Category Archives: Chuck Heater

01.25.11
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Heater gives Owl fans the warm and fuzzies

Chuck Heater
Photo courtesy Univ. of Florida

Over the last four days, I expressed a couple of concerns about Steve Addazio’s new staff.

One is hiring a grad assistant to coach the offensive line. The other is the possibility of rehiring Matt Rhule has offensive coordinator.

Justin Frye being hired as the new OL coach is bit concerning (I would have liked a proven line coach) and the possibility of Rhule being rehired gives me a major case Agata so I’m going to avoid that today.

Today is for the warm and fuzzies, which is about as good a day as any if you look at the temperature on the right side of this page. It was damn near zero yesterday and is trending upward today.

No name better than to supply the warmth than The (Chuck) Heater, Temple’s new defensive coordinator, who is now officially listed in the Temple email directory.

Heater followed Urban Meyer to almost every stop along the Meyer road and Meyer gave him the ultimate compliment when he called Heater “Mother Teresa.”

Mother Teresa as in Miracle Worker.

At age 57, (Heater has) served on coaching staffs that have won two SEC titles and two national titles at UF, a national title at Notre Dame, an undefeated season at Utah, a Rose Bowl and Pac 10 title at Washington, a Big Ten title at Ohio State, and an 11-1 record at Colorado.

He’s a winner.

As one Georgia fan stated on his blog:

“As a recruiting coordinator for the Gators under Meyer, they built a recruiting machine with few peers. Also under Meyer and Heater, the Gators produced defensive back fields with devastating speed and toughness with kids who were coached well enough to begin contributing their freshmen year. He’s a tough as nails coach with high expectations for his kids.”

He will have those same high expectations at Temple. I smell shutout vs. Villanova (at least I hope so), a terrific kick-start to a wonderful season. I don’t see being Temple DC as a step down for Heater because it will be his first sole DC gig (he shared the DC title with Teryl Austin last year at UF) and it will be at a school that has 16 returning starters from teams that went 9-3 and 8-4. If he creates a miracle at Temple, can 11-1 or 12-0 be out of the question?

I don’t think so.

What would make the nation stand up and take notice of Heater, 11-1 at Colorado or 11-1 at Temple? There’s plenty of kindling material here to light Heater’s fire.

That gives me the warm and fuzzies today, on Jan. 25th, when warm and fuzzies are hard to come by.

01.05.11
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The Gator With the Heater

The real Geator with the Heater, a TU football fan?

After Al Gore invented the internet (tongue firmly implanted in cheek here), newspapers followed, maybe,  five minutes behind.
It took about two years, though, before the best of the journalism followed that _ comments below the stories.

The Gator With the Hooter ….
… and the Heater

Comments, for me, are often better than the stories themselves.
So there it was after the Steve Addazio hiring story, when a guy who purported to be Philadelphia radio and TV icon Jerry Blavat said simply this:
“Welcome to Philadelphia, coach Daz. I know you are going to do a great job.” _ Jerry Blavat.
Now I’m not naive enough to think that was actually Jerry Blavat. I have no way of knowing that. I’m also not cynical enough to think that it wasn’t the real Jerry Blavat, you know, “The Geator With the Heater” and the “Boss with the Hot Sauce.”
(For all of you people living outside Philly, Jerry Blavat and Dick Clark, fast friends to this day, were equally big in this town with the “yon teens” at about the same time. Clark left Philly to amass his fortune elsewhere. Blavat remained and amassed his here.)
Boss with the hot sauce didn’t stick, but Geator with the Heater certainly did.
In a roundabout way, Geator With the Heater’s comment stuck with me today because it’s Wednesday and our new Gator head coach, Steve Addazio, still hasn’t brought his Heater to Philadelphia. That’s Chuck Heater, the Florida co-defensive coordinator, who was reported to be following Addazio on the same flight to Philadelphia to take the Czar of Temple Defense job.
The Gator Without The Heater in this case.

“Welcome to Philadelphia, coach Daz. I know you are going to do a great job.” _ Jerry Blavat.


That had me a little concerned on Monday and I emailed one of the Florida newspaper guys who reported that Heater was likely headed for Temple.
He got back to me today.
“Coach wants to hear about another job first,” he said.
I can’t say I blame Chuck Heater, the current Florida defensive coordinator who might be up for that same job in places like Michigan and UCLA.
Michigan and UCLA pay more than Temple.
I want Chuck Heater to be Addazio’s next hire, but more than that I want Chuck Heater to want to be here.
Heater would bring an impressive resume to Temple and I’m confident he would have this current defense in the right position to do as well or better than Mark D’Onofrio’s defense did last year.
There’s a comfort level with Addazio than can’t be underestimated that might not exist, say, with Rick Neuheisel.
Imagine the publicity Addazio and Heater would get if they beat Penn State and Maryland, win the MAC and get the automatic qualifying non-BCS spot in next year’s BCS bowl picture?
Nothing Heater can do at Michigan or UCLA next year can match the level of satisfaction that Temple accomplishment would bring him.
Yet if there is no Gator With the Heater, there are capable guys, like Delaware DC Nick Rapone, who would take the Temple job in a heartbeat.
It just doesn’t have the same ring as The Gator With the Heater.
I’m crossing my fingers for that pairing.