Tag Archives: Chris Wiesehan

07.14.24
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Hidden Figures: Some Temple coaching gems

A YouTube channel called Temple special teams coach Adam Schierer a genius.

One of my favorite movies of the last decade was Hidden Figures about a group of women whose mathematical genius contributed to the success of the space program.

Watching that movie last week got me thinking about some of the “Hidden Figures” on the Temple coaching staff who might contribute to any of the success the Owls might have this season.

Adam Scheier was the lead recruiter in getting Maddux Trujillo and some Australian punters in here.

Three coaches immediately come to mind: Temple special teams coach Adam Scheier, running backs coach Tyree Foreman and Temple offensive line coach Chris Wiesehan.

Wiesehan we’ve known for a while. He was an accomplished offensive line and tight ends coach for both Matt Rhule and Geoff Collins here. The players from two different Temple eras raved about him and, for what we know from the people inside the E-O, Wiesehan isn’t only considered the most accomplished coach in the building but also the most personable.

The pleasant surprise has been Scheier, though, who has fit the Temple culture quite nicely.

Knowing that the placekicking and kickoffs have been a problem, Scheier was at the forefront of trying to get someone who could solve the problem by being a lead recruiter of Maddox Trujillo, who made 38 of 52 field goal attempts.

Tyree Foreman is a well-respected coach with a solid background of winning at Temple.

Trujillo wasn’t a part of spring practice but Carl Hardin was and his kickoffs were, by all accounts, the best we’ve seen at Temple Austin Jones was here. Jones made 17 field goals in a row at Temple and was a victim of a cheap shot against Memphis, only for Aaron “Boomer” Bouhmeri to do a great job subbing for Jones in the 2016 championship year.

Now, with Scheier leading the way and a kicking corps that includes Trujilo and Hardin, that part of the game figures to be in good hands.

Also the offensive line under Wiesehan appears to be better, as does the running game under former Temple RB coach Tyree Foreman.

Will it be enough to overcome the deficiencies of the defensive coaching staff and the CEO who refused to get a big-time quarterback in here?

Since all the holes have not been plugged, that’s certainly a concern but it is nice to know that at least three important areas of the 2024 Owls have not only better personnel but proven leadership on a micro level.

Three math geniuses were enough to help lift the space program off the ground. Hopefully, Temple’s version of Hidden Figures devises out an equation to bypass the obvious deficiencies on one side of the ball.

Friday: AAC Media Day

05.12.24
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Succession plan: There’s already a blueprint

Proof positive that G5 football programs can still thrive with similar resources to Temple.

When Stan Drayton was first hired as Temple’s head football coach in December of 2021, very few people attending that first press conference would have told you that the 3-9 season that preceded him would be followed by a couple of more 3-9 seasons.

Drayton seemed to be that enthusiastic about winning, if not the first year, then certainly his second.

Temple certainly has been treading water since.

Winning is the only measuring stick. It always was and always will be.

Wiesehan (right) with Manheim Township head coach Mark Evans and Geoff Collins on a 2017 recruiting trip.

If 2024 is another 3-9 season (or worse), Temple will have some tough decisions to make. Under normal business circumstances, the logical move would be to get the next head coach.

The nuclear one would be to give up all together on football but that will be determined probably if the new President is a more egghead type (David Adamany) than an ex-Division I football player type (Jason Wingard).

Give me the football player type any day but that’s a decision for the BOT to make.

Everyone around here is rooting for Drayton to go 6-6 or better but it doesn’t look good right now. There isn’t a single AAC-level starting quarterback on the roster and the defensive coordinator who allowed both FIU and Temple to give up nearly 40 ppg. is still here.

The fact that Drayton was hired by his Texas buddy and that Drayton kept his Texas State buddy here as DC doesn’t present the best optics to the rest of the college football world.

Or even the Temple BOT.

Let’s say business as normal and Temple is determined to succeed in football. Then you have to start thinking about a succession plan right now.

A blueprint of success already exists even in the G5 space. New Mexico State made a couple of straight bowl games by hiring a proven Power 5 head coach (Jerry Kill). Troy did the opposite by grabbing a guy (Jon Sumrall) who worked under Neal Brown there and knew the formula to succeed at Troy.

Temple probably won’t have the option of hiring a proven P5 head coach but does have one of those other kind of guys in Chris Wiesehan. Chris was here under both Matt Rhule and Geoff Collins and knows what worked at 10th and Diamond and what did not.

I had text convo with someone who is in the building every day and he said most of Drayton’s staff is standoffish to outsiders with the exception of Wiesehan, who takes time to talk to everyone. That was Collins’ personality. It was also Rhule’s. Drayton himself has the same personality but, for some reason, most of his staff does not.

The thought here after the recent revolving door situation that it would be a good idea to name a “coach in waiting” instead of going through an exhaustive search should Drayton bolt.

Maybe Wiesehan is that guy. Maybe he’s not but a lot of people smarter and closer to the program than me have told me this: “Mike, that guy is the real deal. He would make a great head coach at Temple.” Here are just a few things I like about the guy: 1) He left Hawaii to come to Temple; 2) He left a Power 5 program to come BACK to Temple; 3) He was part of the recent past Temple greatness.

That would make for a pretty good Temple football trivia question. Keith Kirkwood also left Hawaii to come to Temple but Keith was never a P5 assistant who loved Temple enough to come back to take the same job in the G5 realm.

That’s a demonstrated affinity to the school not just through words but through deeds and that should count for a lot.

Some of the same things the same people told me about an unheralded assistant named Matt Rhule a decade or so ago are the same things they are saying about Wiesehan now. There’s a lot of street cred in that.

I’ll have to take their word for it. Certainly, makes sense from the standpoint that Wiesehan knows the landscape from the perspective of three different coaching staffs and was once a nominee for the Frank Broyles Award as the best assistant coach in the country (2018) while …. wait for it … at Temple. He knows every nook and cranny of 10th and Diamond unlike any other “national search” guy would. He was part of success stories under both Matt Rhule and Geoff Collins.

He already knows the blueprint to succeed at Temple. He might be the only one in the building who does.

Just like Sumrall did at Troy.

Friday: How Others View Us

Monday: The way too early game by game

01.07.22
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Staff hires: Almost done, and a mixed bag

The first month of the Stan Drayton stewardship of the Temple University football program has gone according to plan.

It’s his plan, not the plan of many Temple football fans, and that’s his prerogative because he will ultimately bear the blame or the applause.

Still, an objective observer can still step back and judge.

Getting good vibes out of the strength hires, one of whom looks a little like former great Owl lineman Kevin Jones.

If that observer says it’s a mixed bag, it probably will be closer to the truth than otherwise.

While the Villanova defense under Ola Adams was a formidable one against the opponents it played, no one can say that any defense under the other defensive coordinator, D.J. Eliot, was ever formidable. Another guy with Texas in his past (an assistant at Texas State and Houston), Eliot was never a part of a defense that shut out anyone. (For comparison, former Temple DC Chuck Heater recorded consecutive shutouts in the 2011 season for the Owls.)

In fact, according to college football guru Pete Thamel, Eliot’s main claim to fame was “simulated pressures” when he was DC at both Colorado and Kansas. Simulated pressures are simply this: A lot of linebackers and safeties running up to the line at the point of attack, then backing off, and allowing the quarterback a good five to six seconds to survey the field and pick out an open receiver.

That’s not going to work with Temple fans, who were used to a more attacking style of defense in consecutive 10-win seasons under head coach Matt Rhule and DC Phil Snow. In those days, simulated pressures were actual pressures and the bad guy’s quarterback ended up on his ass more often than not.

That’s Temple football. That’s Temple TUFF.

Adams is more in sync with the Rhule/Snow way of doing things so it should be interesting to see what happens when he gets in the same room with complete stranger Eliot. Since the talented Adams is listed as a “co-DC” with the sole job going to the less accomplished Eliot, that could be a problem.

I’ve thought about it and I’m not Drayton.

Just imagine late August, 2022……

D.J. Eliot gave up 36 points a game as a DC at two Power 5 schools.

Eliot: “Luca Diamont is the Duke starting quarterback. Here’s how we’re going to attack him: Run a couple of safeties and linebackers at him and then back off at the last minute, putting everyone in coverage and trying to confuse him.”

Adams: “How about putting the m-fer on his ass by sending more players than they can block, knocking that thing out of his hand and having one of own guys taking it to the house?”

Eliot: “Too risky.”

Adams: “C’mon, man. Former Temple coach Bruce Arians said it best: No risky, no bisky.”

Eliot: “We never did that at Kansas and Colorado.”

Adams: “That’s why you guys never won shit.”

Eliot: “That’s why you were at Villanova and I was at Kansas and Colorado.”

Adams: “You want to go? Let’s go. You and me on 10th Street. If I win, we blitz the hell out of Duke. If you win, we sit back and play prevent.”

Eliot: “Stan, help me out here… “

Is that the kind of headache Drayton wants right away?

I don’t think so but I don’t know if he has thought this dynamic out. If the two start arguing in the coach’s room at the E-O, I hope Drayton puts his foot down.

Does Drayton have the gonads to get rid of Eliot if he brings that 36 ppg career average as a DC to Temple and give the job completely to Adams, whose Villanova defenses allowed 15.7 ppg? We will see.

That’s the part of the bag with holes in it.

Ola Adams was a key member of the Villanova defensive staff, holding Geoff Collins to 17 points.

Now to the more sturdy part of this mixed bag.

The additions of Chris Wiesehan (offensive line) and Adam Schier (special teams) certainly balance the bag. Wiesehan was credited with the development with two of the best centers in Temple history (Kyle Friend and Matt Hennessy) and a terrific versatile guard/center in Vince Picozzi. Schier made the Rutgers’ special teams the best of the Scarlet Knights’ three units and, if the Owls start blocking kicks and returning them to the house like they used to in the pre-Rod Carey days, it’s a home run hire. Vince wants to come back and let’s hope Chris brings him back.

On the plus side of this mixed bag also are the strength coaches, Chris Fenelon (Ohio State), Andrew Broocks and Bruce Johnson. Carey’s strength coach is still being investigated for mental and physical abuse of players by an internal Temple probe. Hopefully, these new guys earn the trust and love of the Temple players, who were completely pushed around in a 3-9 season.

If any FBS program needed a complete overall of its strength department, it was Temple.

So far, the support staff looks as Texas-centric as the Carey staff looked NIU-centric. On-field guys like Preston Brown and Wiesehan might be bones to throw to Temple fans, as Carey did when he initially kept Fran Brown, Gabe Infante, Ed Foley and Adam DiMichele. Everett Withers, who will be off the field, was a former head coach at Texas State. Another off-the-field employee, Tory Teykl, was at both Houston and Texas. Johnson was an assistant strength coach at Texas from 2001-2007. My guess is that there will be more hires with some experience in Texas, which is a vastly different experience than Temple.

When Carey got rid of the three Temple guys to keep the NIU guys, all doubt about Carey’s future here was removed.

Drayton needs to lean on the Temple guys to turn Temple around. Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

Monday: The Jimmies