Category Archives: Temple

01.22.13
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One word for the new staff: Interesting

New Temple WR coach  Terry Smith could provide a, err, Gateway to  WPIAL recruits.
Temple’s loss is Arizona’s gain.

My Sainted mom, in Heaven since Jan. 14 of 2011,  used to tell me that if I don’t have anything nice to say about someone don’t say anything.
Most times I remember what she said but the few times I don’t, I usually regret it.
So, with that in mind, I’m going to write about the new Temple football coaching staff today and, to borrow a phrase from the Four Tops, this is going to be short.
It looks pretty much complete with a tweak or two remaining.
One of the current recruits used the word “genius” when new coach Matt Rhule informed him of the potential members of the staff back in December.
I prefer the word “interesting” instead.
So far, the people who’ve told Rhule “I’ll be there” include Brandon Noble (defensive line), Allen Mogridge (special teams), Ed Foley (assistant head coach) and Fran Brown (promoted from graduate assistant, probably DBs).
Genius might have been a more appropriate word if names like Bill Cubit (now offensive coordinator at Illinois), Nick Rapone (now DB coach of the Arizona Cardinals), Chuck Heater (now defensive coordinator with Marshall) or Nick Rolovich (now OC with Nevada) were either coming to or staying at 10th and Diamond.

Hopefully, Marcus Satterfield points TU in the direction of the end zone

Heck, I know for a fact that Heater, Rapone and Rolovich gave the jobs some serious consideration and Rapone, whose daughter goes to Temple, really wanted the DC job. A guy who runs the Western Michigan website assured me that he had word from “a very good source” Cubit declined the head coaching job at Western Illinois to pursue the OC job at Temple. Cubit is from Sharon Hill, so that makes sense.
Whatever happened in all of those cases is now water under the bridge.
All I care about is the Temple bridge holding up.
The good news is that I’ll take Rhule all seven days of the week and five times on Saturday over “we have to be able to run the ball for 200 yards a game” Steve Addazio.
It’s the rest of the staff that has me scratching my head.

Matt Rhule could have endeared himself
to hundreds of ex-Temple players and
probably thousands of Temple fans
and given himself a great DC by hiring
Nick Rapone, who was interested in the job.

So that’s why I’m calling this staff interesting.

There’s a lot of ifs involved.
If new wide receivers’ coach Terry Smith, former highly successful Gateway head coach, can build a pipeline to some of the better WPIAL talent that Pitt had been getting in the past and redirect the flow East to Temple, that could  be a significant hire. Temple has been getting talent out of the WPIAL in the past, but prospects who typically held offers to only schools like Kent State and Bowling Green. Pitt plucked a kid out of George Washington High in Philly last week. It’s time for Temple to launch an effective full retaliatory strike in Pitt’s backyard.

If anybody can get that done, it’s Smith.
Still, this is the first time I can ever remember Temple hiring a high school coach for its staff.
My thoughts on Phil Snow are well-chronicled below. I’m crossing all eight fingers and two thumbs that Temple is getting the 2001 Snow, not the 2012 Snow.
If Temple is getting the 2001 Snow, who had the UCLA defense ranked near the top of the PAC-10, that’s a plus.
Marcus Satterfield took obscure Tennessee-Chattanooga into the national rankings in points scored and total offense in 2011, so I’m hopeful there. Yet the Mocs (yeah, that’s their nickname) slipped back into the middle of the pack offensively in the Southern Conference in 2012, so that’s a concern.
If Temple gets the 2011 Satterfield, not the 2012 one, things could get interesting for the Lincoln Financial Field scoreboard operator in 2013.
And that’s the nicest word I can use for now.
Interesting, not if.

01.13.13
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Meet your new (likely) coordinators


Phil Snow (left) might be looking at Marcus Satterfield to produce gobs of points.


“While at TU, coach Rapone had a string of DBs drafted or going to the NFL. Kevin Ross, Anthony Young, Todd Bowles, Larry Brewton, Terry Wright, Eddie Parker. ‘Nuff said.”
_ Paul Palmer, Heisman Trophy runner-up
Temple University

What if I told you Matt Rhule’s first two coordinators at Temple are responsible for units that allowed and produced numbers of 38 and 28 last year?
“Geez, Mike,” you’d probably say, “I would have liked the defensive coordinator to give up less than 28 a game, but I’m really excited about the OC he’s bringing in who’s putting up 38 per.”
“Try again,” I’d say.
Yeah, it’s the defensive coordinator coming off a season where his unit allowed 38 per and the offensive coordinator who is coming off a 28-point-per-game season.
What’s that Emily Latilla was noted for saying?
“Never mind.”
We’ve gone 2-for-2 with our most recent ahead-of-the-curve hunches (that Nick Rolovich would never show up at Temple and that Chuck Heater would head to Marshall) and, at the risk of sticking my neck out again, I think we’re going to go 4-for-4 in a two-week time frame.
Unfortunately, in this case.
It looks like Marcus Satterfield goes from OC at Tennessee-Chattanooga to the same role at Temple, while Phil Snow goes from Eastern Michigan DC to Temple DC.

Wikipedia is occasionally amusing, as was this last sentence.

I wish I could say Matt was going to do better than 1-for-2 here, but the evidence suggests otherwise.
I’m good with the Satterfield hire. I don’t mind hiring FCS coaches, as long as they are accomplished ones like Marcus Satterfield, who looks like he’s got a solid past and a bright future.
If I were the lone Eastern Michigan fan left, though, I’d send Rhule a thank you card for taking Snow off my hands. Judging from the numbers his most recent team gave up, I think his defensive philosophy is to give up seven as quickly as possible and pray his offense can score eight.
Four-hundred-and-fifty-one (that’s 451) points in 12 games is 38 points a game. OK, make it 37.58 but I’m rounding it out.

Looks like Snow’s defensive philosophy is to give up 7 as quickly as possible.

Meanwhile, another FCS coach who is confirmed to have expressed interest in the job, Nick Rapone, probably won’t be hired and the reason we’re told is that Rhule promised the job to Snow, an old buddy from his UCLA days.
I’m all for hiring old buddies, but not old buddies who give up 38 points per game.
Every young man who ever had the good fortune to have played under Rapone at Temple will tell you they love Rapone and Rapone was the greatest Temple defensive coach they ever knew when he was the defensive coordinator for Bruce Arians at Temple. Rapone has continued his stellar coaching at Delaware, being named FCS coordinator of the year as recently as 2010. That was a year his defense gave up 181, not 451 points, in 15, not 12, games.
You do the math.

My fervent hope is that the first time Snow’s defense gives up 38 points, the 25K Temple fans walking out of the stadium that day won’t be saying “we could have had Nick Rapone and instead we have this Eastern Michigan guy”

SINCE he’s a Penn State-person, I’ll give Matt the benefit of the doubt for being, err, Snowed by a bullbleeper. I like Matt. I really do. I freaking HATE this hire. This is not a rah-rah Temple site. I’ll call it as I see it and I just don’t see this. I didn’t see Daz as right for Temple midway through the season and I called it then. I do think Matt can overcome this, but he’ll have to become the DC himself about 2 games into the season. He needs to concentrate on being a CEO and not doing other people’s jobs.
That’s why Rapone would have been perfect. He’s the type of guy you could hire and put the defense on auto pilot. He’s that trustworthy.
It’s a gold mine that Rapone became available for this job. Gold for Temple.
Telling him “I-can’t-hire-you-because-I-promised-the-job-to-a-2-10-coordinator” rates right up there with “the dog ate my homework” on the excuse meter. That’s like Johnny Football reneging on his original commitment to attend Texas A&M to be The Man at Temple, but the coach saying, “Geez, sorry Johnny, we gave our last scholarship to Spencer Reid.”
Rapone is the very definition of Temple-made. Snow is the very definition of bullbleep-made and, as a Temple-made person myself, I have a very good bullbleep-made antenna.

Snow Fun Fact No 1:
Phil’s last shutout as DC was in September, 1996. Chuck Heater had consecutive shutouts for Temple in 2011, while Nick Rapone has pitched six shutouts since 2006

So does every Temple-made person.
Rapone’s only shortcoming in this case was that he didn’t know Matt in the past. That’s Matt’s loss, not  Rapone’s.
If not Nick, why not Tom Bradley who has at least stopped an offense during the last three seasons?
My fervent hope is that the first time Snow’s defense gives up 38 points, the 25K Temple fans walking out of the stadium that day won’t be saying “we could have had Nick Rapone and instead we have this Eastern Michigan guy.”

Snow Fun Fact No. 2:
In the last 70 games Phil has been DC, he’s held FBS teams to single digits just 3 times

Or that the second time Snow gets torched for 38, the 20K Temple fans say the same thing, followed by 15K Temple fans, and 10K Temple fans the third and fourth times.
Don’t blame the kids, either, because Snow will be inheriting the same kids who allowed UConn only 14 points, none after adjustments the DC made at halftime.
Yeah, the same UConn team which beat Louisville and you know what Louisville did.

Former Temple Owls talk Nick Rapone:

01.10.13
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Rolovich gone, Heater not forgotten

Nick Rolovich’s decision was a case of Reno 911 meeting 10th and Diamond.

With the announcement yesterday that Nick Rolovich was staying at Nevada comes the news today that Temple defensive coordinator Chuck Heater is leaving for Marshall.
Both developments, while disappointing, are not surprising.
We speculated in this spot a week ago that Chuck was going to Marshall and this is what we said when Rolovich was rumored to come to Temple as offensive coordinator:

I’ll believe Rolovich comes when I see him on North Broad Street. It might be a culture shock for someone who has worked in Hawaii and near Vegas the last two years to work at 10th and Diamond.

I published those words on this site Dec. 28. My instincts proved to be correct.
Rolovich was offered a double-salary pay raise to stay in Nevada.
Good for him. He’s got twins on the way and doesn’t want to uproot his family.
Plus, it’s better he decides now than sometime mid-way through the season. After all, 10th and Diamond isn’t for everybody. Scot Loeffler was the consummate professional while here and did a great job as offensive coordinator in 2011, but I could tell his heart wasn’t into being here.
Fortunately, Matt Rhule’s heart is into it and that should bode well for the make-up of the balance of the staff.

He was one of the best defensive coordinators I’ve ever seen at Temple. Nick Rapone was the best, Chuck was the second, Vince Hoch was the third and Mark D’Onofrio was a distant fourth.

I’m sure Marcus Satterfield will do a fine job as offensive coordinator. There will not be a search for a coordinator on offense. Satterfield will be the guy.
I don’t watch too much television, but one of the few channels I do get is the Comedy one and, while The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (my favorite) was off the air last month, I watched a couple of episodes of (awful) Reno 911.
The only thing that made me laugh about that show was imagining how long those cops would last at 10th and Diamond.
Two minutes.
Maybe.
Chuck, though, was another story altogether.
He loved living in Philadelphia, loved Temple, and was a terrific person to be around.
He was one of the best defensive coordinators I’ve ever seen at Temple.
Nick Rapone was the best, Chuck was the second, Vince Hoch was the third and Mark D’Onofrio was a distant fourth.
Like Nick, Chuck was as humble as they come.
After he made the second-half adjustments to shut out a UConn team that beat Louisville, I found myself standing next to Chuck in the parking lot while waiting for the guys to board the buses. He had a big smile on his face while watching the whole scene.   I turned to him said: “I don’t know what you did or said at halftime, but you are a genius.”
“It wasn’t me,” Chuck said, “It was the boys.”
That will be my lasting memory of Chuck at Temple.

01.03.13
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What’s Up With Chuck and Marshall matters?

Doesn’t seem right if Chuck Heater goes from Temple to Marshall.

Over the past few days, we’ve heard some positive developments along the coaching front at Temple University.
Matt Rhule became a full-time coach four days ago and that’s a big plus, a couple of days after hiring an offensive coordinator, Nick Rolovich, who many believe will be a future great head coach at the BCS level.
That leaves me with one question and one question only:
What’s up with Chuck?

Marshall website added this tidbit four hours ago.

Temple has, in my mind, the best defensive coordinator in the country in Chuck Heater and Rhule would be wise to keep him. Hopefully, he’s working on that now and that will be wrapped up in a couple of days.
I’m getting a little nervous because I saw running backs coach Tyree Foreman and Ed Foley at the Rhule press conference and  I did not see Chuck Heater.
Usually, that’s a bad sign but Steve Addazio hired Don Brown to be his defensive coordinator and Heater is a defensive coordinator and I’d doubt he’d go to BC to take a demotion.
From all accounts, Heater loves Philadelphia and loves Temple.
Still, Heater has plenty of contacts in the business who would like to lure him elsewhere.
One of those is Marshall head coach Doc Holliday, who worked with Heater in Florida.

Temple has, in my mind, the best defensive coordinator in the country in Chuck Heater and Rhule would be wise to keep him

Holliday tried to get Heater when Daz took him the first time and now it looks like, according to a Thundering Hurd website, the doctor has written a prescription with Heater’s name on it again.
Can’t blame Chuck for wanting to work with a guy who he worked a long time at Florida with but Chuck also worked with Matt for a year and Temple and knows that Matt is a tremendous guy, too.
Whatever happens, and we hope Chuck stays, we wish him the best. Unlike Daz, who I won’t miss even a little bit, I will miss Chuck Heater a lot. Always a great guy to talk with at any Temple function and  I really enjoyed talking with him in the parking lot after the UConn game.
If Chuck leaves, though, hopefully Rhule takes a serious look at current University of Delaware DC Nick Rapone, who is past FCS coordinator of the year and a former DC at Temple under Bruce Arians. The bright lights and the big city and big-time football won’t affect Rapone, who has coached not only at Temple but at Pitt. He’s also written six books on defensive football, all available on DVD.
Plus, if you are going to have a Nick as OC you might as well have one as DC.
Rapone’s daughter currently is a college student.
Where?
She could have gone anywhere, but she’s at Temple.

Former Temple Owls talk Nick Rapone:

12.18.12
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Rhule: Substance, credibility over talk

Comcast’s feed was better than the one broadcast on Temple’s YouTube channel.

The last thing Steve Addazio said a  couple of days before walking out the door was that this off-season “would not be a box of chocolates” and “would be a rough deal” for the players and that “they would work harder than any team in the history of Temple University.”
The last two weeks have more like a box of chocolates than a rough deal.

Life is like a box of chocolates for BC fans now.
They have no idea of what kind of run play they are
going to get.

The comment about working harder than any team in the history of the school was an insult to Al Golden and Matt Rhule and every one of the guys who played for them and practiced outside in a couple feet of snow those first few years. It was an insult to guys who practiced on a rock-strewn field for Bruce Arians (now the Student Pavilion). It was an insult to Wayne Hardin’s guys who had their chin straps stolen by neighborhood thugs in the 1970s when practicing at 16th and Norris. Addazio didn’t know what went on then. He couldn’t have.
Yet he talked. He liked talking.
By now, though, we know that Addazio was mostly talk, little substance.
On this day two years ago, Daz said “make Temple a destination school” and “don’t be passing through” yet he passed through quicker than any of his players and rented a home.
Yesterday was Matt Rhule’s day and he was a little talk, but heavy on substance.
The new head football coach at Temple University did not drop any “box of chocolates” line on his first day, but you knew from listening to him that he didn’t have to.
That box of chocolates is all eaten now and the Owls will get back to work, Rhule-style.
My guess if it ever snows again the players will be out there working out in it.
Rhule still owns the home he will move right back into soon.


‘Twelve of those said Temple was their dream job and seven of them were interviewing for other jobs at the time and couldn’t make it to our scheduled interview’
_Bill Bradshaw

Actions speak louder than words, yet Rhule had his say after Bill Bradshaw dropped the funniest line of the day: “The interest in our head-coaching position was overwhelming, diverse and national in scope. We had 119 serious applicants and narrowed it down to 36 potential candidates, 12 of those said Temple was their dream job and seven of them were interviewing for other jobs at the time and couldn’t make it to our scheduled interview. Four of those needed a GPS or an on-star to get from the airport to campus, so we eliminated them as well.”
Bradshaw then said Rhule “was an Acre of Diamond in our own backyard.”
Good Russell Conwell stuff, but there was more.
Just as Al Golden did seven years ago, Rhule referenced Russell Conwell in his remarks.
As far as I  know, Addazio still doesn’t know who Russell Conwell is because I was not able to remember a single quote  from Daz about the founder of Temple University and his unique story.
Rhule did not address who his assistants will be or what kind of offense he will be running. Hopefully, TEMPLE will go back on at least half the helmet because that kind of branding was important to Golden. We’ll find out that nuts and bolts stuff soon enough. More importantly, he addressed larger issues like trust and commitment.
For a group of kids who have been abandoned twice in three years, that’s what they needed to hear.
If the larger university community came away with a sense that this was a young man who said what he believed and believed what he said, the first day was a big success.
The empty box of chocolates has been shipped to Boston.

12.16.12
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The Matt Rhule Story resumes at Chapter 3

When and if Hollywood ever makes the Matt Rhule Story, another Matt (Damon) might be playing the title role and whatever happens on Monday, December 17, will be somewhere in the middle of the motion picture.
That’s because, at Temple University, the first couple chapters of the script have already been written. Young, dynamic, assistant coach helps friend lift a football program off the scrap heap of Division I football and into respectability. Then he’s passed over as head coach only to replace the guy who was picked instead of him.
Instead of sulking about being passed over the first time, he stays to keep a recruiting class together and helps the new coach win the school’s first bowl in 30 years.
After that achievement, he goes off to the big city and the bright lights of the NFL, only to be beckoned home by a crisis.
He becomes the school’s third coach in five years and restores the shaken players’ faith in humanity. Not quite Friday Night Lights, but at least Saturday Afternoon Heights.
Good stuff so far.
Whether or not it’s good enough for the silver screen will be determined in how the story develops moving forward.
The next scene is an important one because there will be an Elephant in the Room. The Elephant this time is stability and how long Rhule commits to staying at Temple.

If I were Rhule, I wouldn’t do what the last guy, Steve Addazio, did on the same day, saying he would tell recruits “to make Temple a destination school” and “don’t be passing through.”

Steve Addazio poses with the greatest helmet in the
history of college football the day he was introduced as coach.
Two months later, he got rid of it.

I would say, “I’m not going to ask the kids to do what I wouldn’t do. I’m staying for the duration. I’m not leaving unless I get kicked out of here and I don’t intend on getting kicked out of here. My solemn vow is that I won’t consider another job while I’m under contract to Temple. The people here have made a commitment to me and I will do the same for them. That’s only fair.”
In a world when money talks and BS walks, that statement alone would make national news. He would be the first coach hired in this day and age of musical chairs to ever say something like that.

“After all I did to change the helmets to TEMPLE,
Addazio is doing WHAT? That stubborn 3-yards-
in-a-cloud-of-dust rat bastard is going to get fired
and Matt Rhule is going to change the helmets back.”

It would be a powerful scene in the movie, too.
Another nice touch would be changing the Temple helmets back to  the popular TEMPLE era version (maybe with the school’s distinctive T on one side as a King Solomon-like Compromise) but that’s not a pressing need for Monday.
Cut to the final scene a few years later where a quarterback named P.J. Walker scrambles around and connects with a receiver named Khalif Herbin on a “Hail Mary” play in the end zone to win a BCS bowl game against Miami (Fla.).
Everybody goes crazy and Rhule, after a midfield handshake with old buddy Al Golden,  puts it in perspective.
“It’s just like the Doug Flutie play that beat Miami many years ago,” Rhule said. “Except we’re Boston College this time and our school gets put on the map and Boston College is pretty much in obscurity now, right?”
Chuckle, chuckle.
Fade to black.
Cut and print.
That’s a wrap.
Only in the movies?
Maybe, maybe not.

Tomorrow: Five things Rhule might change right away

12.07.12
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Dec. 7: A day that would have lived in TU infamy

In retrospect, Temple would have said Aloha to $500K if Hawaii hadn’t backed out of a verbal agreement.

Steve Addazio leaving for BC is the best thing
that ever happened for P.J. Walker.

Seventy-one years ago today, President Franklin D. Roosevelt called Dec. 7 a day that would live in infamy.
He wasn’t talking Temple football because that day came a couple of months earlier for the Owls: Their last win over Penn State.
Yet, just from what happened this week, it might have applied to the current-day Owls, too.
Tonight, around midnight Philadelphia time, Temple was scheduled to play Hawaii in what would have been the Owls’ 12th game of the season. Hawaii backed out of a verbal agreement. In retrospect, that decision saved the Owls about a half-million dollars.
Knowing what you now know about Steve Addazio, how many assistants would have been around to coach this Temple team against Hawaii?
One? Two? Zero?
Remember, this is the same Addazio who said “don’t be passing through” and to “make Temple a destination school” and that Temple was his “dream job.”
He said all those things about Boston College this week. What a phony.
Five years (or less) from now, he’ll be saying the same thing about UConn if he doesn’t get fired first. My money is on the firing.
Already, Ryan Day is in Boston recruiting for Addazio.
So is Justin Frye.
Some Temple holdovers, like Chuck Heater, are holding down the fort at the E-O in this most important recruiting weekend of the year. I’ve met Chuck and talked to him. I think he’s professional enough to expouse the benefits of staying at Temple to these recruits. The same goes for recruiting coordinator Tyree Foreman, who was instrumental in getting quarterback P.J. Walker to commit to Temple.
To me, Addazio leaving for Boston College is the best thing to even happen to P.J. Walker. Addazio is probably the only dinosaur left among college football head coaches who run a 1901 offense (run, run, sack, punt) in 2012.

Great to see this tweet yesterday from one of TU’s  top-rated  recruits.

Chances are, the next Temple football head coach, whether he’s Mike MacIntrye, Dave Clawson, Matt Rhule or Mario Cristobal or someone else believe in chucking the football downfield and P.J. Walker will thrive in that system.
P.J. Walker and Temple are perfect together. The Owls lose all four quarterbacks on their depth chart after next year and P.J. would immediately slot into the starting job in 2014. In fact, he might see a lot of playing time in 2013.
So he’s better off staying and helping the new coach bring Temple a Big East championship soon.
So are the rest of the recruits.
Yesterday, a great pass-rusher, Tyler Haddock-Jones, tweeted that “of course” he was going to TU. Lord knows, Tyler and incoming NT Averee Robinson can make an impact along the defensive line and the Owls need immediate help there.
The same things Addazio said that made these guys commit to Temple are true today.
Just because Temple is no longer his dream home doesn’t mean that applies to the recruits who committed to a great school, not a flawed man.

Tomorrow: How the coaching dominoes affect the Temple field

12.06.12
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Red Flags and Temple hirings

This is the only (somewhat) Red Flag I care about.
If Temple athletic director Bill Bradshaw listens to the players, chances are better than even he’ll be sitting with the one or two who might come back and watch the Owls in an empty stadium a couple of years from now

If they made a movie about the current Temple football head coaching search underway, they’d probably call it “Eight Days in December.”
Good title, a take-off from the 1962 novel thriller “Seven Days in May” by Charles W. Bailey.
Eight days because that’s how long the last coaching search took and I don’t think this one should take any longer than that.
 Seven Days in May had a red flag theme, about a President (played in the movie by the late, great Henry Fonda) whose nuclear disarmament policy caused a revolt among the generals who feared a war with a red flag country (the then Soviet Union).
 This one has a red flag theme, too, the “non-CEOs”, meaning players, trying to tell the CEO how to do his job.

‘If Temple can get San Jose State coach Mike MacIntyre, a former Owls assistant who built something quickly in San Jose, I wouldn’t worry about how long he stays. That’s exactly the kind of hire Temple needs to make.’
_Mike Jensen, Philadelphia Inquirer

What’s that Dick Vermeil said when the fans booed Ron Jaworski?
“If you listen to the fans, it won’t be long before you’re sitting with them.”
Good line, Mr. Vermeil.
That also applies to the players.
Players play and athletic directors pick coaches.
If Temple athletic director Bill Bradshaw listens to the players, chances are better than even he’ll be sitting with the one or two who might come back and watch the Owls in an empty stadium a couple of years from now.
 I hope Bill Bradshaw, like Henry Fonda, sticks to his guns and hires the best proven head coach out there, with the best proven head-coaching record and heeds this red flag.
I also hope Matt Rhule gets a head-coaching job at a lower level (the Kent State and Ball State jobs will be available) and then proves his worth to Temple by building a proven head coaching record, like Darrell Hazell and Pete Lembo did.
If he does, I will personally climb to the top of the Bell Tower and wave the Matt Rhule Flag after Mike MacIntrye, Pete Lembo, Dave Clawson, Mario Cristobal, Ken Niumaltalolo, Bill Cubit or Tom O’Brien lead the Owls to a couple of BE titles and bolt for Tennessee. (I think there are a couple of high-character guys in that group who will stay, though.)
And it will be a Cherry Flag, not a red one.
Other red flags ignored in past Temple hirings:

The Red Flag File

JERRY BERNDT _ For some reason, Temple President Peter J. Liacouras was enamored with Berndt, who never had a real record as a winning head coach before. RED FLAG: He was 0-11 with the Owls (Rice Owls) the year before he was hired by the Temple Owls. He also got to go 1-10 with the Temple Owls, making him the only head coach in history to go a combined 1-21 for two teams named the Owls. Berndt could not recruit his way out of a paper bag.

RON DICKERSON _ Joe Paterno, no big lover of Temple football (thank God in retrospect), urged Dickerson not to take the Temple job. When Dickerson was adamant about taking it, Joe supported Dickerson, saying that “Ron is the best defensive coordinator in the country.” RED FLAG: The “best defensive coordinator in the country” allowed 55 points in his last regular-season game, a bowl loss to Clemson. Dickerson was in over his head as a CEO. He could recruit, but he couldn’t coach his way out of the same paper bag Berndt recruited from.

 BOBBY WALLACE _ The man won three Division II titles, but those were Division II titles, taking the scraps of players not wanted by the big Southern schools like Auburn and Alabama. Because he was hooked into the Southern recruiting system, he found some good players for that level. Those kind of players would never work for Temple and Wallace found out that the hard way. RED FLAG: He didn’t have the level of drive or commitment needed to succeed at football’s highest level, no desire to live in the Northeast and Temple wasted eight years of their fans’ lives as a result.
In these eight most important days in Temple hiring history, going over the red flag mistakes of the past might be the best way of avoiding a big one now.

12.02.12
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The bright side: Coach Daz not leaving

Boston College AD tries to sell Daz to President
by: papreps
Boston College AD tries to sell Daz to school president.

Never in my wildest dreams did I think Daz would concoct a harebrained, one-dimensional, offensive scheme that would lead to so many three-and-outs and put Temple’s defense in an impossible position. The question then becomes, “Do you see him as a reasonable person open to change or a stubborn former offensive lineman who wants to run the ball all the time?”

EDITOR’S NOTE: I wrote this story on Sunday, not believing any university was stupid enough to hire a 4-7 coach. I will leave it here as a testament to the stupidity of some college administrators. Hopefully, Bill Bradshaw is on the phone with San Jose State’s Mike MacIntyre right now. More on that to come. MacIntrye is available, loves Temple, a former Temple assistant, and probably did the best job of any head coach in FBS football last year. Good riddance, Daz.  Don’t let the door hit you in the ass.

On the way up the steps, maybe for the final time ever, from season seats that I have held for nearly 10 years at Lincoln Financial Field, someone said:
“Don’t look so down, Mike. Look at the bright side.”
He didn’t tell me what the bright side of a 4-7 season was, so I had to figure that out for myself.
I walked 22 rows up, made the left into the men’s room, washed my hands before leaving, made a left, walked down 34 steps and across Lot K to my car, all the while thinking what could possibly be the bright side to a season I thought would be no worse than 6-5.
Then it hit me just as I was about to stick the key in the door of my car (the remote doesn’t work).
This will be the first year as a Temple fan in the last five we won’t have to hear the endless speculation about an Owl coach leaving for a possible higher-paying job.
“That has to be the bright side he was talking about,” I thought.
Since that kind of off-season speculation has bugged me to no end, I guess not having to worry about that is a bright side.
I’m not so sure it’s bright at all. Let’s face it. Al Golden recruited five straight No. 1 MAC classes, as ranked by both Scout.com and Rivals.com YET, with the same inherited talent, Daz under-performed half the current MAC coaches. That leads to only two possible conclusions: Daz’s 1901 offense doesn’t fly in 2012 or both Scout.com and Rivals.com talent analysis was way off.
My eyeball and smell test leads me to think the former, not the latter.

Yes, Addazio’s name will come up in some stories by writers who like to throw names against the wall and hope it sticks. Let’s face it, though. Coach is going nowhere. Nor should he.
The latest “rumor” has him going to Boston College. I’ve addressed that in a feature film short at the top of this post. I’m not sure if I should submit the script to Hollywood as Science Fiction, Comedy or Tragic Comedy.
Steve Addazio was a good coach in 2011. I don’t think he was a good coach in 2012, largely because  my projections for 2012 were 6-6 (8-3 if everything broke right). Never in my wildest dreams did I think Daz would concoct a harebrained, one-dimensional, offensive scheme that would lead to so many three-and-outs and put Temple’s defense in an impossible position. The question then becomes, “Do you see him as a reasonable person open to change or a stubborn former offensive lineman who wants to run the ball all the time?”

The answer to that question holds the key to open the door of a possible 9-3 season next year or keep it bolted shut.

Then I got something in the email box this morning that brightened my day from loyal TFF reader Steve Sipe (due to a coding problem, you can’t read that he has the Owls beating Fordham 54-0 and Idaho 45-0 and losing to ND, 34-21). It follows:

Mike, I always love reading your blog. I tried to set up my own dedicated to the Big East and expansion. I did not realize how tough it is to develop a web site. Compliments to you on TFF. One of your articles focused those areas the Owls need to improve to be successful in 2013. I have been trained to use analysis to compare and evaluate data points to estimate future results. 
If your suggestions are followed, I believe the following results will be achieved:   

         OUT OF CONFERENCE (KNOWN)          
08/31      at Notre Dame             L      34 – 21
09/14      Fordham                       W     54 – 0
09/28       at Idaho 45 – 0
10/19       Army                             W     34 – 13
                IN CONFERENCE, IN DIVISION (KNOWN)
Boise State                    L       17 – 14

Houston                         W       34 – 17
Memphis                        W       42 – 10
San Diego State           W       21 – 17
SMU                                W       28 – 13
IN CONFERENCE (ESTIMATE)
Connecticut                    W      24 – 17
Rutgers                            L       17 -16
USF                                  W      35 – 10
I would count a 9 – 3 season and a bowl bid Phenomenal! Most of the western schools do not emphasize defense in the MWC. With varied play calling, the Owls could exploit this weakness. 
On the other side, our defense needed 2 fixes: a better pass rush, and mature secondaries knowing which man to cover. Since a lot of this work was finished by the end of the 2012 season, defense looks strong. 
Quarterback is an issue. I will try to reach out to PJ Walker and welcome him to Temple. I do not believe PJ should be out of the picture. Let Juice Grainger lead our team with PJ as his backup. Convert Neiss into a reverse back that can pass if he can not make to corner to drive downtown. With mature wide receivers, Chris could have been a success. However, losing both wide receivers and tight ends last year made Chris look weak when the Owls went from MAC to Big East. Nevertheless Chris is our 2nd best rusher. Why not give the Owls a Penn State type Zwinack running back. Chris can blow holes and hide fakes as a running back. When you are 3RD and 4, do you want Juice running a draw or handing off to Chris to trample a linebacker. The thought of Chris lowering his 240, 6’3″ body into our opponents smells like a 1ST down every time. 
Steve Sipe

I hope you are right, Steve. If so, I will hop and skip out of the stadium after the last game next year and the bright side this year will be a bright spot next one.

11.30.12
by

P.J. Walker leads unbeaten Elizabeth tonight

I don’t think this music is on Steve Addazio’s IPOD, but the passes are impressive.
The recruits so far, according to Owlscoop.com

When one of the nation’s top 15 recruits last year was asked why he chose a lesser profile school over another, he responded:
“That other school wanted me, but this team NEEDS me,” he said.
So it is with P.J. Walker of Elizabeth (N.J.).
Other schools may WANT P.J. Walker, but Temple NEEDS P.J. Walker and that is why I think he will be arguably the top recruit of the 2013 Temple class. I write “arguably” because you could make a good case for kicker Jim Cooper, Jr., too.
With Temple’s top three quarterbacks (Chris Coyer, Juice Granger, Kevin Newsome) gone after next season, the Owls need someone for the 2014 season who can be brought up to speed in the 2013 season to be The Man in the 2014 season.
To me, that person is P.J. Walker, who leads his team tonight (7 p.m., Williams Field, Elizabeth) against Franklin. Walker’s Minutemen are 9-0 and probably 10-0 after tonight (they already beat Franklin, 42-13, in the regular season) and are the top-ranked Public School in the state.

Williams Field is just off Route 1 in Elizabeth.

Head coach Steve Addazio says he wants to run a true spread offense, but he said that in the summer and that didn’t happen. He says that will happen next year. I want to see play-action passes on first down to make the running game more effective on second down. I want to see defenses have to defend the whole field and next just inside the tackle box. I think all Owl fans do. That’s a true spread offense.
We’ll see.
In my mind, the true spread has got to happen because Temple needs a “Doug Flutie-type” impact player to make the move from bad to good to phenomenal to super phenomenal.
This year, let’s be honest, the Owls were just plain bad.
They have to make the move to good next year and, I don’t care what Daz says, the record is going to have to reflect it. Rome wasn’t built in a day, but the construction guys didn’t take a year off, either.
Boston College wasn’t significantly better than Temple until Flutie pushed the school into national prominence. The same argument can be made for Louisville and Teddy Bridgewater.
Walker could be that player for Temple.
Once Walker takes the controls, they can think of being phenomenal in his sophomore year and “super phenomenal” by his junior year.
At least that’s the direction Daz promises the team is headed.
To do that, the Owls have to corral Walker and a few more impact players.
If you are in the neighborhood of Northern New Jersey, a trip to Williams Field might be a better option tonight than watching the MAC championship game on ESPN.
It’ll be like going to a Temple football game two years from now.