Category Archives: Rod Carey

04.12.19
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Cherry and White Day (but not Game)

 

 

best

Plenty of room for a football stadium here and it will be one for at least a day tomorrow.

As many of you have noticed over the last few years, the Cherry and White game we’ve all known and loved has pretty much devolved into a glorified practice.

Sometime after Brandon McManus left, we did not see any field goals and that was followed by no kick returns after Matty Brown left and no punts after Alex Starczyk left.  There hasn’t been a real sack in one of these games in 20 years with the quarterbacks off limits.

 

The game never really meant anything even before that but it was football and looked pretty much like the real thing.

there

Each time, though, the reminders were that the Cherry and White game was not a Cherry and White game but a Cherry and White day.

Getting rid of the game is one thing but getting rid of the day would be unacceptable.

That’s why what new head coach Rod Carey has done is a good thing, not a bad one. It’s been a practice for at least a good decade now so why not call it what it is? The goal of this whole exercise of spring ball is to get ready for the bad guys and having game conditions exacerbates the risk of injury to the good guys, something Carey found out early in his career at Northern Illinois.

Still, by going tomorrow (11:30 a.m., err, kickoff) at the Sports Complex we can learn a few things:

  • What is this new offense for which Anthony Russo speaks? Just about every article talks about Russo and his teammates learning a “new” offense but not a single one I’ve read (and I think I’ve read them all) says just what the new offense is? Wishbone, triple option, spread, run/pass option, pro set?  You think at least one reporter would have asked that question by now. We should get a good look on Saturday.
  • Wouldn’t that be a nice spot for the new stadium?  There will be thousands of Temple fans there and not one protester that they are there. The neighbors on the Broad and Master area are used to Temple hosting nearly 100 games in three sports at that site and the world did not end. They probably would not object to putting a football stadium there and having the uni use it only a half-dozen times a year.
  • What will Mayhem be replaced by? There were a lot of defenders woefully out of position, particularly on gouging running plays by opposing offenses the last two seasons. That will always be Mayhem to me and not the good kind. Temple fans should get a new appreciation for the term “staying home” on defense with the first clues coming tomorrow.

After that, though, it’s a long time before we see Temple football players in full uniform so appreciate the day, if not the game.

Monday: Cherry and White Answers

Wednesday: Spring Recap

Friday: Checking Some Temple Boxes

04.08.19
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Carey and the Alumni get off to a good start

goat

Former Temple lineman Ray “Big Cat” Haynes with Temple football’s GOAT (greatest of all time), Paul Palmer on Saturday

One of the few constants over the last 40 years of Temple football is the support of the football alumni.

That is guys who played on winning Temple teams in the past and want nothing but the same for the players of the present.

Even in the days of the 20-game losing streak and 20-plus losing seasons, a group of players set up in the Jetro Lot.

cat

Former Indiana offensive lineman Rod Carey meets and greets former Temple offensive lineman Ray Haynes. Photo credits: Ray Haynes

 

Coaches come and go but the players’ loyalty has always been constant.

That’s why around this time of year of any coaching change keeping an eye on how the new guy treats the ex-players always portends the future. Al Golden and Matt Rhule embraced the Temple tradition. Steve Addazio pretty much ignored the ex-players and everything Geoff Collins did screamed that Temple football started in 2005, not in 1894.

Fortunately, it appears Rod Carey has listened to Rhule where Collins did not because Carey has embraced the ex-players from all different eras with open arms in his first alumni day on Saturday.

Carey seemed genuinely interested in getting to know the guys who played for Temple and the coaches who they played for. Contrast that to Collins who, upon first meeting Paul Palmer, had no idea who he was.

“Who do you coach for?” Collins asked.

Players know who is a phony and who is not and Carey passed the smell test up close on Saturday. From all reports we’ve heard, the practice they saw was a crisp one with no time wasted on things like having the band play or putting a solid contributing running back up in the DJ booth and celebrating that. There was no guitar playing.

Only football and getting work done.

After two years of mostly nonsense, it was a refreshing change.

Wednesday: Saying Goodbye

Friday: Fan Fest Preview: It’s Not the Same

 

 

 

04.03.19
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The Real Darkside Defense

gang

Expect the Owls to return to this kind of gang tackling as shown in a prior Penn State game.

Geoff Collins handed out nicknames like candy.

Rod Carey hands them out like Scrooge with Christmas Gifts.

Different strokes for different folks.

Collins, the self-proclaimed Minister of Mayhem,  called his defense “The Darkside Defense” last season.  That same defense went out and gave up 45 points to Boston College, 49 to Houston, 52 to UCF and 57 to Duke.

Hardly a unit that earned any nicknames.

knowles

From left, Knowles, Rice and Stewart sound like a law firm but the are ready to defend the Owls on that side of the field this fall.

Keeping people out of the end zone is a priority for the Owls this season and Carey hinted as much in a radio interview with Harry Donahue when he said his defensive philosophy was to have a “more sound base” and to take fewer chances designed to create turnovers for the trade of keeping the bad guys out of the end zone.

The good news is that Collins brings a sound system for Northern Illinois and three outstanding defensive coaches in DC Jeff Knowles, Melvin Rice and Walter Stewart. Mix in co-DC Fran Brown with his special knowledge of personnel and the Owls will get a lot more from their talent than they have in the last two years.  On October 28, the Huskies won a football game against BYU by scoring just seven points because their defense only allowed six. Yes, that was the same BYU team that beat Wisconsin and that was the same Wisconsin team that beat Manny Diaz’s Miami team, 31-0, in the bowl game.

In Knowles’  first season as defensive coordinator this past fall, the Huskies were second in the FBS in sacks with 50, trailing only national champion Clemson. The Huskies were ranked 11th in the nation in rushing yards allowed per game (109.2), 10th in team tackles for loss per game (7.9) NIU had six all-Mid-American Conference selections on its defense.


In Knowles’  first season
as defensive coordinator
this past fall, the Huskies
were second in the FBS in sacks
with 50, trailing only national
champion Clemson. The Huskies
were ranked 11th in the nation
in rushing yards allowed per
game (109.2), 10th in team tackles
for loss per game (7.9) NIU had
six all-Mid-American Conference
selections on its defense

Arguably, with the linebackers Collins has now and a front line that includes returning starters like Karamo Dioubate, Dana Levine, Dan Archibong and Zack Mesday he probably has more talent than he had at NIU.

There is some learning for the coaches, especially ones who weren’t with Carey last year at NIU. One of them is Fran Brown, the co-defensive coordinator/cornerbacks coach. Brown coached four seasons at Temple, spent the last two years as an assistant at Baylor and is now back with the Owls.

One change in the defense, according to a recent Marc Narducci story, is that the Owls will play off more receivers instead of playing press coverage.

That tends to keep the play in front of the defensive backs and limits long scoring plays.

In other words, don’t expect this defense to give up 57, 52 or 45 points in any single game.

It’s not Mayhem, but Mayhem was never what it was cracked up to be so this change appears to be a welcome one.

We’ll just have to come up with a new nickname for those one-time dark side guys.

03.29.19
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Mark the Calendar: 9/28/2019

Screenshot 2019-03-27 at 10.18.32 PM

A recent headline in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The guys who write the scripts in Hollywood could not have penned a better outline for at least one game this Temple season.

The Minister of Mayhem vs. Mr. Traditonal Buttoned Down coach.

As boring as the opener versus Bucknell should be (the April 13 practice that takes the place of the Cherry and White game this year will be more competitive), the storyline on 9/28/2019 should represent a season’s worth of drama.

The most interesting part of this script is that it was made possible long before the plot line was established as it was negotiated in September of 2017 by Temple athletic director Pat Kraft. Geoff Collins was just starting his first season at Temple and Rod Carey was in the fifth of is six at Northern Illinois.

Now the guy who is known for “swag” and “money downs” will be replaced by a more traditional coach and it will be a battle of old and new. Cell phones versus landline. Social media versus texting.

Make no mistake about one thing: The more motivated team should be on the home side of this one because the Owls would like nothing better to take down their ex-head coach. The Yellowjackets don’t even know who Rod Carey is. There should also be a sizable group of hometown Temple fans who will be similarly motivated.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution already made note of this fact (see graphic at the top of this post) recently and the accompanying story said this:
“Given the itinerant nature of the profession, it’s not unheard of for a coach to face a former employer. Coach Paul Johnson faced Georgia Southern, which he led to two Division I-AA (now FCS) national championships, in 2014 and 2015, but that was 13 years and two jobs after he had left Statesboro.
“But this a meeting of a different sort. Much of the Owls’ roster will be made up of players who were recruited to Temple by Collins.”

Kraft pulled a coup when he scheduled this game not because of the circumstances that developed, but because of the circumstances that existed. Home and homes between P5 and G5 teams are unusual enough. Home and homes that give the G5 the team the first date are impossible to find. (Usually, this is set up to allow the P5 team to dump the G5 team if something better comes along). Temple returns the favor in 2025, not 2020.

ESPN should give this storyline major play and no one should be surprised if the game (listed as TBA now) be moved off a noon slot to a more appealing 3:30 or night time slot. After all, the television markets involved are four (Philadelphia) and nine (Atlanta) nationally. This has the makings of a higher-than-usual audience for a late September non-conference game.

No one knows if the “money downs” signs will be on the other side of Lincoln Financial Field, but I would not be surprised.

All that matters will be actually turning those money downs into real-time stops and Temple could have the advantage in that regard.

It should be the most fun home date of this or the last several years.

Monday: Glass Houses

03.27.19
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Breaking News: No Spring Game This Year

 

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Turn on one of those 24-hour news channels and chances are we will all see a cryon proclaiming this:

Breaking News.

It used to be in the old days that breaking news meant actually that: a fire here, a holdup there, a tornado farther south.

Now it means something that you knew about yesterday, not today.

So, given those parameters, here’s what we found out through official university channels yesterday: For the first time in 50 or so years, there will not be a spring game. I always thought the game was weird anyway because I never knew to root for the Cherry or the White. It was always the good guys versus the good guys. Instead, there will be an “open practice” mixed in with a “fan fest” and a good time will be had by all.

As Bill Parcells would say, this is good news, not bad news.

The Cherry and White game has pretty much deteriorated into a glorified practice over the last decade or so. If new head coach Rod Carey wants to close out the 15 practices he’s allotted by the  NCAA with No. 15, that should be OK.

All that matters is going 4-0 or, at worst, 3-1 in the first month or so of play so that brings us to the other news out of practice so far: The new offense.

According to a number of ex-players who have seen the Owls practice, the Owls are showing multiple looks. While there is some RPO (run/pass/option), there is also use of the fullback (primarily in goal-line situations), two tight ends and even three wide receivers.

Former Temple head coach Wayne Hardin used to call this his “smorgasbord” offense (“you know, a little of this, a little of that”) and that’s kind of what quarterback Anthony Russo was talking about in an interview with the Temple News earlier this week when he talks about learning a new offense. It’s the kind of offense designed to accentuate the talents of Russo, who has an NFL skill set and probably would have never been allowed to develop it if Georgia Tech offensive coordinator Dave Patenaude had been around for another season.

The more looks Temple can show another defense the harder it is to prepare for the Owls on game day. It’s all about beating the bad guys even if there will be no game between the good guys this season.

Friday: Mark Your Calendar

Monday: Glass Houses

Wednesday: Another Nickname for the Darkside

03.23.19
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Temple football: Let’s try stability

 

stability

Pat Kraft promised the kids stability and he delivered

Just the other day, St. Joseph’s University gave up a whole lot of stability for a future of uncertainty.

Unfortunately, we won’t know if the firing of Phil Martelli as that school’s head basketball coach is a good thing or a bad thing until a couple of years down the line because we don’t know who the new guy is.

When former athletic director Bill Bradshaw turned Temple football from a perennial loser into a perennial winner by hiring Al Golden he said famously: “Let’s try winning.”

Now his successor, Dr. Pat Kraft, seems to be saying, “let’s try adding stability to the winning.”

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Fran Brown procuring players and Rod Carey coaching them should be an unbeatable combo for Temple football. Photo credit: Zamani Feelings

The stability Kraft purchased with $10 million of monopoly money is a whole lot recognizable. Kraft made the buyout of new head coach Rod Carey $10 million partly because that’s exactly the amount that UCF made Josh Heupel’s buyout. UCF went unbeaten during the regular season and, if anyone was the hot young head coach out of the AAC, it was that guy.

None of the Power 5 teams in need of a head coach approached him, partly because the buyout was $6 million higher than the going rate for such things. Even the Board of Trustees for big-time schools have limits.

“I told Pat to make it (the buyout) whatever he wanted,” Carey told the press on the day he was hired. “I wanted to be here.”

The difference between St. Joe basketball and Temple football is this: Temple got a guy who already was a successful head coach on the level Temple football is trying to play and gave that new guy more talent than he had in his last place of employment. Unless St. Joe is able to hire someone like Buffalo coach Nate Oates there is no certainty that it traded stability for excellence. St. Joe is more likely to grab the Swarthmore coach than Oates and that is no slam dunk. Temple fans found out that a guy who was a legend in Division II doesn’t automatically become a legend in Division One.

Temple now has both stability and excellence and the fact that Temple foes can no longer recruit against the Owls using the argument that the coach is likely to leave is going to reap rewards in that area. That, plus the fact that assistant head coach Fran Brown is one of the best recruiters in the business.

Kraft promised a team weary of the revolving door of coaches going through the revolving door E-O stability and he delivered. It should pay dividends, maybe immediately, but certainly over the long haul.

Monday: The New AAC Contract

Wednesday: Thoughts on Spring Ball So Far

Friday: Mark Your Calendar

Monday: Glass Houses

03.16.19
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Carey: First Impressions Could Not Be Better

Normally, at this time of the spring practice coaches usually bullbleep their way through media sessions and say this guy or that guy looked good.

That happened before with Temple coaches Steve Addazio and Geoff Collins, not so much with Al Golden and Matt Rhule.

Judging from the video posted on Shawn Pastor’s excellent OwlsDaily.com site, Rod Carey has planted his flag very much with the latter group and not the former. In it, he said he got to know the faces and now that the helmets are on, he’s asking which guy was what. When he was pressed for specific players, he didn’t make stuff up just saying that it’s to be determined.

That is the best first impression of all.

Fortunately, we are not alone.


“Excited to see what a real
coach with good talent can
do here, been a few years
since we’ve had someone in
charge I am excited about.”
_ former Temple linebacker
Matt Powell

Matt Powell, a former walk-on linebacker who earned a scholarship under Al Golden, sent us a note yesterday with this remarkably perceptive remark: “Excited to see what a real coach with good talent can do here, been a few years since we’ve had someone in charge I am excited about.”

Me, too.

The video didn’t prove that there is no bullbleep with the new coach, but it was at least Exhibit A in a case that will be proven over time.

Each coach Temple has hired has brought something to the table. Al Golden brought organization and terrific recruiting skills, Steve Addazio hired a staff that was a Power 5 one, not a G5 one. Matt Rhule contributed concepts learned from Tom Coughlin and was able to bake a delicious recipe from ingredients in the Golden and Daz cookbooks.

Collins?

I’m thinking. Guy was enthusiastic, I’ll give him that, but so were the others.

Carey brings in 52-30 record in a league Temple did not dominate, beat a team last year Temple could not beat (with lesser talent than Temple) and those credentials represent an improvement on the past.

Being brutally honest on opening day is just icing a cake which should be tasty.

Tuesday: Call To Season Tickets

Thursday: Pro Day Thoughts

Saturday: A Whole Lot of Stability

Monday (3/25): Return to Mon/Wed/Fri pub schedule until C and W Day

 

03.14.19
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Just a guess on number’s games

Only two players on the current Temple roster return inheriting their single-digit roster numbers.

One of the byproducts of the next month will be to find seven other guys to join Chapelle Russell (3) and Shaun Bradley (5) as the toughest non-offensive linemen on the squad.

Taking a guess at the other spots is a little like filling out the March Madness brackets next week: A fun endeavor but probably not 100 percent foolproof.

The good news is that there are probably about 20 deserving tough guy candidates out there. Before the players even vote, we’ll take a guess at these seven with the assigned number in parenthesis:

Archibong_Robinson_20180915_Feelings_AAAA1086

Dan Archibong (photo by Zamani Feelings) is a good bet to earn a single digit.

Dan Archibong (9) _ For my money, the toughest and most talented player along the defensive line and ready to take the mantle from Michael Dogbe as the leader on the defensive interior.

Zack Mesday (4) _ Granted a fifth year of eligibility (see above video), this tough guy worked his way from walk-on to starter following the same path of fellow walk-ons to starters Nick Sharga and Rob Ritrovato so we will give him the same number.

narducci

Anthony Russo (8) _ Probably deserves P.J. Walker’s former number due to having to deal with the punishment of working with former offensive coordinator Dave Patenaude, whose concept of max protect was telling Russo to slide. Russo should thrive under a system with a little less RPO and a little more emphasis on the run game and play-action.

Isaiah Wright (1) _ Anyone who makes first-team All-American as a special teams’ performer is a tough guy. For the first three years of his time at Temple, two coaches have talked about getting the ball “more” in Wright’s hands but there’s only so many plays a wide receiver or wildcat quarterback can get. If Wright moves to tailback, he’s going to get the ball 15-20 times a game more and Temple’s offense should be 15-20x as effective.

wright

Sam Franklin (7) _ Franklin has been a “jack-of-all-trades” for the Owls, playing safety, defensive end and linebacker and effective in all three spots. It takes a tough and smart guy to learn three positions at the same time. He’s been a great leader who will probably slot into a starter’s spot wherever he’s needed.

Branden Mack (6) _ Nobody made more clutch catches in traffic than this former Cheltenham High star, including the catch that tied Cincinnati with 22 seconds left in regulation. Mack rips the ball out of defensive backs’ hands. That’s a tough guy.

William Kwenkeu (2) _ Wearing No. 35, Kwenkeu was the defensive star of the Gasparilla Bowl, a game he registered his first career start and had a pair of sacks. Due to a change in coordinators last year, he did not play as much as he should have but he has both the talent and toughness to reclaim his spot in the lineup.

Saturday: First Impressions

 

02.19.19
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First Sign of Spring: Temple QBs and WRs

 

beatty

There are little indications that give you a hint spring is coming.

One was Groundhog Day earlier this month.

Yesterday was the full squad reporting for the Philadelphia Phillies.

A week ago it was pitchers and catchers.

Soon, March 10, we will move the clocks ahead, one day ahead of the real pitchers and catchers.

This is not official yet, but I’ve been told by reliable sources that the next day we will see the “real” pitchers and catchers–quarterbacks and wide receivers–report with the team to full practices as the Owls gear up for the spring game (April 13, which is official).

It just so happens that pitchers and catchers are probably the strength of the 2019 Owls. In starting quarterback Anthony Russo and backups Toddy Centeio and Trad Beatty, the Owls have set themselves up with pretty solid quality and depth at the most important position on the field. In fact, in my 40-plus years as a Temple fan, I can only remember three quarterbacks of this quality way back in the 1970s when Maxwell Award-winner Steve Joachim led a room that included Marty Ginestra.

carey

Got to be impressed with any coach who takes pen and paper in hand and sits down to write a note. Nobody does that anymore. Thanks, coach Carey.

Depth-wise, that pales in comparison, though to the catcher part of this equation as the Owls are set with wide receiver starters Sean Ryan, Branden Mack and Isaiah Wright and pushed hard by backups Jadan Blue, Randall Jones and Freddie Johnson.

That’s a lot of depth and one would hope that to strengthen the running back position, new head coach Rod Carey is open to moving a former tailback, Wright, back there to help keep the running game among the best in the league as it has been for the last five seasons.

We should find that out soon and the idea has been proposed to Carey, who like all good coaches, is open to moving players from a position of strength to shore up an area where the depth might not be as impressive.

Meanwhile, unofficially, there has been a lot of pitching and catching at the Edberg-Olson Complex both outside on the field and idea-wise in the coaching offices.

The fruits of that back-and-forth should be unveiled soon.

Thursday: A King Solomon Solution to a King-Size Dilemma

02.09.19
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5 Intriguing Names In The New Class

The University of Temple is cringeworthy, but KBS is already here. 

One of the reasons why you don’t see Group of Five teams having the same kind of sustained success that say, Alabama, Clemson and Georgia have, is illustrated perfectly by what happened to Temple football this year and far too many years.

Coaching change interrupts any recruiting momentum and that is felt not necessarily the next year but three or four years down the road.

templelove

Got to love the Temple Love in this photo by the KBS family

While Temple can and probably will have a good year in 2019, the 2021 season might be the most impacted by the Owls bagging only 18 recruits. According to Scout.com, their recruiting class completed on Wednesday is ranked 102d.

That’s bad for a Sun Belt or a MAC school. It’s terrible for an AAC school.

Still, that doesn’t mean there is a lack of talent in this group. Nobody here can tell you who among this group will be a star but I’ve always been from the school of thought that the best predictor for future success is measured in past success and, based on that criterion alone, here are the five most talented guys:

Kennique Bonner Steward QB 6-3 215 Huntersville, N.C. William A. Hough _  OK, going to say it right now, this guy is going to be The Man on campus after Anthony Russo and Trad Beatty. He throws the ball on a dime and has the kind of escapability past Rod Carey quarterbacks have possessed and he has excelled on the big stage as shown by this big Hough High victory.
M.J. Griffin DB 6-1 189 Ypsilanti, Mich. Saline. _ Any time a Temple commit gets Power 5 offers, that has to open some eyes and that’s certainly the case with Griffin. Part of the reason he chose Temple was that he’s from a city and loves the city environment.

Edward Saydee ATH 5-11 189 Philadelphia, Pa. William Penn Charter _ Reminds me a little of Bernard Pierce coming out of Glen Mills and that’s high praise indeed. Has good vision once he hits the hole and appears to be the same kind of one-cut runner Pierce was. More importantly, his measurables are Pierce-like (Bernard was 6-0, 180 out of high school with a 10.8 in the 100-meters and Edward is 5-11, 189 with the same 10.8.)
Kwesi Evans WR 6-3 198 Parkville, Md. St. Frances Academy _  Nobody knows Evans better than new Temple running backs’ coach Gabe Infante. The national high school coach of the year needed an act of God (literally) to complete an unbeaten state championship season due to lightning with six minutes left in the third quarter. St. Frances was up, 13-7 when the game was called. No other high school team came within 20 points of the Philadelphia squad all year. For St. Frances, Evans caught a touchdown pass in that game.

Wisdom Quarshie DL 6-3 310 Sicklerville, N.J. St. Joseph (Hammonton) _ Because of a need for depth on the defensive line, a player like Quarshie with his size and toughness has a chance to get snaps right away.

As exciting as it will be to see the above players develop, keep an eye on a wide receiver named Joshua Youngblood at Kansas State. He was a solid Temple commit until Geoff Collins left and waivered when Manny Diaz came in and was lost completely when Carey arrived and succumbed to a late effort by Kansas State. This kid in my mind will become a big-time star but that’s life in the G5 when coaching changes happen every couple of years.

Tuesday: A Trade That Elton Brand Would Be Proud to Make

Thursday: Delving Into The Schedule

Saturday: A New Lease on Life For Some Owls

Monday (2/18): The Real Pitchers and Catchers