Tag Archives: Temple football

01.22.14
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McNair Would Be A Great Addition to Rhule’s staff

Todd McNair, coaching the Cleveland Browns, has Temple running through his blood.

Todd McNair, coaching the Cleveland Browns, has Temple running through his blood.

A little over a year ago, then Temple athletic director Bill Bradshaw walked into a room full of Temple football players and told them their head coach at the time, Steve Addazio, was leaving for Boston College.

Partly out of courtesy, partly out of curiosity, Bradshaw asked the team what they thought he should do.  The players shouted out one thing: “Hire Matt Rhule.” Bradshaw had other ideas, even mentioning to several fans that it was his desire this time to get a guy with winning head coaching experience.

Paul Darragh finished his first season as head coach at Bloomsburg with a 10-2 record.

Paul Darragh finished his first season as head coach at Bloomsburg with a 10-2 record.

As it turned out, though, what the players had to say carried an awful lot of weight when Bradshaw was weeding through the interview process. Like a couple of years before, Rhule interviewed well and was liked by more than just the players. The parents also liked him, as did some key administrators who remembered Rhule’s time as an assistant coach for both Addazio and the guy before him, Al Golden.

In the end, Rhule’s knowledge of the program and the kids and that support won Bradshaw over. That, and the fact at least one other key target was coaching his team in a bowl game and did not want to give that up to get to Temple early enough to secure a shaky recruiting class.

Rhule had a rough first year, going 2-10, but he has secured a couple of decent recruiting classes and one of the only things left for him to do is to hire a guy or two with Temple connections as a key position coach. It’s one thing to have Temple-made guys like former quarterback Adam DiMichele and former safety Kevin Kroboth as grad assistants, but it might be helpful to get a guy from Temple as a position coach as well.

I think the next step for a guy like Matt Rhule is to hire an assistant coach with Temple ties to a winning past, a guy like Paul Darragh or Todd McNair. Darragh finished the season as a 10-2 head coach at Bloomsburg University and McNair was one the offensive coordinator for powerhouse USC under Pete Carroll. McNair, a NFL running back, was also an assistant coach with the Cleveland Browns. Other coaches with Temple backgrounds include (but are not limited to) Dick Beck, the North Penn High School head coach and Rich Drayton, the Central High School head coach.

Even the Florida Gators once feared Todd McNair.

Even the Florida Gators once feared Todd McNair.

I thought about Todd the other day when  he posted that he was happy with the addition of Elijah Robinson to the Temple staff. I thought, “Why not Todd?” Todd is a great guy and a great coach who has a National Championship under his belt at USC and, while at Temple, played in a game against defending national champion BYU in front of 52,945 at Veterans Stadium. (Temple lost that game, 26-24.)

Why not indeed? He would be a great role model for the present-day Temple kids.

You can never have too many good coaches on the staff, especially guys with “Temple-made” stamped on their farheads.

01.02.14
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Recruiting: Embrace it or Fail

Arguably, the jewel of this recruiting class is cornerback Anthony Davis of Gateway and probably not arguable is that cornerback is the one position where Temple needs immediate help.

Say what you will about Matt Rhule and we haven’t been shy about saying a few thousand words about him over the last few months, the facts of life in college sports start with a head coach who excels in recruiting.

Sure, you need a little bit on the ball on game day but, if you have better players, you are usually going to make the better plays.

247Sports' AAC recruiting rankings.

247Sports’ AAC recruiting rankings.

Back to Rhule, though. The guy’s most positive trait is that he’s embraced recruiting pretty much like Al Golden did and that’s a very good development for Temple football going forward. Kids like him and he seems to like hopping aboard airplanes and trains to solidify relationships. He’s also good on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter and that’s just part of the recruiting game these days. For all of those reasons, I think Rhule will hold together a pretty good recruiting class and have Temple ranked No. 3 or  No. 4 in the AAC in recruiting this season. That’s outstanding coming off a 2-10 season because a belief system that would have been there for 10-2 doesn’t exist at 2-10. At 2-10, you are asking kids to come to your school based on blind faith.

One of the reasons Bill O’Brien left Penn State was that I don’t think a whole lot of guys who spend extended time in the NFL have a zeal for recruiting. Reading between the lines of O’Brien’s comments today, it looks like he saw it as a necessary but not exciting part of the job. O’Brien also seemed miffed with the “Joe Paterno” faction of the Penn State fans.

Now he just has to concentrate on football and I think he will do a good job as head coach of the Texans.

Matt Rhule has got to get better on game day and I thought one step in that direction would have been hiring part-time CBS Sports Analyst Tom Bradley to be his new full-time defensive coordinator. That doesn’t look like it’s going to happen, but Penn State defensive line coach (and great recruiter) Larry Johnson is out there and probably will be looking for a job soon and Temple so happens to have an opening for a defensive line coach. (Unless, of course, Johnson goes to the pros.)

Seems like a no-brainer to me but a lot of things seemed like no-brainers this season that turned into brainers.

12.31.13
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Junior Galette’s Return to Philadelphia

Click on photo of Eagles' fans to find five keys to the game, one involving former Temple player Junior Galette.

Click on photo of Eagles’ fans to find five keys to the game, one involving former Temple player Junior Galette.

Just like about six million other people in the tri-state area on Saturday night, I’ll be watching the Eagles vs. Saints playoff game on Saturday night.

I also hold no hopes for New Orleans’ starting defensive end Junior Galette to say “Junior Galette, Temple Owls” when he does his own introduction on NBC. That honor will be probably reserved for Spellman College, which recently eliminated all intercollegiate sports.

Damn.

Galette is returning to Philadelphia, but not “coming home.” He had to be dismissed from the team by then head coach Al Golden for a discipline issue we won’t get into here, but I’m always sad to see great talent exit Temple for any reason.

Galette’s return does make you wonder about what happened to the one vaunted Temple pass rush, though. Consider the guys who have been through here: Galette, Muhammad Wilkerson and Adrian Robinson. Of the three, although “Big Mo” is the all-pro, Robinson was the best pass rusher in college. I always told his dad he was playing out of position (I thought the Owls should have used him as an OLB with pass-rushing responsibilities, ala Lawrence Taylor with the Giants) but I could see Golden’s point in that the Owls needed to play him as a down lineman.

Hopefully, Matt Rhule brings in Galette, Wilkerson and Robinson type talent in with this class. Pass defense becomes a lot easier when the bad guy’s quarterback is on his ass all the time.

Greatest Punt Block Ever:

12.26.13
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Five Bowl Games TU Fans Should Watch

Hooter and Stella will be kicking back on the couch watching these five games and wishing the football Owls get their shot to do the same in a year.

Hooter and Stella will be kicking back on the couch watching these five games and wishing the football Owls get their shot to go to a bowl game in a year.

If there is one thing the bowl season best illustrates, it’s the schism between the haves and the have-nots in college football.

For the second year in a row, fan of the Temple Owls are on the outside of the bowl window with their noses pressed against it longing for the not-so-distant days when they were part of the haves. The program had a nice little run that saw the team bowl eligible for three-straight years, including the first bowl win in over 30 years, but the Owls have missed badly over the last two years. There had been some hope that first-year head coach Matt Rhule would improve the team from a four-win season in 2012 to a six-win season in 2013, but things imploded badly with embarrassing losses to Fordham and Idaho.

There is some good news, though, in that quarterback P.J. Walker was named to the freshman All-American team and that the team returns most of the players who gave AAC champion Central Florida  one of its toughest league tests for the season. In linebacker Tyler Matakevich, the team has a junior-to-be linebacker who led the country in tackles and will no doubt be on the Dick Butkus Award Watch List as the top player at his position next year.

Plus, Rhule is in the final stages of securing what many consider the best recruiting class in school history. Whether the returning players and the recruits put the Owls over the top remains to be seen and so are five bowl games that should hold a particular appeal for their fans. Of course, Steve Addazio turned a 2-10 team into a 7-5 team  and you-know-who turned a 4-7 team into a 2-10 team. For those interested, Daz’s game vs. Arizona is 12:30 p.m. on New Year’s Eve. Does Daz go 2-10 with this Temple team? Hell no. His relentless commitment to the run would have avoiding the uni the embarrassment of Fordham and Idaho.  I still think Rhule is a better long-term option for the program than Daz, particularly if he finds the gonads to fire Phil Snow in the next few weeks. I don’t think he has the gonads, though.

Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports

Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports

5. Bowling Green vs. Pittsburgh

In the Little Caesar Pizza Bowl in Detroit on Thursday night, these are two old conference rivals of Temple’s and Owl fans can see what the Falcons have done with less talent and better coaching. According to one national recruiting website, Scout.com, Bowling Green’s 2010 recruiting class was ranked No. 85 in the country, while Temple’s was ranked No. 75 in the same year. Also, Temple had the No. 55-ranked recruiting class in 2012, well ahead of BGSU’s No. 82-ranked class the same year. The only year the Falcons out -recruited Temple was 2011, when their class ranked No. 84 to TU’s No. 95. Pitt was an old Big East foe of Temple.

Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports

Andrew Weber-USA TODAY Sports

4. Northern Illinois vs. Utah State

In the Poinsettia Bowl in San Diego also on Thursday night, the Owls get to see what another former conference foe has done with “lesser” rated talent as Temple out recruited NIU in two of the three years from 2010 through 2012. The only time a Temple class was rated behind NIU was in 2011, when the Huskies pulled a No. 90 nationally to Temple’s No. 95. The Huskies have a program-changer in Jordan Lynch, while the Owls feel they also have a program-changer in freshman All-American quarterback P.J. Walker.

Brendan Maloney-USA TODAY Sports

Brendan Maloney-USA TODAY Sports

3. Marshall vs. Maryland

In the Military Bowl Friday, Owl fans get to see former defensive coordinator Chuck Heater lead the rejuvenated defense against a Maryland team that was on Temple’s schedule in both 2011 and 2012. Heater had the 2011 Owls ranked No. 3 in the nation in scoring defense and the Owls had consecutive shutouts that season. He now has Marshall ranked No. 33 in the nation in scoring defense. His replacement at Temple, Phil Snow, has the Owls ranked No. 82 in the country in scoring defense. The last time Heater faced a Randy Edsall coached-team on Maryland soil, he held the Terrapins to seven points in a 38-7 win.

John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports

John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports

2. Louisville vs. Miami (Fla.)

On Saturday in the Russell Athletic Bowl, The Cardinals of the AAC get to go against a couple of familiar faces in Miami head coach Al Golden and defensive coordinator Mark D’Onofrio. Both held the same positions at Temple as recently as 2010. No doubt Owl fans will be rooting for Golden, who brought respect to the Temple program. D’Onofrio was a runner up for the Temple job that went to Rhule a year ago.

Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports

Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports

1. Vanderbilt vs. Houston

On Jan. 4 in the Compass Bowl, a game holding the most interest for Temple fans is next year’s opening opponent, the Commodores, who will be playing Owl conference foe Houston. Temple dropped a 22-13 game to the Cougars earlier this year and this game will provide a barometer for how far the Owls must improve to compete against an upper-tier SEC team. Vandy head coach James Franklin is from the Philadelphia area, having played quarterback for suburban powerhouse Neshaminy High School in 1989.

12.05.13
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Throwback Thursday: Henry Burris talks Temple

Watching P.J. Walker play this season, I am reminded of one Temple quarterback: Henry Burris.

Henry Burris as an Owl.

Henry Burris as an Owl.

Hank was a great Temple Owl and he remains a great Temple Owl to this day and will go down as one of the greatest quarterbacks in Canadian Football League history.

The one regret I have about Henry’s career at Temple is that Ron Dickerson did not recruit enough Henry Burrises at the other positions so that the Owls would have bowl games and championships under Henry’s watch.

“Henry Burris is an excellent quarterback,” Penn State coach Joe Paterno said. “He has a super arm and is very, very mobile. “

Hopefully, Matt Rhule will learn from this mistake and not waste P.J.’s final three years. Temple needs at least two, hopefully three, winning seasons under P.J.’s watch and that’s the job of the coaches who are hitting the recruiting trail hard now.

Henry talks about Temple at the 8:17 time stamp of the video above.

Unfortunately, I could not find a single YouTube clip of Henry Burris playing football at Temple. If anyone has something, please send it to me: templefootballforever@gmail.com.

11.24.13
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There’s the real world and there’s Temple

The real world coaching hot seat.

The real world coaching hot seat. You can take Matt Rhule off that list.

In the real world, an employee who shows gross incompetence gets a period of about two months, not a year or years to evaluate his performance.

It’s called a probationary period.

Matt Rhule’s  probationary period has come and gone and, in the long and storied history  Temple football employees, he deserves a longer look.

In the real world, the boss calls Rhule in after a performance like Saturday night (and a lot of Saturday days before that) and says, “Matt, you’re a good guy, but you are not cut out for this job. The guy who hired you wasn’t my guy. I now have my own guy as athletic director I want to have my own guy as head football coach. After watching Pete Lembo beat Indiana with Ball State talent every year, I decided he’s my guy. I want to be able to beat Penn State with Temple talent next year and I think he’s better suited to do that than you are. That’s why I’m bringing in Pete Lembo from Muncie, Ind. to replace you at the end of the season. You can coach the final game. Good luck, Matt. Here’s your severance check. No hard feelings. I think Kutztown might have an opening after next season. I’ll give you a good reference.”

That’s what the real world does. That’s what USC did to Lane Kiffin (a winning coach this season). That’s what UConn did to Paul Pasqualoni. That’s what evenly lowly Eastern Michigan did to Ron English.

There’s the real world and there’s Temple.

At Temple, they allowed a most incompetent coach, Bobby Wallace, hang around  for eight years to nearly destroy a program.

In one of the comments in the story below, a poster named Dave says he “would not be shocked” to see Rhule fired by 10 a.m. Monday morning.

I would.

That’s just not the way Temple has operated for the past 30 years. Maybe the new guys, Neil Theobald and Kevin Clark, are much more connected to the real world of major intercollegiate athletics than the Ann Weaver Harts and the David Adamanys were.

I’m OK with how Temple does business in this way. You need to give a guy five years, not one or two.

Still, I get that he wants to be the anti-Daz with all this passing, but did the thought EVER occur to him that Zaire Williams could have ripped of a few second-half runs like that spectacular touchdown run he had in the first half if given the chance?  Tunnel-vision, that’s what it is. You do not abandon the run game with a 21-0 lead, you embrace the run game.

 

Addazio had virtually the same talent against a better UConn team last year and shut the Huskies out in the second half. Rhule allowed a worse version of the Huskies to score 28 points in the second half. With the same talent, the only variable in this lab experiment is coaching.

How do you play Central Florida so well and lose to a team Central Florida beat, 63-17? Mind-boggling. How do you lose to arguably the worst team in the history of the FBS in Idaho (double-mind boggling)? How do you lose to a Fordham team that lost to Lafayette (triple-mind-boggling)?

In this high-stakes’ game of major college intercollegiate athletics, three strikes like that usually mean you are out. Temple doesn’t play that game of hardball and we are OK with that here and now. Five years from now, maybe not but Matt deserves a longer look.

Halftime Adjustments?

Game First Half Points Second Half Points
Notre Dame 6 0
Houston 13 0
Cincinnati 20 0
UConn 21 0

Temple is the only team in America with these dubious distinctions: Giving two ESPN Bottom 10 teams their only win of the season and being the only team shut out in the second half of four games. Either the coaches of four other teams are coming up with a lot of adjustments or the coach of one team isn’t. Or both.

 

11.12.13
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UCF’s O’Leary is one of the best

George O'Leary's time was short at ND.

George O’Leary’s time was short at ND.

George O’Leary was the best coach in Notre Dame history who lasted only five days on the job. We’ll never know if he would have been the best who lasted 500 days or 5,000 days, but nothing in his coaching history suggests he would not have been.
When the Irish hired O’Leary, then 55, in December of 2001, I thought they were getting a terrific coach.
I still do.
Heck, if he had not fudged his resume, he might still be there. He’s THAT good of a coach.
Notre Dame had to fire him (technically, he resigned), because that’s what they did in those days to people who got jobs off fake resumes.
To me, though, the guy did not commit a crime. He didn’t stick up a bank, kill or molest someone. Embellishing his resume did not change the fact that he was an accomplished head coach at Georgia Tech and probably would have been an accomplished head coach at Notre Dame.

O'Leary's downfall is when he said he played at UNH but no one there could remember him.

O’Leary’s downfall came when he said he played at UNH but no one there could remember him.

We’ll never know that, but those Temple fans not sickened to the pit of their stomachs by seeing the numbers 1-8 next to the word Temple in the papers will see at least one well-coached team when the Black Knights come to Lincoln Financial Field on Saturday at noon. Other Temple fans have already checked out.

Can’t blame them. They were hoping for better than the 4-7 Daz gave them last year. Those hopes were dashed a long time ago, buried under the rubble of disgraceful losses to Fordham and Idaho.

O’Leary dots the I’s and crosses the T’s on every game plan. If he’s beaten, it’s because the talent on the other side of the ball is better. He’s not afraid to use the quarterback sneak on fourth-and-inches. He’s probably afraid NOT to, it’s such a high-percentage call. O’Leary watches the film, picks out an opponents’ weakness, and attacks that weakness. If O’Leary was playing, say, a FCS team with a 247-pound-average defensive line, he would probably use his 305-pound-average OL to pound that FCS team into submission via the run game. If O’Leary was playing the 125th-ranked rushing defense in the FBS, dome or no dome, he probably would commit a game plan heavily laden in all kinds of running plays and probably save the eleven overthrown 50-yard bombs for another day.

That’s the kind of advantage a seasoned head coach gives the team he’s coaching and the school he works for.

If you get the feeling that Temple coaches NEVER watch the film of opponents or check their tendencies, this season has provided enough evidence to convict on all counts.

After Al Golden left Temple, I thought the Owls should go after someone who fit the O’Leary profile: A proven success as a head coach, a guy on the rise, not a recycled has-been like Dennis Franchione or Larry Coker.
Golden was perfect for his time because, at THAT time, Temple needed a young guy with the boundless energy to roll up his sleeves and build a program brick by brick.
After Al left, the foundation was already solid.
It did not need to be taken down and rebuilt again and that’s why someone who fit the O’Leary profile, say a MAC head coach who did nothing but win, was just the right person who could take Temple to the next level. For Temple, a perfectly nice brick house has been knocked down for no good reason.

Fortunately for fans in Orlando, O’Leary became available to UCF and he’s done nothing but win down there.
Notre Dame’s loss is Central Florida’s gain and ask any of their fans who make the trip North if they care one wit whether or not he fudged his resume.
All that matters to them is winning. Temple’s administration and fans should demand no less.