Tag Archives: Stan Drayton

10.31.24
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After nine years, what went wrong?

Nine years ago today, Temple was on the top of the college football world.

The Owls were 7-0 and ranked No. 21 and gameday was in town for a prime-time matchup with No. 9 Notre Dame.

Only because Will Hayes decided not to put up his hand and deflect away what would have been an easy play to make, Will Fuller caught the game-winning touchdown pass and the Irish hung on for a 24-20 win. The game still ranks as the No. 1-rated TV college game ever watched in the Philadelphia market, which is still the No. 4-ranked TV market. Better than any Penn State-Ohio State game. Better than any Penn State-Notre Dame game.

Lincoln Financial Field was packed with mostly Temple fans to see the No. 21 Owls play the No. 9 Irish nine years ago today.

Temple was the draw, not Notre Dame. Probably no college football game will ever attract more eyes in the Philly market, including a national title game that might include Penn State.

Who knows where the Owls would have been ranked if Hayes knocked away that pass and Temple went to 8-0.

My guess is no lower than 12th.

Now the Owls are ranked No. 19.

From the bottom.

That’s falling over 100 floors faster than a broken elevator in a horror movie.

So the question has to be asked: What went wrong?

Sitting in my seat dejected by the loss and comforted by classy Notre Dame fans walking by and patting me on the back (“you guys have a helluva team”), the thought occurred to me that this might have been the Zenith of Temple football.

What never occurred to me was that the Owls would fall this far and this fast.

While I never thought 7-0 and ESPN gameday would be the norm, I thought it was possible, maybe even likely, that Temple would be the kind of job that would attract good enough coaches to compete for a bowl game every year.

Temple still remains a big TV draw because of its market. Imagine if the Owls won consistently.

It has not.

It would be easy to blame the NIL and the transfer portal for this mess and certainly it’s a contributing element but it’s not the full story.

Temple’s fall is attributable to mostly Temple decisions. The Board of Trustees approved a plan to build a stadium on Temple’s own property but let no more than 20 or so neighbors bully them out of that decision.

My feeling then as it is now is that Temple has as much right to build anything on its property as I do putting up a white picket fence around my house. That goes for every university in the country.

If a bunch of neighbors came up to me and objected to my fencing plans, I would politely say, “Geez, it’s my property and I think it improves the value so thanks for your input but I’m still putting the fence up.”

That’s one mistake.

The others were hiring ADs who felt that it was more important to hire buddies than it was to follow the formula that got Temple to the top in the first place.

Temple has now suffered through 1-6, 3-9, 3-9 and 3-9 seasons.

If it is lucky, it might get to a fourth-straight 3-9 season.

The only hope for Temple to fix that elevator and start climbing to the top is to follow the formula that got Matt Rhule and Geoff Collins here. Get the best person. Get someone who the AD never worked with but has impeccable credentials on his own.

Or it can chose not to fix the elevator, which would be the nuclear option no one wants.

Monday: A Dream Press Conference

10.27.24
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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.

10.26.24
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Administration now has its Stan Drayton answer

The great name of Temple University was once again embarrassed on the national stage. Thanks, Stan.

Most people in regular jobs get a three-month probation to prove they can do the job, then they get to join a union and have some protection down the line.

Temple head football coach Stan Drayton has had three years, not a mere three months.

Enough.

This was our post on opening night. Drayton didn’t learn that Simon was the better QB until three weeks later. I, not a $2.5 million paid HC, learned it that night in the first quarter. That’s one of many fireable offenses.

The Temple administration now has its answer about him: He hasn’t done the job, can’t do the job and never will do the job.

That was abundantly clear after a 56-34 loss at East Carolina on Saturday. The only saving grace was that Temple wasn’t playing at another North Carolina school, Charlotte, because that school hung a 55-37 loss on ECU. In two years, Charlotte’s Biff Poggi is 6-13. In three years, Drayton is 8-24. Same conference. Temple has better facilities and roughly the same NIL money.

Charlotte is making progress. Temple is not.

Who made the better hire?

This was our post TWO WEEKS before Stan Drayton was hired.

With another ill-timed bye week (why do we have two bye weeks in one season?), and Temple’s well-earned reputation of doing nothing while other schools do something, nothing will probably happen.

Something is a better option than nothing but if that something is to name defensive coordinator Everett Withers as interim coach, nothing moves to the No. 1 option.

Probably a moot point now since a new President comes onboard on Friday and Temple will probably wait until then to do something.

Temple has proven under other coaches–Wayne Hardin, Bruce Arians, Al Golden, Matt Rhule and even Geoff Collins–that it can win and be nationally respected in football.

This is what we wrote in this space about Everett Withers on St. Patrick’s Day, 2023, the day he was hired to replace D.J. Eliot. Withers gave up 56 points today and the defensive kids totally quit on him, despite what Stan Drayton said post-game.

Under guys like Jerry Berndt, Ron Dickerson, Bobby Wallace, Rod Carey and now Drayton, not so much.

We suspected this for quite awhile now.

Two weeks before Arthur Johnson hired Drayton we wrote in this space “we have a sinking feeling that he is the guy” and the sinking part was because Johnson was at Texas and Drayton was at Texas with him. Given Temple’s history of Bill Bradshaw being at LaSalle at the same time Fran Dunphy was there (and hiring him to be head coach) and Pat Kraft’s history of being at Indiana at “around” the same time Carey was, that was no bueno.

When is Temple ever going to learn that “buddy hires” don’t work nor should they be allowed?

Maybe after three strikes that approach is now out but that would mean someone other than Angel Hernandez, err, Arthur Johnson has to be the umpire.

Historically, the Temple Board of Trustees has given a new President carte blanche to hire his own major managers, including athletic directors. That came on years when the budget was even tighter than it is now.

We suspect Johnson will be gone.

After then, what?

New President John Fry is a Philly guy. It is only logical that he brings in a Philly guy to be AD. Maybe the new AD brings in a Philly guy to be head coach.

As long as that Philly guy is a proven winner as a head coach with recruiting connections within the footprint of Temple and not the buddy of the other Philly guy, Temple has a chance to succeed again in football.

That’s the formula going forward.

Drayton’s probation is up, and he should be out. If Fry wants to do something to ingratiate himself with Temple fans on his first day of work, firing Drayton would prove that he cares about the way Temple is perceived nationally.

Monday: Five Candidates

10.24.24
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Can Temple football make a historic run?

People a long way away from Broad and Montgomery are noticing TU plays hard for Drayton.

Something is definitely happening with Temple football in the past few games.

The trend is definitely upward but there are still areas of concern like penalties and, more importantly, the ability to run the football.

Our master plan of turning $7 into $570 is two down and 10 to go and we don’t have to throw one ball out of bounds against UAB to do it.

The Owls seemed to have cleared up their turnover problem when they inserted Evan Simon as the starting quarterback for both Coastal Carolina and the Utah State games and Simon, despite playing three less games than E.J. Warner, has proven to be an upgrade over the son of the NFL Hall of Famer.

There’s no doubt that they play hard for Stan Drayton and others seemed to have noticed (see the above video).

Simon has 10 touchdown passes to three interceptions, while Warner has the same number of TD passes but nine interceptions–two that went for touchdowns. Simon’s passer rating is also double that of Warner.

Going into the season, nobody thought Temple upgraded the QB position, but the sample is large enough to now believe that Simon is a better quarterback than E.J. Warner. He is certainly better than Forrest Brock.

Now the question that begs to be asked: Does Temple go on a historic run starting on Saturday (2 p.m., ESPN+) at East Carolina?

To me, unlike the above video, a historic run would be one of two things: One, win them all or, two, win all of the rest with the exception of at Tulane.

5-7 has no particular appeal to me nor would it be historic.

A 6-6 or 7-5 record would.

Winning Drayton’s first road game as a Temple head coach would go a long way to answering that question.

Certainly, Vegas doesn’t believe in the Owls but that’s nothing new. Temple was a 6.5-point underdog but beat Utah State, 45-29.

These Owls are 7.5 dogs but are on the road and the nation doesn’t believe Drayton can win a road game.

Maybe this might be the time. It’s a tough environment but Temple teams have won there before.

ECU’s Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. Would be nice to have this at 12th and Norris.

I’m not making any predictions, but I think this is no more than a field goal either way and Temple in 2024 has the best field goal kicker in the country, just like it did it 2012.

ECU has a new head coach and a lot of people think this will infuse energy into the Pirates. Maybe it will but maybe there will be a “Temple effect” with that hire. For the past three years, Temple has suffered Drayton learning to be a head coach on the job and maybe this is ECU’s turn as its head coach has never been a head coach on any level before.

Let the bad guys have a coach who makes first-time mistakes for a change.

That’s the hope.

Temple is only one of two ESPN+ games in the 2 p.m. window. Win, and get a great home crowd for FAU. That’s 8 a.m. Hawaii time. 🙂 Click over above image for a more readable view.

The Owls may have found their feature running back in Torrez Worthy. Feed the beast the ball and, even if he gets a lot of 2- and 3-yard carries, he’s eventually going to break one.

When he does, the offensive game plan should be to fake it into his belly and hit guys like Antonio Jones, Zae Baines and Dante Wright on the run.

Defensively, get after the passer and trust technique on pass defense. No face guarding and go after the ball, not the man, in the air.

None of that has been done to any Temple fan’s satisfaction so far but the Owls have fought and that’s the first step.

The next one is to get Drayton his first road win, run over to the Temple fans in the stands and sing T for Temple U after the game.

Only then make the move for the locker room and the larger celebration that will ensue.

Late Saturday Night: Game Analysis

10.20.24
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How about restoring the T for Temple U tradition?

The 2024 team could learn a lot from the 2016 team and this is how the players sung T for Temple U after a big win over USF that year. This is a tradition both home and away after every Temple win.

Since I haven’t been around for many wins over the last three years and missed this year’s Utah State game in person, decided to saunter on down to hear the team sing “T for Temple U” after the 20-10 win over Tulsa on Saturday.

After football wins for as long as I can remember, the team breaks out into a loud “T for Temple U” rendition joining the band after the alma mater.

The alma mater is the B side.

Here is Temple running back Montel Harris leading the 2012 team in a post-game rendition of “T for Temple U” in front of the Temple band who made to to Army that day. Harris had 351 yards and 7 touchdowns in that game.

T for Temple U is the A side.

I should have known better.

The team dutifully hung around to hear the school band sing the alma mater and swung to and fro but when the band fired up T for Temple U the team rushed off into the locker room.

Geez, got to stick around to sing T for Temple U with the band and fans.

Heck, even in road games, the players themselves sang the song “A Cappella” and the fans sung along.

When did that change?

The most important part of this video is from the 2:04 mark on. Notice the players getting into it.

I know it’s a little thing, but someone has got to tell Stan Drayton to keep the troops around for the most enjoyable post-game tradition at Temple.

Two songs, not one. The second song is the most important one. The alma mater is the appetizer. T for Temple U is the main course. Don’t go to a 5-star restaurant, pick at the salad and get up and leave.

Maybe getting out of the habit of winning got them out of that habit of celebrating but both habits are something that need to bridge the current and the past. Drayton needs to get with his leadership council tomorrow and mention, hey guys, we plan to win Saturday and, after winning, let’s enjoy the experience with the fans who bother to make the trip.

Another crazy thing about Saturday was the stupid white helmets. They look horrible and are not Temple helmets. Besides the odd look, they have numbers on them and that’s department of redundancy redundant. The players have the numbers on the front and back of their jerseys. They don’t need numbers on the helmet. Also Saturday was the day that the school honored the 1979 Garden State Bowl champions.

How about playing that game wearing the same exact uniforms, including the iconic Cherry “TEMPLE” helmets?

Would that have been too much to ask?

No.

For now, though, I’ll settle for restoring the long tradition of the football team singing T for Temple U with the fans and not just inside the locker room afterward.

Friday: ECU Preview

10.18.24
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Saturday: Nostalgia and psychology

If you needed any further evidence that yesterday was better than tomorrow in college football on a macro level and Temple football on a micro level, all you need to do is get in the car and make the drive to Lincoln Financial Field tomorrow.

I will for the first time all year.

That’s because tomorrow (2 p.m. ESPN+), the Owls honor their greatest living moment of yesterday when they salute the 1979 Garden State Bowl champion Temple Owls on the 45th anniversary of the school’s first-ever bowl win. It will be a beautiful weather day (74, sunny), unlike the Dec. 15th 28-17 win over California at the Meadowlands before 40,000 mostly (err, all) Temple fans at Giants Stadium. That day I froze my ass off and was shocked to learn the high reached 40 at kickoff. Felt like 20.

Steve Conjar, who had pretty much the same number of tackles in three years that Temple’s all-time leading tackler Tyler Matakevich had in four years, asks the 40,000 Temple fans who attended the Garden State Bowl to come back and honor the Owls again.

Back then there was no NIL or transfer portal and Temple was able to field a great team by attracting a bunch of hungry guys who were overlooked by the larger schools and coach them up with a certified MENSA genius (152 IQ) at the helm in Wayne Hardin.

They became a band of brothers, never looking to go elsewhere and sticking with a great school in a great city.

Mix, stir and come up with the 17th-ranked team in the country and one of only 15 bowl winning teams that season. That Temple team was only 16 points shy of finishing unbeaten (12-0) and, if that happened, no doubt would have been named national champion.

Think about that.

Temple.

National champion.

In football.

Our low/risk, high/reward picks this week.

That’s because the resume would have included a 49-17 win over one of the other 14 bowl winners (Syracuse), a 39-16 win AT West Virginia and, say, a 12-10 win over Pitt and a 23-22 win over Penn State (the last two their only losses that season).

They didn’t need a Georgia election official to find them 11,680 votes to win that election. They needed 16 more stinking lousy points. Wayne Hardin should have been on the line to the football Gods because that needed to happen.

Supporting the kids this week could make a difference.

The flip side of that equation will also be on display on Saturday as the current Owls are stuck in the morass of a 1-5 season, following a trio of 3-9 seasons and a 1-6 season before that. Nobody knows what current coach Stan Drayton’s IQ is but after trying a tush push with a 160-pound redshirt freshman backup quarterback with the game on the line against UConn I’m guessing it’s not 152.

That’s where the psychology part enters into play.

Do the current Owls dwell on what might have been or are able to turn whatever positives they had against UConn–and there were many–into their play going forward?

If the current Owls are able to start with a clean mindset, they have a chance to finish 5-1 and get to a bowl game. Don’t think they have a shot against Tulane but they could run the table against all of those other teams on the schedule but it starts with crossing the T’s and dotting the I’s against Tulsa.

Or do they dwell on what might have been, keep turning the ball over and committing stupid penalties that have marked this season so far?

All they need to do is take a look at those old guys representing Temple at halftime to know what was once possible here when the playing field was even.

What’s possible tomorrow now may be less than yesterday, but certainly better than the string of 3-9 seasons that have made Temple football irrelevant over the last half-decade.

After Al Golden, Matt Rhule and even Geoff Collins (7-6 and 8-5), never thought I’d live to see this day. The current kids and the coaches can make Temple football relevant again but it starts by balling out on Saturday.

Late Saturday Night: Game Analysis

10.13.24
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Temple-Tulsa: Some reason for optimism

For about six weeks, give or take a bye week, the nation hated the Temple Owls.

We’re seeing something new this week.

The nation doesn’t hate Temple anymore.

They are neutral.

Baby steps.

For the first time this season, Temple is not an underdog in a football game. It is not a favorite, but it is not an underdog.

As you can see by the above graphic, Temple opened as a “pick-em” against Tulsa in Saturday’s 2 p.m. Homecoming Game. Tulsa might get a -1 in the next day or so, but I’m expecting Temple to settle in as a 1- or 2-point favorite by kickoff.

There are a couple of reasons for that.

Temple is notoriously good in Homecoming Games over the last 15 years or so. The Owls beat a ranked Memphis team twice on Homecoming, including in Rod Carey’s Farewell tour. Two years ago, Temple extended an unbeaten Rutgers team to the end, falling, 16-14, before a crowd of 34,654 mostly Temple fans.

Some past Temple Homecoming Crowds .. .

Homecoming is the one time of the year where the “Prodigal Son” Temple fan returns for a game. They might not even like football, but it’s the No. 1 thing Temple does to network its 360,000 Temple alumni. They can’t get that kind of a crowd at a basketball game or a chemistry class or a Temple Hall of Fame ceremony.

They do get a big crowd at Homecoming.

The other element is that the Owls do look better. They hung with a UConn team that destroyed Buffalo, 47-3, and Buffalo beat MAC powerhouse Toledo, 30-15, on Saturday. They gave Army a much better game than Tulsa did, trailing by “only” 28-14 at the start of the fourth quarter.

Does it mean they will beat Tulsa? Err, no. But should they beat Tulsa?

Hell yes for their sake and for everybody who works at the E-O’s sakes.

Temple was 0-6 in Matt Rhule’s first season but did draw this significant pre-game tailgate crowd. They beat Army that day.

There is no new President at Buffalo or Toledo examining the future of the sport nor should it.

Temple, on the other hand, for its 45-29 win over Utah State and competing with UConn is still 1-5 and the bottom line has to get better.

Saturday in front of a lot of Temple eyes is a good place to start.

Now is the time for Stan Drayton and the Owls to win back a good portion of those fans. If they are sufficiently entertained, and get to enjoy a win, that will carry a lot of weight with the new President who comes aboard on Nov. 1.

If the Owls lose, though, those Prodigal Sons and Daughters won’t be looking back on the most recent Homecoming as a fond memory.

Friday: Tulsa Preview

10.10.24
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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.

10.06.24
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After the fumble heard ’round the world, where does Stan stand?

All these “coaches on the hot seat” stories assume Temple operates like a normal school.

The math for Stan Drayton was getting problematic after the Army loss.

After the fumble heard round the world on Saturday, nothing adds up. Temple’s fumble at the goal line on an ill-advised play call went so viral, it was the number one trending sports video on twitter (or X) between 8-9:10 p.m. on Saturday night. So pretty much everyone saw it and was laughing at Temple.

All the while we who have loved the program so many years were crying.

Athlon Sports Preseason Magazine had Stan Drayton on the hot seat before the season and it hasn’t gotten any cooler after a 1-5 start.

We’re No. 1, at least in ridicule. That’s the kind of math Temple doesn’t need to be associated with, and the numbers adding up in its favor at the end of this season not likely now.

Temple would have to basically run the table–and lose only to, say, Tulane–in order to qualify for a bowl.

In just about every other job in the world “up or out” applies after a certain probation period. Drayton’s probation period expired a long while ago and in no world does 3-9, 3-9 and (most likely) 3-9 represents an up.

Does it really represent an out, though?

At a normal school, an evaluation is made after three or so years whether it’s prudent to keep paying the guy big-time money to keep repeating the same record, or “fish or cut bait.” The assumption is that an important decision must be made and caution or indecisiveness just postpones the inevitable and causes a couple more years of suffering.

Temple, though, works with a different, err, template.

The history of the Owls with major coaching hires has been this: Temple has no stomach to pay two big coaching salaries at the same time and will wait until the contract is up and just not renew it. The one outlier to the process was eating a couple of years of Rod Carey’s salary to get him the hell out of here.

That was a different time with a different administration.

With a new anti-football President coming on board Nov. 1, that’s probably not going to happen with Drayton so while he can stand another 3-9 season, Temple football might not. There’s been a rapid decline in fan support since the big 2022 Homecoming Crowd against Rutgers and the 2024 Homecoming Crowd against FAU will probably been the smallest one since Al Golden’s first year (2006).

When the BOT votes to keep football or not in one or two years, that kind of math is most unhelpful.

It’s too late to get those crowds back this year but it’s not too late to show the powers-that-be football can thrive at Temple. Finish 5-1 and making a bowl is the way to do it and that means no bonehead decisions like doing a tush push with a 160-pound backup redshirt freshman quarterback. Fake it into the belly of Torrez Worthy who does the leap into the end zone, have the QB put the ball on his hip and with an option walk in and toss a short pass to one of five wide-open guys.

That’s probably one game too late.

For the most important sports equation in school history to add up for Temple now means rising to the occasion over the next six games and nothing that happened in the first six supports that hypothesis.

Friday: Five Guys

10.05.24
by

These kids deserve better coaches

This was one of those games where, after watching, had to get into the car and go for a drive to let off some steam.

By some miracle, nobody was killed or even injured by my driving but plenty of thoughts of the train wreck I had just witnessed caused the windows to steam up.

Temple losing to UConn, 29-20, (really, 23-20) on the last play of the game was bad enough but the way was much worse.

Temple was the better team for 59 minutes and 57 seconds and that was because of the kids.

It finished as the second-best team because of the coaches.

The coaches started their bumbling and stumbling early when they didn’t notice a punt went off a UConn helmet in the first quarter and Temple recovered. Any other professional coaching staff has someone watching for that, getting on the headset and telling head coach Stan Drayton to throw the challenge flag.

The nation noticed and so did the CBS Sports TV announcers.

Temple did none of that and gave up early points that would have made the ending moot.

Now what should have been moot but wasn’t. Second-and-goal inside the 1 with two more chances to punch across the win in the last minute and UConn having no time outs.

Should have been easy peasy for any coaching staff in America but the one employed by Temple.

First of all, running back Torrez Worthy was the guy who put you in a spot to win the game getting a second and less than a yard at the goal line. You ride or die with him. You don’t dick around giving the ball to anyone else. At worst, you fake it to him and then do a simple pitch and catch for the winning touchdown to a wide-open receiver in the end zone.

UConn was selling out for the run. It would have been an easy score.

Second, every single time backup quarterback Tyler Douglas came in the game he ran the football. You do not telegraph plays like that on the college level. You don’t do it in the pros. You don’t do it in high school. You don’t do it even do it in Pop Warner Football.

Stan Drayton was essentially telling the Huskies: “Hey guys, heads up, we’re going to run the ball.”

Piece of cake but the Temple coaching staff would rather eat a turd, and that’s exactly what they did.

Is he working for Temple or UConn?

If you are going to have Douglas come into the game, have him make a few throws to cause the defense to think.

There was no thinking involved on Saturday.

There really hasn’t been all season.

Or any of the last three years for that matter.

No doubt in my mind this was the most heartbreaking Temple loss since the Hail Mary that ended the game at Buffalo in 2007.

The difference between that time and this one was that those coaches led by Al Golden put the Owls in a position to win the game and a freak play ended it.

This was the game where the kids put the Owls in position to win and some Rick James-like super freaky play-calling by the coaches robbed them of a deserved celebration.

Inexcusable.

These kids deserve better coaches.

Whether they get them or not is a question only Temple decision-makers at the highest level can answer now.

Monday: Waiting for the Temple administration to do something