Category Archives: Matt Rhule

12.13.12
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Our picks: Lembo, Bowles, Rhule (in that order)

BREAKING NEWS: CBS Sports and Owlscoop.com are now reporting as of Thursday night it’s down to Rhule or D’Onofrio … God help Temple if it’s D’Onofrio, whose Miami defense was ranked No. 118 of 120 FBS teams in 2012 …

Todd Bowles, because he represents the diversity this university  is all about and  proudly rocks the Temple colors and has a winning head-coaching record in the NFL, should be named the next Temple coach if it’s between him and Rhule. I think it might go to Matt Rhule , though.

Lembo and Cristobal have “home run” power while Bowles and Rhule, at best, are gap hitters and it’s more likely that Bowles or Rhule will strike out or pop up than the other two guys

Getting information from inside the walls of Temple athletics is almost impossible.
Bill Bradshaw runs a tight ship and that approach has navigated Temple through some troubled waters in the big-time college football world.
I’m OK with that because of the nice ports this trip has taken Temple fans of their major sports.
He hired “the most underrated head coach in college basketball” in his old baseball infield mate at LaSalle, Fran Dunphy.
He hired a program-builder without peer in Al Golden who lifted the Temple football program off the scrap heap and into respectability.
Love him or leave him (cough, leave him), Steve Addazio was able to talk his way into two high-profile jobs after Florida and was able to take Golden’s talent and win Temple its first bowl game in 30 years.
Addazio might have done Temple a huge favor by leaving after this  4-7 disaster.
That’s 3 for 3 and the best Bradshaw hit at LaSalle was .312, so I’ve got to like him better as an AD than a lead-off hitter.

Bradshaw’s track record is good, so I’m OK with his stealth methods.
The latest news is that Temple fans may have to wait until next week to learn of a new coach.
In the meantime, all we can do is read between the scraps of information we’re able to get out of Broad Street.
Reading the tea leaves, as it were.
We’ve learned that early last week Bradshaw called a current NFL and former Temple player and asked him who he would chose between Matt Rhule and Mark D’Onofrio, two former Temple coaches.
The player said without a doubt Rhule.

That was before Eagles’ defensive coordinator Todd Bowles entered the picture and I’m told Bowles is now considered a very serious candidate.
Former Florida International University coach Mario Cristobal already interviewed, as did current Notre Dame defensive coordinator Bob Diaco. No confirmed status on two great head coaches already available, Dave Clawson of Bowling Green or Pete Lembo of Ball State.
My choices are Lembo first, Clawson second and Cristobal third simply because they have taken FBS teams to bowls as head coaches. They would remove all the guesswork about how they will do at Temple simply because they’ve done it as a head coach before.
I’m thinking, though, that Temple will hire someone like Rhule or Bowles because this delay speaks more to Rhule and Bowles finishing their NFL games this week. If you are into conspiracy theories, and I’m not, you might guess the delay might have something to do with new Temple president Dr. Neil D. Theobald, an Indiana guy, flying out to the Hoosier state to try to convince either Colts’ head coach Bruce Arians or Lembo to take the job. Arians might win the Super Bowl, so that’s not happening but I would gladly take Lembo instead.
Borrowing a phrase from Facebook friend Chris “Mad Dog” Russo “gun to my head” Bowles gets the job. (I wrote this Thursday afternoon and still believe Todd should get the job over Matt Rhule or Mark D’Onofrio for a multitude of reasons.) The reasoning will be that Temple is looking for stability in the position above all and Bowles will beat out Rhule based on his small sampling (2-1 record) as an NFL head coach. Plus, he has OWL in the middle of his name and the marketing people love that kind of stuff.
That said, I’d rather see either Lembo or Cristobal sitting there at the presser on Monday. To use a baseball phrase Bradshaw might understand, Lembo and Cristobal have “home run” power while Bowles and Rhule, at best, are gap hitters and it’s more likely that Bowles or Rhule will strike out or pop up than the other two guys.
That would make it 3 for 4 for Bradshaw.
Good enough?
Yes, in baseball, but maybe not athletic administration.

12.12.12
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The Haves, The Might-Haves and The Have-Nots

Tom Davis covered both Brady Hoke and Pete Lembo at Ball State.

Funny how people remember where they were when big events happen.
I’m the same way with Temple football coaches coming and going.
I was there when Wayne Hardin quit, saying something I’ll never forget: “Mediocrity is not my cup of tea.”

Pete Lembo is cut from the same
mold as Wayne Hardin and Bruce
Arians.

I was standing in the back of the room when Bruce Arians exited Mitten Hall after his final press conference at Temple. I was the Temple football beat writer for Calkins Newspapers at the time. He was about to make the turn to leave, saw me there, and stopped to say: “Hey, Mike, I just wanted to thank you for being so fair to me over the years.”
Stunned by the thoughtfulness of the gesture, I could only say, “My pleasure. Good luck, Bruce.”
We shook hands and that was the last time I saw him. The loss was Temple’s. Even Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz mentioned as much in a St. Louis Post-Dispatch interview years later, making a point about fired coaches and saying, “Look at Temple. Firing Bruce Arians set that program back 20 years.”
Something told me that Temple would never get two great coaches like that again. More importantly, two great men.
Temple hasn’t had one like that since, a “triple-threat” coach (game management, recruiting, CEO ability).
I hope the Owls snatch one of those types now.
While Al Golden was a great program-builder, he was never the game day coach Hardin and Arians were. (Hardin was great; Arians was good.) Golden was a two-tool guy (recruiting, CEO).
Wayne Hardin and Bruce Arians were great coaches and great men, the “haves” in a coaching fraternity of too many “have-nots” and “Might-Haves.”
Temple needs a “have” right now.

The Might-Haves

Matt Rhule and Todd Bowles are great men.
I’m not sure about them being great head coaches.
I wish I were. Sorry, I’m not. Honestly, nobody is.
Unless you’ve done the head-coaching thing, metaphysical certainty about how someone will do as a head coach is impossible.
There are really good pluses about both guys, though. Rhule has experience in every facet of building Golden’s program except making the final decisions under fire.
Bowles was both an NFL and a college coach and recruited for the great Doug Williams at Grambling.
So he, like Rhule, knows about going into homes of kids and looking them and their parents in the eye and saying, “Come to Temple.”
Rhule and Bowles are “might-haves.”

The Have-Nots

People like Mark D’Onofrio, who had to be escorted out of campus by Temple security the last time he was here, is a “Have-Not.” He’s interviewing only because he was defensive coordinator for a Miami team ranked No. 118 in defense this year. Rather than fire his old buddy, Al Golden is pushing Temple to take D’Onofrio off his hands. I hope Temple AD Bill Bradshaw sees through this and his interview with D’Onofrio  yesterday was not more than a courtesy to Golden.
To me, Notre Dame defensive coordinator Bob Diaco is also a have-not. He would not turn down a once-in-a-generation opportunity to coach Notre Dame in a National Championship game. That game is Jan. 7. Signing day is Feb. 3. Temple needs someone able to fully commit to 24-hour recruiting between now and Feb. 3, being behind the 8-Ball already. Temple got fooled before by a blustery-talking assistant from a big-time program and I hope it isn’t fooled again.

The Haves

Dave Clawson is a great head coach and, by all accounts, a good man. So is Ball State’s Pete Lembo.
Mario Cristobal is also a proven winner as a head coach and I’ve never heard anything bad about him, personally. He turned down the Rutgers’ job and a $1 million pay raise to stay at FIU. There’s something to be said for that kind of loyalty.
Owlscoop.com is reporting that Clawson has withdrawn his name from consideration from the coaching search. Owlscoop.com is the only place reporting that. It’s not on OwlsDaily. It’s not on any of the popular “inside” coaching sites, like footballscoop.com.
I’m hoping that’s not true.
Lembo is not being reported as a Temple candidate, but  Bradshaw said yesterday that some interviews have yet to be conducted “because their teams are in bowl games” and I’m hoping he means Lembo, whose 9-3 Ball State team is in the Beef O’Brady Bowl. If Temple hasn’t reached out to Lembo now, it should.
Cristobal already has interviewed and would be more than acceptable as a Temple coach in my mind, having built Florida International University’s program “from a hole in the ground” (his words) into a two-time bowl team.
Temple needs a have right now.
It had two in Hardin and Arians and it’s way past time for a third.

Tomorrow: Reading the tea leaves

01.22.11
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Addazio’s staff: Heater, McGowan, Fyre, Albert




“I’ve been telling the coaches to give you the rock and they look as smart as shit when they do,” New England Patriots’ lineman Steve Manieri seems to be telling The Franchise.
Photo by Ryan Porter

This much I do know.
Steve Addazio’s football staff is beginning to come together.
Justin Frye (offensive line coach), Chuck Heater (defensive coordinator), Sean McGowan (defensive line) and, now, Ben Albert as linebackers’ coach.
I’ve heard very good things about Heater, McGowan and Albert, not so good things about Frye (and I’ve got to wonder why a grad assistant would ever be promoted to line coach).
Of course, Marshall’s Frank Piraino was named strength coach early but, while important, that’s not an on-the-field job.

Ben Albert is Temple’s new LB coach.

That gives me a sinking feeling that Matt Rhule will be named offensive coordinator soon.
Please God (and Steve Addazio), no.
Rhule and tight ends’ coach Ed Foley have been seen around the E-O as recently as yesterday.
If that’s true, I have reason to believe that Addazio has plans to keep both.
Logically, Foley could be slotted back into both of his old jobs _ as recruiting coordinator and tight ends’ coach. Ed is a very personable and capable guy who did both jobs exceedingly well under Al Golden.
Matt is also a personable guy who was Golden’s best linebackers’ coach ever. Since the linebacker’s job is now spoken for, I can’t see a spot open for Rhule other than his old job.
He was also the worst Temple offensive coordinator I have ever seen and it’s not even close.
(That’s a strong statement considering I’ve seen some pretty bad offensive football over the last 30 years.)

The offense was a clusterfuck (excuse my language) from the first play of the Villanova game until the last play of the Miami game

Rhule’s supporters (and there are one or two) keep telling me that it was all Al Golden’s fault, the offense’s lack of execution.
I’m buying a little of it, but not all of it.
The offense was a clusterfuck (excuse my language) from the first play of the Villanova game until the last play of the Miami game.
It never had to be that way.
We’re talking about a team with offensive talent out the wahzoo, a 318-pound (average) offensive line, great receivers like Michael Campbell, Rod Streater, Evan Rodriguez and (if they let them play) Delano Green and Joey Jones, an NFL first-round pick in Bernard Pierce and an NFL third-down back in Matt Brown and a serviceable quarterback in Mike Gerardi.
Rhule never grasped the concept that Brown should have been a third-down back here, too. He never grasped the concept of establishing the run behind a massive offensive line and a great back and then using play-action to keep defenses on their heels.
Brown should have never been on the field when Bernard Pierce was healthy. Rotating those two in was a complete joke. It’s like the Chicago Bears rotating Gale Sayers in on every other play with Rocky Bleier. It’s like the Cleveland Browns taking Jim Brown out every other play for Leroy Kelly. It’s like Bruce Arians taking out Paul Palmer on every other series for Shelley Poole.
It makes as much sense as the Eagles alternating between Michael Vick and Mike Kafka on every other play. (OK, I’m using the literary device called license and exaggerating for effect on that one, but you get the point.)
Some people tell me it was because Brown was a workout freak and that Pierce fell somewhat short in that department. Pierce hit the weight room in the off-season, too, and was praised by Golden for it. You don’t need to bench press 375 to carry a 15-ounce ball. “We gave him the ball 43 times because, you know, he can handle it and it ain’t that heavy,” was Arians’ old quote about Palmer. I don’t think Paul ever hit the weight room like Matty did so, you know, it just is not that important (or important enough to lose the starting job).
Somewhere talent has to be factored into the equation.

It was either Rhule or Golden who never grasped the concept, but Golden’s not here anymore and I don’t want to find out it was Rhule all along

If Temple had given the rock early and often to Pierce, it would have opened the offense up so much for play-action. Owl foes would have been so concerned about stopping Pierce that even the simpliest play fake to Pierce would have been an easy six every time. Temple receivers would have been roaming so free through MAC secondaries, Gerardi’s toughest decision would have been which one to pick out.
(And whose fault was it that it took half the season to find out Chester Stewart couldn’t play quarterback worth a lick?)

Maybe Pierce would have still been hurt but, to me, he’s the kind of back who is more likely to get hurt being jerked around like he was than by staying in there and developing a rhythm.
With that kind of game plan against, say, Villanova, the final score might have been 40-14 instead of 31-24. Might have? Probably would have.
It was either Rhule or Golden who never grasped the concept, but Golden’s not here anymore and I don’t want to find out it was Rhule all along.
I want no parts of Matt Rhule as offensive coordinator.
I’m sure 99 percent of my fellow Owl fans agree.