Author Archives: Mike Gibson

01.23.12
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Auburn gets a great OC in Scot Loeffler

Scot Loeffler’s first press conference at Auburn starts at 0:30 timestamp.

If you are an Auburn football fan, you’ve got to be feeling pretty good today.
Heck, you might not know who Scot Loeffler is but, trust me, you’ve got to be feeling pretty good today.
The most unpopular guy on a struggling football offense is either the starting quarterback or the offensive coordinator.
Scot Loeffler was Temple’s offensive coordinator for one season and all you need to know is that every Owl fan loved the guy and the plays he called.

That came one year after EVERYBODY hated the guy who preceded him, Matt Rhule. (Well, everybody loved the guy but hated the plays he called and the overall offensive scheme, which was bleeped up for want of a better term.)
Rhule’s offense, broken into its most basic terms, was this:
First down _ Handoff to Bernard Pierce (or Matt Brown);
Second down _ Handoff to Bernard Pierce (or Matt Brown);
Third down _ Pass (usually resulting in a sack);
Fourth down _ Punt.
The second page of Matt Rhule’s playbook is illustrated in the graphic here. All you need to know is that the graphic was made by the most precocious 17-year-old Owl fan ever. And there was not one long-time Owl fan sitting in the stands who disagreed with him. The only person I came across who supported Rhule was the father of a Rhule recruit and I run into a lot of Owl fans. Even more importantly, I know what I see and smell and it didn’t pass the vision and smell test with Rhule.
Loeffler passed with flying colors.
For one year at least, Loeffler injected some imagination into the offense.

The Matt Rhule offense
Egad, passes on first down, a waggle to a talented tight end to open things up for an NFL running back.
Second down runs.
Touchdowns.
Who would have thought?

The Rhule Apologists  say it was because Al Golden was a micromanager.
I’m not buying it.
I sincerely hope that Addazio doesn’t promote Rhule to his old job. Matt would be much more valuable in the role of special teams’ head coach.
We need a new guy in charge of the offense.
Otherwise, it’ll be Matty Brown left, Matty Brown right and an incomplete pass on third down.
That’s not my idea of an offense.
Fortunately, it won’t be that way for Auburn fans this fall. I expect Loeffler will see what the defense gives him and take it.
I also, sadly, fully expect Daz to hire Matt Rhule as his new offensive coordinator. Rhule’s title was “co-offensive coordinator” this season if that’s any clue.
My fervent hope is that he does not change that to sole offensive coordinator.
Daz, your move. Show me you are a better CEO than Al Golden.



This play will work with Alex Jackson next season, too.



01.18.12
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Recruiting heads into the home stretch

Khalif Herbin is about two inches taller and 20 pounds heavier than Matty Brown. Otherwise, the two games are very similar as you can see here.



Khalif Herbin’s 2011 rushing stats

College football has evolved in the last 20 years in a lot of ways I’m not all that excited about.
One of the ways is the BCS and the power that group of schools have over the other half of the schools who attempt to play FBS football.
It’s not fair when six conferences get automatic bids into BCS games while the conferences on the outside looking in have to go without a loss even to be considered for a seat at the table.
Not fair at all.
It’s particularly disconcerning that one of the few “good” rules curtailing that kind of power was overturned two years ago surrounding  bowl games. Back then, in the good old days, a 6-6 BCS team could not be considered for a bowl over a 7-5 team, no matter what conference you come from. Likewise, a 7-5 team over an 8-4 team and so on and so forth.
The BCS schools, naturally, got together to overturn that rule.
Not fair again.
Recruiting has evolved pretty much the same way.
Non-BCS staffs can work their asses off to assemble a recruiting class to be proud of, only to see the BCS vultures swipe in at the last minute and snatch some of their best recruits away.
Not fair again, but get the trend here?
So I take recruiting with a very large grain (make that boulder) of salt when it comes to Temple football.

As excited as I was for some of Al Golden’s classes, I learned to wait until the ink is dry on the dotted line before assessing the harvest.
Golden spent five years here pushing that rock uphill and he did a pretty darn good job, even though Addazio flattened him with it when he “stole” Tyler Murphy away from Temple.
In those days, Addazio was pushing the rock downhill as Florida’s top recruiter.
The closest I ever came to contacting a recruit came was when a top-flight one was considering Temple three years ago.
I heard he committed, but I wanted to make sure so I dashed off an email to a sports writer I knew in that state. I’ll call him Doug because that’s his name.
“Geez, his father was a boyhood friend of mine,” Doug said, “why don’t you ask him? Here’s his phone number and his email.”
“You sure it’s OK?”
“Yeah, he’s a good guy and a  straight-shooter.”
My colleague Doug was right and the kid did sign at Temple after all and the father turned out to be a good guy from the get-go.
Still is.
That was the closest I came and still it didn’t feel right, so I stay out of the process altogether now.
I believe all fans should do likewise, even in these days of instantaneous social media.
Generally speaking, though, I’ll be a little more excited to see a tailback who can hit the home run like Bernard Pierce or a pass rusher who can put a quarterback on his ass like Adrian Robinson than I would recruits at, say, other positions.
That’s the kind of immediate help Temple needs now.
Temple’s got maybe the best quarterback in the league in Chris Coyer and the best tailback in Matty Brown, but I see a huge dropoff behind Brown that needs to be addressed with this class. If Montrell Dobbs or Khalif Herbin can get eligible and play right away, it has been addressed. If not, another home run hitter needs to be brought into the fold.
When it comes to recruiting individual players, I’m of the firm belief that  fans should be seen and not heard.
Not only does it border on NCAA violations, it’s a big waste of time until Feb. 1.
That’s the day when the faxes arrive with the signatures on the dotted line.
That’s when I get excited.
The way the field is tilted so heavily against the non-BCS schools, the only thing you can do is root for Steve Addazio and company to bring in the best class possible.
Pushing that boulder uphill after years of rolling it downhill is a hard-enough task.

01.17.12
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Two Owls on Fox Sports Network

Temple’s photogenic and effective offensive line in the waning moments of Kent State game.

(thanks for the photos, Cyrus)

The mom/son firm of Kroboth, Tribue, Kroboth, Tribue.

This completely slipped my mind because I’ve always associated college all-star football games with Saturday afternoons after the BCS national title game but two Temple Owls, Kevin Kroboth and Wayne Tribue, are on the field now (1/16/12) in the Casino Del Sol All-Star game in Phoenix.
The game is being carried on Fox Sports Network is 722 (Comcast) in Philadelphia.
The game started at 9 p.m., Philadelphia time, and should be over by midnight. If you miss it Monday night, keep checking that Fox Sports Network channel. They will replay it at times this week.
It’s on different channels if you have Verizon Fios, Direct TV and Dish TV.
Kroboth and Tribue kick off the “draft geek” season where everyone from Mel Kiper to the kid living in his mom’s basement can make their own evaluations against that of the NFL experts.
Already, Temple tight end Evan Rodriguez is getting rave reviews for his play on the first day of practice at the East-West Shrine game in Tampa, Fla.
Right now, if I had to bet, Bernard Pierce and Evan Rodriguez will definitely be drafted and Adrian Robinson will go anywhere in that 4-6 range as an OLB.
Pierce is a third-rounder. ERod could go as high as fourth.
Derek Dennis, Wayne Tribue and Kee-ayre Griffin could also be drafted as well.
I see Kroboth as a seventh-rounder or a free agent and I’m sure Stephen Johnson will get a shot somewhere. Joey Jones and Rod Streater can play pro somewhere, be it in the NFL, CFL or Arena League.
That’s what these all-star games are for to sort most of this out.
The nice thing is that they are easy to spot on Fox Sports Network as both are wearing the familar Temple T with their same college numbers, Kroboth wearing 37 and Tribue 69.
Here is a complete list of their East roster teammates. The roster was the only one I could find on the internet and had to take a photo of it, so it’s a little blurry but you can still make out the names.

01.12.12
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The Montrell Dobbs Show Debuts

Montville rival coach speaks in glowing terms of Montrell Dobbs.

“He’s got to be the most in-shape athlete I’ve ever seen in any sport in the state.”
_ Montville coach Tanner
Grove, speaking about
Ansonia’s Montrell Dobbs

About this time last week, I was lamenting how Temple could lose a guy named Bernard to the NFL draft while a guy named Montee returned to Wisconsin for his senior year.
Never mind the guy named Montee was rated higher than Bernard in every statistical and other rating category and therefore had MORE to lose than Bernard by returning to college. Bernard Pierce is rated as a high third-round pick. Montee Ball would have gone in the first round.
Well, a lot has happened in a week.
A couple of days ago, Temple got a full Montee as in a Montrell.
We don’t know if Temple’s Montrell Dobbs will be as good or better than Bernard but, judging on their high school stats, Dobbs outperformed Pierce in a number of categories.
While Pierce’s stats were impressive as a high school senior at Glen Mills (1,356 yards, 26 touchdowns), Dobbs’ 45 touchdowns were literally off the charts (see accompanying chart).

Temple Football Fun Fact
Owls finished ahead of the University of Florida, Notre Dame and Miami (Fla.) in the final USA Top 25 poll. Owls had two votes, Notre Dame and Florida one and Miami zero (sorry, Al Golden).

We don’t know how good a high school league Dobbs played in, but he followed that up with 1,227 yards and 21 touchdowns on a prep school level rated at about a JUCO level.
That’s a pretty good level of football.
Add in the fact that Dobbs, like Pierce, is a 4.5-40 speedster and appears to have Paul Palmer-type durability (he even had a few games over 50 carries) and this just might be the best pickup of the Steve Addazio Era (and he’s had a few good ones).
Dobbs told the Stamford Advocate that he’s “real excited” about coming to Temple. The only person more excited about Montrell Dobbs coming to Temple is me because a top-flight running back should have been Temple’s No. 1 priority in this class from the get-go and Dobbs fits the bill.
Since he’s a partial qualifier, getting Dobbs on the field ASAP to play the same role Pierce played with Matty Brown now becomes urgent.


Montrell Dobbs’ senior year transcript from Ansonia (Conn.) High.


Addazio appears to have addressed that  by having Dobbs enroll on Jan. 17 where he can work with Temple’s excellent staff of academic advisors to come up to 4.5 speed in the classroom as well.
Al Golden once told me that the formula for winning in the MAC is pretty easy.
“Trust your eyes on most guys, but get five or six guys per class who were wanted by BCS schools,” Golden said. “To win in the MAC, you’ve got to have BCS-level talent at the key positions.”
When Temple ripped off that long winning streak in 2009 (stopped when Bernard Pierce got injured), I felt for the most part I was watching a BCS team play in a FCS league.
With Temple’s recruiting advantages over the other MAC schools, that’s the way it’s got to be going forward.
Addazio seems to have gotten a lot of guys wanted by the Old Dominions and the Akrons, but is finally showing signs of getting guys wanted by the UConns.
Golden had a handful of guys offered (not just wanted) by BCS schools every year. Adrian Robinson was offered by Pitt. Kee-ayre Griffin was offered by Boston College. Kadeem Custis was offered by West Virginia. Evan Rodriguez actually played at West Virginia before transferring to Temple.
And those are just some examples.
Now Addazio has a marquee player offered by UConn.
By recruiting a quarterback who was wanted by Ohio State (which made an offer based on a visit) in Chris Coyer, Golden finally filled that key position and Temple fans finally saw the value of that scholarship this year.
Dobbs was wanted by UConn and signed with that school a year ago before going the prep school route.
Running back is a key position as well but, unlike quarterback, it is a position where impacts are made right away.
Montrell Dobbs has all the measurables to make an impact right away.
It should be a show worth watching.

“Get your popcorn ready. It’s gonna be a show.”
_T.O.
(ok, nuke the popcorn first and then come back and click on the video below.)


This is how you break all of Shady McCoy’s rushing records at Milford Academy.

01.10.12
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What can Daz do for Brown?

Bernard Pierce and Matty Brown react after Bill Bradshaw tells them about ordering gloves with the Temple T on the palm side.

Social scientists a lot smarter than I am give the three stages of grief as disbelief, disintegration and reintegration.
No doubt when you lose your favorite player from your favorite team as I did last week, there is an element of grief involved and I experienced all of those stages of grief in a relatively short time.
I’m in the reintegration stage, though, because while I grieve over Bernard Pierce’s loss, Matty Brown has always been my second-favorite player.



No truth to the rumor that this is how the team reacted
when Daz said Spencer Reid was replacing Bernard Pierce.

Bernie and The Bug are gone as a team but the bug is still here. Yet he cannot carry the running game alone, just as Bernie could not carry the running game alone.
At the end of December, head coach Steve Addazio threw out these names as possible sidekicks to Brown next year:
Jalen Fitzpatrick, Darius Johnson, Kenny Harper and Spencer Reid.
Sorry, Steve, I’m not buying it.
Fitzpatrick was a quarterback in high school and never played running back before. Johnson was an undistinguished and pedestrian running back in the Philadelphia Public League, quite possibly the worst high school football league in the state of Pennsylvania. Reid was given a scholarship as a running back despite running a painfully slow 4.6 40, making him slower than two of the Owls’ three starting linebackers last year. (Heck, I still think his dad could have afforded a full ride to Temple, saving that scholarship for, say, Ryan Brumfield.) Kenny Harper was better known as a safety in high school for Gainesville (Fla.) Buchholz and, quite frankly, did not EVEN REMOTELY show me any flashes of either Pierce or Brown on the limited number of carries he had at that position last year. I sincerely hope that when Justin Gildea moves from strong safety to free safety Harper will slide into the starting strong safety position next year. Both players could be All-MAC on defense right away.
Fitzpatrick would be perfect to slide into Joey Jones’ slot receiver spot. Deon Miller returns as one starting wide receiver and the Owls can chose from a whole lot of good options at the other WR, including playmaker Ryan Alderman.
My No. 1 solution would be for Temple to go out and find a big-time stud JUCO running back who is ready to go both on the field and in the classroom. Someone who has Bernard Pierce’s vision, speed, moves and quick burst to the outside.
Maybe that someone is Tiger Powell of Lake City, Fla.
Maybe it is someone else.
If Temple is not going to sign a big-time stud JUCO running back who is ready to go next year, there are better options available (some involve shuffling of personnel from offense to defense):

Brandon Peoples, Archbishop Wood _ It’s tough to ask an incoming freshman to make an impact right away but Brandon has the right initials. Another BP had 268 yards and three touchdowns in a 28-24 win at Navy as a true freshman, so maybe Brandon can duplicate that effort. He’s 5-foot-10, 180 pounds, though. Pierce is 6-1, 218. Peoples is not competing for the PIAA state 100-meter dash championship. At Peoples’ age, Pierce won it.

Nate Smith, like BP, has a nose for the goal line.

Nate Smith, current starting linebacker candidate _ This is my personal choice on the current team to help out Matty Brown, leaving the two current linebacker starters in place. Smith has the size (6-0, 220) of Pierce and is just a tenth of a second slower than Pierce. As a senior at Highland Park (N.J.), he was unstoppable, rushing for 2,442 yards and 32 touchdowns. That’s five more touchdowns than Bernard Pierce scored for Temple in this record-breaking year. Brother of former Philadelphia Eagle L.J. Smith so he’s got very good bloodlines.  Nate has been a lifelong Owl, going from the Highland Park Owls to the Temple Owls.

Wyatt Benson (6-0, 215), current starting fullback _ Benson, a blocker extraordinaire, could play his current position and pick up five to 10 carries a game to take some of the rushing load off Brown and quarterback Chris Coyer. He finished his prep career at Haverford School (the Inter-Ac, unlike the Public, is a GREAT high school league) with 663 rushing yards, 217 receiving yards and 18 touchdowns.

Ahkeem Smith, current starting linebacker _ Started out as a backup running back to both Pierce and Brown at Temple. As a senior at Bethlehem Liberty, was a superstar running back in a great Lehigh Valley League with 27 touchdowns and 1,837 yards in his senior year. Showed the current coaches his running ability by scoring a touchdown against Buffalo on a fake punt.

Blaze Caponegro, current starting linebacker _ The 2008 Shore Conference Player of the Year ran for 350 yards against Manasquan (yes, that was 350 yards in just one game), scoring five touchdowns. So he knows how to run the football.

01.06.12
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BP is gone, but not forgotten

This great photo of BP’s final home game turned out to be prophetic.
Photo by Mike Edwards

Section 121, Row 22, seat 1 just got a whole lot quieter today and the season is still nine months away.
Bernard Pierce declared for the NFL draft, according to the Associated Press late Thursday night.
The noise coming from that seat for the last three years was a loud “GIVE THE BALL TO THE FRANCHISE!” and The Franchise was Bernard Pierce.
Now the franchise will have to be Matty Brown.

“We’re going to keep moving along. We’re going to have a good football team. That’s going to happen.”
_ Steve Addazio

As much as I love Matty Brown’s game, we saw all too well the limitations Brown had in the final two games of the 2010 season. With Pierce out injured and the box loaded, Brown was largely ineffective against Ohio and at Miami and the Owls lost their final two games.
Have things changed since?
We will find out soon enough.
I can’t be as enthusiastic about giving the ball to Brown 25 times a game as I was adamant about giving the ball that much to Pierce.
So while I will be cheering for Brown like mad, he’s going to have to show me he can get the short yardage consistently if the defense is crazy enough to load the box against a Chris Coyer-quarterbacked team.
Brown’s competitiveness should carry the day, but I also think Addazio’s No. 1 recruiting priority is to grab a guy with Pierce’s size, speed, vision and burst to the outside.
Good luck with that, Steve.

Why is it that Matt Barkley comes back at USC, Montee Ball comes back at Wisconsin, Landry Jones comes back at Oklahoma and Temple gets screwed by losing Bernard Pierce? Can’t the “little guy” ever catch a break?


Brown’s competitiveness should carry the running game on most days. That and the knowledge Coyer gives the Owls an added running dimension they did not have in the past five years.
“I kind of understand Matt now,” Addazio said. “He’s an emotional, competitive guy. Sometimes I put my arm around him and make sure he keeps it in perspective.
“I think he’s the best back in the conference next year.”
I’m kind of disappointed in Pierce’s decision because it is part and parcel of the “rich get richer” mentality that is prevalent in college football today.
Why is it that Matt Barkley comes back at USC, Montee Ball comes back at Wisconsin, Landry Jones comes back at Oklahoma and Temple gets screwed by losing Bernard Pierce?
Can’t the “little guy” ever catch a break?
It makes me want to scream.
All of those guys had more to lose than Bernard by coming back and they STILL made the decision to return.
Addazio made clear that he laid it on the table for Pierce, telling him to come back if he’s not a first-round draft choice and letting him know that those who advised him otherwise had agendas.
Pierce won’t be a first-round pick, but he’s not coming back.
“What I’m not going to do is try to impose my will, I’m not doing that,” Addazio said. “I’ll support his decision. Those are personal decisions. We’re going to keep moving along. We’re going to have a good football team. That’s going to happen.”
I think Addazio just might be right. Temple will have a good football team without Bernard Pierce, but my nagging thought is that it would have had a great one with him.
Win them all and it becomes a moot point, but that’s a high bar to set for a 5-foot-5, 150-pound guy.

01.03.12
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Eagles can only hope to be Temple TUFF

Steve Spagnuolo would be a Chuck Heater-type hiring for the Eagles and that’s a  good thing.

On Sundays, I hang up my Temple garb, don the Eagles gear and head out to a local establishment to watch my second-favorite football team play.
I’m always promoting the Owls by word-of-mouth, though.
I never cease to be amazed by the outdated perceptions many Eagles’ fans have of Temple football.
Watching the Eagles hammer the Jets, 45-19, an old guy sitting at the bar slid down his NFL title game ticket, circa 1960.
I mentioned how stupid it was for Andy Reid to hire Juan Castillo, a lifetime offensive line coach, as defensive coordinator.
“It’s pretty bad,” I said out loud, “when the Temple defensive coordinator is so much better than the Eagles’ defensive coordinator, it’s not even funny.”
Most of the bar seemed to know who Chuck Heater was and the kind of job he was doing at Temple and nodded in agreement.
Not all, but most.

Occasionally, he will throw in a “Temple TUFF, baby” at his press conferences. That’s as exciting as a Reid press conference gets to me, but I appreciate it.


Certainly not the old guy.
“Temple?” he said. “Do they still draw 3,000 for their games?”
I had to bite my tongue to be nice to this guy.
“I guess you don’t read the newspapers anymore,” I said. “Try 30,000. They almost averaged 30,000 this year. You can look it up. You should go. Their games are a lot more exciting than the Eagles’ games.”
“I didn’t know that,” the man said, apologetically.
Perceptions are pretty hard to break down, but I’m doing it one person at a time.
That’s why I took Jeffrey Lurie’s press conference today as a good sign.
Andy Reid will be back. He can break down outdated perceptions of Temple football a lot faster than I can because he has a much larger platform.
Reid is a good head coach who is a friend of Temple football.
I think he made a mistake in hiring his buddy, Castillo, but Reid is a pretty loyal guy.
That’s a good sign for Temple as well.
Occasionally, he will throw in a “Temple TUFF, baby” at his press conferences.
That’s as exciting as a Reid press conference gets to me, but I appreciate it.
I hope Reid follows up by hiring a good defensive coordinator who will make the Eagles Temple TUFF on defense once again.
Steve Spagnuolo, who was just fired in St. Louis, would be a good fit for the Birds.
If Spagnuolo can do the same type of job as Heater, both teams should have double-digit wins next season and I’ll be able once again to wear the green as proudly as I always do the Cherry and White.

12.29.11
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Palmer would be flattered by Pierce comic book

The front and back covers of the Paul Palmer comic book.

This may or may not be a moot point, depending upon whether or not Bernard Pierce comes back for his senior year, but it’s something I had to ask the other great Temple running back.
“Would you mind if Temple used the same comic book campaign for Bernard Pierce than it used for you?” I wrote him.
I just got the reply this morning.
“I’d be flattered,” Paul Palmer said.
Heck, I know that Bernard has a tough call in the days ahead.
Not tough for me or Steve Addazio, but for him.

Paul Palmer (middle, between Vinny Testaverde and Brian
Bosworth) at Heisman awards: “I’d be flattered” by
a Bernard Pierce comic book. Notice all three are wearing
Temple-colored ties.

It’s Addazio’s opinion _ really, the general consensus out there _ that if you are not a sure-fired, stone-cold-lock for first-round pick in the draft, then you should come back and, in his words, “enjoy your senior year and get your degree.”
That’s reasonable. If there is money now (by comparison a paltry and not guaranteed amount), it only figures to double and triple next year and then it becomes guaranteed money as a No. 1.
I think, and Addazio seems to agree, that Bernard can raise his stock one or two rounds with another solid year at Temple.
And, who knows, if everything breaks right, catapult himself into a Heisman Trophy race.
These are things that are all weighing heavily on Bernard’s mind right now, so maybe a little comic relief is in order.
As in comic book relief.
I came out in favor of this comic book as early as Bernard’s sophomore year but Temple’s promotions people went all high-tech on me with a Facebook page and a Bernard for Heisman website.
Nice, but sometimes the old ideas are the best ones.
Simply replace every Palmer image and stats with those of Pierce and you got yourself a damn good Heisman campaign for 2012 right there. The template and story board is right there. Replacing Palmer’s life story and stats with Pierce’s should be a snap.
The only missing element would be someone to draw the illustrations.
If the illustrator for that is dead, there’s a sports anchor guy in Allentown named Troy Hein who wrote a children’s book and has the best illustrator around. Hire that gal (her name is Kathryn Roman).
Heck, Temple would be stealing its own terrific idea and Palmer benefited from it to the tune of a second-place finish in the Heisman Trophy balloting of 1986. The Owls’ promotion department send 1,050 comic books to 1,050 Heisman Trophy voters. It was the best $10,000 Temple spent on anything. It came back 10,000,000-fold (that’s 10 million) in terms of viewers who saw Temple associated with good football while watching the Heisman Trophy ceremony on CBS-TV that year.
That (and a 1,866-yard season) got Palmer a seat at the table in between Miami’s Vinny Testaverde (the eventual winner) and third-place finisher Brian Bosworth of Oklahoma.
It also might have helped Palmer get drafted in the first round.
I’ve watched every game of both careers and I happen to think Bernard is the better player (sorry, Paul). I usually (though not always) side with the older guys (nobody can tell me that Mo Wilkerson was better than either Joe or Dan Klecko), so that’s saying something.
If Bernard comes back, he should get that comic book and whatever help Temple can offer him along the path to a Heisman and a first-round pick.

12.23.11
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Addazio’s sound advice for Bernard Pierce

One last time, Derek “Bonecrusher” Dennis leads the Diamond Marching Band in bowl-championship T for Temple U. Bernard Pierce will do that after the national title game next year (hopefully).

At this time of the year around the turn of the century (last one, not this one), a young girl named Virginia wrote a letter to a newspaper editor asking if there really was a Santa Claus.
What followed was about the best response to a letter to the editor in the history.

“I’ve always been a believer if you have a chance to be a first-round pick, that’s great. But, if not, I think you come back and get your degree and enjoy your senior year and be a marquee player in the country and all the great things that go with it.”

_ Steve Addazio

Steve Addazio isn’t an editor, but he gave Bernard Pierce just as good response on whether or not he should enter the NFL draft.
The basic tenant of which was, yes, Bernard, there will be an NFL next year (and the year after that) and if you are not going to be a first-round pick THIS year, stay in school, get that degree, and possibly get guaranteed first-round money NEXT year.
I haven’t seen one first-round projection this year, but I can easily envision it after a solid senior season for Bernard.
Here are some highlights from the Addazio press conference:
“I have (sat down with Bernard) and he’s got to sit down with his family and evaluate the situation. Those are personal decisions and they’ve got to make them based off the facts.
“You put your stuff into the NFL and get feedback and let them process the information, that’s all you can do. I’ve got friends in the league and give them feedback. You give him all the information that’s factual and doesn’t have an agenda to it.

Four of the estimated 6,000 TU fans in Owlbuquerque.
Thanks, CT, for the great photo

“I’ve always been a believer if you have a chance to be a first-round pick, that’s great. But, if not, I think you come back and get your degree and enjoy your senior year and be a marquee player in the country and all the great things that go with it. I’m a guy who deals in facts. I’m not an agenda person. You want the facts, here’s the facts. If you want my opinion, then here’s my opinion. In this world we’re in today, at times, there’s a lot of different opinions that have agendas.
“All you can do is offer your help. Do I have all the answers? No. I have some experience in it. All you can do is offer your opinion.”
On whether the decision to come out should be made on whether or not he’s a first-round pick:
“Me, yeah. That’s not just me. That’s a pretty strong consensus out there. I mean, Stay in school. Get your degree. Play college football. You are supposed to be in college for four years.
“Guys came out of school early for one reason. The money got so grand in the first round … I mean, that’s why but not to just do it. The NFL is a rough business. Stay in college. Enjoy yourself as long as you can. Get your degree. It’s all about getting your degree. Get your life set. Joy is fleeting. Knowledge is everlasting. Don’t get away from those fundamentals.”
Very profound.
Not exactly as profound as “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus” but certainly “Yes, Bernard, there will be an NFL next year” rings just as deeply.
Heck, I’ve always written that Bernard is a first-round draft pick. I maintained that since his freshman year but that assumption was made on the basis of a four-year career.
If he stays for his senior year, he will be one just as certainly as  there is an  NFL.
Santa Claus?
I’ll leave that question for the newspaper editors.

12.20.11
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New Mexico Bowl: The Fifth Quarter

Steve Addazio either tells very funny jokes or heard one here.



Chuck Heater seems to be enjoying his time at Temple.

Sometimes during all of this talk about recruiting rankings, coaching changes, conference shifting and declaring early, we forget one thing.
Football is a game and it is supposed to be fun.
Thank you, Temple football team, for reminding us of that most important fact on Saturday afternoon.
I have to laugh when, after a big win, some reporter asks a head coach “what’s next?” when the correct response would be, hey, how about enjoying this win a little bit first?
That’s what I took away from Saturday.
Temple’s 37-15 win over Wyoming was a tribute to the coaching staff and the players for all the hard work they put in pretty much over the last 365 days.
It was fun watching it unfurl for three hours on the field.
It was even more fun watching the fifth quarter, the celebration afterward.
Heck, the game was not in doubt so that quarter began a little early, with Rod Streater dunking head coach Steve Addazio with a gatoraid cooler filled with water.
“He’s the realist coach there is, but I had to get him, though,” Streater said.
Then came a dunking for another real good coach and overall great person, defensive coordinator Chuck Heater.


Morkeith Brown makes sure too many hands don’t spoil the pot.

 Even assistant coach Matt Rhule got a water bottle full of cold shock. It wasn’t a whole cooler, but Rhule isn’t even a whole coordinator.
Addazio turned to Rhule and laughed.
This was all while the game was going on, but had been decided.
Afterward, it was even better.
Addazio said something only he and the team could hear and they roared laughing. I will use the next two weeks to find out what that was and, if it’s clean (and I think it was), I will pass it along here.
There was 26-year-old Iraq war vet Morkeith Brown lifting the New Mexico Bowl Trophy, a Native American Clay Pot. Like the former tight end he was, the defensive end did not drop it.

Saturday’s TV ratings in Philly market
Dallas/Tampa on NFL Net – 5.5 RTG 10 Share 8pm to 11pm
Temple/Wyoming on ESPN – 3.3 RTF 8 share 2pm – 530pm.
Flyers Hockey on Sportsnet – 1.8 RTG 5 share – 1pm to 330pm

Thank God.
It would have probably had to make the five-hour flight home in pieces.
There was no more appropriate guy to hoist the bowl trophy.
Brown was a leader from the day he walked into the Edberg-Olsen Football Complex and he was a leader until the day he walked off the field at the last time.
He will be missed, but the memories he and his teammates created will remain.
What’s next is a question for another day and you can bet this staff is working on the answers right now.
I, for one, am not done basking in the glow of the fifth quarter.