By Mike Gibson
The sign is on the wall at the Edberg-Olson Complex for all to see:
“HUNTING A MAC CHAMPIONSHIP WITH LOCAL TALENT.”
If you know anything about Al Golden so far in his almost one year on the job, it’s this:
Allie G. means what he says and says what he means.
It’s evident in the verbals so far.
One, Daryl Robinson, might be the best player in North Catholic’s long and sometimes glorious football history.
Another, Kit Anderson, scored three long touchdowns in a big Neshaminy win last week.
There is a school of thought that there isn’t enough talent in the Philadelphia area and Eastern Pennsylvania to support a winning Division IA football team.
The Headmaster of that same school likes to say there’s more talent in a five-mile square area of Florida than there is in Southeastern Pennsylvania or South Jersey.
Hogwash, Phooey and any two-syllable word you can think of that begins with a B and ends with a T.
Wayne Hardin and Bruce Arians proved you could field WINNING football teams at TEMPLE with primarily local talent.
Take the 1979 team, which finished 10-2 and ranked No. 17 in both final polls.
Brian Broomell, the quarterback who led the nation in passing efficiency for most of that season, was from Sterling. Mark Bright, the fullback who was MVP of Temple’s bowl win over California, was from William Tennent. Kevin Duckett, the slippery halfback, was from Northeast.
We could go on and on but won’t.
The proof is in the history, past and present.
The sons of these great players, figuratively, did not forget how to play football.
The football is Southeastern Pennsylvania and nearby might not be Florida but it is good enough.
If you like what Golden has done so far, the best is yet to come if the recruiting of D.J. Lenehan is any indication.
I had the pleasure of watching Lenehan of Wilson Area near Easton compete in the Class AA championship game last year.
I saw a number of his games on Service Electric Cable TV and on WFMZ Channel 69 in Allentown.
This kid is the real deal.
Much like Adam DiMichele of the current Owls, this young man has the “it” factor.
“I like to say this about all great quarterbacks, they have IT,” ESPN commentator Lee Corso said. “I can’t put into words precisely what it is, but when you see a quarterback who has it, you’ll know.
“I’m going to say it like this: IT is the sense of when to throw the ball and when not to, it’s the ability to throw the ball deep on a dime while sitting in the pocket or running at full speed and IT is toughness and the sixth sense to stay in the pocket until the last split second in order to make a play.”
If you don’t believe me, look at the Lenehan highlight films on Rivals.com and judge for yourself.
This kid can play and he’s perfect for the Temple offense. DiMichele’s presence, and to an extent Vaughn Charlton’s, gives Lenehan a chance to develop at a pace that will accelerate his production.
The first school to offer Lenehan was Temple.
If anything, that indicates Golden is paying attention to the films and his two eyes and not letting some recruiting service tell him who the players are.

From left, Ann Weaver Hart, Dan Polett, Peter J. Liacouras, Al Golden
By Mike Gibson
There was more power under one tent at the pre-game Temple vs. Kent State tailgate than can be found at the Limerick Nuclear reactors.
At least when it is the power provides the fuel for the Temple athletic department.
First, there was Chancellor Peter J. Liacouras, still looking vigorous and young and still Temple football’s biggest backer and still wlelding a lot of influence.
Then there was new Chairman of the Board of Trustees Dan Polett, Howard Gittis’ successor, and another familiar face at Temple sporting events.
Last, but certainly not least, was Ann Weaver Hart, the new president of Temple University.
That’s right.
A Temple president and BOT Chairman were in attendance today and visible.
And, I might add, approachable.
A friend of mine, Nick, and I saw her under the tent and said, “what the hey, let’s go up and say hi.”
President Weaver Hart could not have been more gracious.
We exchanged some small talk, I suggested that she probably should have brought her football team with her from New Hampshire.
She laughed and said that New Hampshire once struggled like Temple is now and she stuck with the coach and that team is now flourishing. A 34-17 win this year at Northwestern of the Big 10, not Northeastern of the A-10, is evidence enough of that.
She believes the same can be done at Temple. Even though she didn’t say it in as many words, I got the feeling, too, that she also believed a successful football team is vital to the image of Temple nationally, that the football team is the front porch of the university and it’s high time to replace these rotted boards and loose shingles with brand new ones.
And she believes Al Golden is doing just that, getting his tool kit and hammer out for this massive makeover project.
You want the rest of the Mid-American Conference to say no later than next year:
“Wow, that’s nice.”
Instead, too many are looking at Temple’s front porch like it’s Jed Clampbett’s, pre-black oil, Texas tea, days.
Since Temple is the 26th largest university in the country, it deserves a football team successful on the biggest stage, the 1A theater.
If Temple is ever to bring what has been a disjointed community of alumni, students and friends together in one setting, a football game is the place to do that. But it’s a football game where the Temple community has to feel there is a realistic chance of winning every week.
I told her I look forward to the day when I can post a supportive quote from her about Temple football on this website, as you can read quotes from Liacouras, former BOT chair Howard Gittis and current athletic director Bill Bradshaw.
She would be happy to oblige, she said.
I’m waiting for a blockbluster comment, along the lines of Gittis’ saying the students at Temple deserve a “great football team” and “we will provide it.” Or Liacouras saying “universities with 1A football teams must invest to succeed.”
Temple football always had a huge supporter in Liacouras and now has a pair of staunch allies in Weaver Hart and Polett.
That only bodes well for a program that saw former president David Adamany and Gittis attend just one game in six years together.
After that one, Adamany emailed me with this terse one-liner.
“Mr. Gittis was not happy with the audience,” he wrote.
Somehow, I think Ann Weaver Hart knows the difference between an “audience” and a “crowd.”
At least I got that first impression.

By Mike Gibson
On my day off Wednesday, I stopped at my neighborhood LA Fitness Club in the Andorra Shopping Center.
(Well, it’s not my neighborhood but it’s the closest LA Fitness Club to Center City.)
Since it was in the middle of the afternoon, there were only a couple of other guys in the locker room. Both of them were in their mid-to-late 20s.
After they exchanged some small talk about their kids, I overheard this exchange:
First guy: “I’ve got some tickets to the Kent State vs. Temple game on Saturday. I think I’ll go.”
Second guy: “I’m going, too. Where are you sitting?”
First guy: “I don’t know. I’ll go back and check and let you know by email.”
Second guy: “I was thinking about going up to Penn State to see them play, but I decided on the Kent game instead. I really think they have a chance to win.”
First guy: “Those 62-0 scores were getting old, but I think they competed at Vanderbilt and I think they are going to get better. I want to see them play at home.”
By this time, I was impressed.
Talk from young guys about Temple football and no gratuitous shots.
I was impressed. Surprised and impressed.
I spoke up.
“What do you know,” I said, “all three people in this locker room are going to the Kent State-Temple game.”
Those two guys were friends and I was a stranger, but they immediately included me in the conversation.
“I know it’s only Kent State, but this would be big for them,” the first guy said. “They really have to show people they can make that step from being bad to getting a little better to winning. I hope this is the week they do it.”
“Me, too,” the second guy said.
One guy had no connection to Temple other than he was from Philly and wanted, desperately he said, to see a competitive Division IA team in town and Temple was the only school trying to be competitive.
The other was a grad with some passing interest in the team, saying he tries to take in a game once every year.
Both said if Temple started winning they’d come to every game.
This represents the great untapped market Al Golden is trying to reach.
Philadelphians and Temple people wanting to see a representative Temple football team take the field.
As Golden said on Fan Fest Day, “what you see behind me is just the tip of the iceberg of what we can accomplish here in Philadelphia.”
Win on Saturday, Al, and that iceberg slowly begins to melt.

By Mike Gibson
This Saturday, Temple will play Kent State at Lincoln Financial Field.
Like so many other Saturdays, I will be looking over my shoulder, anticipating Steve Bumm tapping me on the shoulder to talk some Temple football. Steve always flew up from Fort Myers, Fla., for the Temple games or at least a couple of Temple games every year.
Most of the time we’d talk about the old days, the way things were when Temple won all the time, seemingly, and bemoan the more current era where the opposite was true.
Steve was always the greatest guy to talk to because he was at Temple before me and could connect the dots when we compared, say, Temple quarterbacks of the 70s with Temple quarterbacks of the 60s.
Or the 80s.
Or the 90s.
We saw most all of them.
My favorite was Tim Riordan for his toughness, smarts and leadership.
His was Marty Ginestra for many of the same qualities.
I was looking for Steve Bumm on the Saturday of the Louisville game, but he wasn’t there. I knew he died almost a year ago, but old habits are hard to break. The link in this paragraph is recommended reading from the Ft. Myers’ paper.
I will be looking for him again on Saturday at the Temple game and he won’t be there but it will feel like he’s there every time I make the walk from the tailgate into the stadium or walk around the ramps or stop to watch a TV behind the concession stands, places Steve and I used to talk.
And maybe he is. At least in spirit.

By Mike Gibson
Richard Nixon was elected president on the campaign pledge of having “a secret plan to end the war,” meaning, of course, the Vietnam War.
One of the things Al Golden promised Temple fans is that they will see a program with a plan.
It’s not a war, but Golden’s plan to end the suffering of Temple fans certainly is a secret one.
And that’s fine with me.
Just ending the suffering will suffice.
Key players disappear for a game or two or three or four and the silence coming from the Edberg-Olson Football Complex is deafening.
No one knows if they’re injured, stolen cookies from the Coaches’ Lounge or disabled the cookies on one of the coach’s laptops.
And that’s fine with me.
However Golden feels it needs to be done is the way it’s going to have to be.
Yet he’s offered enough clues along the way about why he’s doing what he’s doing and it makes sense.
“I’ve learned when I was at Boston College that it serves no purpose to talk about injuries,” Golden said.
The rest of the plan is murky, but some pieces of the puzzle are emerging from the E-O.
If anything is obvious from the first third of the season, it’s this:
There needs to be an immediate infusion of big-time talent into the program.
Golden appears to be addressing that need by bringing in transfers from BCS schools and bringing in up to nine high-quality academic and athletic Junior College players.
This represents a small shift from Golden’s stated goals of buidling the program with almost exclusively high school players. It’s a shift brought on by the lack of quality at some key spots, like the offensive line.
Already, Temple has a transfer from Syracuse and one from Minnesota in the fold.
Expect more.
Expect Temple to bring in immediate impact JC players and incorporate them into the spring program. Think Walter Washington, Tim Brown and Phil Goodman in terms of talent, Eliot Seifert in terms of character and dedication to academics.
If this plan can be implemented, the days of 62-0 losses to BCS schools and 41-7 losses to the likes of Western Michigan are over.
If Golden brings in the kind of immediate help he’s seeking, look for some tangible on-field results as soon as next year.
As far as this year goes, he’s buttoning the lip when it comes to team personnel matters and that doesn’t matter to me at all.
This year isn’t all that important in the plan. Next year is. From all signs, Golden appears to be taking that bull by the horns.

Or should do at Kalamazoo.
Or did do at Kalamazoo.
Once …..
OWLS ROLL TO 49-17 VICTORY
PALMER’S RUNNING RIPS W. MICHIGAN
Sep 14, 1986
By Chuck Newman, Inquirer Staff Writer
KALAMAZOO, Mich. _ Midway through the first quarter of yesterday’s Temple- Western Michigan football game, a passenger train passed alongside Waldo Stadium and sounded its shrill whistle.
However, the warning blast was too late for Western Michigan , which already trailed 14-0 en route to a 49-17 shellacking.
The Owls’ easy victory was a morale-booster in the wake of their opening- game pounding at Penn State. The Broncos’ two touchdowns came against Temple’s deep subs in the second half.
Temple quarterback Lee Saltz ran his career passing yardage to 3,957, bettering the school mark of 3,913, set by Doug Shobert (1970-72).
But it was Paul Palmer who provided the bulk of the offense, collecting 175 yards in 20 carries before retiring from the game late in the third period.
Palmer may not be one of the leading Heisman Trophy candidates, but it’s unlikely that any of his competitors will get to 100 yards as quickly in one game as he did yesterday.
Palmer had 100 yards after his first four carries, getting there with 7 minutes, 30 seconds left in the first period on a 34-yard touchdown run up the
gut on a draw play.
The 5-foot, 9-inch, 180-pound senior enjoyed a 149-yard first half, but coach Bruce Arians was not about to let him try to run up 300 yards at the expense of embarrassing the Broncos (0-2) – especially after Palmer’s cranky hip acted up.
“I did think he could have a very big day,” Arians said. “But it wouldn’t have been fair to Western Michigan or to Paul.”
“When we looked at the films (before the game), we thought we could pretty well do what we wanted to do against them,” Palmer said. “I mean, if we executed correctly.”
The Owls, for the most part, executed meticulously both on offense and defense.
Saltz completed 8 of 12 passes for 111 yards, including a 20-yard touchdown pass to Stan Palys.
Palmer had TD runs of 55, 34 and 3 yards – it was the fourth three-TD day of his career – and was helped by a big blocking effort by fullback Shelley Poole.
“Shelley was destroying people,” Arians said.
Palmer, who went into the day leading the NCAA in all-purpose yards after gaining 268 against Penn State, yesterday racked up 203 more, including 28 on a kickoff return, raising his total to 471.
“I think it was a normal Paul Palmer day,” Arians said. “He really didn’t do anything that I haven’t seen before.”
The Temple defense was not to be denied, either. The Owls harassed Western Michigan quarterback Chris Conklin into a miserable day, sacking him four times. Conklin was 10 for 21 for 174 yards, but 156 of those came in the second half, when the Owls substituted liberally. Temple also held the Broncos to 107 yards on the ground.
“They really came after us, and we have to do a better job of protecting,” Western Michigan coach Jack Harbaugh said. “Temple has a lot of great players.”
The only Temple negative was a sprained knee suffered by starting defensive tackle Mike Swanson, who is expected to be out for at least three weeks.
“We did what we came here to do,” Arians said. “We wanted to win and win decisively. We wanted to have some fun, and we did that. Now we have a chance for a special season.”
After being staggered by a 43-yard return of their opening kickoff, the Owls yielded a first down that put Western Michigan at the Temple 43-yard line. However, the Owls then got a break when a delay-of-game penalty wiped out a 7-yard gain by the Broncos.
The call killed the drive and the Broncos.
Temple needed only two plays to go ahead after Western Michigan punted.
Saltz, faking a handoff to Palmer, found Willie Marshall racing up the right sideline and hit him for a 38-yard gain. The play would have gone all the way had not Broncos safety Willer Berrios lassoed Marshall by the shirttail.
No matter. On the next play, Palmer swept left, got a wipeout block from Poole and hip-faked safety Denny Robinson. Fifty-five yards later, the score was 6-0. It became 7-0 when Bill Wright kicked the extra point.
Temple’s next possession lasted only five plays. Palmer started it with a 2-yard gain and ended it with his 34-yard scoring run.
The Owls didn’t score again until Palmer went in from 3 yards out with 17 seconds remaining until intermission. The touchdown capped a 7-yard, two-play mini-drive that was spawned when freshman Loranzo Square recovered a muffed fumble.
But things got worse for Western Michigan before it could reach the safety of the locker room. Temple defensive back Terry Wright picked off a desperation throw by Conklin at the Broncos’ 20 and made it to the end zone after what seemed like an impossible journey through a maze of potential tacklers up a narrow alley along the right sideline.
The Owls made the score 35-0 on an 80-yard drive meticulously engineered by Saltz at the outset of the second half, and Western Michigan didn’t end the shutout until John Creek kicked a 34-yard field goal with 6:28 left in the third period.

By Mike Gibson
One of Al Golden’s strengths as Temple University head football coach is the expertise that comes with his sports psychology degree.
After a pair of 62-0 beatdowns, it helps that your head coach has some knowledge of the fragile pysche young people can have.
There are a couple of classic “Golden-isms” already.
“I’m going to build a house of brick, not straw,” or “we’re going to keep pounding at that rock until it cracks.”
Surely, there will be more.
From what Golden says and what he has done so far, it seems pretty apparent that Temple athletic director Bill Bradshaw picked the right guy to build that house and pound that rock.
You can’t tell by looking at the house or the rock because it’s not built or cracked yet.
There’s a lot of building and pounding to do.
It’ll take time.
If you are looking through the prism of consecutive 62-0 losses, that’s probably not the right way.
Yet by looking at what Temple could have had, it seems clear that they got the right guy.
It’s hard to imagine, say, a Brian White or a Jerry Glanville having the patience needed to build this house. Or a George Welsh living through a pair of 62-0 losses.
Let’s look what happened to some who expressed strong interest in the Temple job last year:
JIM HARBAUGH _ The most intriguing of the late entries 10 months ago, Harbaugh would have been the only Temple coach ever to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Now currently the coach of the 3-0 University of San Diego Torreos, Harbaugh is 19-5 in his three years as head coach. Made strong late push, even was interviewed by search committee but, by the time he threw his hat into the ring, Bradshaw was sold on Golden. Was quoted in the San Diego Union as saying “the Temple job would be a great opportunity.”

BRIAN WHITE _ Rumored to have had pre-Bobby Wallace resignation meeting with Bill Bradshaw and that moved him to the top of the last year’s wish list early when he was a Wisconsin assistant. For a long time, White was at the top of the list until Bradshaw met Al Golden. White currently is offensive coordinator at Syracuse University, which put up 31 points at Illinois.

JOHN LATINA _ Latina is the assistant head coach at Notre Dame. As a Temple assistant in the 1980s, he helped develop John Rienstra into a first-round NFL pick and a first-team All-American.
JERRY GLANVILLE _ Glanville would have given Temple fans the “name” coach Bradshaw reportedly promised in informal tailgate gatherings. Not sure if he would have been well-received by Temple fans since he is a) old; b) a blowhard; and c) has little or no knowledge of Owl football. Currently defensive coordinator at Hawaii, where they put a 42-14 spanking on UNLV Saturday.
GEORGE WELSH _ The retired Virginia and Navy coach reportedly threw his hat into the ring in November. Problem was the hat was a fedora. Guy was 72 years old and probably a lot less qualified to turn Temple around than Wayne Hardin, who is seven years his elder. Now the head coach of a USA group of collegiate all-stars, who will tour Japan at the end of the season.
TOM CLEMENTS _ Another interesting candidate, like Latina, with Notre Dame ties, like search committee consultant Gene Corrigan. Now quarterbacks’ coach with the Green Bay Packers.
RON PRINCE _ The current Kansas State head coach is 3-0. Like Golden, was a former Virginia assistant. Reportedly, Bill Cosby pushed hard for Prince or current Cincinnati Bengals’ assistant Hue Jackson to get the Temple job.
TOM BRADLEY _ Current top aide to Joe Paterno was encouraged to apply for the Owls’ job. Showed initial strong interest, then backed out late when Paterno talked to Bradley. May have used Temple to get some promises from Paterno.

AL GOLDEN _ Along with Harbaugh, Golden was one of the more intriguing late candidates. Fit the profile of a young, energetic guy who has been a huge success as a recruiter. Virginia fans and insiders seemed to feel Golden had a bigger upside than Prince.
Prince had the good fortune to inherit more talent and a softer schedule than Golden.
It’s shown in the records and scores so far. What the records are four years from now will determine the rest of the story.

By Mike Gibson
Temple University head football coach Al Golden likes to say he “knows what’s around the bend” and it’s encourgaging for the program and its fans.
No one can actually see what’s around that bend, but if you look at the University of Minnesota you might get a clue.
Temple fans who make the trip on Saturday for the 2 p.m. game will get a close-up look.
Both Minnesota and Temple have a lot in common.
Both are large state-related universities.
Both have established national reputations of academic excellence.
Both are located in relatively cold-weather cities.
Both play their home games in large pro stadiums.
Both are located right in the middle of fertile recruiting areas.
Both offer what a lot of the young athletes are looking for today: Four years of a big-city experience.
Both struggled before their current head coach arrived on campus.
Take that last point.
When Glen Mason arrived on the Minnesota campus, the Golden Gophers were coming off a string of losing seasons.
Prior coach Jim Wacker was coming off three- and four-win seasons.
Minnesota “wacked” Wacker after that 1996 season and brought in current coach Glen Mason.
After a two initial losing seasons, Mason has suffered only one losing campaign since _ not bad in what many feel is the nation’s toughest conference.
Mason did it with aggressive recruiting, targeting the kid that wanted a big-city experience as opposed to the more bucolic, some say boring, atmosphere offered in most other Big 10 locales.
There were enough of those kids to win and to go to bowls.
Golden is targeting the same kind of kids looking for the same kind of experience.
That’s why Golden can’t see what’s around that bend he’s always talking about, but can guess.
Or Glen Mason can tell him.

By Mike Gibson
One of my summer friends also serves in the Pennsylvania National Guard.
That requires her to be away a weekend a month and two weeks a year.
When she signed up, she didn’t figure on the PNG being used to guard a country 8,000 miles away but that’s how it turned out so she served a tour of duty there, too.
The air base in the Sunni Triangle was secure by day, not so much at night.
When it got dark, that’s when the bad guys started to lob low-caliber mortar rounds into the base, primarily because they didn’t have the stomach to take the turbans off and slug it out in the daytime.
“The sirens would go off and we’d yell INCOMING,” she said. “We had about 25 seconds to go down to the shelter. It was pretty safe down there, but we didn’t get much sleep.”
I thought of what she said during the late stages of Louisville’s 62-0 thumping of Temple on Saturday. I really didn’t care about the score at the time or the grumbling some seats away that Louisville was rolling it up. My feeling is that if you put a team on the field that’s bad enough to lose, 62-0, it’s your fault, not the other guy’s.
No, I wasn’t thinking about any of that.
“Incoming,” was all I could think about.
It’s bad enough watching the carnage of a 62-0 defeat right in front of my eyes, yet all I could think about is the aftermath, incoming verbal mortar rounds from people who don’t have the stomach for a fair fight.
A fair fight would be to give the current head coach, Al Golden, four years to bring his guys in and then start lobbing grenades should four Golden classes lay a 62-0 egg.
That would be the fair way to do it. Remember Golden is a guy who in just one month produced a recruiting class that was ranked by one independent source as the No. 1 class in the entire Mid-American Conference. It is no large leap of faith to think he can do even better with a full year under his belt.
Yet there are bad guys laying in wait, just hoping and praying that Golden fails.
They stumble over their furniture to get to the computer keyboard and lob their own ordinance behind the relative cover of anonymity at the first early sign of failure.
Some of these people use internet message boards to convey their opinion. Some of them are accredited members of the media who can’t wait to tell you “I-told-you-so. Temple can’t win. It doesn’t matter if it’s Ron Dickerson, Bobby Wallace, Al Golden or Vince Lombardi.”
After a 62-0 loss, that would be all too easy. People like that fail to remember guys named Bruce Arians and Wayne Hardin proved that you can win at Temple not all that long ago.
Talk to me in four years.
Until then, I’m going to cover my ears, yell “incoming” and look for the safety of the nearest shelter.

By Mike Gibson
Unless the either the Cleavage Girl or the Girls Gone Wild truck shows up, it could get ugly Saturday.
We’re not talking about the score, either.
Well, yeah, we are talking about the score but that’s another story for another post.
This time we’re talking about the crowd.
Or lack of same.
There will be an elite team coming into Lincoln Financial Field, the Louisville Cardinals, and, according to a poll on this website, most people feel that the crowd will be closer to 15,000 than any other figure. Twenty-four percent of those polled guessed 15,000. Twenty percent guessed 17K.
The next highest number, 12 percent, guessed 22K.
That’s up to 10:06 a.m. Friday.
History would tend to agree.
In the past, after opening with a win on the road, Temple would open with a crowd of 25K or more at home.
After an opening loss, that number would drop to right around 15K.
Before you dimiss this, consider that Temple fans who vote in these polls have a pretty good pulse on things.
There are some mitigating factors that could skew this figure:

• Buzz for a new Temple coach (that buzz would have been louder with a win at Buffalo);
• A ranked team coming into Philadelphia;
• Since they are ranked, the Cardinal fans might travel better than they have in the past;
• It’s going to be 81 degrees and sunny;

Yet Temple fans seem to have a good pulse on things.
Here are some past poll questions and the numbers:
Pick the Temple fans at Buffalo
Sixty percent said 500, 29 percent said 1,000 and most estimates put the number of Temple fans actually there at around 700.
Who will Temple’s starting quarterback be on Aug. 31?
This question was up for four weeks. Despite an Owlscooop.com senior writer guessing Vaughn Charlton, the masses correctly picked Adam DiMichele in droves. Fourty-four percent of the fans picked DiMichele, 23 percent went with Charlton.
How long will it take Al Golden to produce a winning season?
The most popular poll by far on this site. Of the 344 votes, 97 folks (28 percent) picked 2007, followed by 92 (27 percent) for 2008.