Tag Archives: Greg Schiano

08.27.21
by

Rutgers’ fans could use a slice of humility

Owls will have to gang-tackle like this if they hope to win on Thursday night.

Like any general statement, a disclaimer is usually required and we’ll offer one here.

To quote what somebody once said in 2016: “They’re bringing crime. They are rapists and some, I assume, are good people.”

Not anyone from any other country.

These are people who live only 65 miles away.

Rutgers fans.

Your pretty much typical post about Temple on a Rutgers’ board.
A Rutgers’ fan “opinion” of the Owls followed by the facts below:
Temple has won four of its last five games against Cincinnati.

Rutgers’ fans are definitely not bringing crime or rapists but the some of them being good people certainly applies.

Joe, who posts here regularly, seems a decent-enough person but I will make this GENERAL statement.

Before Carey’s 1-6 Covid year, these were the facts.

Rutgers’ fans are without a doubt in my 40-plus years of experience the most obnoxious fans of all frequent Temple opponents.

The disclaimer usually is some not all, but we’ll modify that.

Most, not all.

There I said it.

There are a couple of comparisons that come to mind. They remind me of Mets fans in bad seasons who still think their team is pretty good when they stink. They are the Mets’ fans who are yelling in your ear about how great the Mets are for seven innings at CBP and the ones who get up and leave when Chase Utley hits a bases-clearing triple in the eighth.

And they always think they are better than Temple, even in the many years they were not.

I first encountered that attitude as an undergrad carrying a transistor radio and hearing a couple of clowns on the Rutgers’ pre-game show.

“Let’s face it,” the analyst told the play-by-play guy, “Rutgers should beat Temple every year.”

“Who the hell do they think they are?” I thought out loud.

Temple won that game, 41-20.

A pretty satisfying day against a team that beat Tennessee that year, 13-8.

Another satisfying day came a few years later when Bruce Arians’ Temple team won at RU, 35-30. That RU team beat Penn State and still another great but wet night came after Temple was kicked out of the Big East for “non-competitiveness” and won at RU, 20-17. Cap Poklemba kicked the winning field goal and Tanardo Sharps only seemed to run for 8,000 yards (really, 215) in the rain. The Owls as a team ran over to the Big East logo and danced to “T for Temple U” on it.

After spending the pre-game tailgate with Joe Klecko and my friends Nick and Sharon, who graciously invited me to their tailgate, the post-game beers never tasted better. Geez, that was 19 years ago. Hard to believe, Harry.

That was the fourth-straight year Temple beat RU but RU remained in the league and Temple was kicked out.

No fan base “smells themselves” quite like Rutgers and, since they sit pretty close to the toxic waste dump that is North New Jersey, it’s not a good smell. I’m quite OK with living in the nation’s first World Heritage City instead.

Check this out.

Rutgers claims a “national championship” in 1976 and that’s laughable since Pitt was also 12-0 that year. Temple lost to Pitt, 21-7, that year and Penn State, 31-30. It’s there in writing on the official Rutgers’ sports website: “National champions 1869, 1961 and 1976.”

Don’t know much about the first two, but I was around in 1976.

The teams Rutgers beat that year?

Navy, Bucknell, Princeton, Cornell, UConn, Colgate, Lehigh, Columbia, UMass, Louisville, Tulane and Colgate.

The Navy team RU beat that year, 13-3, lost to Pitt, 45-0.

But, yeah, let’s claim a national championship year.

Typical of Rutgers and its fans, who all think they should smoke Temple not only this year but from the beginning of time.

Not sure where they are getting that from but if any fan base deserves a slice of humble pie on Thursday night, it’s that one. Hopefully, the coaching staff that is 5-2 against the Big 10 doesn’t forget to bring the whip cream.

Monday: Finally, Game Week

Friday: Game Analysis

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12.07.18
by

5 Perfect Fits To Be Next Temple HC (none named Fran Brown)

The Al Golden Coaching Carousel

Well, it’s official.

Geoff Collins is packing his bags this morning and heading out that revolving door which is the coach’s office at the Edberg-Olson Complex.

The ex-Temple head coach turned back-to-back 10-win seasons into a seven- and 8-win season (with 10-win talent all four seasons), so excuse me for hoping that door hits him in the ass and leaves a few bruises.


The bottom line is that Temple
has been playing a game of
Russian Roulette by hiring
assistant coaches over the
past decade or so. Four clicks
so far and the program is still
alive. It only takes one bullet
to kill the program. …
Time to put the gun down
and hire a proven head coach

All it takes now is for one bad hire to blow this whole thing up and, to me, the only bad hire would be hiring another assistant coach who we have to find out can’t coach his way out of a paper bag once he gets here.

Just because you are a good-to-great assistant coach doesn’t mean that will make you a good-to-great head coach. The world is strewn with bad examples of that. Can you say Ron Dickerson? While the defensive assistant at Penn State, Dickerson was named the top assistant coach in the country before taking the Temple job. He almost ran the program into the ground. Can you say Bob Diaco? Diaco won the award for FBS coordinator of the year at Notre Dame and did run UConn into the ground.

I like Fran Brown, the Baylor assistant head coach. I’d like him to prove he could be a head coach first before we can offer him the Temple job. Otherwise, he’s Ron Dickerson and Bob Diaco to me.

Temple needs to hire a proven head coach now to take this talent to the next level. Fortunately, there are five fits that check those boxes:

9f98a-goldenhope

Al Golden–Checks all of the boxes. Proven winner? Yes. Good CEO? None better. Contacts with FBS experience? You bet. Knows the recruiting footprint? Yes. Moms like him? Yes. High school coaches in Pennsylvania and South Jersey welcome him with open arms? Absolutely. More importantly, can he win “at Temple.” He’s the only guy on this list who has proven that. Golden applied for and finished second in the Maryland job to Mike Locksley. He’s looking. Temple should approach him first. His last words when leaving his office at Temple (got this from someone who was there at the time): “God, I love this place.” He was 100 percent sincere. He can bring back Fran Brown to be the recruiting coordinator. Temple probably doesn’t want Mark D’Onofrio back so Al would have to find a new DC. Chuck Heater is available. Al, who first hired Ed Foley and Adam DiMichele, also is the best guy to provide much-needed continuity. Temple should court him like Prince Harry courted the Duchess of Sussex.

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Lance Leipold–Checks most of the boxes. Who better to kick Geoff Collins’ ass next September than a guy already has proven to kick Collins’ ass with lesser talent. Leipold was 109-6 (yes, that’s not a typo) at Wisconsin-Whitewater. I thought that was a rafting school. Anthony Russo would thrive under the same pro set offense that Leipold had Tyree Jackson run. He’s 10-2 at Buffalo this season, soon to be 11-2. If I were Collins coaching against this guy next Sept. 28, I’d worry. Leipold’s current salary: $325,000-a-year. Collins was making $2 million per at Temple. This guy would jump in a heartbeat.

leipold

Greg Schiano–Checks some of the boxes. Knows the area, is a good recruiter and, like Golden, a “decent enough” head coach on game day who won’t knock your socks off but can win. Schiano proved he could win at a place that might be harder to win than Temple: Rutgers. Deserves a close look.

Turner Gill–Checks most of the boxes. The one-time MAC coach of the year at Buffalo (he beat Temple on an infamous Hail Mary in 2008) just “retired” at Liberty after getting that team bowl eligible this season. Ruined Matt Rhule’s debut at Waco with a win. His wife has a heart condition and probably a move to a great medical hub like Philadelphia would help her recover. Liberty is a hard sell. Temple is not. A tremendous head coach who is only 57. Probably could convince him to unretire.

Mike MacIntyre–The former Temple assistant coach had San Jose State in the top 25 and was 10-2 before taking the Colorado job. McIntryre is probably a better fit in the G5 than he is in the P5 and is a helluva game day coach. Would work wonders with Temple talent. Understands Temple and winning. Could do a helluva lot worse than him (Fran Brown for instance).

The bottom line is that Temple has been playing a game of Russian Roulette by hiring assistant coaches over the past decade or so. Four clicks so far and the program is still alive. This six-shooter has only two chambers left and it only takes one bullet to kill the program.

Time to put the gun down and hire a proven head coach.

Monday: Fizzy Checks In On Coaching Search

Wednesday: 5 Questions Pat Kraft Should Be Asking

Friday: 5 Popular Guys, 5 Red Flags

Monday (12/17): Pros and Cons of The Collins’ Era