By Mike Gibson
From all reports near Annapolis today, there will apparently be no corps of Navy Midshipmen in attendance for the Navy at Temple game on Friday, Aug. 31 as part of stricter policies set in force by the new Academy Superintendent.
As a friend of mine said today, coach Wayne Hardin’s job just got a whole lot tougher.
Hardin, the former Navy and Temple coach, “guaranteed” a crowd of 66,000 for the Temple home opener, which was originally scheduled for Thursday night, Aug. 30.
Eagles’ exec Joe Banner “torpedoed” that guarantee when he reneged on a written deal between the NFL club and Temple University that would have given the Owls the more advantageous date. The Eagles hijacked that date for a meaningless exhibition game with the Jets that will feature all backups.
Now Navy’s administration has laid a mine field in front of coach Hardin by saying it won’t pay for the corps to be moved to Philadelphia.
Ugh.
The news could not be worse.
Will Hardin get his 66,000?
I don’t think so, but I’m not about to machine gun him after being torpedoed and mined. Hell, I would have gone out on that incredibly fragile branch with Hardin and guaranteed 66K myself if the game was on Thursday.
Thursday was the perfect night.
Friday and Saturday were bad and horrible second and third choices. Bad, because Friday is opening night of high school football in these parts. Horrible, because there are some ghost towns in Arizona that will have more people than Philadelphia on the Saturday afternoon of Labor Day weekend.
If Temple is going to approach 66,000 for this game, it will have to be with Temple people who don’t have enough money or inclination to get to the shore.
Temple people who don’t like the feeling of sand between their toes or have run out of suntan oil.
Temple people who just want to do their part to make Temple look good.
Real good.
Nothing would make Temple look better in the Philadelphia media than big, rabid Temple crowd approaching 60K.
So I implore you, if you ever cared about Temple University or attended Temple University, please make a special effort to get to the game.
Even if you hate football, please go. You get two shots at a free car.
If you are a student, please go. You get a shot at free tuition.
What follows in bold is an open letter from coach Hardin in boldface:

WELCOME, JOIN THE 66,000

This is an open letter to all of the “TEMPLE FAMILY,” which includes 190,000 alumni, 34,000 students, a faculty and administration of 9,000, and all the workers and people that support Temple.

We are a diverse group that is divided and splintered into various subgroups, such as the Varsi T, Owl Club, The Team, Football Inner Circle, Athletic Advisory Council, Presidents Advisory Council, Alumni Associations in each School or College, etc. Obviously, there are reasons for this, but we are all on the same team and have the same purpose to enjoy camaraderie and help Temple University. The Team, players that played for me over 13 years, have committed to the challenge of putting 66,000 people into the Linc for the opening game next fall with Navy. We need all the support from the Temple family that we can get in order to make this “MISSION POSSIBLE.” Let’s all band together as one unit and prove that Temple can support itself, by putting 66,000 into the stands for the opening game for 2007.

TEED UP

We have a new President, Ann Weaver Hart, a new coach, Al Golden, a new conference, Mid-American Conference, (MAC). Al has said that they will be bowl eligible next year. The future looks bright. There are many avenues for a successful school to have a winning football team, one of them is a sold out stadium, thus the reason for this effort.

DETAILS

Pre Game: Honorary Captains at Coin Toss: Navy- Roger Staubach, Joe Bellino, Bob Reifsynder; Temple: Joe Klecko, Steve Joachim, Skip Singletary
Francesca dePasquale, 17, playing the National Anthem on the Violin
Half Time: Timmy Kelly, 14, singing God Bless America
PRIZES

Drawing for a one year lease of a Chevrolet or a Nissan donated by
Brian Broomell, Classic Auto Group in Morristown, NJ
Drawing for a one year lease of a Subaru donated by
Dan Polett, Wilkie Subaru in Philadelphia, PA
Free semester’s tuition for current Temple students
Bonus

Any paid Temple-Navy ticket holder is entitled to purchase the same number of Temple-Penn State tickets.
For every five tickets you sell for the Navy game, you get one free ticket.
ALSO ON GAME DAY FROM NOON to 4 PM for “THE TEAM’S” USUAL YEARLY GET TOGETHER IS AT McFADDEN’S WHICH IS ADJACENT TO THE STADIUM. OUR APPRECIATION AWARD WILL BE AWARDED AND ALL THE PLAYERS THAT PLAYED FOR ME AT THE NAVAL ACADEMY ARE INVITED. THE LUNCHEON WILL BE FREE PROVIDED BY BILL BRADSHAW FOR BOTH SCHOOLS EFFORTS IN PUTTING 66,000 INTO THE STANDS. IT WILL BE GREAT FOR BOTH TEAMS TO MIX AND MINGLE. IF YOU SEE PEOPLE THAT YOU DON’T KNOW, JUST INTRODUCE YOURSELF, AND I AM SURE THAT YOU WILL HAVE JUST MADE A NEW FRIEND.

Together we can be a force. See you at the game,
Coach Wayne Hardin

By Mike Gibson
One of the most interesting developments in Temple sports over the last few months has occurred not on a practice field, a basketball court or in coach’s office but behind a computer.
There are now two pay sites providing coverage for Temple’s major sports teams.
That’s one more site than I ever thought Temple fans could sustain.
Maybe I’m wrong.
I hope I’m wrong.
After a summer that included major knee surgery and a close family member suffering a stroke, I’ve been neglecting this blog for awhile.
My apologies to all who’ve missed it.
Now that football season is back, so am I.
One of the things I have had time for, though, is to check out the two websites that provide coverage.
I’ve reserved judgment but after careful analysis over a period of months, I’ve come to two inescapable conclusions:
One is merely good.
The other is outstanding.
Count me on board with the Scout.com coverage provided by editor Shawn Pastor of OwlsDaily.com.
Pastor’s Scout.com coverage is as relentless as a Jim Johnson pass rush. I’m not the only one who feels this way. My friend, Sal Salamone, chronicled just two typical coverage days recently on the OwlsDaily.com website.
I like the approach Pastor is taking with his website, too.
When someone has a problem with Owlscoop.com and posts a negative comment about that website, editor John DiCarlo says something to the effect that “if you have a problem with anything send me an email.” Then he lists a gmail address.
I’ve never understood that approach. I’m sure he’ll invite me to send him an email to explain it.
No thanks.
Pastor handles it then and there, right in the same thread, often in the same hour.
That’s the way things should operate. Out in the open.
After all, that’s the way a message board should work.
A message board, after all, is a community. Why should a community not see the answer to a fair question/comment made by a poster? Why direct people to email?
Speaking of same, the message board often is the engine that powers a pay site.
Scout.com’s volume and messages and quality responses dwarfs that of Owlscoop.com.
I’m on board with Scout.com basically because I’m bored with Owlscoop.com. I’m bored, and quite frankly annoyed, with the Bumfuzzleds and Fat Pinone’s of the world. Scout.com’s “ignore this user” function allows me to block people like that should they infest Shawn’s website with a similar virus.
Owlscoop.com likes to pound its chest and tell everyone it is the best.
OwlsDaily.com proves it quietly and professionally every day. I will keep my Owlscoop.com subscription active because I believe that DiCarlo is an honest guy giving an honest effort.
It’s just not good enough.
I’ve joined Scout.com’s OwlsDaily community today.
And it’s not just because of the Sports Illustrated swimsuit edition that comes with the year-long commitment.

George Curry said it was good to be back at Temple
By Mike Gibson
The calendar says there are four full months left before Temple University’s home opener with Navy.
The way Wayne Hardin had it figured out today, the Owls are halfway home.
“I guaranteed to sell out the stadium without even knowing who the first opponent was,” Hardin said. “I asked who it was. Bill (Bradshaw, the Temple athletic director), told me Navy. I said, “Well, it’s half full now.’ “
Hardin was only joking when he said that.
His stated goal from last November, made public on the radio, was to fill the stadium with mostly Temple people.
If it gets full, it’s going to have to be with Temple people.
That’s why today was an important first step in a long journey.
The university hosted the students in an informal feel-good get together at the Edberg-Olson Football Complex and everyone involved had a good time.
Hardin was there.
So was another legendary coach, Wyoming Valley West’s George Curry. At Berwick, Curry, a Temple grad, won two USA Today mythical national high school championships. He is the all-time winningest Pennsylvania high school coach.
“This is my alma mater,” Curry said. “This whole atmosphere is great here now. It’s good to be here.”
It was the first time anyone could remember Curry coming back to watch a practice, but he brought some of his big Wyoming Valley West boys with him.
Hardin mined the coal region of Northeastern Pennsylvania for some of his best players, most notably fullback Henry Hynoski (Mount Carmel), and having Curry back in the Temple fold couldn’t hurt.
Today, though, was all about energizing the students about the mission. Food fueled their stomachs. Getting excited about an on-campus football team for a change will fuel their minds. At the function, a promotional plan was laid out which includes a billboard soon to show up on I76 promoting the game. Soon to follow will be billboards on I95, both here and near Navy. A student attending the game will receive free tuition. Another fan at the game will receive a two-year free lease on a car. More giveaways are yet to be announced. Try getting those perks at the Eagles’ game the night before.
As Bush 41 would say, “Not gonna happen.”
Both Hardin and current head coach Al Golden called it Mission Possible, to help fill the stadium. Hardin and Golden are in this for the long haul, not just one day, and are committed to beat this war drum for the full four months. Hopefully, the 250,000 living Temple alumni and 34,000 full-time students will answer the call to arms and fannies.
Filling the stadium? Hardin used the word guarantee back in November. He wasn’t backing away from it in April.
“When people who know me heard that, some of them thought I’d lost it,” Hardin said. “I don’t know if I ever had it.”
He did and he does. Come Aug. 31, God-willing, Temple will have it, too.

By Mike Gibson
Most schools usually are concentrating with the three R’s … reading, (w)riting and (a)arithmetic.

At Temple University on Wednesday, though, a break for the three P’s are in order:
• Picnic
• Pep Rally
• Press Conference

Because all rolled into one, that’s what this unique event at the Edberg-Olson Football Complex is. It starts at 3 p.m. and will be over by 6:30 p.m.
A picnic with free food to entice the students.
A pep rally and press conference to drum up momentum for a huge crowd for the season-opening game with Navy.
Another p-word thrown around will be possible because former Temple and Navy head coach Wayne Hardin has dubbed this task “Mission Possible.”
Hardin will address both the crowd and the media, outlining some of his ideas to fill the stadium. Al Golden will offer some words of support and answer any questions about how spring practice is progressing.
Don’t be surprised if someone attending Wednesday’s picnic/pep rally/press conference knocks someone’s socks off with a supplemental idea or two.
Here is one of mine:
Billboards at both ends of I95 (D.C./Baltimore/Annapolis and Philadelphia) featuring Hardin and Navy coach Paul Johnson in the Annapolis billboards saying simply:
Make plans to join us Aug. 31 in Philadelphia.
The one in Philadelphia can feature Hardin and Golden saying:
Aug. 31: Make plans to join us at the Linc.

Keep that in the minds of the millions of motorists traveling up and down I-95.
Get them coming and going from work, the shore and between the three big cities along the way.
It’ll take a little money, not much, and the return on that investment could be ten-fold for the university in terms of hard, cold cash and, most importantly, prestige.

By Mike Gibson
Come April 18, there will be a press conference at the Edberg-Olson Football Complex on the campus of Temple University.
The purpose: To announce ‘Mission Possible’ in conjunction with a general review of spring football practice.
Former Temple coach Wayne Hardin will be there. So will current head coach Al Golden.
The Mission they’ve chosen to accept: Fill Lincoln Financial Field for the Aug. 31 home opener with Navy.
Hardin and Golden are on board.
So are the vast resources of Temple University.
So, too, is Navy, an organization with a pretty good track record for accomplishing missions, possible and impossible.
There’s a great photo of Wayne Hardin celebrating with a couple of famous Navy players after a football win in the early 1960s circulating on the internet.
I asked coach Hardin about it the other day.
“I don’t know what game that was,” he said. “Probably Army.”
Those bonds have lasted a long time.
Recently, Hardin’s Navy players threw him an 80th birthday party in South Carolina.
Some of them mentioned that idea last year while talking to him in Florida.
“They said they want to throw me a birthday party,” Hardin said. “I said that’s not necessary.”
But throw they did and in style. Phone calls were made.
Everyone contacted came.
At least 65 former Navy players threw Hardin a party at a lavish South Carolina golf resort.
“I wish you could have been there,” Hardin said. “It was terrific. We got together at Hickory Knob State Park (S.C.) March 19-21.”
Two of the movers and shakers were Jim Maxfield and Jim Stewart.
“There were no words for it,” Hardin said. “(Representatives) of all classes and their wives were there. It was just a great tribute and I was really appreciative.”
Now Hardin is turning his energy (if he hasn’t already) to the April 18 press conference.
“I went to the (Temple) Homecoming game against Bowling Green,” Hardin said. “I may have brought them some luck. I looked in the stands and thought, “Oh man. We’re going to have to fill this stadium somehow.’
“So I committed to doing my part to helping them fill the stadium for the opening game next year. At the time, I didn’t even know who it was against. Maybe it was a sign that we’re going to get this done.”
So Hardin went to the top of the stadium and scribbled down on a notepad some ideas to fill the stadium.
He even went into the president’s box.
“She (Ann Weaver Hart) is a very impressive person,” Hardin said. “She looked at my list and nodded her head in agreement with my ideas (for filling up the stadium).
“When she got to the part of free tuition for a semester, she said, “My husband and I will pick that up.’ She didn’t even bat an eye.
“I mean, what father, knowing that his kid is going to have a chance for free tuition for a semester for attending a football game isn’t going to make sure that kid is there?”
Hardin’s other ideas will be announced on April 18 but this is a cooperative brainstorming effort.
“The bottom line,” Hardin said, “is that Temple is a school with 250,000 alumni living within an hour or two of the stadium and 34,000 full-time students. We should be able to fill that stadium with Temple people alone. All I’m asking for is you to give me one day of your year.”
With Temple fans hawking tickets from one end of I-95 and Hardin’s old Navy friends pushing from the other end, he just might be able to pull this off.

Dear Joe,
As you may or may not know, former Temple football coach Wayne Hardin is up for inclusion into the current class of the college football Hall of Fame.
Coach Hardin’s accomplishments in the realm of Philadelphia and national college and even pro football and have made him indeed worthy of induction. He’s the last head coach to win a pro football title within the city limits of Philadelphia, doing so for the Philadelphia Bulldogs of the then Continental League in 1966. (When the USFL Stars won it, they did it on the road and as the Baltimore/Philadelphia Stars.)
Coach Hardin is 80 years old now and wants to do a lot of things but none more important to him than filling Lincoln Financial Field for Temple’s Aug. 30 regular-season opener with Navy.
Coach Hardin went on WPHT-AM, 1210, a 50,000-watt station heard both here and Annapolis, and “guaranteed” a crowd of 66,000 for the home opener _ a feat that would put Philadelphia on the college football map quicker than any single football victory could.

Coach said there was one caveat, though.
The game needed to be on Thursday, Aug. 30. Anyone who has grown up in Philadelphia, and spent his entire life here, knows the town virtually empties the Friday of the Labor Day weekend with people mostly headed “down the shore” for one last long weekend before a long, cold winter. There is virtually no shot Temple gets what current Al Golden calls an “unprecedented crowd” on any other night but Thursday.
Fortunately, Temple AD Bill Bradshaw worked out the details and announced that Thursday would be the date for the opener.

The date is set on Owlsports.com, the school’s official athletic website.
It’s even on the Lincoln Financial Field website, which I got to by clicking on a philadelphiaeagles.com link.
Now there are some earthquake-sized rumblings that you want to take back the date for a relatively meaningless preseason Eagles’ game. When we were kids, we’d call that Indian-giving. That’s probably not politically correct now, so I’ll call it Caveman-giving.
The Eagles are basically the only sports organization in this town that can survive by playing on Friday night that weekend. You’ll get your crowd whether you play Thursday or Friday.
The Eagles can take the hit.
Temple can’t.
Please, as a favor to coach Hardin _ the only coach in the history of college football to take Navy AND Temple to top 20 final regular season rankings _ abide by the agreement which allowed Temple to announce the Thursday night date.
The Eagles would be helping both the fans of Temple and Navy (for example, allowing Navy reserve personnel ample time to get to weekend drills) and gain an enormous amount of public relations good will by keeping the Thursday date for Temple clear, making coach Hardin and coach Golden realize their dreams of an unprecedented Temple crowd.
Thanks for taking time out from your busy schedule to read this letter.
Sincerely,
Mike Gibson
Editor and Publisher
Temple Football Forever
(Longtime season ticket-holder of both Eagles and Owls)

Adam DiMichele played baseball, basketball and football at all-state levels
By Mike Gibson
Adam DiMichele has been in Philadelphia less than one year, but he’s said and done all of the right things.
“Our time will come,” DiMichele said of the Temple football Owls early last season, not in a hopeful way, but in a manner-of-fact way, like he was talking about daylight following nightfall.

At the end of the season, DiMichele was just as convinced as ever that the Owls would be a big story in college sports, sooner than later, and happy about the good fortune that landed him in the first chapters of it.
This is an unwritten best-selling book that has 100 protagonists, the uniformed Owls plus their coaching staff.
DiMichele could end up being the lead character before it goes to print.
“I have no regrets,” DiMichele said. “I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”
His latest statement came without even opening his mouth.
At least publicly.

DiMichele is no longer listed on the baseball team.
That’s a huge statement about Adam’s commitment to Temple football and speaks volumes about his future contribution to his new school.
Temple needs him as a football quarterback more than it needs him as a baseball pitcher.
Yet DiMichele’s future very well could be as a
baseball player. He hasn’t given up on baseball, just put it off for another year.
Committing to football and spring practice is the ultimate example of giving one up for the team.
Temple is ready to win this year and DiMichele is ready to lead this team into battle. Nothing would accelerate that process faster than a good quarterback committed to becoming a great one.
There are few Temple quarterbacks I’ve liked more than DiMichele.
Tim Riordan and Matty Baker for their toughness.
That’s about it.
DiMichele has those same gritty qualities.
People will say, “Well, what about Steve Joachim? Wasn’t he the college football player of the year at Temple?”
Yes he was.
And like DiMichele was all-state in football and basketball (at Haverford High). Yet Joachim was more Mike Schmidt than Pete Rose, skating by on his talent.
There’s no denying DiMichele’s vast talent, but there are intangibles with DiMichele, Baker and Riordan I didn’t see in Joachim.
He’s good enough to be named Pittsburgh Area Player of the Year in basketball, good enough to have been drafted by the major leagues out of high school in baseball and, like Joachim, good enough to have been signed as a football player by Penn State.
He’s all kinds of special.
Plus he’s Pete Rose in terms of competitiveness.
Give me Pete Rose over Mike Schmidt any day, especially at the quarterback position.
Like Riordan, he bounces up after a big hit and shakes it off.
Like Baker, he can make the big throw at the biggest time.
With DiMichele, the best is yet to come.
He’s shaken off two years of football rust and still looked pretty good in my mind. It’s scary to see how good he can become with his first spring practice under his belt.
“I call him Roy Hobbs because he’s a natural,” Temple head coach Al Golden said. “I’ve always said that the hardest thing to do in college football is to recruit a Division I quarterback. We have at least one.”
It was obvious he was talking about Adam DiMichele.
Now, in this off-season, without even saying a word, Adam DiMichele is doing his own talking.
I, for one, like what I’m hearing.

From left, Hardin, The Manhattan Project, Kennedy

“This nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to Earth, ” President John F. Kennedy, May 25, 1961
By Mike Gibson
Forget about the degree of difficulty with The Kennedy Project or The Manhattan Project or even The Alan Parsons Project.
The Wayne Hardin Project could make them all seem like child’s play in comparison.
Back in 1961, when Kennedy stood before Congress and said that “this nation should commit itself” to putting a man on the moon before the end of the decade, there were a lot of “huh?” looks in the gallery.
“Moon? You mean that same moon that’s up in the sky?”
In the early 1940s, when a group of scientists said they were committed to splitting the atom, people said:
“What, are you crazy? Do you know how small that thing is?”
That’s sort of the same reaction Hardin got when he went on the Temple football post-game show in November and “guaranteed” to put 66,000, mostly Temple, fans in the stands for the 2007 home opener against Navy at Lincoln Financial Field.
Guaranteed.
Hardin assured Temple athletic director Bill Bradshaw, the moderator of the show, that he wasn’t kidding.
“We’re going to do all we can to help you,” Bradshaw said.
Hardin offered one caveat.
“We’re going to try to play this game on the Thursday before Labor Day,” Hardin said. “I’ve given Bill that job now. He’ll get to work on it Monday.”
Bradshaw worked and worked and worked some more. Sometime, in December, Bradshaw almost gave up, saying “it appears the Eagles want that date.”
Yet he did not give up.
“We’re not going to abandon the idea of Thursday night yet,” Bradshaw wrote in an email in December.
Bradshaw hammered away on the problem for months and finally delivered his end of the bargain today with the announcement that the Owls now have that date.
Jeff Lurie and Joe Banner wanted to keep it for the possiblity of an Eagles-Jets’ game.
The Eagles were originally going to play that night and were unwilling to budge.
Bradshaw conjoled and pleaded, even begged, for the game, saying that it would help the Eagles, Temple, Navy and the city.
The city got on Temple’s side and convinced Lurie and Banner that it would best serve their community relations if they helped Temple out with this special night.
Mostly, though, it was Bradshaw who kept his word to Hardin that he would help. He didn’t give up and neither did Temple. Getting Thursday night is huge and, if you’ve been a Philadelphian for any length of time, you know why. The city virtually empties on the Friday of the holiday weekend, the last chance for folks to go “down the shore” before the long, cold winter.
Playing on Thursday night was the only shot Temple had of getting a crowd that weekend.
Now it’s up to Hardin to keep his word to Bradshaw.
Will Hardin be able to deliver?
Folks who’ve known Hardin for years say don’t sell him short, even on something this ambitious.
“If you think he can’t do it, you just don’t know coach Hardin,” long-time friend Kevin Touhey wrote in December.
Hardin was the guy who took the Temple job after it struggled against the Gettysburgs and Kings Points and Xaviers and looked people in the eye and said: “We’re going to be playing Penn State and Pitt and we’re going to go toe-to-toe with them. We’re going to be in a bowl game.”
Plenty of eyebrows raised, but few nods of belief.
Yet Hardin delivered. Temple played one of the greatest Penn State teams ever, the 1978 squad, toe-to-toe. Temple was nationally ranked. Temple went to a bowl game.
If anyone can do this, Hardin can.
Nothing gets The Wayne Hardin Project off to a running start like a Feb. announcent.
Now Billboards can be made, commercials can be filmed and radio spots can be written.
Hardin is still a compelling figure, both in this town and the Baltimore/D.C. area. He was, after all, the last Navy head coach to have that team in a major bowl and ranked in the top 10, as high as No. 2.
Hardin is counting on his Navy and Temple friends to deliver on some favors. Hardin already has convinced incoming recruit Corwin Acker, among others. “Our first game next year is against Navy,” Acker said. “We have a sold-out crowd, 68,000 people. I can’t wait to play in front of all those people.”
If Hardin is able to pull this off, taking Navy to No. 2 in the country or Temple to No. 17 in both major polls will seem easy by comparison.
He deserves the benefit of the doubt and all the help we can give him.

By Mike Gibson
Five minutes after Daryl Robinson’s high school career ended, a man leaned on that two foot fence that surrounds Frankford High’s field and kept yelling one thing over and over again in the direction of Robinson.
“YOOOO Daryl,” the man said, “Notre Dame, Daryl. Notre Dame.”
He was like so many Notre Dame fans in Philadelphia: Big and fat and obnoxious. So many of them look the same, it is eerie. Middle aged white men with white hair about 100 pounds overweight and wearing Notre Dame gear from head to toe. You could pen a cartoon about this guy and everybody would recognize the type immediately.
He looks like mayoral candidate Bob Brady, but wasn’t Bob Brady.
A Philadelphian, probably an Eagles’ fan, latching onto a Division IA team 500 miles west of a town where there already is a Division IA team that desperately needs his support.
“Yooo Daryl,” the man kept saying while Daryl was being interviewed, “Notre Dame. Notre Dame.”
Daryl just shook his head from side to side, indicating no, and smiled.
It had gotten around the school the weeks before that Notre Dame was in town trying to woo Robinson from his Temple commitment.
This seemed to excite all of the big, fat Notre Dame fans who were North Catholic alumni.
They pressured Robinson with yells and less subtle means.
In a move that speaks volumes for his character and his future, Robinson kept his word to Temple.
The big, fat guys represent what is wrong with college sports, specifically football, these days.
A school works hard to get a verbal, then other schools come in late and are the beneficiary of the hard work of the initial school. In other words, the stealing of verbals. Temple had at least two stolen this recruiting season.
This only hurts the mid-majors and the up-and-coming programs. The established programs feed off the work of younger, more hungry, coaching staffs and the cycle of the same teams having success repeats itself.
This cycle needs to be broken now.
Temple coach Al Golden talked about it on a radio show.
He’s in favor of an early signing period.
So is Villanova head coach Andy Talley, who had three of his verbals stolen by Division IA schools as well.
So am I.
So should any fair-minded fan.
More importantly, so should the NCAA.