right fit for most, but they can’t be the right fit for everyone.

That’s why last week’s five-quarterback race is now down to a four-person one with the departure of Overbrook (N.J.’s) Tommy Wyatt.

Although there is no official depth chart, we’ve been told from reliable sources that Wyatt was the fifth quarterback. In a case like that, reading that handwriting on the wall is an important skill and Wyatt’s transfer to Rutgers probably was the best move for all parties.

Right now, the battle for the starting position seems to be between three players—Anthony Russo, Logan Marchi and Frank Nutile—and true freshman Todd Centeio probably could benefit from a redshirt year, which he is likely to get.

Although media members are allowed to only see the final 10 minutes of practice, leaks from others who do see the entire practice say that Marchi is getting most of the reps now. Unless that changes, he is on a straight-line path to be the starter at Notre Dame.

It might be reading too much into the situation, but that appears to be the direction Patenaude is headed this spring.

We won’t know for sure until Cherry and White Day, but my guess is that Marchi will be quarterbacking one team and Russo the other and, if one guy separates  himself that day, the sooner the starter will be named.

If it’s a photo finish, then the issue won’t be decided until the summer.

Friday: Cherry Flags

Monday: Red Flags

Wednesday: Playing Poker

 

04.03.17
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In One Case, Position Flexibility Could Be Epic

running

Nick Sharga gains a first down on this run in AAC championship game and makes a tackle as a linebacker (below) in 2015 game against Tulane.

linebacker

After about almost every press conference, new Temple head coach Geoff Collins talks about position flexibility.

In the first scrimmage on Saturday, tight ends were playing offensive tackle, a backup fullback was playing guard and all four starting defensive backs were playing the other’s positions—corners playing safety and vise-versa.

There was so much flexibility going on, folks thought the entire Temple football team was double-jointed.

If, however, Collins truly wants to achieve flexibility he might consider bringing back the 60-minute player and we have our own suggestion.

Nick “Shots Fired” Sharga.

There are a couple of good reasons for this.

The first is that new offensive coordinator Dave Patenaude seems fixated on expanding the multiple wide-receiver sets and that, by its very nature, limits the role of Sharga as a fullback. That’s bad news in my opinion because his lead blocking in the run game makes him an additional downhill offensive lineman and opens up the passing game because opposing teams cheat their linebackers and safeties up against the run.

Without Sharga in there, the element of surprise is gone and the opposition knows the Owls are going to fling the ball out there as fast as they can.

Say, though, Sharga plays no more than 15 plays a game at fullback. He PROBABLY is also the team’s best linebacker, so why not get him 15-30 snaps on that side of the ball. All the defensive coaches have to do to judge for themselves is watch the game film of Sharga starting at linebacker playing 20 plays on defense in a 36-12 win over No. 21 Memphis and Paxton Lynch two years ago. Despite National Player of the Year Tyler Matakevich also playing linebacker, Sharga was among—if the the best—defensive player on the field that day.

Sharga might not be able to play 60 minutes, like another Philadelphia collegiate player, Chuck Bednarik, but getting him as many reps on both offense and defense—say, 50 of the 60 minutes—is something he is more than capable of handling.

On Oct. 18 1986, Holy Cross player Gordie Lockbaum  played 143 of the 171 snaps in a 17-14 win over Army. On that day, he led Holy Cross in rushing and receiving and played free safety on defense.

The team that wins usually is the one able to get their most productive player on the field and, once the new coaching staff figures out Sharga fits that description, the better off we will all be.

Wednesday: The First Casualty of the QB Wars 

04.01.17
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Phillies, Temple, Get Stadium Deal Done

bakerbowl

With latest agreement, Phils will return to North Philly roots.

It started the way all good deals start, with one guy having something the other guy wants.

In the case of Temple University and the Philadelphia Phillies, though, today’s announcement had the added caveat of two guys wanting something the other guy has and that’s what has led to a “memorandum of understanding” between the two organizations on a stadium deal.

bakersign

Two blocks North of Main campus is this sign.

The outline agreed to is simply this: When the Phillies are ready to leave Citizens Bank Park, it will be sold to Temple for the princely sum of $1. In return, Temple will give the Phillies what it has long sought—a  plot of land to build a nearer midtown baseball stadium with a spectacular view of the Center City Skyline.  Not having that view while Pittsburgh has had it all along has been a major bone of contention with the Phillies ownership.  That plot of land is the former Geasey Field, which is now bounded on the North by Norris Street and on the South by Montgomery Avenue.

The time frame is open-ended, according to Phillies General Managing Partner Dave Montgomery. Temple will start to phase into CBP when the team offers open weekend dates to the football Owls in 2021. Only if there is a conflict will the Owls are moved to Franklin Field. Once the North Philly Baseball Stadium is built, the Owls will become sole operators of Citizens Bank Park.

“The discussions began when (Temple president)  Dick (Englert) and I were at a function,” Montgomery said. “I said, ‘Dick, this thing with the community could go on for a hundred years. Why don’t we agree to do something now?’  Dick said he would talk to the Board of Trustees and here we are today.

“Look, we know that there are still hurdles. The community might not want a baseball stadium there, either. But it is our view that we are returning to our North Philly roots—we had stadiums at Broad and Lehigh and 22d and Lehigh—and maybe the community will welcome us home with open arms.

“The key thing here is that even if we don’t get our North Philly Stadium built—the working name is the Philadium—Citizens Bank Park becomes Temple’s at the point in time that we do build a new stadium, wherever in the city that may be. I know Temple fans don’t want to hear the word, but patience is the key word. If Citizens Bank Park becomes obsolete for baseball in, say, 2069, it becomes perfect for Temple football at that time. What this agreement gives Temple now is a sense of certainty. In their quest for a stadium over the last 20 or so years, certainty or done deal has never been part of the lexicon there. Now it is and it gives us some comfort to give them that.”

Happy April Fool’s Day everyone.

Related:

Devonte Watson

Urban Meyer

Big 10

 

Monday: The Last of the Two-Way Players

03.31.17
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Tough Guys Wanted

labolito

This Joseph V. Labolito shot is the photo of spring practice so far.

The tradition at Temple has been to name nine special tough guys before the first game of the season and number those guys 1-9, not necessarily in order of toughness.

Temple University official photographer Joseph V. Labolito captured the essence of the single digit tradition and the university in general with one general iconic photo shot (above) last Thursday. In the background, is a smiling Bernard Pierce—one of the few guys who turned down the honor of the single digit—and in the foreground is the toughest of the tough guys, Nick Sharga.

There are a few digits left, but here’s a novel idea.

Be very stingy about giving out the numbers just to fill out the roster.

Before Pierce’s sophomore season, then head coach Al Golden wanted to give Pierce a single digit but Pierce already was well on his way to making No. 30 a special number in Temple history and wanted to keep it. Golden honored that request.  Pierce singlehandedly lifted the Owls to arguably the second-best win of Golden’s Temple career—a 27-24 job at 10-win Navy, with 268 yards and two touchdowns as a freshman. (He also had a big hand in the biggest win of Golden’s career, a 30-16 thumping of BCS bowl-bound UConn, but that came in the next season.)

If the Owls find enough guys who meet the standards of guys like Sharga, Ventell Bryant, Sean Chandler, Keith Kirkwood and Jacob Martin, then they should hand out the rest of the numbers before the Notre Dame game.

If not, make it a game-to-game thing for performances in the game before or just  hold the number open. That makes the honor that much more special.

Who fills out the list?

My guess if Sharif Finch will be at least a candidate for a single digit. How long as Finch been around? He played a terrific game as a starting linebacker in a loss at Rutgers that would have been a win had he not been called for a bogus penalty on a late hit two plays before RU hit the game-winning touchdown pass. That was way back in 2013. Finch is also a big-time playmaker and has blocked five punts in his Temple career and also picked off New York Jets’ quarterback Christian Hackenberg in the key play of a 27-10 win over Penn State two weeks ago.

Other than Finch, a darkhorse candidate could emerge. Maybe Ryquell Armstead, but, either way, Temple will need more than nine tough guys to be successful whether they get a single digit or not.

Tomorrow: Done Deal Of The Century

03.29.17
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Rookie Of The Year

Logan Marchi’s senior highlight film.

Right now, it appears Temple will have the Rookie of the Year one way or another, whether it is Geoff Collins as a head coach or one of the five quarterback candidates.

Collins made a salient point the other day when he said it was “great that so many people were interested in who the starting quarterback at Temple will be” but it will be a decision that he will let play out over the next month or few months.

That’s a terrific read on the situation because there is absolutely no reason to name a starter until a week or two before the Notre Dame game.

temperor

Heavy is the head who wears the crown.

One thing is certain: The bar for Collins or the new quarterback is not very high. Few expect Temple to walk into Notre Dame and come away with a win on opening day, so the pressure should be self-imposed.

The real pressure comes the following week against Villanova. Whoever Collins picks for the Notre Dame game will be absolutely, positively, expected to orchestrate a beatdown of a hated local rival. Lose the first week against Notre Dame and no one bats an eye. Lose the second and there are a lot of eyes batted and questions raised.

 

In the Temple News on Monday, it was clear that this was a job that everyone wants but just as clear that only one will get.

Matt Rhule probably stunted the growth of the returning eligible Temple quarterbacks by not playing Logan Marchi or Frank Nutile extensively. P.J. Walker won a lot of games at Temple and the ones he won by 49-14 and 31-10 should have been ones where Rhule was allowing Marchi or Nutile to throw the ball all over the lot. Instead, his being a “nice guy” hurt Temple in the long run because in the limited time Marchi or Nutile had they mostly handed off.

Game speed is something that cannot be simulated and it will be something one of these guys will have to learn under fire.

For now, though, Temple and Collins have all the time in the world.

Friday: Filling Out The Digits