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.

12.17.12
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Five Rhule changes

“You know, coach Rhule, the thing I like most about here is our TEMPLE helmets.”

Rainy days and Mondays always get me down.
There are exceptions and rainy days and Mondays when Temple replaces a 4-7 coach stubbornly stuck in his losing ways with hope and change is definitely one of them.
I wrote this on the first Sunday in December:

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?”

In my heart, I knew what the answer to that question was and I thought Temple would be stuck with that guy, Temple Football Forever as it were.
Now, through some miracle, Steve Addazio is gone.
Matt Rhule represents that hope and change and he will be introduced today at a 2 p.m. press conference (Howard Gittis Room, Liacouras Center).
Rhule wasn’t my first choice, but he is Bill Bradshaw’s and I hope he’s the best one.
I can see him making five “Rhule Changes” that could both work and be popular with Temple Nation, as Al Golden used to call it:

2011’s best DC in the country.

1) Four and three minus 3 and 4
No, that’s not some mathematical formula. Somehow, due to a couple of suspensions and over-recruiting at a position, Temple has about eight linebackers who are able to play at a high level of FBS football and about half of that number of quality defensive linemen. Go from the 5-2s and the 4-3s of the past to, at least temporarily, a 3-4 defense. That gets a lot of playmakers on the field and gives the DC an option to blitz a couple of LBs and keep a couple more in pass coverage. I’d love to see Chuck Heater, who I called the best defensive coordinator in the country a year ago, stay and work out those Xs and Os. If not, former Temple DC Nick Rapone, who is Delaware’s defensive coordinator and three-time National DC of the year in FCS football, is available (and his daughter goes to Temple).

2) Binder of men
Mitt Romney had “Binders of Women.” Al Golden had his binder of men. I asked Golden what was in his binder once and he said he had how to run a program, down from hiring the grad assistants to how to recruit. Golden always believed in recruiting a “team” of 25 guys, one for each position, including specialists, every year. I always thought that was sound thinking. Steve Addazio flew from the seat of his pants on a lot of things and one of them was recruiting, which explains why Temple had eight good linebackers and not enough good linemen this year. Somehow, I think Rhule will adopt Golden’s binder philosophy.

3) Best athletes on the field
Since Matt last left us, Temple was able to recruit one of the best athletes in FBS football, former Penn State quarterback Kevin Newsome. For reasons known only to Addazio, Newsome was kept holding a clipboard on the sideline and running the scout team offense. Meanwhile, the back line of the Temple defense was dreadful. Newsome was only a first-team All-State defensive back in Virginia, along with his national top 5 quarterbacking skills. If Newsome is going to be third-team QB again, he deserves a chance to play defense. He’s only 6-3, 215, runs a 4.5 40 and has a 37-inch vertical leap and good ball skills. Somehow, call me crazy, I think the back line of the defense improves with a talent like that.

Hands off my helmet, baldy

4) The King Solomon Solution
After Addazio ditched the most distinctive and, in my mind best, helmet in college football history, I ran a poll  on this site. Overwhelmingly, Temple fans wanted the TEMPLE helmet back but there was a minority who liked the T and had good reasons, too. I’m in favor of splitting this baby right down the middle and the beauty of this solution is that nobody gets hurt. TEMPLE on one side. T on the other side. That way, you get the Temple University brand out there (T) and the Temple football brand (TEMPLE) on the field together.

5) Elephant in the Room
I think the issue of stability and depending on a coach long-term should and will be addressed today and I hope Matt does just that. I grew up as a Temple fan watching Harry Litwack, who was here for decades, Skip Wilson who was here for decades and John Chaney and Wayne Hardin who had double-digit-year runs as Temple coaches. All of those coaches loved Temple enough to make long-term commitments. They “got” Temple, as does current hoop coach Fran Dunphy. If there’s are two common threads there those are loyalty and success. All those coaches as successful as they were loyal. Only lately, and only in football, has the position of head coach become a revolving door. That Elephant needs to addressed and I’m confident it will.
If Matt Rhule becomes as successful and as loyal as Litwack, Wilson, Chaney, Hardin and Dunphy, today will be one of the great days in Temple sports history.

Tomorrow: Complete coverage of the Matt Rhule Press Conference

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

12.14.12
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Rhule to be named head coach

BREAKING NEWS: As of Saturday night, Matt Rhule officially accepts offer to become Temple’s 26th head football coach … press conference on Monday … I already updated Temple football Wikipedia page …

Matt Rhule motions to his PSU teammates to get a good look at the worst
helmet in the history of college football after a sack of a Temple QB.

Some people dream about Jessica Cristobal, I dream of Matt Rhule.
(Hey, I can’t pick my dreams, they just happen.)
In this latest one (true dream, not a made-up one), Rhule is addressing a group of Temple supporters and members of the press at his “introductory” press conference in the Howard Gittis Room at the Liacouras Center.
The team is going wild in the background and all during the conference nobody can hear what Rhule is saying because of the noise the group is making amongst themselves.

Jessica, we hardly knew ye

The newspaper and TV guys along the first row are shrugging their shoulders and pointing to their ears.
Suddenly, Bill Bradshaw goes to the podium, takes the microphone from Matt and says: “Guys, I know you are excited but please give Matt a chance to talk. This is his day. It’s rude to be talking while he’s talking. OK, Matt.”
Then Bradshaw hands the microphone back to Rhule and a spitball flies by Bradshaw’s ear.
Then I wake up.
Unless Temple re-opens its coaching search, something like this will happen on Monday around noontime, with or without the noise or the spitballs.
This just  in: Temple won’t be re-opening the coaching search and Matt Rhule will be named head coach on Monday. Rhule is the current assistant offensive line coach of the Super Bowl champion New York Giants.
Just as there were red flags surrounding past hirings (like Jerry Berndt going 0-11 before he was hired and DC Ron Dickerson giving up 55 points in his last game), a coach this well-liked being hired is a huge red flag to me.
I would like someone to ask Bradshaw why Temple didn’t reach out to Ball State coach Pete Lembo (it didn’t), but I doubt that question is going to come up or be answered on Monday.

“The biggest thing I would say: I am blessed to be at Temple and I love Temple”
_ Matt Rhule

I’d rather have an ass-kicking Bill Belichick-type than a “players’ friend” Andy Reid-type any day of the week.
People tell me Matt can be quite the disciplinarian but I will have to see that for myself in the next few months.
I keep hoping something good comes out of this. Maybe Matt brings in Adam DiMichele to be his QB coach. Maybe he brings back Bruce Francis to show the wide receivers how it is done. Maybe he can convince DC Chuck Heater and Heater’s son-in-law, Sean Cronin, to stay. Give Heater Kevin Newsome to play free safety and Heater becomes the best DC in the country again and Temple gets another first-round NFL draft pick.
Still, it all comes down to winning. To me, that’s all that matters.
I felt even in Steve Addazio’s final days that nothing short of seven wins in 2013 was acceptable.
I’m holding Matt Rhule to those same standards. I hope he holds himself to that standard.
I hope he holds the players to those standards.
To me, the success or failure of Matt Rhule’s selection as next Temple coach rests on that record. Nothing else.
Until then, when it comes to Matt Rhule, I’ve moved from Northeast Philly to Missouri: Show me.
Jessica Cristobal, we hardly knew ye.

12.13.12
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Our picks: Lembo, Bowles, Rhule (in that order)

BREAKING NEWS: CBS Sports and Owlscoop.com are now reporting as of Thursday night it’s down to Rhule or D’Onofrio … God help Temple if it’s D’Onofrio, whose Miami defense was ranked No. 118 of 120 FBS teams in 2012 …

Todd Bowles, because he represents the diversity this university  is all about and  proudly rocks the Temple colors and has a winning head-coaching record in the NFL, should be named the next Temple coach if it’s between him and Rhule. I think it might go to Matt Rhule , though.

Lembo and Cristobal have “home run” power while Bowles and Rhule, at best, are gap hitters and it’s more likely that Bowles or Rhule will strike out or pop up than the other two guys

Getting information from inside the walls of Temple athletics is almost impossible.
Bill Bradshaw runs a tight ship and that approach has navigated Temple through some troubled waters in the big-time college football world.
I’m OK with that because of the nice ports this trip has taken Temple fans of their major sports.
He hired “the most underrated head coach in college basketball” in his old baseball infield mate at LaSalle, Fran Dunphy.
He hired a program-builder without peer in Al Golden who lifted the Temple football program off the scrap heap and into respectability.
Love him or leave him (cough, leave him), Steve Addazio was able to talk his way into two high-profile jobs after Florida and was able to take Golden’s talent and win Temple its first bowl game in 30 years.
Addazio might have done Temple a huge favor by leaving after this  4-7 disaster.
That’s 3 for 3 and the best Bradshaw hit at LaSalle was .312, so I’ve got to like him better as an AD than a lead-off hitter.

Bradshaw’s track record is good, so I’m OK with his stealth methods.
The latest news is that Temple fans may have to wait until next week to learn of a new coach.
In the meantime, all we can do is read between the scraps of information we’re able to get out of Broad Street.
Reading the tea leaves, as it were.
We’ve learned that early last week Bradshaw called a current NFL and former Temple player and asked him who he would chose between Matt Rhule and Mark D’Onofrio, two former Temple coaches.
The player said without a doubt Rhule.

That was before Eagles’ defensive coordinator Todd Bowles entered the picture and I’m told Bowles is now considered a very serious candidate.
Former Florida International University coach Mario Cristobal already interviewed, as did current Notre Dame defensive coordinator Bob Diaco. No confirmed status on two great head coaches already available, Dave Clawson of Bowling Green or Pete Lembo of Ball State.
My choices are Lembo first, Clawson second and Cristobal third simply because they have taken FBS teams to bowls as head coaches. They would remove all the guesswork about how they will do at Temple simply because they’ve done it as a head coach before.
I’m thinking, though, that Temple will hire someone like Rhule or Bowles because this delay speaks more to Rhule and Bowles finishing their NFL games this week. If you are into conspiracy theories, and I’m not, you might guess the delay might have something to do with new Temple president Dr. Neil D. Theobald, an Indiana guy, flying out to the Hoosier state to try to convince either Colts’ head coach Bruce Arians or Lembo to take the job. Arians might win the Super Bowl, so that’s not happening but I would gladly take Lembo instead.
Borrowing a phrase from Facebook friend Chris “Mad Dog” Russo “gun to my head” Bowles gets the job. (I wrote this Thursday afternoon and still believe Todd should get the job over Matt Rhule or Mark D’Onofrio for a multitude of reasons.) The reasoning will be that Temple is looking for stability in the position above all and Bowles will beat out Rhule based on his small sampling (2-1 record) as an NFL head coach. Plus, he has OWL in the middle of his name and the marketing people love that kind of stuff.
That said, I’d rather see either Lembo or Cristobal sitting there at the presser on Monday. To use a baseball phrase Bradshaw might understand, Lembo and Cristobal have “home run” power while Bowles and Rhule, at best, are gap hitters and it’s more likely that Bowles or Rhule will strike out or pop up than the other two guys.
That would make it 3 for 4 for Bradshaw.
Good enough?
Yes, in baseball, but maybe not athletic administration.

12.12.12
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The Haves, The Might-Haves and The Have-Nots

Tom Davis covered both Brady Hoke and Pete Lembo at Ball State.

Funny how people remember where they were when big events happen.
I’m the same way with Temple football coaches coming and going.
I was there when Wayne Hardin quit, saying something I’ll never forget: “Mediocrity is not my cup of tea.”

Pete Lembo is cut from the same
mold as Wayne Hardin and Bruce
Arians.

I was standing in the back of the room when Bruce Arians exited Mitten Hall after his final press conference at Temple. I was the Temple football beat writer for Calkins Newspapers at the time. He was about to make the turn to leave, saw me there, and stopped to say: “Hey, Mike, I just wanted to thank you for being so fair to me over the years.”
Stunned by the thoughtfulness of the gesture, I could only say, “My pleasure. Good luck, Bruce.”
We shook hands and that was the last time I saw him. The loss was Temple’s. Even Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz mentioned as much in a St. Louis Post-Dispatch interview years later, making a point about fired coaches and saying, “Look at Temple. Firing Bruce Arians set that program back 20 years.”
Something told me that Temple would never get two great coaches like that again. More importantly, two great men.
Temple hasn’t had one like that since, a “triple-threat” coach (game management, recruiting, CEO ability).
I hope the Owls snatch one of those types now.
While Al Golden was a great program-builder, he was never the game day coach Hardin and Arians were. (Hardin was great; Arians was good.) Golden was a two-tool guy (recruiting, CEO).
Wayne Hardin and Bruce Arians were great coaches and great men, the “haves” in a coaching fraternity of too many “have-nots” and “Might-Haves.”
Temple needs a “have” right now.

The Might-Haves

Matt Rhule and Todd Bowles are great men.
I’m not sure about them being great head coaches.
I wish I were. Sorry, I’m not. Honestly, nobody is.
Unless you’ve done the head-coaching thing, metaphysical certainty about how someone will do as a head coach is impossible.
There are really good pluses about both guys, though. Rhule has experience in every facet of building Golden’s program except making the final decisions under fire.
Bowles was both an NFL and a college coach and recruited for the great Doug Williams at Grambling.
So he, like Rhule, knows about going into homes of kids and looking them and their parents in the eye and saying, “Come to Temple.”
Rhule and Bowles are “might-haves.”

The Have-Nots

People like Mark D’Onofrio, who had to be escorted out of campus by Temple security the last time he was here, is a “Have-Not.” He’s interviewing only because he was defensive coordinator for a Miami team ranked No. 118 in defense this year. Rather than fire his old buddy, Al Golden is pushing Temple to take D’Onofrio off his hands. I hope Temple AD Bill Bradshaw sees through this and his interview with D’Onofrio  yesterday was not more than a courtesy to Golden.
To me, Notre Dame defensive coordinator Bob Diaco is also a have-not. He would not turn down a once-in-a-generation opportunity to coach Notre Dame in a National Championship game. That game is Jan. 7. Signing day is Feb. 3. Temple needs someone able to fully commit to 24-hour recruiting between now and Feb. 3, being behind the 8-Ball already. Temple got fooled before by a blustery-talking assistant from a big-time program and I hope it isn’t fooled again.

The Haves

Dave Clawson is a great head coach and, by all accounts, a good man. So is Ball State’s Pete Lembo.
Mario Cristobal is also a proven winner as a head coach and I’ve never heard anything bad about him, personally. He turned down the Rutgers’ job and a $1 million pay raise to stay at FIU. There’s something to be said for that kind of loyalty.
Owlscoop.com is reporting that Clawson has withdrawn his name from consideration from the coaching search. Owlscoop.com is the only place reporting that. It’s not on OwlsDaily. It’s not on any of the popular “inside” coaching sites, like footballscoop.com.
I’m hoping that’s not true.
Lembo is not being reported as a Temple candidate, but  Bradshaw said yesterday that some interviews have yet to be conducted “because their teams are in bowl games” and I’m hoping he means Lembo, whose 9-3 Ball State team is in the Beef O’Brady Bowl. If Temple hasn’t reached out to Lembo now, it should.
Cristobal already has interviewed and would be more than acceptable as a Temple coach in my mind, having built Florida International University’s program “from a hole in the ground” (his words) into a two-time bowl team.
Temple needs a have right now.
It had two in Hardin and Arians and it’s way past time for a third.

Tomorrow: Reading the tea leaves

12.11.12
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Waiting for that puff of smoke from Mitten Hall


 Workers put up the smokestack for the big announcement at Mitten Hall.

Two hours after this post, Steve Addazio was hired by BC.

Nobody does it quite like the Vatican when it comes to hiring announcements.

The last time a big hiring happened in St. Peter’s Square, thousands of people waited outside for a puff of smoke announcing a new Pope.
Got to wonder what happened during that interview process.

“Your resume said you were in the Hitler Youth?”
“Yes.”
“Then you were in the German Army?”
“Yes.”
“Then you were Hitler’s driver for eight months?”
“Yes.”
“Can you win?”
“Yes.”
“Not a problem. You’re hired.”

Inquirer’s Mike Jensen’s choice is the most logical one.

As important as that hiring was for that organization, what’s going on inside Mitten Hall today and tomorrow is for this one.
Temple University is hiring a new head football coach and this is what’s at stake:
Hire a proven winner and Temple goes from 4-7 to 9-3 seasons and increases attendance at Lincoln Financial Field from the 25K range of the past three seasons to 35K and beyond. With that come increased contributions and an overall university endowment in the bottom half of the nation moves into the top half.
That’s all.
Hire someone who MIGHT win and risk going from 4-7 to 3-9 or worse. If that happens, the only thing rattling around LFF on Saturday afternoons will be tumbleweed, not people.
Do you want to take that chance, even with a popular former assistant coach who is well-liked by the current players and the parents? Or a popular former Temple player who has never run a BCS program or recruited a single player?
I don’t.
No one knows who is the leading candidate at this point, but this much is clear: Temple got burned by a blustery-talking assistant coach from a big-time program the last time and is not likely to go down that road again.
Also expect that a name will surface who might not be among those mentioned so far.
You need only to look at Boston College for an example of that. Steve Frauddazio, err, Addazio was named head coach by BC a week ago today at 4:30 p.m., even though at 2:13 the same afternoon he was not mentioned as a finalist by ESPN Boston writer Brett McMurphy (see inset).
Pete Lembo of Ball State is the one guy who has NOT been mentioned by anyone, so I fully expect that Lembo could be named head coach sometime tomorrow.
Lembo is one of really two “proven winning head coaches” available for Temple to hire at this point. The other is Bowling Green’s Dave Clawson.
And neither one of those guys were ever in the Hitler Youth.

Tomorrow: The Haves, The Have-Nots and the Might-Haves

12.10.12
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Latina: The Harold Stassen of TU candidates

Breaking News: ESPN reporting Mike MacIntyre to be named Colorado coach … Temple would be wise to scoop up Pete Lembo, Dave Clawson or Mario Cristobal now …
John Latina (left) has the persistence of Harold Stassen. 

Clawson has the Midas Touch wherever he goes and Temple fans would give thumbs up to that choice

You can say a lot of things about the current coaching candidates at Temple University but John Latina holds the patent on the word perserverance.
Latina is the Harold Stassen of Temple head coaching candidates. Stassen, a former Mayor of Philadelphia, ran for President of the United States in 1944, 48, 52, 64, 68, 76, 84, 88 and 92.
For reasons known only to him, like Stassen, Latina keeps throwing his hat into the ring and Temple keeps humoring him (and maybe themselves) by interviewing the guy.
Latina applied for the Temple head coaching job when Arians left, when Jerry Berndt left, when Ron Dickerson left, when Bobby Wallace left and when Al Golden left.
 Latina must know by now he has no shot but keeps applying anyway, even enlisting Bruce Arians’ support this time.

Clawson’s plusses:
1. Head coach and has been CEO of a program and terrific on game day
2. Won everywhere he’s been
3. Coached in the Philly area before
4. Beat Addazio with half of Daz’s talent

Sorry, John, I’d rather have Bruce as Temple’s next head coach but I know that has the same chance of happening as you getting the job.
In Mystery Science Theater, there was once a great line about Harold Stassen: “You’ll never win. You’ll always lose. You’re Harold Stassen.”
To me, guys like Latina and Ohio State running backs’ coach Stan “Definitely Not The Man” Drayton throwing their hats into the ring only serve to muddle up the process.
They have to know they are not getting the job, but wasting Temple’s time interviewing them does not do the Owls any favors. Temple needs to move and move now.
My favorite guy for the job is current Bowling Green head coach Dave Clawson.
I wrote on Saturday that either Mike MacIntrye or Clawson were 1 and 1A but I wasn’t sure which was the 1 and which was the A.

SI’s Pete Thamel is on top of the search.

After careful analysis of their coaching histories, now I am.
Clawson has the Midas Touch wherever he goes. As an offensive coordinator at Villanova, Clawson was 12-1. As Fordham head coach, that school had its best season since Vince Lombardi. As Richmond head coach, he stockpiled enough talent for Mike London that the Spiders won the FCS National Championship. MacIntrye really did it at only one place. MacIntrye also has a “George O’Leary” issue, listing being a two-time defensive coordinator at Temple University (1997 and 1998) on his resume (from the official San Jose State website). MacIntyre was never the defensive coordinator at Temple. He was the defensive backs coach. Ron McCrone was the defensive coordinator in 1997 and Raymond Monica was the defensive coordinator in 1998.

USA Today chimes in on the Temple job.

Clawson has no such credibility issues. Now, at Bowling Green, he has the Falcons in what was once the Eagle Bank Bowl playing MacIntyre and San Jose State. I hope now neither guy shows up for the game.
With MacIntrye at Colorado, and Temple leaning toward hiring a guy with head-coaching experience, Clawson is clearly No. 1 and Mario Cristobal is No. 2.
There’s a big dropoff to No. 3 and you should need a parachute to get to guys like Drayton, Latina and former Owl defensive coordinator Mark D’Onofrio.

Inquirer’s Mike Jensen on Dave Clawson

Tomorrow: Waiting for a puff of smoke outside Mitten Hall

12.09.12
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The $17 million roll of the dice

Doesn’t look like Parx is getting any of Temple’s business this time.

If your boss gave you $17 million to invest in some solid stock futures, would you instead hop in the car and drive up Route 1 to Parx Casino and throw it all on a crap table?
I didn’t think so, but that’s essentially what Temple’s Board of Trustees gave Temple athletic direction Bill Bradshaw the day after Steve Addazio quit.
Edberg-Olson Hall is worth $17 million ($7 million in 2001, an additional $10 million this year) and, if Temple gave the head coaching job to an assistant coach who never held the clipboard as a head coach in battle before, that’s a pretty expensive roll of the dice.
That assistant could become a Temple head coach and stay five years and go 3-9 each year or worse or go 9-3 or better.
You don’t know. I don’t know. Nobody knows.
If it is the lower number, the E-O might as well be padlocked after five years because nobody will come to watch the Owls play and $17 million will be essentially wasted.

These are just the candidates mentioned in the media.

A current head coach, though, with a head-coaching record of excellence, is like a solid stock future. There’s no better predictor of future success than past success.
Loyal TFF reader Steve Sipe sent me five spreadsheets of data analyzing the possible candidates and I’ve published his experience chart here. To me, that’s the most important qualification for Temple right now.
Fortunately, there’s no indication Bradshaw is considering getting in the car and heading up to Parx any time soon.
In fact, the quotes by Bradshaw in this morning’s Inquirer are downright encouraging. Without saying he’s ruling out hiring a current assistant, it certainly looks like he’s leaning that way.
On whether or not he’s leaning toward hiring an assistant, like Addazio and Al Golden were:
“Some people will say you are going to get another Al Golden, another Steve,” Bradshaw said. “I will say this is a different need, a different time in place.”
 And ….
 “I have not restricted [the job] to that,” Bradshaw said of hiring someone with prior head-coaching experience. “But somebody as a head coach, who’s been successful as a head coach and recruiting has an advantage. No question.”
Whew.
Players have walked off the Who Wants to Be A Millionaire TV show with a lot less money at stake than $17 million.
When it comes to the question of hiring an assistant coach, I think I’ll walk, Meredith.
Looks like Temple will, too.

Based on Steve Sipe’s analysis, Mike MacIntyre should be next TU coach. (Couldn’t fit the recruiting areas part in there, but it is weighted on the left.)

Tomorrow: The Harold Stassen of Temple head coaching candidates

12.08.12
by

Coaching Carousel stops at Temple

Heck, Clawson would be a great sell for a Temple fan base irate with Steve Addazio leaving because Clawson beat Addazio last year with half of Addazio’s talent

When Bill Bradshaw finally sits down and hammers out a short list for Temple head coaching candidates, the good news is that the Coaching Carousel seems to have stopped at 10th and Diamond and a couple of good men fell off.
Just as of a couple of days ago, it looked like Dave Clawson, the Bowling Green head coach, might be headed for Cincinnati, robbing Temple of a prime choice of coaching beef. That job went to Texas Tech’s Tommy Tuberville instead.
Good for Temple because Clawson is a much better fit for the Owls than Cincy. Heck, Clawson would be a great sell for a Temple fan base irate with Steve Addazio leaving because Clawson beat Addazio last year with half of Addazio’s talent. Clawson has Philadelphia-area ties, having been a longtime coordinator for Andy Talley at Villanova.
Clawson then built a FCS champion at Richmond, giving Mike London all the players he needed (Al Golden-style) before heading to Bowling Green. Now, at Bowling Green, he has the 8-4 Falcons in a bowl game.
It also looked as though San Jose State head coach Mike MacIntrye could be headed to either Cal or USF but Louisiana Tech’s Sonny Dykes got the Cal job instead and Willie Taggart got the USF job.
Again, good for Temple because MacIntyre kicked Dykes’ backside with San Jose State talent last week.
MacIntyre could still be in line for the Colorado job, but that is looking more of a longshot now that former Super Bowl coach Jim Fassel threw his hat into that ring.
Taggart’s getting the USF job is doubly good for Temple because another head coach with solid credentials, Mario Cristobal, was rumored to be in line to take over that job.
The Wisconsin job is still available but there are strong indications that Notre Dame co-defensive coordinator Bob Diaco is the solid choice to replace Bret Bielema, who went to Arkansas.
If Temple should hire a “head” coach, and I really think that’s the only way to go at this juncture of the program, possibly the best three candidates fell off that carousel and right into Bradshaw’s lap. When Bradshaw hired Golden, he needed a program-builder. When he hired Addazio, he needed a recruiter. With the talent already in place, now needs a proven head coach who can get the most out of the talent and establish Temple as a national brand.
I can’t believe three of the best men on a crowded coaching carousel at the beginning of this week are still around at the end, but I’m glad they are.
According to any objective empirical analysis, these three guys have all proven to be better head coaches than Steve Addazio:

MacIntyre might bring to Philly something TU fans haven’t
seen in two years: A forward pass.

MIKE MACINTYRE _ Is familiar with Temple, but probably would be blown away with the facilities now, which are 100x better than they were when he was a defensive assistant in 1997 and 1998. He had San Jose State, a program with a history worse than Temple’s (the Spartans almost dropped football three years ago), 10-2 and ranked No. 24 in the country. He’s just what Temple needs, a guy who can outcoach the guy across the sidelines from him. Temple did not have that with Addazio. It would with MacIntyre. Now would MacIntrye, whose son is a hotshot California quarterback, want to come here? Why not? He interviewed at USF. We can confirm that, but can’t confirm reports that he was in Thursday to interview for the Temple job. I hope he did and I hope he’s interested. Maybe he’ll bring his son along to play for my other alma mater, Archbishop Ryan (Raiders need a quarterback, too).
DAVE CLAWSON _  MacIntrye is either No. 1 or 1A.  I’m not sure which because of Clawson, who could be the 1 to MacIntyre’s 1A. Clawson is familiar with the Owls, having coached against them in the MAC. He’s familiar with Philadelphia, having coached at Villanova.

This is our guy

He’s had the Midas Touch with every team he’s coached, from leading a powerhouse Villanova offense to stockpiling the talent for FCS champion Richmond to leading Bowling Green into a prestigious bowl game. Remember, he beat Addazio’s best team with half of Daz’s talent. He would be an easy sell to the Temple fan base. He would have the Midas Touch at Temple, too.

Was going to put a photo
of Mario here, but decided
on his wife Jessica instead.

MARIO CRISTOBAL _ One year ago, he was one of the hottest young coaching prospects in the country, after taking obscure Florida International University to two bowl games. A rash of injuries this year cooled his stock a bit and he was, in my mind, hastily fired after a 3-9 season. Still, I think Cristobal, with the Owls’ current talent (not even counting the recruiting class) could have Temple at least 7-4 in 2013. Last year, Cristobal finished second in the running for the Rutgers’ job to Kyle Flood and would probably like nothing better than to send the Scarlet Knights off to the Big 10 with a BE loss in Piscataway next year. Married to the beautiful Jessica Cristobal. Could have also explained the 3-9. As much as I love Temple, if I was Temple head coach and married to her, that would explain me going 3-9 because I  might be late for a lot of practices.
All three would do a better job than any current assistant coach on Temple’s radar screen, even the legendary assistant offensive line coach of the New York Giants.

Tomorrow: The $17 million gamble