Category Archives: new Temple coach

01.14.16
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Least Sexy Choice Gets Head (OC) Job

stare

“You really want me to waste 20 seconds on every  snap waiting for a play call?”

Say what you will about Matt Rhule, but he has been predictable in his three-year tenure as Temple’s head coach.

Ten days ago, we wrote that Glenn Thomas’ resume was the weakest of our five possible candidates for the open offensive coordinator job but “Matt Rhule has shown a propensity to hire from within” so that’s probably why Thomas was the leading candidate. In our caption we said he was the “least sexy” candidate so that’s “probably why he was going to get a bigger office.” Sure, he had been Matt Ryan’s quarterback coach but, prior to that, a stint at Midwestern State wasn’t going to knock anyone’s socks off.

thomas

Sometimes, being right is a pretty hallow feeling and that’s the feeling I had this morning after hearing that Thomas was moved up to the OC job.  For all of the progress this offense had in the first 10 games of the season, it produced just 13 and 17 points in the two most important games at the end and probably could have used a different pair of eyeballs.

Unlike last year, this offense doesn’t need a complete overhaul, just some tweaking. Putting Jahad Thomas in the slot would be an explosive upgrade, as would giving Jager Gardner and Ryquell Armstead a real shot at the No. 1 tailback position. Those moves are a lot less likely to happen now.

After AAC championship loss, Zach Gelb was the only reporter in Houston with the gonads to ask the tough questions about the “dog stare” offense. The disgraceful time management when Temple fans were yelling “Hurry the F*ck Up!” from Philadelphia loud enough to be heard in Texas fell on deaf ears in the post-game presser. The answers from Rhule,  P.J. Walker, Marcus Satterfield and both Thomases (Glenn and Jahad) were that nothing went wrong. The answers seemed to be “something went wrong?” or “I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary” or the standard Sargent Schultz response: “I know nothing. I see nothing. I hear nothing.”

They had known no other way. A coordinator who had not been part of that fiasco might have been better able to map a new direction.

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12.05.12
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KYW mentions MacIntrye as possible Owl coach

Temple had a shot at Bruce Arians in 2006 and 2011, but virtually no shot now.




WANTED: HEAD COACH, TEMPLE UNIVERSITY _ Large, urban, school in nation’s fourth-largest market, seeks HEAD coach for up-and-coming BCS program. School is committed to winning at the highest level of football and a new president is coming on board in January whose stated top two priorities are success at fund raising and winning in the Big East. Successful candidates will have had WINNING seasons as a HEAD coach at an FBS school. Philadelphia-area connections a plus, but not necessary. No current assistant coaches need apply.

When you hire an assistant coach, you are just as likely to get a Ron Dickerson as you are an Al Golden or a Steve Addazio

There’s a reason why they call the position HEAD coach.
That’s how I see the specific criteria for the next Temple University football coach.
Temple football owes a debt of gratitude to Al Golden, a driven young assistant coach, who built the program.
It owes somewhat less to Steve Addazio, another career assistant, who recruited a fine class last year.
In a way, both were crap shoots because, when you hire an assistant coach, you are just as likely to get a Ron Dickerson as you are an Al Golden or a Steve Addazio.
Now, though, this is the most important hire in the history of Temple University and the school needs a proven winner as a head coach. Remove the guesswork by hiring a guy who has won as a head coach before at the FBS level. Period, end of story.
Current Indianapolis Colts’ head coach Bruce Arians would fit the criteria, and was a leading candidate for the Temple job in both 2006 and 2011, but his career has advanced far past Temple’s pay grade and I’m afraid he’s out.
So it leaves those current hot college head coaches. An assistant would be a big mistake now.
I think it’s important Temple work quickly because these guys are being rumored for other jobs.
That narrows the field thusly:

YES TO (in order):

Former Temple assistant Mike MacIntyre

MIKE MACINTYRE, current head coach San Jose State _ MacIntyre, against an impossible recruiting, funding and facilities disadvantage, went 10-2 and has the Spartans  in a bowl game. One of his two losses was to PAC-12 champion Stanford by a 20-17 score. One of the wins was over BYU. Another was a 52-24 pounding of a 9-3 Louisiana Tech team.
MacIntrye has Temple connections and knows all about the program, having been the Owls’ defensive coordinator in 1997 and 1998. He had San Jose State, with about as much talent as Temple had this year, playing at a much higher level than Temple. MacIntrye, a finalist for the Temple job in 2011, was the only possible name mentioned as a successor on a 5:45 p.m. KYW report by Temple play-by-play man Harry Donahue. I agree with Harry, who is a very good friend of Temple AD Bill Bradshaw. Great choice. At $450K, makes about half of what Daz made at Temple this year, according to the website coacheshotseat.com.

Kent State’s Darrell Hazell

DARRELL HAZELL, current head coach,  Kent State _ Hazell took a team that Temple beat, 36-14, last year (he wasn’t head coach then) and beat the living daylights out of a Rutgers’ team that blew out Temple this year, 35-10. Hazell had Kent State (remember, Kent State we’re talking about here), 11-1 before losing the MAC title game in overtime to NIU. Hazell has Philadelphia-area connections. He’s from Cinnaminson, N.J. Currently grossly underpaid at $350K per year. Purdue is rumored to be interested.

PETE LEMBO, current head coach, Ball State _ Had Ball State, a team Temple beat, 42-0, last year, go 9-3 and earn a trip to the Beef O’Brady Bowl in St. Petersburg, Fla. Like Temple, Ball State beat South Florida. Unlike Temple, Ball State also owned a win over a Big 10 team. Knows all about the area having been head coach at Lehigh University. Not a sexy pick (just look at the photo), but the guy is a damn good head football coach and not likely to get outcoached like Daz was in the Maryland game. Since Temple has plenty of talent already in place, Lembo is just the type of guy most likely to get the most out of it. Makes $400K per year.

NO TO:

MATT RHULE, current assistant offensive line coach, New York Giants _ Rhule is an outstanding young man but has no (zero) wins as a FBS head coach. He’s a fine recruiter, but would be a crap shoot as a game day coach. Addazio did not think enough of him to make him sole offensive coordinator, instead bringing in Ryan Day from Boston College to be co-coordinator with Rhule. Shortly after that, Rhule left for the Giant job. Temple is too big to be the first head coaching opportunity, especially at the BCS level. I’d encourage Rhule to get a head coaching job at a place like Kutztown or Delaware and work his way up the head-coaching ladder that way. It’s obvious he’s well-liked at Temple, but the question you have to ask yourself is, “Does he pass the non-Temple smell test?” Would even Kent State or Western Michigan hire him for their head coaching openings? The answer is no. His first head coaching job should not be in the Big East.

TOM BRADLEY, former Penn State defensive coordinator _ Yeah, I know that photo is of Jerry Sandusky but if you hire Bradley he brings all of that Sandusky Penn State baggage with him and that’s a headache Temple can’t afford. Plus, Bradley is a dead fish personality and not likely to inspire a fan base like Addazio was. While Bradley has recruiting ties to Western Pennsylvania, he has no recruiting ties to Eastern Pennsylvania or South Jersey and that’s where Temple needs to win the recruiting wars.

10.02.11
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Addazio needs to find a can opener


In this video, SA goes into a lengthy explanation of why one QB was taken out with a lead against Penn State, yet another was allowed to remain in to throw fuel on Toledo’s fire …. NOT!!! Just a few lobbed softball questions.

Bill Parcells said a lot of things best, but this is one of his gems:
“If you are going cook the dinner, they better let you buy the groceries.”
Al Golden was fond of another saying:
“I’m going to build a house of brick, not straw.”
Much to Golden’s credit, he not only built that house with a fine kitchen but  he also stocked it with some pretty nice groceries for the next cook, Steve Addazio.
What Golden forgot to do was get a can opener. He recruited a lot of terrific players, but he swung and missed at the most important position on the field.
There are a lot of nice moving parts on this Temple football team, but one of them is not a quarterback.
At least not yet.
I thought about that a lot while watching Chester Stewart go 9 for 9 in a 38-7 win over Maryland a week ago.
While the euphoria of beating an ACC team was nice, I noted to a friend on the bus home that Chester did not throw a ball farther than nine yards. All nine completions finished with longer than five-yard gains, but not a single throw covered more than nine yards. All were RACs (runs after catches).
“That’s somewhat disconcerting,” I said. “Other coaches are going to be watching that film and game planning to get him to throw deep. The film don’t lie.”
Watching Chester Stewart play for four years, it has become painfully obvious to me that he can throw the ball deep but rarely come close to hitting anybody. He’s got a gun for an arm, but no scope.

I hated it when Penn State and Maryland fans did not give credit to Temple so I’m going to give a whole lot of credit to Toledo


The play chart told the story of Temple’s 36-13 loss to Toledo on Saturday.
With Temple facing a third-and-goal at the Toledo 9, the Owls elected to go with a swing pass that looked like a glorified lateral. That’s a telling call by a pretty good offensive coordinator named Scot Loeffler.
Obviously, either Loeffler or head coach Steve Addazio does not have confidence in his quarterback to throw the ball into the end zone on a third-and-goal.

I found it rather curious that one QB gets taken out while LEADING Penn State, yet another QB gets left in there to throw fuel on the fire of a Toledo conflagration


If they don’t, then maybe they should have tried another quarterback.
Or maybe they don’t have confidence in any quarterback Golden put on his shelf.
On another play in the first half, Rod Streater made a terrific double-move to get 10 yards behind his defender and Stewart either did not see him or was so locked into the middle of the field that he threw an interception. Chester seems to play with blinders on way too many times and that’s not good for a quarterback who should be able to see the entire field in a split second.

I haven’t felt good about a TU QB
since this guy was under center.
I hope I feel as good about the next one.

Also, the Owls have gotten away from tossing the ball on pitchouts to Bernard Pierce, where he can use his world-class speed to beat defenders to the outside. Twenty-two of Pierce’s 24 carries were between the tackles on Saturday. I would think about getting Pierce into open space, rather than run him up the gut but maybe I’m crazy.
Addazio says in the above video that he “liked the way (Stewart) competed.”
It’s one thing to compete.
It’s another thing to make plays.
I found it rather curious that one QB gets taken out while LEADING Penn State, yet another QB gets left in there to throw fuel on the fire of a Toledo conflagration.
Temple needs a quarterback who can make plays and see wide-open receivers farther than five yards downfield.
The film don’t lie. Toledo coach Tim Beckman saw the same thing I did.
Give credit to Toledo. There were two teams on that field Saturday. The way to beat a “Temple TUFF” team is through a lot of “trickeration” and I thought the Rockets did that extremely well, taking advantage of Temple’s defensive pursuit with misdirection. I hated it when Penn State and Maryland fans did not give credit to Temple so I’m going to give a whole lot of credit to Toledo.
So did Addazio.
Still, quarterback is the most important position on the field.
Right now, until Addazio can recruit one of those fancy spread offense can openers, Temple needs a guy who is good at play-action faking and throws a nice deep ball. He needs someone who will take care of the ball, two interceptions vs. Penn State notwithstanding.
That guy did not start on Saturday.
Hopefully, Addazio will check out the film a little more closely this week and make the same change Golden was forced to make in the first quarter of the Bowling Green game last year.
Otherwise, this dinner party that started out so well is going to cause some unexpected indigestion.

06.28.11
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Recruits: TU heading to the Big East

Over the last month or so, the biggest news surrounding Temple football has not been the verbal of three-star recruit Ben Onett or 11 other prospects, it’s the things the prospects and their families have been saying about Temple.
More specifically, one thing.
One of the recruits flat-out said that the Temple coaches have told him that the school is going to be playing in the Big East soon and another recruit’s father, Tavon Young, offered this interesting nugget yesterday:

“Tavon has committed to Temple,” said Mr. Young. “First and foremost is the academics and they pass with flying colors. He has always loved the staff that came up from Florida. He likes the defensive scheme. It is close to home and he will be a part of the Big East in 2012.”
Tanner Kearns, a tight end targeted early by Addazio, said this two weeks ago:
“I got to meet their coach and like him. I know they play in Eagle Stadium (Lincoln Financial Field) and plan on moving to the Big East soon.”

Huh?
That’s news to me, but not news to at least two recruits.
There are only a couple of conclusions to make from this:
1) Our coaching staff is blowing smoke up recruits’ butts in order to get the verbal;
2) Where there is smoke there is fire.

“Tavon has committed to Temple …it is close to home and he will be a part of the Big East in 2012.”
_ Tavon Young, Sr.


I’m hopefully going with No. 2 here because, while head coach Steve Addazio has a fabulous reputation as a recruiter, I don’t see him making stuff up to get a commitment.  His reputation for integrity, minus a possible UConn dalliance, is impeccable.

And I don’t see two recruits independently making up this Big East angle.
Maybe Addazio has had private conversations with athletic director Bill Bradshaw that indicated this move is imminent. Maybe not. Now that Villanova’s bid to get a spot has fallen through, TV sees Temple as the only real shot to get the largest available ratings’ market and has told the Big East to pursue Temple or no new TV contract.
Maybe not.
When recruits and their fathers routinely throw in the Big East angle as a reason for commiting, something has got to be up.
Where there is smoke, fire follows.
The question now is when does this become a fully-involved four-alarmer?

05.24.11
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Al Golden talks Temple football

Al Golden may be gone, but he has not forgotten Temple.

Read that headline and you might just shrug your shoulders.
Al Golden has spent much of the last five years talking Temple football, so that might not be news.

‘Obviously I think Temple’s a better fit. …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
on Temple
and the Big East

There was never a more tireless promoter of the program than AG and that was one of his many, many good qualities.
If some kid who had an internet radio podcast wanted to talk Temple football with him, Golden would give the kid five minutes of his valuable time.
Rivals.com radio, scout.com recruiters, Golden would talk to them all.
The reason that headline, though, is news today is that Al Golden is talking Temple football for the first time in five months, basically.
In a 40-minute opening introductory press conference as the head coach at the University of Miami, Al Golden did not mention Temple once.
Not a big deal to some, but a big deal to me.
That’s why I was heartened to read this Golden nugget, courtesy of Octoberproject, a neighbor of our good friend Dave “Fizzy” Weinraub, a former Temple football great.
In it, Golden is asked what he thinks the addition of Villanova would mean to the Big East.
He basically said to forget Villanova, that Temple would add a lot more value to that conference.
From TV ratings to increased attendance to the overall perception of the program, Golden certainly added to that value.
By making comments like those AG made recently, old habits like talking up Temple football seem to be hard for Al Golden to break and that’s a good thing.

04.01.11
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Addazio’s first 5-star recruit: Urban Meyer

Steve Addazio and Urban Meyer: Reunited and it feels so good.

When Steve Addazio got the head coaching job at Temple, I was one of the first to post my reservations. I wanted someone who had been a head coach somewhere else before Temple, not someone who had to learn on the job.

The next day I got an email from a search committee member who shall remain nameless.

“Mike, this guy is a dynamo, you are going to love him,” the person wrote. “After he spoke, we all were sitting there in the room with our mouths wide open. Mark my words. As surely as he sold us, he’s going to sell 5-star recruits into coming to Temple.”

Well, signing day came and went and there were no 5-stars in sight.

Yesterday, though, that all changed when Addazio announced former Florida head coach Urban Meyer was going to join Temple’s staff in an as yet-to-be-determined capacity. He’s Addazio’s first five-star recruit.

“Urban and I are best friends,” Addazio said. “I kid him. He kids me. After I hired Chuck (Heater, defensive coordinator) and Scot Loeffler (offensive coordinator), I said, ‘Let’s make this an all-Gator staff. Why don’t you join me?’

“He just laughed. A couple of weeks ago he asked how he could help. He’ll be living in New York in the fall but ESPN needs him only on Friday and Saturday. He said he’d be free to help us at least three days a week.

“I’d be nuts not to take him up on it, so he’s going to come down to Philly and work with us three days a week.”

“He’ll be living in New York in the fall but ESPN needs him only on Friday and Saturday. He said he’d be free to help us at least three days a week.”

Someone asked Addazio what Meyer’s title could be.

“I don’t want to call him an assistant coach,” Addazio said. “That wouldn’t seem quite right.

“We thought about a title like ‘Quality Control Specialist’ and that sounds like he’s working for General Electric. We’re a football team, not a company, so I rejected that. Then someone mentioned ‘Czar of Football Operations’ and I thought that sounded old world and I rejected that.

“Maybe we should open up a title contest for the fans. We’ll figure it out. When I mentioned the idea of a contest to Scott (Walcoff) in promotions, he said sure. He also asked what I thought of changing the name of Oscar Meyer Dollar Dog Day to Urban Meyer Weiner Day. I said I’d have to think about that one.”

Already, Addazio knows how a typical Urban Meyer Day at Temple will go.

“He’s going to get off the train at 10th and Diamond and two Temple police officers are going to greet him there and walk him down the steps to the complex.

“He’s going to stop at (secretary) Nadia Harvin’s desk and she’s going to give him a pen and a yellow legal pad and Urban is going to have the run of the place, making notes and suggestions. At the end of the day, he’s going to leave the yellow pad on my desk and I’m going to follow through.”

Addazio broke out into a broad smile.

“I had to run this idea past (athletic director) Bill (Bradshaw) and he just loved it,” Addazio said. “Bill said something really profound. He said that every time Meyer said something on ESPN on Saturdays, it would say Temple such-and-such coach Urban Meyer right there on the screen.

“He said you can’t buy that kind of publicity, that it opens the door for Temple to every five-star recruit in the country.”

Just then I woke up and realized everything Steve Addazio just said was in a dream.

Happy April Fool’s Day everybody.

Also worth reading:
Big 10 shows renewed interest in Temple

03.23.11
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Practice? Yeah, we’re talking about practice

There’s a saying in the deep south about the three biggest sports seasons being college football No. 1, NASCAR No. 2 and college football spring practice No. 3.
I have no doubt that’s true in places like Alabama and Georgia and, maybe, Florida.
Baseball and basketball have yet to make inroads into that Holy Trinity.
Up here, not so much.
I doubt very many people in Philadelphia realize Temple football spring practice officially begins today.

I do.
Now you do, too.

Somebody please find that sheet and burn it once and for all.

I say officially because being a big-time college football player in today’s world is really a 365-day-a-year job.
Steve Addazio, the new Temple football coach, will talk to the media after practice today.
Expect him to talk intangibles, rather than X’s and O’s.
He’ll talk about developing a toughness, a work ethic, a pride, all of those things that Al Golden pretty much took care of in his four years.
Truth be told, he’s got no choice.
His starting quarterback (Clinton Granger, maybe) is not here yet, nor are we totally 100 percent sure he will be. (For the record, I think he will.)
So is the quarterback “competition” really that much of a story now?
I don’t think so.
My storyline this spring revolves not around the quarterback position so much as the running back position.
I’ve said this until I’m blue in the face and, trust me, I’m blue in the face:
TEMPLE NEEDS TO DEVELOP A VIABLE BACKUP TO BERNARD PIERCE SHOULD BERNARD PIERCE GO DOWN.
This was true last year.

Temple fans know this sequence all too well (thanks, Owlified)

It is even more true this year.
Look, the preferable route is to pray to God that Bernard stays healthy for 13 games and puts up the kinds of numbers I know deep down in my heart he can: 2,000 yards, 20 touchdowns, more importantly, leading to a 12-1 (or better) record.
I know he can do it.
I also know that it’s never smart to put all your eggs in one basket, especially this close to Easter.
Quite frankly, if the last two games proved anything last season, Matt Brown wasn’t a viable backup to Bernard Pierce. His tank ran on fumes the final two games and the Temple offense sputtered and grinded to a halt as result. Hopefully, Addazio will utilize Brown for what he is: The Best Third Down Back in the MAC, not Pierce’s backup. That way, he’ll be fresh for the final two games and can do some damage teamed with Pierce on third-down situations.
I’m more interested in developing a backup to Pierce  with what Addazio calls “explosives” than a quarterback. Note Addazio uses the word “explosives” and not explosiveness. Pierce has what I would call H-Bomb type explosives. We have no A-Bomb to back him up.
I don’t think there’s a talent in the program even close right now.
Does Myron Ross have explosives? Does Ahkeem Smith have explosives? Does incoming recruit Spencer Reid have explosives?
Based on what they’ve done so far (high school and limited college), I have serious doubts about all three.
I know incoming recruit Nate Smith has explosives, but they have him listed as a linebacker. I hope they think outside the box and make him a running back again. At least for this year.
So the challenge this spring is finding that “other” Bernard Pierce  egg and, in the process, destroying that playbook or whatever Matt Rhule called it.
My good friend, Dave Gerson, wrote appropriately that Temple, post-BP, had five plays in its offensive arsenal and kept calling the five plays in sequence over and over again. He said it with a hint of tongue-in-cheek but, to Temple fans, there was a lot of a sad truth to the critique.
I have a lot of confidence that new offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler is going to bring a different approach to moving the football and I’m excited to see what it will be.
Addazio said his offensive philosophy will be tailored to Temple’s personnel so, if that’s true, this is what I want to see:
Hand the ball left, right and up the middle to Pierce behind a 320-pound offensive line. Create so much fear in the running game that play-action off it results in receivers running free through opposing secondaries and the Lincoln Financial Field scoreboard being turned into an adding machine.
It’s a simple but time-tested philosophy but you have to have a great running back to execute it.
Temple’s got at least one of those.
The trick this spring is to find some more of that dynamite.

02.16.11
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TU-ND press conference a head-scratcher

If you say “big football announcement” it better mean a new conference.

Like a lot of people, I’m a creature of habit.
I get up a certain time.
I go to the gym a certain time.
I go to work a certain time.
I even blog at a certain time.
Always the same times for each task.
On big occasions, I’m able to rearrange my schedule.




TU and ND: Two schools with Subway Alumni

That’s why I was excited a couple of weeks ago to hear about the Steve Addazio Meet and Greet, scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 17, at 5:30.
Geez, I thought. I’m off Thursdays. I can go to the gym at my regular time and treat this Thursday like I’m going to work, except I’m meeting the new Temple head football coach instead.
Then I got this email from Temple University yesterday:
“Major announcement concerning Temple Football at 3 p.m., Fox Gittis Room, Liacouras Center.”
Well, that does it.
I’ve got to get there a couple hours earlier than I planned. Whatever needs to be said will be said between 3-3:30 p.m.
Then, I thought:
“Geez, what am I going to do between 3:30 and 5:30?”
(I didn’t feel like going to the Draught Horse or Maxi’s for an early Happy Hour and I certainly didn’t need two hours to browse the bookstore.)
All sorts of things raced through my head, but I narrowed it to these three, in no particular order:
1) Temple is moving to Conference USA for football only;
2) Temple is getting a practice bubble;
3) Temple is scheduling Notre Dame.

C-USA BOWL TIE-INS

Bowl (Site) Time (CT) Network

AutoZone Liberty Bowl (Memphis, Tenn.) 2:30p ESPN

Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl (Fort Worth, Texas) 11:00a ESPN

Military Bowl (Washington, D.C.) 1:30p ESPN

Sheraton Hawai’i Bowl (Honolulu, Hawai’i) 7:00p ESPN

Beef O’Brady’s Bowl (St. Petersburg, Fla.) 7:00p ESPN

Carriers New Orleans Bowl (New Orleans, La.) 7:00p ESPN

Certainly, ONLY No. 1 rises to the level of having its own press conference, separate and apart from the Addazio Meet and Greet. If Temple held a news conference to announce a practice bubble or a scheduling agreement, it would hold itself up for ridicule and I don’t like it when my school is ridiculed. No school in the history of college football has ever held a press conference to announce a scheduling agreement. Scheduling agreements, even with schools like Notre Dame, usually are released on 8 1/2 x 11-inch paper and double-spaced, not the subject of press conferences.
Now Conference USA is, as Bum Phillips once said, is a horse of a whole other fire department.
No. 1 would be REALLY big news. Nos. 2 and 3, very good news, but those could be addressed at 5:30.
I made a few calls and was disappointed.
The news is not Temple to Conference USA or The Big East.
It’s No. 3.
Yeah, that’s right. Temple is holding a press conference to announce that it signed a 2-for-1 deal with Notre Dame.
Temple at Notre Dame in 2013. Notre Dame at Temple in 2014. Temple at Notre Dame in 2015.
That’s all the news there is to print.
What was it cops say at the scene of the accident?
“There’s nothing more to see, you can move along folks.”
That’s pretty much how I feel now.
When you say “major announcement” I expect a major announcement.
This is a good announcement, not a “major announcement.”
Great news, mind you, but not big enough to make me waste a couple of hours. Certainly not big enough for its own separate press conference.
That settles it.
I will see everyone at 5:30 then.

01.26.11
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Owl FB could use a $3 million contribution

The Robert G. Burton Practice Bubble at Temple University.

I’ve always wondered why Temple football never had a Robert G. Burton.
You know, the guy who contributed $3 million to UConn football and then asked for his money back when the Huskies did not hire Steve Addazio away from Temple.
Oh, sure there have been great benefactors in the past like Dr. Pete Chodoff who spearheaded the Edberg-Olson Complex and the $500,000 practice field.
Even Bill Cosby reportedly “bought out” Jerry Berndt’s contract so the uni could hire Ron Dickerson. (That’s like chump change to Cos because Fortune Magazine reported he has $368 million in his bank account. He could donate $61 mil for a new Temple football stadium and still have $307 million left over and I didn’t even major in math at Temple.)
Yet there has been no single $3 million contribution to Temple football in my memory.

The Burton Football Complex at UConn

Not even from Cos.
Lord knows no one needs the money more than Temple football, yet Dennis Alter gave his $15 million for the new Fox Business School. A noble cause, yet the Temple football team still has to bus down to the Eagles’ practice facility on bad weather days because they have no bubble.
If there was no new Alter School of Business, kids could still walk to school in the old building.
Yet it’s the football team that has to board the bus for that dangerous four-mile ride down to NovaCare (not to mention the driving conditions, either).
Heck, I would be a Robert G. Burton for Temple football. The only thing that’s keeping me from giving is that I have no money. I would not even demand that Steve Addazio recruit Ryan Brumfield or that Temple fire Steve Addazio and replace him with Bruce Arians after the Super Bowl.
I would just give unconditionally.
I have an idea, Mr. Burton. Turn some negative publicity you’ve been receiving in New England to some positive press down here.
You have a direct interest in Steve Addazio becoming a big-time success at Temple so you can prove to those UConn bozos that you were right and they were wrong.
So, when UConn gives you the $3 million back, you should forward that check to Temple University for the construction of the Robert G. Burton Practice Bubble.
Think of it as the best investment you ever will make in yourself.

01.12.11
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Addaziogate: Saying nothing says a lot

Now that Temple University, though a football spokeswoman, says it is not going to comment on a published report in the Hartford Courant that Steve Addazio’s “representative” contacted UConn regarding its football opening, that leaves a lot of room for speculation.

Too much room.
My feeling, as stated earlier, was that Addazio had to come out and say the published report was a lie or he was tacitly saying it was the truth.
There’s no wiggle room.
Making a public statement that the Hartford Courant was full of hogwash would have ended the matter once and for all.
Now it lingers and will linger and saying nothing is the worst thing Addazio, Bill Bradshaw and Temple University could have ever done.
Before Temple came out and said it was saying nothing, something had to be said privately between AD Bill Bradshaw and Addazio.
Since they aren’t saying what, we can only guess as to what went down:

BB: Now, Steve, I called you into this meeting today for a reason.
SA: Anything for you Bill. I told you the day I signed here was that we are joined at the hip.
BB: Yeah, about that.. ..
SA: I couldn’t be with a better man, Bill.
BB: Just wanted to ask you about that report in the Hartford Courant that your representative contacted UConn ….
SA: Yeah, I was meaning to tell you about that. Kind of slipped my mind.
BB: There’s no truth to it, right?
SA: Bill, you are a good man so I’m going to come clean with you. Yeah, I did. I didn’t know UConn was going to open up and, yeah, I thought I could maybe slip in the backdoor. It’s my home state and all. Plus, the walk to 11th and Diamond every day looks pretty dangerous.
BB: But what about all that “Destination Temple” stuff you said two weeks ago?
SA: Yeah, pretty good speech, huh? Think I could use it when I get the job up there. I could just change “Destination Temple” to “Destination UConn.”
BB: I heard Mark Whipple was going to get the job, though.
SA: Really? Damn, I must have been too late. I guess I’m stuck, I mean, committed, here.
BB: We should really say something, make a statement that you are committed to Temple and that you never applied for the UConn job.
SA: Now, Bill, why would I do that? You heard me talk about integrity a couple of weeks ago, didn’t you? You wouldn’t ask me to lie, would you?
BB: Yeah, I forgot about the integrity part.
SA: Bill, I got an idea. What if we just said nothing?
BB: You mean, bury our heads in the sand?
SA: Yeah, right, say nothing, bury our heads in the sand and hope this all blows over.
BB: I guess you are right, Steve.
SA: See, Bill, I told you we think alike. We’re joined at the hip, buddy.
BB: I’ll tell the press we’re saying nothing then.
SA: That’a boy, Bill. Anything else?
BB: I guess not.