Category Archives: Steve Addazio

01.29.11
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Addazio trying to land last-minute recruits



Bruce Arians got a jem in his first recruiting class at TU.


When it comes to Temple football recruiting, I’m a lot like the guy who reserves the seat one  row behind the middle exit for the plane trip and trusts that I have a good pilot.
I kind of know where the Owls are going, but I trust the guy in charge to take us there safely.

Bruce Arians’ First Recruiting Class included:
Paul Palmer, RB, Potomac (Md.)
Sheldon Morris, RB, Oxon Hills (Md.)
Steve Domonoski, LB, Jerwyn (Pa.).
Mike Swanson, DL, Mount Vernon (N.Y.)
Carl Holmes, OL, Philadelphia LaSalle
Mark Arcidiacono, DL, Philadelphia Father Judge
John Smith, RB, Philadelphia Penn Charter
Don Brown, DB, Pennsbury
Rodney Walker, DT, Philadelphia Cardinal Dougherty
James Thompson, QB, Tallahassee (Fla.) Leon High

For the past five years, all I did was look forward to the trip because Temple had the “Sully Sullenberger” of recruiting pilots in the meticulously organized, persistent and clean-cut Al Golden.
I (mostly) trusted Al because recruiting (except maybe for quarterbacks) was his strong point, he was organized and a good-looking, personable, guy who mothers (they are key in recruiting) welcomed into their homes.
If Al Golden was Sully Sullenberger, then Steve Addazio is Chuck Yeager.
He’s not as good-looking (that doesn’t mean anything to me, but it might to the Moms out there), but he’s just as personable and he was named three-time national pilot, err, recruiter, of the year. So I should have reason to be confident.
Still, I must admit that it’s less than a week to go before signing day and the turbulence on this flight appears rockier than usual.
The first recruit Addazio supposedly “locked down” was a Golden recruit, Cedric “The Entertainer” Walker who de-committed and chose Florida International instead.
Another DE recruit is said to be leaning that away.
For the last three years, Temple was routinely winnning the recruiting battles against the Pitts, Rutgers, BC’s and Marylands.
I must admit losing two guys to FIU isn’t sitting too well.
Maybe Addazio will surprise me and come up with a gem or two.
Geez, I hope so.
Harrisburg quarterback Jalen Fitzpatrick is in this weekend. Daz is also said to be recruiting Bradenton Southeast’s Jared Williams, a blue-chip running back with Bernard Pierce size, speed and vision. I would be thrilled to get one or both.
Daz is also working hard to keep the early Golden commits and I hope he does that. I’m thrilled that Camden Catholic playmaking wide receiver Jerry Watters is finally coming to campus as a walk-on.
People say not to expect much from Addazio because he’s been here only a month,  but Bruce Arians came up with a solid class in less than a month from the time he was hired away from Alabama in 1983. In Arians’ first class was a fullback from Norcross (Ga.), Shelly Poole; an all-state lineman from Mount Vernon (N.Y.) in Mike Swanson; Carl Holmes, a 6-7, 300-pound offensive tackle from LaSalle; Sheldon Morris, a 6-foot, 198-pound back from Oxon Hills, Md., who led was county player of the year and led his team to the state title; Steve Domonoski, a linebacker from Jerwyn, Pa. and, oh yeah, a 5-10, 180-pound running back from Winston Churchill High in Potomac, Md., named Paul Palmer where the bio simply said “rushed for almost 2,000 yards his senior year.”
What has been my recruiting mantra on this blog for years?
“The best indicator of future success is past success.”
Paul Palmer is the embodiment of that statement. So is current Owen J. Roberts’ back Ryan Brumfield, who is an inch taller and five pounds heavier.
If Golden had one Achilles’ Heel in recruiting, it was trying to develop running backs and quarterbacks rather than recruit finished products at both positions. The one solid QB he had, Adam DiMichele, was a first-team all-state player and one of the greatest touchdown-producers in WPIAL history.
Bernard Pierce was a great running back recruit, a 2,000-yard back and state champion sprinter at Glen Mills, but where were the 2,000-yard backs and sprinters to back Pierce up?
You are not going to get it done with a 5-5, 150-pound backup.
Arians understood that so, in his first class, he recruited both Sheldon Morris and Paul Palmer.
A few years later, Temple’s sports information department put out a comic book promoting Palmer for Heisman.
He finished second.
Arians’ first recruiting class was the best of the first-year Temple coaches, but others have found gems, too. Jerry Berndt, who couldn’t recruit a lick, got OT Tre Johnson in his first class. Ron Dickerson, who could recruit, got Easton’s Juan Gaddy in his first class, along with WR Troy Kersey, QB Henry Burris and LB Al Singleton.
Dickerson, Arians and Berndt were all hired in late Dec., about the same time Daz was, so they had the same handicaps he’s facing now.
If Daz can bring me a Paul Palmer (cough, cough, Ryan Brumfield or Jared Williams) in this class, I will do cartwheels.
For now, though, I’m just going to try to enjoy my first time flying with Captain Addazio.
They tell me he’s a pretty good pilot.

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.

01.22.11
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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.

01.19.11
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The OC: Temple’s next biggest show

Generally speaking, the most popular guy, to fans, on a football team is the backup quarterback.
The most unpopular guy, to fans, is the offensive coordinator.
The offensive coordinator is like an umpire. If he’s good, you don’t know he’s out there.
Still, even with that, I don’t get all the vitriol directed at Steve Addazio when he had that job for half of his six years at Florida.


Give me an older guy type, like Ralph Friegden, as our next OC

 In all my years of following football, I have never heard of an offensive coordinator more disliked by fans that Steve Addazio.
I still don’t get it.
Didn’t Urban Meyer hire Addazio?
Didn’t Urban Meyer take part in the offensive game plan?
Didn’t Urban Meyer show full support for the way Addazio was doing things?
Yes, yes and yes.
Did Urban Meyer turn his back and look into the stands when Florida was on offense?
No.
Yet Urban Meyer must have built up so much street cred that it was Addazio’s fault, not his.
As a Temple fan, I can see where Florida fans were coming from, though.
We all blamed Matt Rhule’s for Temple’s underachieving offense this year, despite top-notch personnel.
Then someone said something insightful.
Isn’t this really Al Golden’s fault?
Doesn’t Al Golden sign off on the offensive game plan?
So, by season’s end, most Temple fans came to that way of thinking.
Golden was the program’s CEO and, ultimately, he was responsible for an offense that failed to utilize more sophisticated weapons (Bernard Pierce, Matty Brown, Michael Campbell, Evan Rodriguez, Rod Streater, Delano Green, Joey Jones, etc.) than the Pentagon had in its arsenal.
That’s why this next big hire, is the most important one.
Give me an older guy, a Ralph Friegden or a George DeLeone type who Addazio respects, over a younger guy that Addazio will want to mold. Now I don’t know that Addazio can sweet talk either one into coming to Philadelphia. I’ve heard rumblings that DeLeone is bound for UConnn and Friegden could be bound for Virginia Tech. However, Philadelphia is a lot closer to Friegden’s Maryland home than Blacksburg is so that could be a consideration for a 63-year-old man.
If not either, I’ll take someone with a simliar long and proven record of turning scoreboards into adding machines.
That way, Addazio can hand over the keys to the tanks and artillery to someone who knows how to use them and he can concentrate on being a good CEO.
I want no parts of Matt Rhule in his old job, though.
DeLeone was so good when he was OC at Temple (also under Golden) I didn’t know he was out there. I can’t say the same for Matt Rhule, even though I blamed Golden for his shortcomings.
DeLeone or Friegden would not be the most popular Owls, but they would do their jobs with the kind of quiet efficiency that would make you think they were not even there.
That’s the OC show I like the most.

01.18.11
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Coach Daz: Meet Ryan Brumfield

Ryan Brumfield would be a great get for coach Daz.
When I went to Temple too many years ago to count, coach Wayne Hardin feasted on foes by getting under-recruited running backs, mostly from the Philadelphia area, who had a chip on their shoulders.
They were really too many to mention here, but I’ll try:

“You hate to say the word ‘unstoppable,’ but that’s what Ryan is. He likes the challenges. The more he gets challenged, the better he plays. But what you like most about Ryan is that he’s a great kid. Here’s a kid that has every right to have an ego, and he doesn’t. He gets along with everyone. It’s why his teammates don’t only want to play with him — they want to play for him.”
_ Tom Barr, head coach, Owen J. Roberts

Kevin Duckett (Northeast), Sherman Myers (Coatesville), Anthony Anderson, Jim Brown (Hardin: “I like that name”), Harold Harmon, Henry Hynoski (Mount Carmel), Zach Dixon, Mark Bright (William Tennent), etc., etc., etc.
It’s funny. The schools who didn’t want those guys could not stop those guys.
Myers scored five touchdowns in a 49-17 win over a Syracuse bowl-bound team (that included future NFLers Joe Morris and Art Monk).
Bright won the MVP in the Garden State bowl against a very good Cal team.
Anderson had a good career with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Dixon was a 1,000-yard rusher at Temple (and Raheem Brock’s biological father).

All showed flashes of greatness at Temple.
Chip, meet shoulder.
Hardin had great running backs and great quarterbacks.
That’s not the whole key to winning, but it’s a good place to start.
Temple’s got a great running back now in Bernard Pierce.
When he’s on the field, he’s the best Temple running back I’ve ever seen and that includes Paul Palmer, the 1986 Heisman Trophy runnerup (sorry, Boo-Boo).
When he’s on the field, Temple can beat anybody. (I’m thinking Navy last year and Uconn this year.)
When he’s NOT on the field, there aren’t many teams Temple can beat (I’m thinking UCLA last year, Penn State, Ohio and Miami this year). I have no doubt, none, that Temple would have registered a damn historic win in State College on Sept. 25 had Pierce not snapped his ankle. Chester Stewart wouldn’t have thrown those three God-awful picks if Pierce was in the game.
So Pierce hasn’t been on the field enough for my taste and most of it has been bad luck, not Pierce’s fault.
If I had my druthers, he’s be on the field for every offensive snap in 2011. But I don’t want to go through another year when I see him limp off the field too many times.
That’s why Temple needs another Bernard Pierce.
I found him.
His name is Ryan Brumfield.
I’ve covered high school football in Southeastern Pennsylvania for 30 years and saw maybe five dominating running backs on the same level as Brumfield. Kevin Jones (Cardinal O’Hara, Virginia Tech, Detroit Lions) was one. Bill Foley (Father Judge, Southern Mississippi), Barry Compton (Central Bucks West, Pitt) and Pierce (Glen Mills, Temple) all put up staggering numbers.

Our current backup, while good, is 5-5, 150. He wore down last year. Even Stevie Wonder could see that

They were all special in their own way.
Trust me. Brumfield belongs with them and he might be the very best (and I’m partial to old-school guys).
Brumfield is the second all-time leading running back in the history of Pennsylvania. Defenses geared to stop him and they could not.
Yet he’s seriously under-recruited, much like Hardin’s stars were.
His only scholarship offer, so far, is Buffalo.
He is slightly smaller than Pierce (5-10 vs. 6-foot) and lighter (180 vs. 218) but he’s got the same speed (4.4-40), vision and power. He has the talent to make us forget about Pierce (ouch, it hurt typing that because I’m the biggest Pierce fan there is) but AT THE VERY MINIMUM he provides an insurance policy for Pierce we don’t currently have. Most of all, he is a character kid, a wonderful person and teammate.
Our current backup, while good, is 5-5, 150. He wore down last year. Even Stevie Wonder could see that.
This kid, Brumfield, does not wear down.
Unless we sign Bradenton Southeast’s Jared Williams, I don’t know if there is a guy out there who is that insurance policy.
Brumfield would be provide at least that.
Coach Daz, he’s worth a look and a long, hard one at that.

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.

01.11.11
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The Elephant in the Room: Part II



Steve Addazio needs to make a  strong statement  today or leave tomorrow.

Some time ago, I wrote a story about Al Golden’s first dalliances for a new job.
It wasn’t five minutes after he was hired, but too soon for my taste.
I called the post: The Elephant in the Room because a lot of Temple people just didn’t want to talk about it.
Call this one The Elephant in the Room Part II.
A report out of the Hartford Courant newspaper, not some anonymous blogger, links current Temple head coach Steve Addazio’s “representative” contacting the UConn search committee about the current football opening there.
Because this report was in an actual newspaper last night and supposedly confirmed today, I think it might have some legs.
I’m willing to give Addazio the benefit of the doubt, though.
For now and not for long.

If I was UConn, I’d avoid Steve Addazio like the plague. The PR hit the school would take for “stealing” a coach just hired by another school is just not worth it

I just can’t fathom a guy who got up on the podium two weeks ago telling people how excited he was to be here could do such an about-face because another job comes open, even a job in his home state.
I can’t picture how the guy who kept mentioning “Destination Temple” can change that speech to “Destination UConn” so quickly.
If I was UConn, I’d avoid Steve Addazio like the plague. The PR hit the school would take for “stealing” a coach just hired by another school is just not worth it. Plus, Addazio is no more the slam dunk hiring for UConn that he would be here. So far, his OL hiring is a grad assistant and his strength coach is a guy from Marshall, who supposedly made no real positive impact at Marshall. Also, Florida co-DC Chuck Heater, who was rumored to be coming here with Daz, is nowhere in sight nor are any big-time recruits from Florida (the state, not the school) that Daz might have been connected to prior to his hiring.
Something smells like dead fish out there.
Would a guy leave a job he was hired two weeks ago for a similar job 200 miles away?
I don’t know.
Stranger things have happened, though.
This is one elephant that can’t be ignored.
This is one time Temple people can’t stick their heads in the sand and hope the Elephant finds its way out of the room on its own. This is too vital a time for recruiting both coaches and players. This doesn’t need to float out there in cyberspace any more than the 18 hours it already has been out there.
If Bill Bradshaw doesn’t get to the bottom of this today, then Ann Weaver Hart or Lew Katz need to get Addazio to address this right now.
If Steve Addazio doesn’t come out and say this report is totally false and that he is totally 100 percent committed to Temple University, then he should be fired and Temple should feel free to pursue Bruce Arians (the best choice, IMHO) or Tom Bradley, outcome of the UConn search notwithstanding. Even if UConn hires, say, Mark Whipple later this week, this story will be out there and in the folder of every coach who recruits against us this year and next to question Addazio’s commitment here. Addazio might not think he needs to reaffirm it, but he does. That’s the way of life in the real world.
There’s an Elephant in the Room today and the more people ignore it, the more damage it is likely to do.

01.09.11
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Daz sightings: Florida, Texas and North Philly

Steve Addazio would love to see Quenton Bundrage in a Temple uniform.

You could make one of those “Where’s Waldo” maps, substitute Steve Addazio for Waldo and put push pins all over the place.
Today’s confirmed sighting, via twitter, for coach Daz is Dallas, where the coaches convention is.
Makes sense in that is where most of the nation’s coaches are and Daz needs some coaches, specifically coordinators.
Earlier this week, Daz was in Florida to watch new Temple commit Cedric Walker earn the MVP in the Dade/Broward County All-Star Football game.
That’s important because old Temple coach Al Golden was also at the game.
Golden initially recruited Walker for Temple and Daz was in Florida to seal the deal.
After the game, Daz used his Florida connections to pursue Manatee (Fla.) WR Quenton Bundrage (not Brundage), who has an Iowa State visit coming up. If Daz lands Bundrage, that will be the first time a sole Daz target has made its way to Temple.
Also, Daz was in North Philadelphia earlier this week to make a couple of hires, including OL coach Justin Frye. Now if you do a google search on Justin Frye you will find a guy who made a sex tape with Kendra Baskett (before she was Kendra Baskett). That’s NOT our Justin Frye, who has an, err, fuller face and wider frame.
Temple’s coordinator search took a big hit when Chuck Heater decided to wait on Michigan and UCLA and the Miami Dolphins failed in their pursuit of Jim Harbaugh. If the Dolphins landed Harbaugh, that meant longtime Daz friend and current Dolphin TE coach George DeLeone would be free to take the OC job at Temple.
Now he’s pretty secure on South Beach for another 12 months.
Hmm. South Beach or North Philly?
That’s a tough one.
I’ll have to get back to you on that.
If K.C. Keeler goes to UConn, as rumored, then Nick Rapone is out for a similar DC job at Temple. Believe me, Nick Rapone would have been a great DC at Temple as he was under Bruce Arians. His daughter currently is a student at Temple.
It’s all a cluster bleep as far as coordinators right now.
Maybe Daz is setting up one of those tables with a “Help Wanted” sign in Dallas.
Don’t laugh.
That’s how Vince Hoch was hired by Wayne Hardin.
Hoch walked up to Hardin at a convention, introduced himself, took out a napkin and started drawing defensive schemes and formations and Hardin hired him on the spot. The two developed instant chemistry.
Hoch later became the greatest defensive coordinator in Temple history.
Back to recruiting, though.
Other recruiting targets for Daz, reportedly, include a first-team all-state linebacker from Roman Catholic (about a mile from Temple’s main campus) and a running back from Texas named Dickerson, who is a JUCO and would provide immediate front-line insurance should Bernard Pierce go down next year.
I like running backs from Texas named Dickerson.

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.

12.29.10
by

Waiting for Addazio

Wayne Hardin was 32 when he took the Navy head coaching gig and appeared on What’s My Line here.

Steve Addazio’s head coaching record:
1988 6-4
1989 10-1, State Runner up
1990 5-4-1
1991 7-3-1
1992 11-0, State Champions
1993 11-0, State Champions
1994 11-0, State Champions

The two best head coaches I’ve ever known are Wayne Hardin and Mike Pettine, in that order.
There is no close second group, although I’ve known Bruce Arians, Dick Vermeil and Al Golden as well on varying levels.
I won’t call him Mike Pettine Sr. and I won’t call the current New York Jets’ defensive coordinator Mike Pettine Jr. because there was a Mike Pettine who wasn’t as famous in football before those two, a father and a grandfather of the football ones.
Pettine was the head coach at Central Bucks West who went 326 wins, 42 defeats and four ties. Yes, that’s 326-42-4 with three state titles, all in a row, and two more mythical state titles before that. Oh yeah. In that total, were 13 unbeaten seasons.
Pettine could do more with (largely) 5-foot-10, 150-pound white kids than should be humanly possible.
I was excited when Wayne Hardin got the Temple job many, many years ago because I knew he came with a head coaching pedigree. Hardin, before coming to Temple, had Navy ranked No. 2 in the country and playing Texas in the Cotton Bowl.
Hardin, before coming to Temple, coached two Heisman Trophy winners: Roger Staubach and Joe Bellino.
Hardin, before coming to Temple, won a professional football league championship as a head coach.
Imagine Urban Meyer or Nick Saban leaving Florida or Alabama and taking the Temple job now?
That’s what it was like to Temple fans back in the day when Hardin took the Temple job.
If you say that can’t happen today, I agree. But it was just as remarkable back then to us, believe me.
In the middle of Pettine’s great run, many of his wins I covered, I mentioned to Mike that I always thought he would have been the perfect guy to succeed Bruce Arians at Temple.
He laughed.

“I had a chance to meet some of coach Hardin’s guys today,” Addazio said. “I know you are proud of your coach. I can see it in your faces. I appreciate some of you guys.”


“Mike, I think Gerry Faust ruined it for all of us high school coaches.”
Pettine had a point.
Faust went from a legend at Cincinnati Moeller to head coach at Notre Dame and he never panned out.
No high school coach, no matter how great, ever made the same jump again.
Yet I always believed that if you can HEAD coach, you can HEAD coach … if …IF you are the right person.
Bobby Wallace, who proved he could head coach elsewhere, was never that right person for here.
I always thought Temple should hire a guy who was a proven HEAD coach somewhere else, especially if the talent was already in place.
The talent is in place.
Steve Addazio is in another place, Florida, coaching the Gators in the Outback Bowl this Saturday, yet a week ago Addazio mentioned the Hardin connection.
“I had a chance to meet some of coach Hardin’s guys today,” Addazio said. “I know you are proud of your coach. I can see it in your faces. I appreciate some of you guys.”
(It was funny the way he said that, though I don’t think he meant anything negative by it. Some of you guys. I wonder who he didn’t appreciate?)
I’m warming to Steve Addazio being cut out of the same mold as Pettine and Hardin because of an email I got this week from Cheshire, Conn.

Mark Ecke, who runs the site Cheshirefootball.com, which covers the Cheshire football team sent me Addazio’s year-by-year breakdown at the only job where he ever was a HEAD coach.
“He’s the best, you’re going to love him,” Ecke concluded.
Ecke was as close to Addazio as I was to Hardin and Pettine.
For my money, Steve could not get any better endorsement.
If Addazio is half as good as Hardin and Pettine, he will do a great job at Temple.
The Outback Bowl can’t be over soon enough.