Tag Archives: nfl

10.27.24
by

Temple should make a big splash with new hire

Jon Gruden wants to coach a G5 team and his familiarity with Philly and Temple would benefit both.

Good Temple showed up against Tulsa on Homecoming but “same old Temple” showed up on Saturday at East Carolina.

The same old Temple that we saw for the last six years under Rod Carey and Stan Drayton, that is.

Buffalo Bills’ running back Ray Davis called Gabe Infante the best coach on the Temple staff when he was here.

The good Temple comes out once or twice a year and that’s not enough.

Carey was fired after a 12-20 record and three years. Drayton is 8-24. If Temple is going to intellectually consistent, it also has to fire Drayton.

There’s no bigger Temple football fan than me–it’s my favorite sports team by far–yet I’m not going to another game this season. It breaks my heart too much to watch this train wreck.

So we’ve moved on and so should Temple. ECU moved on last week by firing Mike Houston. Rice moved on Sunday by firing Mike Blomgren.

If Temple wants to hire an assistant, Chris Wiesehan would be a great fit since he was successful here under two bowl coaches, Geoff Collins and Matt Rhule and knows what it takes to win here.

Got to wonder why Temple is sitting on its hands while other schools read and react. Maybe the administration is waiting for Drayton to change his first name to Mike.

Should Temple go big splash or local ties?

Better to do both.

After bringing in a successful head coach from the Midwest and an assistant coach from Texas, the priority should be to bring someone who has been a successful head coach here at some level.

Or at least understands the Philadelphia and Temple culture.

Geoff Collins wants to come back. Any coach who is 2-for-2 in winning seasons at Temple should be welcomed back like a Prodigal Son.

That means no more assistant coaches because hiring an assistant coach is a crapshoot and Temple needs a sure thing.

That’s why we’ve eliminated all assistant coaches from our list, including esteemed Fran Brown assistant head coach Elijah Robinson at Syracuse.

Brown was perfect for here, Robinson doesn’t have Brown’s effusive energy. They are two different personalities. One is extroverted. One is introverted. While they complement each other perfectly at Syracuse, only one type would succeed at Temple.

Temple needs an extrovert.

Do you go for a big splash like Jon Gruden, who knows Philadelphia and Temple from being here as a long-time assistant coach with the Eagles or do you go the Manny Diaz direction and pluck his Duke assistant head coach Gabe Infante, who was a big-time successful state champion head coach at nearby St. Joseph’s Prep?

To me, you can’t go wrong with either hire.

Temple has the I-95 and I-76 billboards ready just in case Gabe Infante says yes.

Infante isn’t going to make “learning on the job” mistakes like Drayton does nor is he going to be a “my way or the highway” guy like Carey was. Manny Diaz, with assistant head coach Infante’s help, is pulling at miracle at Duke this season.

Gruden said in a story published in August he was open to taking a Group of Five head football job and wanted to make that school a winner.

Temple is a G5 coaching job that Gruden is very familiar with.

Down the line, Geoff Collins also falls into the “sure thing” category for what Temple is looking for now because he knows how to win here, loves it here and his kids played hard for him.

Geoff Collins had the Owls practicing 365 days a year, including this one in the snow on 2/17/17. Stan Drayton took a two-week vacation in Houston the middle of this summer. Wonder why there are so many illegal formations, shifts and false starts? You can start with practice, practice, practice.

In Collins’ first season at Temple, he went 7-6 and won a bowl game. In his second, he went 8-5 and handed ranked Cincinnati an overtime loss. Collins has sent messages through back channels saying he wants to come back.

After three years of Carey and three years of Drayton, I will take the Capri pants and Mayhem every Saturday.

Hell, Troy football became real good for a couple of years when it hired Neal Brown’s assistant coach, Jon Sumrall, because Sumrall had the Neal Brown blueprint of success. If Temple is going to go the assistant coaching route, then Chris Wiesehan, who was a successful assistant here, has all of the Temple success secrets of both Collins and Matt Rhule.

Another possibility with head coaching experience include Sam Houston State’s K.C. Keeler, who knows Philadelphia and is a winner.

Me?

Go for Gruden and the big splash or get a guy like Gabe Infante who is a proven winning head coach and has all the local connections he needs to win here, just like he’s won everywhere.

Let Rice and ECU pick a running back guru for those jobs.

Temple should get a proven winning head coach.

10.10.24
by

5 Guys Earning Their Paychecks

Saturday’s college football TV schedule

Watched the Coastal Carolina game on Thursday night at James Madison and a backup quarterback entered the game for Coastal down, 36-7.

His name was Noah Kim.

“Where did I hear that name before?” I thought.

Looked it up and found out that Kim was once the starting quarterback for Michigan State in five games and yet is now the BACKUP at Coastal.

Geez.

Do you think Kim would rather start at Temple than backup at Coastal?

I do.

Tim Beck, the head coach at Coastal, is doing his job because he had his quarterback room prepared for every eventuality.

Beck is making less than half ($1 million) of what Stan Drayton makes at Temple.

Despite the loss to James Madison on Thursday night, Coastal will probably make a bowl game.

Temple will probably not.

The reason is that Beck did a lot of offseason work in getting his quarterback room in order and, at least the way we see it, Drayton did not.

Drayton had to replace the fourth-leading Temple passer in history and “settled” for an unproven JUCO and a Rutgers’ backup who had four TD passes against seven interceptions in what has been so far an unremarkable FBS career. Temple beats UConn, 28-14, with Warner at QB and maybe Kim and a few others who don’t start for other G5 teams.

Beck has earned his million. Drayton has not earned his $2.5 million.

Here are four other Group of Five Guys who earned their pay this season (taking both the Army and Navy coaches out of the equation since Temple would never run the triple option):

Bryant Vincent, UL-Monroe _ At a paltry $365K per year, Vincent was able to recruit the quarterback we had been screaming in this space for Drayton to go after all winter, spring and summer (General Booty). Booty has had his moments for the Warhawks but is splitting time at the QB spot. Vincent served as the UAB interim head coach in 2022 but that school passed on him to go after Trent Dilfer. Bad move. Vincent beat Dilfer, 32-6, earlier this season with ULM talent. He also beat JMU last week, 21-16.

K.C. Keeler coached at both Delaware and Rowan, knows the Philadelphia area like the back of his hand, but was passed over twice when he applied for the Temple head coaching job. His brother, Kevin, was a longtime basketball coach at nearby Quakertown High (at the same time former Temple great Doug Shobert was the head football coach there).

Bob Chesney, JMU _ After leading Holy Cross on a remarkable FCS run, Chesney probably would have accepted the Temple job that Drayton got three years ago, bringing with him quarterback Matt Sluka. Instead, Chesney waited and took a worse job from a purely pay standpoint (JMU). He hung 70 points on UNC defensive coordinator Geoff Collins. He is only making $550K there.

Tyson Helton, Western Kentucky _ At $800K per season, Helton would not even have to ask the $2.5-million Drayton to pick up the check for any lunch those two would have. Yet the Hilltoppers are 3-2, having beaten Toledo and losing by only a point at Power 4 Boston College.

K.C. Keeler, Sam Houston _ More than once a candidate for the Temple job, Keeler knows the Philadelphia area like the back of his hand having coached successfully at both Delaware and Rowan (N.J.). One story last week said that Sam Houston had the “lowest NIL money by far” in the FBS and yet the Bearcats are 5-1 with a rout of E.J. Warner’s Rice team and a win over a good Texas State team to their credit. Keeler made $600K in total pay in 2023.

Temple is paying Drayton $2.5 million to have a soaking wet 160-pound redshirt freshman backup quarterback try to do a tush push with the game, and a season, on the line.

The question everyone at Temple, from the newest fan to the newest President, has to ask now is why.

That kind of decision-making is not worth two cents, let alone $2.5 million, and a university that wants to get a return on investment has to look at guys who are doing more with a whole lot less.

12.17.23
by

Wednesday’s Recruiting Show: Lipstick on a Pig

The hierarchy of talent in college football has been established over the past 50 or so years.

You don’t have to be Nick Saban to know where to get talent from in this age of the transfer portal.

One, P5. Two, G5, Three FCS, four Division I, five Division II and six Division III.

There is a seventh level of football talent below all of that and it’s called JUCO.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, this one is worth a million. Here, Layton Jordan sacks future Owl quarterback Evan Simon. Jordan, under D.J. Eliot’s scheme, thrived, setting a Temple record with three defensive touchdowns and terrorizing opposing quarterbacks. Under Everett Withers, Jordan more often than not dropped back five yards into pass coverage in no-man’s land where he couldn’t use his talent to sack QBs or cause turnovers. Simon since this lost his job to a quarterback that led RU to a 103d offensive ranking out of 133 teams.

Guess where the bulk of Stan Drayton’s third recruiting class is coming from this year?

Well, you won’t have to guess because we already know it’s JUCO but some Wednesday night must-see TV viewing comes on ESPN+ at 7 p.m. That’s where the Temple football recruiting plan will be unveiled for Owl fans to see on the Temple football signing show.

Whatever Drayton says, and it will be a lot, he will be holding a figurative drawing of a pig in one hand and a roll of lipstick in the other hand and trying to make the most of an ugly situation.

Bring a hanky because we might be witnessing the end of a once-great (at least in the Wayne Hardin years, some of the Bruce Arians’ years and most of the Al Golden and Matt Rhule years) program. Get ready to dab a view tears because, even from the few FBS-level recruits we do know of, there is no indication that the Owls got better in key positions.

Don’t give me Temple can’t get players because of the NIL because a lot of teams in the same NIL boat (South Alabama, New Mexico State, Troy, Ohio and Toledo) are getting enough players to thrive.

Temple should be able to do the same.

Let’s start with the MOST key position: Quarterback.

Unless Holy Cross quarterback Matt Sluka (who is still unsigned) walks through that E-O door in the next two days, it appears the Owls DOWNGRADED when their No. 1 offseason priority was to UPGRADE over E.J. Warner.

“Our E.J” (Drayton’s very words three weeks ago) appears to have made a lateral move within the conference when he was reported on Sunday to sign with fellow AAC member Rice. This comes a year after former Temple linebacker Kobe Wilson made a lateral move to another conference member. Huge statement by both Temple Owls on how they viewed Drayton’s possibility of future success here.

The bottom line in the Simon/Warner swap is that anyone with 20/20 vision the last time those two quarterbacks faced one another will tell you Warner, in his first collegiate start, was the better of the two quarterbacks that day in a 16-14 loss to Rutgers.

Warner only put up more impressive numbers as he got his feet wet. Simon flatlined and lost his starting job to a starting quarterback who could lead the Knights to a 103d offensive ranking of out 133 teams in 2023.

So, bottom line, was a coach with the pedigree of Greg Schiano thought the 103d-ranked quarterback was better than the guy Temple got.

That guy starts against Oklahoma on Aug. 31.

Unless Drayton can find Sluka’s phone number in the next day or two. (Hint: It’s in the Worcester, Mass. phone book.)

Friday: The Post-Game Show