Category Archives: Big East

10.10.12
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Robert Burton Week at UConn

This was the talk of national radio and ESPN TV on Jan. 26, 2011.

 

Game time is 1 p.m. Saturday.

In the crowd of about 35,000 fans at the Temple vs. UConn game on Saturday, there will be one person who can’t lose.
His name is Robert Burton.
You won’t see them, though, unless you have a pretty good set of binoculars that can peer through some stained glass or the ESPN3 telecast catches a glimpse of him because Burton will be in one of those fancy heated club boxes.

Our prediction on this game, published on June 4 in this blog (before
Montel Harris got here).

UConn or Temple is going to lose, that’s a given, but Burton will be a winner either way.
That’s because if UConn wins, Burton will get to see his favorite school win an important college football game at Homecoming.
If UConn loses, he’ll get to say “I told you so” and probably will be trying to suppress a smug grin behind the stained glass. Largely because Hathaway left, Burton has since patched up his well-publicized differences with UConn.

Connecticut v Temple

Temple

Burton was the guy who donated $3 million for his name to be given to the Robert Burton Football Complex, then wanted it back after UConn athletic director Jeff Hathaway hired Paul Pasqualoni instead of Steve Addazio.

The Pratt and Whitney Aircraft Club parking lot, at
Silver Lane and Simmons Road, is where visitors usually tailigate at UConn
but the official TU alumni tailgate will be at the Gray Lot across the street.

Now Addazio is at Temple and Pasqualoni is at UConn.
That’s why this week is Robert Burton Week and Saturday is unofficially Robert Burton Day at Rentschler Field.
It didn’t matter that Temple already hired Daz in the days before Randy Edsall resigned, Burton wanted UConn to go after him anyway.
I’ve got to give Hathaway a lot of credit for showing some ethics in picking the best available person and not raiding a fellow institution of hiring learning’s most recent hire.
At the same time, it looks like Temple made the better hire in that the Owls’ stock appears rising while the Huskies seem be going in the opposite direction.
The Owls can further solidify that general consensus with a solid win on Saturday.
In all games, there are winners and losers.
In this one, on this day, at least there is one person who could be both.

Rentschler Field forecast for Saturday.
09.23.12
by

No anger, just disappointment


Close-but-no-cigar was typified by how close TU got to sacking McGloin on a 4th and 5 TD pass.

I thought the coaches had a great gameplan. My only question was punting on 4th and 4 late in the third quarter, down 14-3. Kick it into the end zone and you gain only 20  yards of field position. To  me, the correct call was to get a swing pass out there on the sideline near the sticks for four yards and keep the drive going. That’s the logical call and I don’t see giving up that down in exchange for 20 yards of field position. I didn’t see it when the call was made and I didn’t see it after PSU went 80 yards for a 21-3 lead. That’s being Temple Timid, not Temple TUFF.

 UNIVERSITY PARK _ After Temple’s 36-27 loss to Maryland, the predominant feeling from this corner was anger.
Anger, as in, “How can you not blitz the crap out of a true freshman QB who threw three blitz-induced picks against William and Mary?”
That loss was on the coaches.
Now, sitting here getting free wifi in McDonald’s after a 24-13 loss to Penn State, the overwhelming emotion is disappointment.
This one is on the players.
I thought the coaches had a great game plan. My only question was punting on 4th and 4 late in the third quarter, down 14-3. Kick it into the end zone and you gain only 20  yards of field position. To  me, the correct call was to get a swing pass out there on the sideline near the sticks for four yards and keep the drive going. That’s the logical call and I don’t see giving up that down in exchange for 20 yards of field position. I didn’t see it when the call was made and I didn’t see it after PSU went 80 yards for a 21-3 lead. That’s being Temple Timid, not Temple TUFF.
But the plays left on the field before that were the game-changers.
As the only Temple fan sitting in my section (thanks to a free ticket from a PSU supporter and friend) from near the top row of Beaver Stadium, I could see both Cody Booth and Jalen Fitzpatrick CLEARLY being missed on sure-fire touchdown passes.
Had the Owls hit those seemingly easy pitch and catches, the game might have been different. No bigger Chris Coyer supporter than I, but it looked like he missed the Fitzpatrick pass altogether.
On the other one, it looked as if Cody Booth stopped in the pass pattern did not go where the ball was designed to be thrown.

Owlscoop.com’s take on the game plan.

Since Jalen complained to the ref about being held, I think that might have been the case on his play, too.
 Still, I think Chris could have adjusted those throws for two scores.
Adam DiMichele makes both of those throws for scores. He didn’t care about timing patterns. Of course, on the other hand, Chester Stewart throws both balls into the first row, so I guess everything is relative.
That’s easy for me to say because I wasn’t being rushed by 6-foot-5, 300-pound linemen, but those are plays a big-time team makes in a big-time setting.
Temple isn’t a big-time team. At least not yet.
 It really ticks me off that the first Temple win over Penn State will come with an asterisk, but it’s going to happen in Philadelphia on Aug. 30, 2014.
The asterisk, of course, will be Temple having 10 more scholarships than Penn State in each of the next two seasons leading up to that game.
Temple will have a talent and depth edge so pronounced that I would be surprised Penn State gives Temple the kind of game the Owls have given PSU the last three years.
 On Saturday, though, it was just another case of close, but no cigar against PSU.
 I like cigars.
Temple could have given their fans a puff of a primo Havana cigar on Saturday.
Instead, we’ll have to settle for one of those cheap 7-11 cigars in 2014 and that’s a long way away.
That’s the bad news out of Saturday.
Other bad news came from our former MAC brethren against Big 10 teams. While Temple was losing at Penn State, Central Michigan was getting it done at Iowa and lowly Eastern Michigan was throwing a scare into Michigan State.
If them, why not Temple?
 The good news is that these are fixable problems. The defense is not a SEC-level defense, but it certainly is good enough to excel in the Big East.
Here’s the offensive fix: Have Romond Deloatch, Jalen Fitzpatrick, Deon Miller and Ryan Alderman in the receiving rotation. Forget everybody else for now. Get those guys up to speed. I know Deloatch stepped out of bounds on his great catch, but that is a minor problem that’s fixable in practice for a true freshman. He fights for the ball and catches it. I like that. I know Alderman had a drop, but that was his only drop in a three-year career at Temple that I can recall. He’s a great third-and-eight option. Fitzpatrick can make explosive plays downfield and he won’t drop the ball, either.
 Get the ball “in space” to Montel Harris and Matty Brown more. Shovel passes, screens, pitchouts. Those guys are deadly in space, not so much between the tackles.
If you want to run it up the middle, give it to fullback Wyatt Benson.
I think Penn State will prove to be the best team on the Temple schedule not named Louisville and the Lions might even be better than Louisville.
 More good news came from the mighty Big East on Saturday:
South Florida lost at Ball State (in the same stadium Temple beat Ball State, 42-0, last year).
“That’s the kind of team we’d like to be in four years,” Ball State coach Dave Lembo said of Temple after that loss last year. Since then, Ball State has beaten a Big 10 team and South Florida.
Heck, Ball State is the kind of team I’d like Temple to be in two weeks, too. Temple hasn’t fallen that fast in a year, has it? I don’t think so but they’ll have to prove it to me on Oct. 6.
Also, Western Michigan beat UConn.
Again.
Yeah, that transition from the MAC is really going to be tough for the Owls.
They have the blueprint for the fixes and two weeks to do it against South Florida. If Ball State can do it, so can they. There can be no excuses next time. Get ‘er done.
Now for the long ride home for both me and them.

06.26.12
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Brown turns down SEC and Big 10 offers for TU

Buddy Brown’s junior year highlights at Williamstown, N.J.

“You don’t have to go to Rutgers, you can go right here. We are not North Jersey people. We are basically a step over from Philly. We love the Eagles. We love Temple basketball. We like all that. So why not stay here and have a chance to make a change?”
_Sean Brown, Buddy Brown’s father

Ben Franklin once said it first in this town, over 200 years ago:
“In this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.”
Now you can add a third certainty.
Delusional Rutgers’ fans.
Prior to Temple getting verbals from  Jihaad Pretlow and  P.J. Walker, RU fans were drooling over getting their services.
When the two committed to Temple, the prevalent opinion was Rutgers must have backed off at the last minute and “they weren’t that good, anyway.”
Now that Williamstown four-star linebacker Buddy Brown has committed to Temple, RU fans are saying the same thing.
Truth is no offer was ever pulled. Brown was 247.com’s top-rated linebacker in New Jersey and the 10th highest-rated player on the board at any position in that state. He was a four-star national recruit by them and a three-star national recruit by Rivals.com.

Your typical, run-of-the-mill, Rutgers’ football fan

Brown picked Temple fair and square.
It doesn’t matter what a group of nerd fans say, but what Brown says.
“I think more recruits should take a harder look at Temple,” Brown said. “They will be impressed.”
One RU fan came onto Owlscoop.com and wrote, “you really don’t think someone would turn down an offer to come to Rutgers or Penn State over Temple, do you?”
Well, yeah, and there’s no thinking involved, just facts.
Ask former Big East player of the Year Walter Washington (who turned down Nebraska), former Owl wide receiver Mike Palys (who turned down Penn State), former MAC defensive player of the year Adrian Robinson (who turned down Pitt) and current quarterback Chris Coyer (who turned down Ohio State), among many others who could have gone anywhere but chose Temple.
Rutgers’ fan reaction is curious and humorous, more than annoying, really.
They can’t accept the fact that Temple has a more charismatic head coach than they do, a guy who was head coach at Florida (even if it was for three months). They can’t accept the fact that Temple has a defensive coordinator who as a defensive coach was instrumental in an 11-0 season at Utah and was the brains behind a national championship defense at Florida.
They can’t accept the fact that, in comparison, they have a dull, bland, unproven offensive line coach taking over for Greg Schiano.
Yeah, right, and the 23th-ranked linebacker in the country got an offer pulled from Rutgers when he had offers on the table from Wisconsin (Big 10) and the SEC (Mississippi State).
I didn’t know Rutgers, 7-13 in its last 20 conference games, was in the NFC East.
Baghdad Bob must have had a degree in communications from Rutgers.
He was the guy who stood on one bank of the Tigris River on April 8, 2003 in Baghdad saying “American Troops are committing suicide” and “they will be either killed or burned in their tanks”  before getting to the other side.
Two U.S. Army M1 tanks could be seen in the background. By April 9, the entire town of Baghdad was secured and Bob was arrested by the troops he said would commit suicide or burn.
RU will learn the hard way on Oct. 20, 2012, just like Bob did on April 9, 2003. !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=”//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js”;fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,”script”,”twitter-wjs”);

03.07.12
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TU football is in the BE to win

*Tentative TUFB schedule:
Villanova
Maryland
@ Penn St
@UConn
Syracuse
Rutgers
@ Louisville
Cincinnati
@ Pitt
South Florida
@ Army
*Need 1 more game

I was somewhat dismayed to read a distinct minority view of Temple football from a former Temple basketball great.
Now that the Owls are officially in the Big East (noon today), you are going to get naysayers from throughout the league but I thought our own people knew better.
The guy, who shall remain nameless but shares the same first name as I do, posted on his Facebook page:
“What if Temple doesn’t make a bowl game for seven years in the Big East?”
“Huh?” I wrote back. “Have you seen a Temple football game in the last three years? Temple’s chances of making a bowl increase, not decrease, in the Big East.”
“I don’t see how you come to that conclusion,” he replied.
Simple.


We are now officially a BCS blog.

 The Big East has more (and better) bowl tie-ins than the MAC and a 6-6 BE team is guaranteed of going to a bowl. An 8-4 MAC team is not guaranteed of a bowl game, as we’re all painfully aware of here.
Then there is the competition element.
Even with Penn State in a “down” year like it was last year, do you see Rutgers or Cincy or Louisville giving the Nittany Lions the kind of game Temple did last year?
No.
Had Temple played Chris Coyer, MVP of the New Mexico Bowl and 5-0 as a Temple starting quarterback, in the PSU game, the Owls win that game by double-digits.
There is no doubt in my mind about that.
The Owls have Coyer for two more years.
West Virginia, which had been the flagship program of the Big East for a long time, struggled to a 37-31 win at Maryland.
Temple went down to Maryland, took a 31-0 lead at the half and coasted to a 38-7 win. Had Steve Addazio not subbed his third-team defense in, Maryland would not have scored on its final drive. Had Addazio not taken three knees inside the Maryland 1 to close out the game, the final score would have been 45-0.
Yeah, 45-0.
That’s the kind of guy Addazio is. He won’t rub it in the noses of a defeated foe (unless that foe is Villanova next year; he gets a pass on that one).
Rutgers and Army fought tooth and nail to a 6-6 tie at halftime before the Scarlet Knights pulled that one out, 27-13. Temple had a 32-14 lead on Army at halftime and won, 42-14. The Owls also took knees deep in Army territory to avoid the half-century mark in that game.
Ask the Army players if Temple is ready for the Big East.
Temple has a national championship SEC coaching group, led by Steve Addazio, who was head coach (that’s right, head coach) at Florida (for three months) and an SEC defensive coordinator in former Florida DC Chuck Heater, who was 11-0 at Utah as a DC and had the Owls ranked only behind Auburn and LSU in scoring defense last year. Both Addazio and Heater were high-level coaches on Florida’s last national championship team.
There’s enough empirical evidence out there to suggest Temple is Big East ready. Ready enough to win a Big East championship right away?
Too early to tell and the answer to that question could depend on a number of factors, including injuries at key positions.
Still, if you don’t think Temple can’t at least compete and win in this league RIGHT NOW, you don’t know football.
Right now is the time to make money off the doubting Thomases and other-named folks who don’t think Temple can make a bowl game out of this league right away.

03.06.12
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The latest on Temple to Big East

Temple’s (reported) Big East Deal:
MAC gets $6 million
Temple gets $2.5 million loan from BE
A10 gets a year’s notice and $1 million
Temple plays 2 hoop games vs. MAC teams and one football game vs. a MAC team (presumably UMass this season)

We’re a little gun shy about posting information on Temple’s possible re-admission to the Big East for football, which seems imminent.
Gun shy, because I believe in the old adage “if it seems too good to be true, it probably isn’t.”
Well, Temple’s football team moving to the Big East for the 2012 season seems too good to be true. That doesn’t mean it can’t happen.
Or doesn’t mean it won’t happen.
I’ll just believe it when I see it.
Tuesday a week ago, I posted that “Temple could be in the Big East tomorrow” meaning Wednesday.
(I meant this Wednesday. Just kidding.)
For what it’s worth, Temple wide receiver C.J. Hammond posted “it’s official” last night on his twitter account. Word must have spread quickly throughout the Edberg-Olsen Complex on Monday that the deal with the MAC was wrapped up.

Woodward and Bernstein have nothing on C.J. Hammond.

Nobody at Temple, not Steve Addazio, not Bill Bradshaw, is saying a word to the press but kids and social media being what they are, word sometimes gets out.
I don’t think C.J. pulled that tweet out of thin air or anywhere else for that matter.
Here’s what it looks like, though, from a number of good sources inside Temple:
The Big East held a straw vote a couple of weeks ago, designed to give Temple the “go-ahead” to get out of its MAC and A10 contracts. The “formal” vote, which is expected to be the same, comes this Wednesday (tomorrow).

It looks like Temple will join the Big East for football in 2012, but delay the Big East admission in basketball until 2013 to save $1 million and to avoid paying a “territory” fee to Villanova.
Temple will pay the MAC a total of $6 million, with $2.5 million to be advanced by the Big East (and made up by Temple in TV  funds later on).
When will the “official” announcement come?
Not soon enough, as far as I’m concerned.
Temple is running out of Wednesdays and tomorrows.

03.02.12
by

What, me worry?

What, me worry?
That’s what Alfred E. Neuman used to say in Mad Magazine.
My old high school football coach, John Quinn, noticed me reading Mad Magazine once before a practice and said:
“Mad Magazine? Gibbs, you’re too smart to read that crap.”
(He was the only person ever to call me Gibbs. Most called me Gibby or Mike.)
“Geez, thanks, coach,” I said, “but it’s funny. Err, sometimes.”
I’ve been thinking a lot about Alfred E. Neuman the last couple of  days.
What, me worry?
Well, yeah.

My head tells me not to worry, that this is a no-brainer, but my gut tells me I don’t like this delay.
Why is this taking so long?
If Temple does not join the Big East, it will be Temple’s call, not the Big East’s.
Temple Board of Trustees Chairman Patrick J. O’Connor said as much in an interview on CSNPhilly.com posted on Tuesday.
So I’ll be a lot more hissed off if this doesn’t go through.
Temple would not be discussing all of this buyout stuff if the BE had not given them approval to do so. That said, if Temple backs out now because of a short-term large financial commitment, it will be the biggest athletic mistake the university ever made.
Maybe the biggest overall mistake the university ever made.
You can spend $150 million on a science lab, but that science lab won’t bring the kind of return a $10 million investment on a Bowl Championship Series conference upgrade will.
The BCS train only stops once at Temple U. Station and a wise Owl better be there with the money in hand 10 minutes ahead of time.
The  ACC and Big 10 run on other tracks and the Big East train made this diversion because it needed to pick up some immediate help. It will not come back next year or the year after.
No BCS conference will.
That’s important because the BCS schools will eventually break off from the non-BCS schools, the MACs and CUSAs of the world, and they will be left behind playing something resembling the old Division IAA football.
And no one will care about those teams.
Temple, by joining the Big East, will always have a seat at the BCS table.
Right now, it’s about finding the fare money before getting on the platform. There is one scheduled stop and it’s going to come in hours and days, not weeks and years. That train is not coming back.
Heck, even if you have to borrow it, you know that train is going to take you to a job where you can pay back the benefactor tenfold.
If you miss it, you’ll kick yourself until you are a dead person. A homeless dead person who no one cares about.
So, yes, I’m worried because, as a contributor on this site who goes by the name Temple Os noted so succinctly and perceptively, it should not take the Temple Board of Trustees any longer to facilitate this deal than to say two letters:
O and K.
OK?
OK.

02.29.12
by

Just say YES to Big East

If Temple enters the BE, every home hoop game could have this kind of crowd.

Today was supposed to be  D-Day for Temple.
Decision Day. It’s been canceled, but hopefully that’s just to finalize exit contracts for the MAC and the A-10.
The item on the agenda of today’s Board of Trustees conference call  was to be  “a discussion on athletics” but it is really much more than that.
It’s a discussion on the future of the school and its nationwide image.
Temple has two great coaches in place of its two marquee sports programs, Steve Addazio and Fran Dunphy.
If you believe in these guys, and I do, then you know the Temple brand is in good hands.
You know they will make Temple a marquee name not only regionally but across the country.
Nothing would help these guys advance the brand better than a BCS conference affiliation.
As I see it, today’s decision is, to use a sports term, a slam dunk.
Just say yes to the Big East.
I hated the Big East for years because it allowed a small private school to have the power to block Temple. A small private school afraid of competition. Contrast that to Temple, which sponsored a small private school, LaSalle, when it attempted to re-enter the Atlantic 10.  Temple, though, belongs in the Big East, with fellow like-minded Eastern institutions.
I’m on pins and needles waiting for the good news but because I’m a Temple fan I’m  used to bitter disappointment and I realize this could easily go the other way with our teams sentenced a lifetime of mediocrity in the MAC and A10.
In 2010, the Owls were the only 8-4 team in history who beat a BCS conference champion (BE) refused a bowl and that was a bitter day. That day would have never happened if the Owls were 8-4 in the Big East. Heck, the team they beat, UConn, was 8-4 and headed to the Fiesta Bowl.
ESPN basketball analyst Doug Gottlieb said the Owls  moved up to a deserving No. 2 seed in NCAA hoops a couple of years ago but instead got a No. 5 and a game against a 24-1 No. 12. (Gottlieb, by the way, is the best at what he does and should be doing the seeding.)
Another disappointing day.

Then I read an article that will appear in today’s Inky that says Temple should turn down the BE.
Huh?
Turn it down for exactly what?
Are the representatives of the ACC and the Big 10 waiting outside the BOT’s door?
No.
I hope the rest of the BOT doesn’t read or put any credence in that guy’s misguided and misinformed (he didn’t even know it was an all-sports invite) opinion.
On a day the columnists should salute Temple’s persistence, this is what we get?
The official call at 3  p.m. to discuss athletics has been canceled, but there is an executive committee call at 2 p.m. to discuss “contracts.”
Hopefully, that will include getting out of the MAC contract.
Temple is running out of time to get this done and should be operating post-haste.

02.28.12
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Temple could be in the BE tomorrow

O’Connor presides over important call.

Call it a coincidence or symbolism, but on Hump Day of Leap Day of Leap Year, Temple athletics is poised to make a Bob Beamon kind of leap and get over a hump that has seemed to block any progress for almost a decade.
If you don’t remember the Olympic triple-jumper, think former Temple wide receiver Willie Marshall and his 37-inch vertical leap.
Hump Day/Leap Day/Leap Year 2012 could be the biggest day in the history of Temple sports thanks to some visionary leadership provided by Temple University Board of Trustees Chairman Patrick J. O’Connor.
Heck, I’ve always had a soft spot for  O’Connor.
Despite the fact that he graduated from Villanova, the Chairman of the Temple University Board of Trustees is a likeable guy and a loyal Owl. He happens to have the same last name as maiden name of my mother, who passed away on Jan. 14 of last year.
Plus, he’s always proven to be a Temple guy at heart and knows the mission of the school and he’s always moved the school forward and not backward or sideways.
The second reason is why I’m more convinced O’Connor will guide the Board of Trustees in the right direction in the most important conference call in the history of Temple University when they vote on accepting a Big East offer tomorrow.
According to this excellent story by Michael Bradley on CSNPhilly.com, O’Connor said that Steve Addazio and Fran Dunphy are great coaches and deserve a national stage at Temple.
They can’t get that stage in the MAC or A-10.
While we sports fans know you don’t get two better coaches than Daz or Dunph, it is nice to know that the guy at the very top feels the same way.
The Big East isn’t perfect, but in the national college football game of musical chairs, once the music stops the Big East will be able to find a seat at the BCS table.
The MAC won’t.
It’s not personal.
It’s business.
I think by the time a packed house sends the remarkable senior men’s basketball class off at the Temple vs. UMass game (good tickets still available by clicking on the banner above this story but not for long), the day will take on a festive party atmosphere unlike anything at the school since the road hoop win over No. 1 Cincy in 2000 or the hoop win at North Carolina in 1988 that made the school No. 1 in the AP poll for 11 straight weeks.
Still, as big as those days were, hump day this week could be the best-ever because of the implications for the school’s two major teams.
Imagine, if you will, Temple winning the Big East title in 2012. It’s not a dream. Al Golden and Steve Addazio have built the talent level at Temple to compete in the upper tier RIGHT NOW. If all things break right (no Matty Brown injury, for instance), Temple could win this league right away.
Picture the kind of pub Temple would get on a national scale if that happens. No amount of money can buy that kind of advertising.
If the board accepts the Big East invitation, it will be the greatest day in the history of Temple sports and maybe one of the greatest days in university history as well.
I can’t think of another opportunity in any endeavor to promote the Temple brand nationally than this provides. This will have positive implications for the school that goes well beyond the realm of sports.

02.25.12
by

The unofficial official announcement

“If this helps my old Temple guys, let’s move the
South Florida game,” Al Golden seems to be saying.

This week was the 50th anniversary of the John Glenn orbital space flight, the first by an American.
I’m too young to remember the TV broadcast of that re-entry, but I do remember the replay of what one of the ground crew guys said to Glenn after he successfully re-entered despite a heat shield that was about to burn up.
“Roger, John Glenn,” the man said, “you’ve got a lot of guys on the ground here about to turn blue.”
Well, I’ve been holding my breath for a few days and I’m about to turn blue waiting for another re-entry: Temple back to the Big East.
So is just about every fan who cares about Temple sports.

“Obviously I think Temple’s a great fit for the Big East. I think clearly we began the process of establishing you can recruit, and there’s so many great things that have occurred at Temple University. I think they’re worthy of taking that next step.”
_ Al Golden,
May 24th, 2011

One of the guys covering Miami (Fla.) football I’ve gotten to know after he asked me questions about Al Golden last fall provided a clue this morning.
“Mike, we had to move our game with South Florida to accomodate a Temple game on the Big East schedule,” the man wrote in an email. “Good news for you guys. Congratulations. Al Golden can’t say anything specific, but I assume he’s happy.”
That’s about as official as it gets these days.
I looked on the internet over the last few hours and a half to get this information “sourced” and the best I could come up with was a report in the Tampa Tribune that confirmed the move and mentioned the Temple talks as a possible reason.
That, combined with calls to the Temple ticket office where the man answered “we’re waiting on the Big East” for the schedule to be finalized indicates to be that Temple and the MAC must have reached a settlement of their $2.5 million exit fee and the two years’ notice.
Those two pieces of the puzzle seem to fit nicely. You don’t need to be Sherlock Holmes to come to a conclusion based on that evidence.
Otherwise, it would not be logical to move games to accomodate a Big East schedule about to be released in a few days.
It’s not the official announcement we’ve all been waiting for, but it will have to do for now.

02.23.12
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TU to the BE: Money should be no object

If you can’t see more Cherry in this photo than any other color, you need to
see an eye doctor immediately. Fortunately, I have 20/20 vision. So does Steve
Addazio, who also confirmed the numbers’ breakdown.
Today’s top stories on Yahoo sports

When I first heard what the holdup was on making today’s “handshake” agreement with the Big East a written one to join as early as this football season, I could only think of one word:
“Huh?”
That was in response to this:
“Temple is waiting to see if it can pay the $2.5 million buyout to the MAC.”
Money should be no object here, but I get the drift.

The university’s annual funding from Harrisburg was cut by $38 million, so paying $2.5 million on top of that cut for its sports programs to change leagues might not be viewed as good PR move for the school.

Heck, I watched Temple TV (it is Channel 50 on my cable system) this morning and uni president Ann Weaver Hart was saying “there’s going to be a lot of pain for everyone over the next year but we’ll get through it.”

I know all about pain.
If I have to go through another MAC season of forced Tuesday and Wednesday night home games and horrible road officiating, I’m going to have an ulcer.
I just decided I would be the greatest graduate in school history if I won the $60 million in the lottery tonight.
I would get into my beat-up, 125,000-mile 2004 Chevy Cavalier tomorrow morning, drive to Harrisburg and have one of those oversized checks deposited.

Most current BE fans are unaware that Temple
traveled 6,000 of its own fans to the New Mexico Bowl
or that 20,000 of the 23,000 in attendance at the 2009
Eagle Bank Bowl were Temple fans, but those
figures have been documented as true by both bowls.

Then I would get back into the Cavalier, drive back  across the state to Broad Street and Cecil B. Moore Avenue, write out a check for $2.5 million and tell Temple AD Bill Bradshaw to wait a day or two so it can clear the bank.
I wouldn’t even blink an eye.
Then the Temple Alumni Review would write an article about me with the simple headline: “Greatest Grad Ever.”
I’d be the greatest grad ever because with my meager $2.5 million check, I’d faciilate a gold mine that would keep the school in the black long after I’m dead (which hopefully isn’t for 30 or so more years).
Think about it.
Temple has a 70K stadium in the heart of Big East territory. Lincoln Financial Field is a veritable gold mine and Temple is sitting right on top of it.
To get to that gold, all Temple needs to do is become a more than competitive Big East team, which most football experts will tell you is true right now.
It has a Big East-ready football team now, with the best coaching staff in the Big East  and the only coaching staff with three of its top five positions filled with guys who have won national championships as key parts of Florida’s staff.
Temple also has 15K students who will be living on campus for the next 30 years, who will become involved rabid alumni fans.

This is not your father or grandfather’s Temple, once a commuter school.
Give them the same competitive team they have now and the stadium fills up, the Temple brand goes national and applications for admission mulitiply tenfold.
That’s the kind of vision Temple needs now, whatever the cost.
Temple has a lot of grads with “want to” like me who have no “means to.”
I still think money should be no object.
West Virginia got $20 million together to buy out its agreement with the Big East. Enough of that should go to Temple to cover the $2.5 million. Even if the MAC holds up Temple for the two years notice, the parties should reach a settlement. Temple should suggest that Villanova take its place in the MAC to give UMass a travel partner.
After all, Temple is doing the Big East a huge favor by filling in an empty schedule.
If, though, money is the reason Temple ends up in MAC hell forever (or even one more day), I will scream.
So will anybody who cares even a little bit about Temple sports.