Tag Archives: Fran Dunphy

09.10.20
by

Everybody plays before Temple

As I write this, I’m watching the UAB Blazers taking on the Miami Hurricanes in a college football game and shaking my head in the process.

You remember the ‘Canes. That was supposed to be Temple’s opener five days ago. That game was scrapped as the ACC decided to postpone the opening of the season.

Rumors were a month ago that Temple and Pitt tentatively agreed to play a game this weekend but that was also tabled because of the City of Philadelphia’s practice restrictions on Temple.


Imagine all of the
Penn State players
and fans sitting
home watching TU-Pitt

 

That’s the same city that placed no such practice restrictions on the other Lincoln Financial Field tenant, the Eagles, who are playing this weekend. COVID-19 must be much worse in North Philadelphia than South Philly. There really has not been a satisfactory answer to the question why the Eagles get different treatment from the city than the Owls in the area of practice restrictions. Pittsburgh, a city in the same state, placed no such restrictions on the Panthers.

The last time the Owls opened in October did not turn out well.

UAB’s athletic director is Mark Ingram, who was rumored to be a leading candidate for the Temple job before Fran Dunphy was chosen as a stop-gap measure. It seems to me that Ingram, who is familiar with Temple having been here before, would have been able to navigate the dilemma facing the Owls and facilitated a temporary practice move to Ambler so the Owls could get ready for Pitt.

Dunphy probably doesn’t think outside the box like that.

That game would have been a terrific middle finger to a rival of both teams, Penn State. Imagine all of the Penn State players and fans sitting at home watching Temple and Pitt play. That would have been sweet. It would have been, in my mind, a terrific game, with former Temple commit Kenny Pickett battling Anthony Russo in nice quarterback battle.

Another missed opportunity by the Temple administration.

Now with the Navy game moved to October every single AAC team will have played before the Owls. The record will show that the first fumble of the season will have come not in the Navy game, but in the AD’s office at the Star Complex, 15th and Montgomery.

Whether the Owls will recover is a question yet to be answered but the last time they started a season in October it didn’t turn out well for the Cherry and White. They finished 0-8.

Let’s all pray similar circumstances lead to opposite results this season but from where I sit, watching UAB and Miami and wondering why Temple isn’t playing, does not give me the warm and fuzzies.

Monday: Checkers and Chess

07.20.20
by

A summer project for Fran Dunphy

fran

Temple fans might be thanking Fran Dunphy if he replaces Miami, Idaho, and UMass with West Virginia, BYU and Villanova.

Right now, if Fran Dunphy is taking his new role as a new athletic director seriously, he’s sitting down at his kitchen table in Avalon, N.J., trying to get the Temple football Owls four football dates.

dropkick

That’s because the AAC has shown no signs of joining the Big 10 and limiting games to conference ones only. Independents like UConn and UMass will probably have to join the Ivy League and cancel schedules entirely. The strong rumor is the ACC will soon join the Big 10 and go conference only, too, so that leaves three games Dunphy has to tentatively replace:

  • Sept. 5, at Miami
  • Sept. 12, Idaho
  • Sept. 19, Rutgers
  • Oct. 10, UMASS

If Dunphy attacks the position with zeal, he was sitting at the kitchen table yesterday with the 2015 Temple-PSU game on in the background (ESPU, noon) with printouts of the composite 2020 FBS college football schedule trying to replace those dates. Hopefully, he has the phone numbers of the other 126 FBS athletic directors.

Sure, it would be contingent upon several things (like the season being played for one), but what would Dunphy and Temple have to lose by scheduling games based on contingency?

To me, it’s the wise Owl thing to do right now.

The Miami game is probably out even if the ACC decides to play its nonconference games. Miami practice has been suspended due to an outbreak of the virus on that team and no one knows if the Hurricanes will be able or even allowed to compete.

Assuming the ACC and Big 10 are out, on Sept. 5, that gives the Owls an attractive group of opponents to select. Villanova, where Dunphy has a home the other six months a year, is a possibility. The CAA has canceled its season but Villanova has indicated that it will look to fill its entire season with an independent schedule. Good luck with that. My choice for Dunphy is West Virginia. Florida State would not go to West Virginia but Temple will.

Rutgers has to be replaced (Sept. 19) as well.

The Owls also have to have contingencies for the independents, UMass and Idaho. The Sept. 12 game with Idaho can easily be replaced with BYU, which is probably the only independent other than Notre Dame that will be able to get games. BYU was scheduled to play a home game against Michigan State, but that’s out. Temple could easily replace the Spartans on that date.

The final date for the Owls is Oct. 10 against UMass. If UMass can’t play that day, Villanova should be available. (I realize there is a group of Temple fans who don’t want to play Villanova but with a competent FBS head coach, which Geoff Collins wasn’t on the day he lost to the Wildcats, Temple should never lose to Villanova. Say what you will about Rod Carey, but’s it’s indisputable he’s a competent FBS head coach.)

Of course, Dunphy could have been doing other things yesterday like taking the Catamaran for a spin around Townsends Inlet, but we can only hope for Temple’s sake that he is on the job now.

If he didn’t do it yesterday, there’s always next weekend.

Friday: Our Annual Week of  Vacation begins (July 24-31, best of TFF runs on Friday, Monday and Thursday)

 

 

 

 

06.22.20
by

How Dunphy can hit it out of the park

dunphy

Interesting choice of the word “earned” in this OwlsDaily headline.

Back in the mid-1960s, Fran Dunphy spent most of his springs as the shortstop of the LaSalle University baseball team. His second baseman in the double-play combination was former Temple University athletic director Bill Bradshaw.

Since it was a short fence at McCartney Stadium, we can assume Dunphy (and maybe even Bradshaw) hit a few out of the park.

Temple University names William Bradshaw new Director of Athletics.

Bradshaw continued his prolific home run hitting, at least in a figurative sense, at Temple as AD. It’s not a stretch to say that he saved the football program with the hirings of Al Golden and Matt Rhule and, even though he popped out with Steve Addazio (who won a bowl game), a 2-for-3 day at the hiring plate is a good performance in this sport.

More importantly, once the ship was righted, he signed contracts with Notre Dame and Penn State that increased Temple football’s profile nationally and he was directly responsible for the night that Temple set the record (that probably won’t be broken) for  the number of TV sets in the nation’s fourth-largest market glued to a college football game.

So Fran needs to get on the phone with his old buddy today or tomorrow if he’s going to make a difference in this job.

“Bill, what’s up?”

“Fran, congratulations on the AD job.”

“That’s what I wanted to ask you about. I don’t want to be known as a placeholder. I want to be a guy who makes a positive difference at Temple in this job.”

“Fran, here’s what you do. Get on the phone with Lafayette, Norfolk State, Coastal Carolina and rip up those contracts and tell them you are going to help them get games with Penn and Villanova.”

“Then what?”

“Then go through the list of Power 5 schools who are not at the top right now, I’m talking about the Indianas and the West Virginias, and schedule games with them. Try to get home and homes but, if you have to, settle for two for ones. It’ll help Temple get into the Power 5 to win those games. Hell, I’ll even help you try to get Notre Dame back on the schedule if you want.”

“Thanks, Bill. One more thing.”

“What’s that, Fran?”

“How about getting baseball back?”

“Let’s not get crazy. One thing at a time.”

Friday: What the other AAC teams are doing

 

03.17.15
by

Football Must Now Help Basketball

This kind of student turnout is mandatory if the Owls ever want to be treated fairly.

This kind of student turnout is mandatory if the Owls ever want to be treated fairly.

The entire Temple campus is still stinging from the latest proof that college basketball is now as corrupt as college football.

The old terms used to be RPI, strength of schedule, injuries, how teams play down the stretch. Now the only thing that’s meaningful is the vague “eye test” which means, if you are not a Power 5 team, we cannot see you.

I created an open group in the Fox Sports bracket called "Temple Got Screwed." Anyone is invited to join.

I created an open group in the Fox Sports bracket called “Temple Got Screwed.” Anyone is invited to join.

The best way for Temple to become a Power 5 team is to win in football. No longer will 6-6 be acceptable. No longer will losses to Penn State be acceptable. A win over Notre Dame would hasten the call, as will filling the stadium for the other games. None of this is easy, but nothing worthwhile is.

By all NCAA criteria, Temple’s resume was superior to that of both UCLA and Indiana in every respect except the one that should not have mattered at all: Its athletic program was not a member of the Power 5, which has taken over the NCAA and remade it into its own playpen.

The NCAA’s No. 1 criteria is RPI, and Temple’s RPI of 34 was better than the RPI of Georgia, Ohio State, Texas, Iowa, UCLA and Oklahoma State, along with six other teams in the tournament. Another factor the NCAA says weighs heavily is how the team plays down the stretch, and Temple won 10 of its final 12 games, a superior run to most of the schools in the 68-team field, let alone the Power 5 schools.

Temple has a 25-point win over a No. 2 seed, Kansas, and none of the other bubble teams had a win like that on their resume. Only Kentucky has beaten Kansas by a bigger margin.

UCLA getting in over Temple was particularly galling. Temple’s record was 23-10, while UCLA’s was 20-13. Temple’s RPI was 34, while UCLA’s was 47; Temple’s record against the RPI top 100 was 8-8, while UCLA’s was 5-10. Temple’s best win against the RPI top 100 was Kansas (No. 2), while UCLA’s was against Utah (No. 20). Temple’s conference record was 13-5, while UCLA’s conference record was 11-7.

Most bracketologists dismissed Steve Alford’s team from the field altogether, but UCLA comfortably made the field of 68 while also avoiding a First Four game in Dayton. Most of those same bracketologists had Temple comfortably in the field.

Those experts assumed that the selection committee would follow its own guidelines, but failed to consider the fact that the Power 5 gets what it wants. That’s the reason why Sunday was a sad day not only for fans of Temple, but for all fair-minded sports fans.

Hmm. No mention of a stadium.

Hmm. No mention of a stadium.