My favorite Harry Chapin song of all time. Wish it was louder.

By Mike Gibson
As a young man, I was into the music of Chapin.
Not Chopin. Chapin. Harry Chapin.
Saw him at a concert at the old Temple University Music Festival. He played there about six or seven times and I saw every Chapin concert.
There was something about his music that touched a, pardon the expression, chord with me.

The old Temple Music Festival drew huge crowds.
Temple University photo

All My Life’s A Circle, Taxi, etc., great, great songs.
A Chapin concert was an almost spiritual experience. No one put on a show like Harry. He’d do six, seven, eight encores. Plenty of good-looking women at these concerts, too. Just a fun, fun time.
As long as the roadies and the crew were into it, Harry would play.
The songs, to me, are timeless.
There was one thing, though, I wondered about Harry, who died in an automobile accident on the Long Island Expressway on July 16, 1981.
After every concert, there’d be a big gathering in the back of the tent, what is now the Ambler Campus parking lot. Chapin would sell T-Shirts and other memorabilia to combat “World Hunger.”
At first, I was really into it.
“Yeah, let’s eliminate world hunger,” I’d say after the first year.
Then the second year came.
And the third.
And the fourth.
Harry collected all this money and world hunger was getting worse, not better.
Billions and billions of dollars were collected for world hunger by well-meaning Harry Chapins of the world and it was not solving the problem.
Heck, it wasn’t even making a dent into the problem.
I came to the conclusion that there are some things you could throw money at and not make a difference, like World Hunger.
That there are other problems that money could solve.
Like Temple Football.
After that Epiphany, I came to the conclusion if I ever had millions I could throw half of what I had toward Temple football and I could solve much of what had ailed the Owls over these last 25 years.
Think about it. Saturday’s powerball is now $365 million. If I win, I promise right now to give Temple football, via the Xtra Point Drive, half.
What could Temple football buy with a, say, $182 million donation?

Here are some ideas:
• Half payment (about $90 million) on a 40K campus stadium, to be completed sometime after Temple’s current 15-year lease runs out at Lincoln Financial Field;
• 10,000 season tickets to be given to the 10,000 students currently living on campus or players on high school football teams in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware in order to create a cadre of young fans;
• Enough commercial minutes to sponsor live TV for every Temple road game (to also help build a following);
• A weekly coaches show on Comcast with current coach Al Golden providing highlights and commentary on each Owl game;
• A revolving contract that would reward Golden, and his staff, based on performance and guarantee that if the performance (i.e., wins) warrants it, Temple would have the financial resources to match whatever offer he’d get elsewhere.

Unlike its impact on world hunger, money would help Temple build a following and win and winning would solve Temple’s football image problem. It bears repeating the powerball for Saturday is $365 million.
I know there’s not a snowball’s chance in heck I’ll win but, if I do, do I really need the $365 million to live a lifestyle that would make me happy?
Heck no.
All I need is a modest hurricane-proof house in the Tampa area for seven months a year, a new Subaru and a new place in the Poconos.
The Florida house would be $500K, the Subaru $20K, the place in the Poconos $500K. Max. Throw in a couple million a year for spending money for the next 10 years and I’m good to go.
What else would make me happy?
A rampaging group of angry Owls kicking some serious college football butt, exacting their revenge for 15 years of humiliation with 15 years of glorious victories.
I know it’s selfish, but it’s my money.
I’d settle for half the lottery winnings, minus annuity and taxes and the like and give half to Temple football.
Sorry, world hunger.
Been there, done that.

…. Welcome 2006 Temple University football recruits … congratulations, coach Golden, on a super first group……..

Breaking news: Palmer, Bradshaw moving in the direction of a hug … read below …
By Mike Gibson
No, there is not a word missing in that headline.
The University of Virginia has been a Santa Claus to three fellow institutions of higher learning, giving a Prince to Kansas State, a Rocco to another smaller university in Robert E. Lee’s state and a Golden to Temple.
Of the three, Santa saved his biggest and highest-quality gift for the Temple University Owls.
Al Golden is the present that won’t be falling apart a couple of weeks after its unwrapping.
Rocco will be working for Jerry Falwell. Enough said.
Prince was roundly criticized for his play calling, by Virginia fans and media, all season.
Golden, in addition to his ultra successful history as a recruiter, has guided the Virginia defense to five straight productive seasons.
He never came under the kind of scrutiny Prince did because he delivered the goods on defense.
Temple fans can only hope he delivers the same kind of goods with his hands behind the wheel of their program.
Palmer, Bradshaw make up
Temple athletic director Bill Bradshaw is not making kissy-face with former Temple running back legend Paul Palmer just yet.
But at least the two are moving in the direction of a hug.
“Bill called me and asked me to come here and I appreciate that,” Palmer told me after the press conference..
Bradshaw made it a point to seek out Palmer and ask him to stand.
Palmer said the door is open, on his part, for a return to the Temple broadcasting team.
In a related development, Palmer admitted to saying “someone needs to grow some (balls)” in reference to former head coach Bobby Wallace’s play calling during the Virginia Tech game two years ago, despite repeated public denials by his engineer.
“I said it,” Paul said, laughing. “Pat (the engineer) was supposed to dump it, but didn’t. I guess that’s why (he denies Paul saying it). He’s just covering for me.”
Klecko lectures media
Another former Temple legend, tackle/nose guard/end Joe Klecko, lectured a group of reporters during the press conference.
The quote only made the Asbury Park Press.
“You talk about the Four Horsemen of Notre Dame, you talk about Army’s history. Temple has that, too,” said Klecko. “It’s hidden really because they haven’t brought it out of the archive for so many years now. But from Pop Warner to the great teams I played on with Steve Joachim, and so on.
“I told Al in the back, I’ll do anything for him. I can be a unique help to him because not only did I go here, my son Dan recently went here, and I played at the next level and Dan’s playing in the NFL right now.”

By Mike Gibson
If there was any doubt that Al Golden knew Philadelphia, Temple University or the area, it was erased today.
“This is my son, A.J. and my wife, Kelly,” Golden told the assembled media, players and fans in attendance. “We were on the beach in Stone Harbor (N.J.) and he decided he didn’t want to stay in anymore. We ended up at Cooper Medical Center the next three weeks in Camden.”
It was a natural progression from Stone Harbor to Camden and now Philadephia for the 23d Temple University football coach in its history.
Golden was born and raised in Colts Neck, N.J., the same town Dan Klecko became a high school star in before coming to Temple University.
Dan Klecko’s father, Joe, a superstar of some note himself, was in attendance.
Speculation raged about possible assistants, but Golden was understandably playing it close to the vest.
“I can’t say anything about that now,” Golden said. “People have to go through human resources and all of that.”
Golden did say plenty Tuesday, actually his second day on the job.
Well, maybe his third.
“This whole thing went down on Sunday,” said the former Virginia defensive coordinator. “I’ve spent the last two days drawing up a recruiting chart and I’m pretty proud of that. We have guys we’ve targeted and we’re already working on that.”
Golden knows how to chart recruits pretty well, having done much of the recruiting for Tom O’Brien at Boston College, Joe Paterno at Penn State and Al Groh at Virginia.
Golden said that “I last saw the Temple campus some 18 years ago” while being recruited by then Temple head coach Bruce Arians and “that so much has changed. …you can recruit here. We’re going to be able to recruit here.
“This is a beautiful place and a great campus. We stayed at Conwell Hall last night and we walked around campus and this place is alive at night. I talked to some of the students at the 7-11. They didn’t know who I was, but that was OK.
“Recruiting kids to this campus will be a big plus, one of our strengths. I did know what they did here in the past but, we’re going to recruit an area from Boston to D.C. and west of Pittsburgh. That will be our core area.”
To the players, Golden said: “I don’t know what’s happened before and I can’t apologize for it, but you are going to get the best I have and the best our staff has. I will never turn down a request to talk to a player.”

Al Golden to become 23d head coach at Temple University in a press conference Tuesday, 2 p.m., at the Liacouras Center. … Good luck, Al
By Mike Gibson
Put aside the fact that no one has ever seen what Al Golden can do running a team with a clipboard in his hand.
Every other indication points to Golden, the current Virginia defensive coordinator, having a terrific career as Temple University head coach.
Golden stocked the Boston College roster with outstanding talent that has perpetuated itself to this day.
As recruiting coordinator at his alma mater, Penn State, he did the same.
He comes to Temple with an insiders’ knowledge of the East Coast, its players and the potential to win at Temple University. As an assistant coach to Tom O’Brien, in two trips to Philadelphia, he went home a loser to the Temple Owls.
O’Brien, after watching the $7 million Edberg-Olson Hall go up at Temple University, remarked to the Boston Globe in the ultimate backhanded compliment, “now even Temple has better facilities than us.”
It should be interesting to see what level of talent Golden can attract to Edberg-Olson Hall to prepare to play in the greatest football stadium in America, Lincoln Financial Field.
The one question remains, as is the one question with any assistant coach, is how he’ll do under the pressure of calling those plays and running that program.
Al Golden has prepared all of his life for this moment. Greg Schiano, a terrific recruiter at Rutgers, has been routinely criticized for his game-day coaching.
Maybe Temple will luck out and, in Golden, get superb recruiter and a great gameday coach.
Whatever, Golden will now have his chance.
Last year, he turned down Charlie Weis’ offer to become Notre Dame defensive coordinator. That wasn’t quite the right fit, in his mind.
This is.
This is his time.
With this hiring, Temple had a chance to both turn around the perception of its program in Philadelphia and beyond. They could have had the Joe Philadelphia fan say “wow” with this hiring, if it had been a big name like Rick Neuheisel, Mike Price or Dennis Erickson and, to a lesser extent, Jim Harbaugh and Bruce Arians _ recognizable names in this heavily pro football town.
Early, the rumors circulated that a big-time alumnus would deliver the money needed to attack a name like Neuheisel. The late rumor was that another alumnus agreed to pay the salary of Bruce Arians and was refused.
The administration could have had “Joe Philadelphia Fan” saying “wow, Temple hired him?”
Now the few Joe Philadephia fans who care will likely say: “Who?”
At this point, though, who cares?
With creative funding, Bill Bradshaw could have delivered both flash and substance.
Instead, he settled for substance.
Already, there is considerable consternation on the Rutgers’ board over the rumor that Mark D’Onofrio will become Temple defensive coordinator and more over what Golden can do for Temple.
Al Golden has substance written all over his face and more importantly his resume.
With substance comes results and with results there will be enough flash to light up a Fourth of July party.
Thanks to Temple Football Forever’s h-t-m-l consultant NJ Schmitty, good luck to someone who will be known for the forseeable future as “Owl” Golden.

1) There are several mid week MAC games this week, with only one game being played on Saturday. Which game are you most looking forward to watching or has the most interesting matchup? OU @ Buffalo (Tuesday). Toledo @ CMU (Wednesday). BGSU @ Miami (Thursday). Ball State @ NIU ( Thursday). Temple @ Akron (Friday). WMU @ EMU (Saturday).

TFF: Well, since all but one of the games have been played, I’ll pick Temple at Akron.
2) Bernard Pierce of Temple is only a Freshmen yet is the only one in the conference with over 1,000 yards rushing to date (1,211) good for 3rd in the nation. He has found the end zone 14 times already and has not yet fumbled or turned the ball over. Does Pierce have an amazing offense line or should we expect this from him for 2-3 more years?

TFF: Both. He’s got the moves, the speed (PA. State champ in both the indoor 60 and outdoor 100 meters) and his offensive line is pretty young. The freshman who are redshirted on the OL were more heralded recruits, generally, than the guys on the current line.

3) This is a sore subject for some teams (IE – Buffalo, Toledo) but discuss the major injuries your team has endured this season and what your projected outcome WOULD HAVE BEEN if everyone was healthy. We expect 100% homerism.
TFF: Aside from a linebacker, Alex Joseph, who has been playing with about as bad a foot injury as you can have and still play, the Owls have been pretty lucky.

4) Outside of the MAC, which other college program(s) most closely mirrors your respective MAC school ? Who’s performance / problems / coaching / etc. is similar ?
Rutgers. Close by. Same recruiting area. Similar coaches (great recruiters, still learning the gameday aspect). Both large state schools.
5) If you could reorganize the MAC divisions, how would you see it divided to better promote competition, rivalries, recruiting, etc. ? What groupings would you like to see ? (Can be any number of divisions)
I’d keep it the same and beg and conjole Army to join.

the last two weeks….

1. Now that we have reached November, what do you really think of this no-Saturday stuff? Is it a necessary evil, an unnecessary evil, or a non-issue? Do you think that the difficulty for home fans outweighs the long-term benefit of being on ESPN?

I think the only non-Saturday games on should be guaranteed TV games. No more having multiple conference teams playing on the same weeknight, only to get one of the teams on TV.

2. As we hit the home stretch, who are your early leaders for MAC Offensive and Defensive players of the year? Coach of the Year?
LeFevour, Shannon, Golden.

3. Bernard Pierce is making a huge impact as a freshmen at Temple. What freshmen are making an impact or showing promise at your program?
Blue-chip kicker Brandon McManus, rated the No. 5 place-kicker in the nation last year as a high school senior at North Penn in Lansdale, Pa.

4. Think back on your time as a fan…..what is the single most exciting or thrilling moment you recall witnessing for your team…..I’m thinking in person, but certainly not a requirement.

Absolutely beating California in the Garden State Bowl before 55,000 Temple fans at the Meadowlands. Cal traveled maybe 100 people. All the other fans were Temple fans. A huge homefield advantage in a bowl game.
5. Rank ’em if you got ’em.

Ranking only the top 6 this week:

1. CMU
2. Temple
3. Ohio
4. Kent
5. NIU
6. WMU

1. Both Ball State and NIU took an early 1900’s approach to offense in winning their games this weekend primarily through the ground game. This brings the question: Are you satisfied with the balance of your offense currently? Would you like to see more passing or more rushing?
TFF: Absolutely not. When you have one guy, Bernard Pierce, getting 40 carries in his last game, it’s like allowing Pedro Martinez 130 pitches a game. He might be on his game, but you are setting yourself up for failure (i.e., injury) later. I come from the offensive school of run when they are expecting you to pass and pass when they expect you to run. That’s the best way of putting up 40 points a game on a consistent basis.
2. The two best teams in the MAC in Central Michigan & Temple take on non-conf opponents in Boston College and Navy respectively. What positives or negatives come from playing OOC opponents this late in to the season?
TFF: Same positives that can come early in the season. CMU has a pass because it gave the conference a great boost with the win at Michigan State. Bowling Green, NIU and Toledo all earned impressive out-of-conference wins. It’s Temple’s turn to give back to the conference and add to its prestige by beating a Navy team everyone around the country respects.
3. For fun, predict the outcome of the impending doom the 0-7 Eastern Michigan Eagles face as they travel to Arkansas this weekend.
Eastern Michigan will cover the 36 1/2-point spread and lose something like 45-17, 42-21.
4. If your team/coach were to wear Halloween costume, what would they be?
Tom Cruise. Al Golden wouldn’t need much makeup. He looks like Cruise’s younger twin brother anyway.
5. MAC Power Poll Time
1. CMU
2. Temple
3. NIU
4. Ohio
5. Toledo
6. Bowling Green
7. Western Michigan
8. Kent State
9. Buffalo
10. Akron
11. Ball State
13. Miami

1) Throughout the summer the MAC has been mostly left out of expansion/raiding conversations EMU athletic director Derrick Gragg seemed to hint that there are serious thoughts about adding more team(s). Dust off you DeLorean and tell us what the MAC looks like in 2014. Who stays, who goes and who’s new? What would you’re realistically ideal MAC look like.

TFF: I don’t think Temple will be around then (I’m thinking it will head to the Big East) so I would replace the Owls if I’m the MAC with Marshall. That’s a better fit, geographically, for the MAC than Temple is and I think Marshall could be convinced the MAC is a better fit than CUSA. Problem is I don’t know who goes to get the number even.

2) Most teams out of conference schedules are now winding down. Who has had the most disappointing and the most surprisingly impressive set out OOC games?

I have to give the MAC a lot of credit for scheduling BCS teams. Quite a few impressive wins. Northern Illinois over Minnesota (I don’t care how down Minny is), that’s impressive. Bowling Green over Marshall. Temple over UConn, Toledo over Purdue, etc. Not disappointed in anyone.

3) Which MAC Coach, new or not, should sit upon the hottest seat in the conference?

Stan Parrish.

4) I am asking out of order for a reason: Rank them first to worst

1. Temple

2. CMU

3. OHIO

4. Northern Illinois

5. Toledo

6.Miami.

7. Bowling Green.

8. Buffalo.

9. Western Michigan

10. Ball State

11. Kent State

12. Eastern Michigan

13. Akron

5) Of the bottom five teams which one(s) do you think have the best chance of making some noise in conference this season? And of the top 4 who is most likely to fall apart?

Bottom team likely to make some noise: Kent State.


Top team likely to fall apart: Unfortunately, Temple, if Al Golden doesn’t make a quarterback change soon. Good news is he has two potential great quarterbacks waiting in the wings. Bad news: He’s stubborn and loyal to Chester Stewart to a fault

By Douglass C. Looney
Sports Illustrated
THE CORNERSTONE OF TEMPLE UNIVERSIty’s philosophy was put in place in 1884 by the institution’s founder, Dr. Russell H. Conwell: ”Great deeds with little means.” Bruce Arians, the football coach at the Philadelphia school for the past six years, confessed last week, ”It took me a while to learn to live with that. When I started here, I was asking for buildings. Pretty soon I was only asking for pants and jerseys.” He didn’t get buildings, but he got the pants and jerseys. He also got fired.

The announcement by Temple said that Arians ”has relinquished his duties in a mutual agreement with school officials.” In fact, Arians relinquished his duties during a 45-minute meeting in which the university’s executive vice-president, H. Patrick Swygert, told him he was no longer employed. The only mutual agreement was that the school would pay Arians for the remaining year of his three-year contract — slightly more than $100,000 — and in return he would not talk ugly about his dismissal. Arians later met with president Peter J. Liacouras — once such a fan of Arians and his program that he broke a finger catching a kickoff at a practice — and they told each other what a great guy the other one was. A very civil divorce.

At Arians’s Marlton, N.J., home, the phone rang constantly, signaling condolence calls — from Akron’s Gerry Faust, Tennessee’s Johnny Majors, Mississippi State’s Rockey Felker, Texas Tech’s Spike Dykes.

Arians, 36, whose record was 27-39, said simply, ”I got fired because I didn’t win enough games. The way for Temple to win is to make a Miami-style commitment.” In the mid-’70s, Miami was either going to give it up or get good by pouring big bucks into football. The pouring worked. What Arians wanted for Temple was an indoor practice facility for bad-weather days, more practice fields, a bigger weight room and a football dorm. Lack of money, he said, torpedoed his hopes.

Athletic director Charlie Theokas said a lack of space in an urban setting — Temple’s campus is in North Philadelphia — was a more difficult problem than lack of money. ”We have adequate facilities, but we don’t have great facilities,” Theokas said. ”I do admit it could hurt recruiting.” He said Temple’s football budget ”puts us about in the middle of the pack.” He would not, however, disclose budgetary figures. In any case, Theokas said, it was time to ”resell, remarket, reenergize.” Translation: win.

Arians, a former assistant to Bear Bryant at Alabama, said the first time it occurred to him he might be fired ”was the day I got the job.” The second time was after the Owls lost their last seven games in ’87 to finish with a 3-8 record. The third occasion was this year’s Oct. 22 game at California. The Owls were up 14-10 at half, then blew it in the second half with fumbles on the Cal six- and 19-yard lines and lost 31-14, leaving Temple 1-5. Says Arians, ”We turned it over, and I turned my job over that day.”

Through the turmoil last week, Arians — who says the high point of his stay at Temple was beating Pitt three times, the low point never beating Penn State — was surprisingly upbeat. At his farewell press conference he thanked everyone, including — honest — the unrelenting Philadelphia press. Then he went back to his now all-but-bare office, closed the door and philosophized: ”This is just a new beginning. I don’t feel one ounce of failure. I’m just thankful to have another day. I know I’ll land on my feet. You never know what will be the next opportunity or the best opportunity. But I’ll be coaching somewhere next year. If you lose trying, that’s O.K.” And with that, he put his football office in his rearview mirror; stopped off at the Casa Lupita restaurant in Marlton for a beer; went home to his wife, Christine, a lawyer, for warmed-up pot roast; called his best friend, Chris Courtney, and learned Courtney had just resigned as coach at Garfield Senior High School in Woodbridge, Va.; watched two plays of Monday Night Football; and went to sleep.

Arians’s essential problem was that Temple — under the legendary Pop Warner — had played in the first Sugar Bowl, on Jan. 1, 1935. The school desperately wants to return some day, and every year the Owls don’t is considered another failure. But Temple has never even been close to getting back to New Orleans, because it’s far too ambitious a dream. The Owls, 4-7 in ’88, keep tilting at windmills, scheduling teams like Syracuse, Alabama, Penn State and Pitt. They lost to each this season.

In fact, Arians did a creditable job at Temple. In ’85 the Owls lost their first three games, to nationally ranked Boston College, Penn State and BYU, by a total of seven points. In ’86, Temple went 6-5 playing the 10th-hardest schedule in the nation — the Owls saw five of their opponents go to bowls. ”I knew the schedule when I came here,” says Arians. ”You keep your job by winning, but that’s not how you coach. You don’t coach to win at all costs. I’m a counselor, a teacher, a father, a brother — and a coach. I helped some kids.”

Arians, who went to Temple in 1983 after two years as running back coach at Alabama, says he was lucky to be hired. ”In no way was I prepared for this job when Temple gave it to me,” he says. ”I don’t know why they did, but I’m glad they did.” Liacouras said then that it was because Arians was the ”most promising football coach in the country.”

He wasn’t quite as promising last week, but his two children — Jake, 10, and Kristi, 8 — were not upset. Said a sanguine Jake, ”Oh, Dad’s on TV again.” And as the coaching roulette wheel spins, Arians will be back on the transactions wire and back on TV again and again, perhaps even performing great deeds — although, in truth, it might help if he is provided with slightly greater means.

Reprinted with permission of Sports Illustrated.