Tag Archives: travel

12.19.24
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Keeler’s bowl presence mattered and here’s why

This is about as good a preview to what Temple’s offense and defense will look like in 2025.

Anyone who saw Sam Houston’s State’s 31-26 bowl win on Thursday night over Georgia Southern also saw that K.C. Keeler was in attendance when the ESPN2 broadcast cut away to him.

Not coaching but supporting his kids.

That matters to Temple for a couple of reasons.

One, and probably most importantly, Keeler probably was there to recruit a few key Sam Houston State players to Philadelphia.

There’s a quarterback, a running back and a few defensive backs that certainly could seriously upgrade the Owls although, in my humble opinion, Evan Simon–if he stays here–beats out any other quarterback for the job.

(Hell, he probably did the same under the old staff but they were too blind to see.)

Simon says (pun intended) that he loves Temple and I know we Temple fans love him. Keeler is too good of a football coach to see things any other way once the balls start flying in a few weeks at 10th and Diamond.

Two, Keeler’s presence at a SHS bowl game will show the Temple kids that he will care about them in the same way he cared about the Bearkats. Imagine this: Temple goes to a bowl game in two years and Keeler gets the Ohio State job. (Hey, if you think OSU won’t give the job to a 67-year-old UNC just hired a 72-year-old to replace a 73-year-old.) He won’t be working for Ohio State, but he will be there to support the Temple kids.

Sold his soul for $7.4 million and didn’t even support the Temple kids in the bowl game. Contrast that to Keeler and Temple has a gem.

That’s just the kind of guy Keeler showed that he was on Thursday night.

My feeling and this could be naive is that Keeler is too Philly a guy to leave even if a P4 program tries to lure him but we won’t know until we know.

Contrast that to this: Matt Rhule, in the same week he was preparing Temple for the AAC championship game, said there was no amount of money that could take him away from his Temple players.

Evidently, $7.4 million from Baylor was enough for Rhule to skip the Military Bowl where Temple was going for a school-record 11th win.

Instead, Rhule was out recruiting for Baylor and not supporting the Temple kids.

Now, Keeler was supporting the Sam Houston kids and, at the same time, probably recruiting for Temple.

At least we hope so.

In his first big character test as Temple coach, Keeler passed it with flying colors.

A little Orange and White but way more Cherry and White.

Monday: The Offensive Staff

12.12.24
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The reviews are in and they are all good

The reviews are in on the new Temple head football coach and let’s just say they are a lot better than the reviews a certain McDonald’s in Altoona received this week.

Validation is always a good thing, and the Temple brass received plenty of it in the 10 or so days since hiring K.C. Keeler away from Sam Houston State.

That got me to thinking about the reaction to past Temple hires. I can’t remember a single time there was this much positive reaction to a Temple football head coaching hire since Wayne Hardin. Places like The New York Times raved about Temple hiring Hardin, who had Navy as the No. 2 team in the country in the 1962 season and won a pro championship later with the Philadelphia Bulldogs of the Continental League in 1966.

We all know what happened when Hardin decided to return to Philadelphia four years later.

Hardin became the winningest coach in Temple history, had four-straight winning seasons, won Temple’s first bowl game ever and was a mere 16 points from an unbeaten season in 1979 which would have almost assuredly gave Temple and Philadelphia a mythical national football championship.

In a way, Keeler decided to return to Philadelphia earlier this month and that’s a comparison that bodes well for Temple.

Keeler knows those bullet points all too well since his only disappointment in that 1979 season came at the hands of Temple. Keeler was a linebacker whose only loss in a 13-1 year was a 31-14 one to Hardin’s Temple team.

This is not a Temple fan. It is a WVU fan who was thrilled by the hiring of Rich Rodriguez.

That Delaware team didn’t have a “mythical” national championship then. It had a real one at the next level down from Temple and the national powers (now FCS).

Keeler, more than anyone else, knows how great Temple can be in this sport.

After hiring Keeler, Temple fans need to reflect on what they’ve seen over the last three years of the Stan Drayton Regime. Plenty of sub-level G5 talent, plus numerous games where the head-scratching moments came when Temple was either offsides, had false starts, illegal formations and linemen downfield.

Sam Houston fans never saw that kind of stuff and that’s why Temple hired K.C. Keeler nearly a dozen days ago.

Since then, Keeler has gotten to work revamping the coaching staff and making strides to do the same with the roster. Temple is the only team mentioned for a backup Ohio State linebacker who returned a pick six for a touchdown three months ago against Akron.

That’s the kind of player Temple needs. That’s the kind of player we’ve been preaching that Temple go after the last two years, guys who can play at the P4 level but are stuck behind other NFL players.

What did the previous staff do?

Go after JUCO players. The past staff was stuck in the 1980s, where the only way they knew how to fill immediate needs was to get JUCO players.

When you do that, you get JUCO results.

If you want to get big-time results, you’ve got to go after big-time players and Keeler understands that. Winning the portal means as much as winning the NFL draft and Keeler was so good at that a year ago that he lost only one player in the portal on the way to a 9-3 season.

There are plenty of big-time players in the portal, and plenty of guys who are looking for an opportunity to show themselves over a NIL payday. Temple needs to go after that type of hungry player and nobody more than Keeler understands that reality.

Others are noticing and that cannot be a bad thing and we haven’t had that happen in a half century.

Monday: The Letter

12.05.24
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A primer for new head coach K.C. Keeler

An open letter to K.C. Keeler:

Dear K.C.,

First of let me congratulate you on getting the job.

You were on my “wish list” for Temple head coaches. For the record, not the first, but certainly high up there.

I’m not here to give you any recommendations on the football side. You’ve got that part locked up.

The Temple side, to me, and a lot of fans, is just as important. Getting a lay of the land and the Edberg-Olson facility, the people and the traditions of Temple, are nearly as important.

K.C. Keeler now has the best administrative assistant in the country. Just ask Bruce Arians, Al Golden, Matt Rhule and Geoff Collins.

One, the people:

Getting to know and love Nadia Harvin, your administrative assistant, who has been with every coach since Bruce Arians. She’s a legend. She’s in the Temple Hall of Fame. Pick up the phone and call Bruce and ask about Nadia. Pick up the phone and call Matt Rhule. Pick up the phone and call Geoff Collins.

Also, it might not hurt to call the people who might have hurt you back in 1979 if you get a chance. Mike Curcio, who, like you, was a linebacker in the 1979 Temple-Delaware game, would be a good start. Like you, Mike Curcio played with the Philadelphia Eagles for awhile. Steve Conjar, the all-time leading tackler who played in that same 1979 game, also hosts the biggest tailgate in Lot K.

As far as the players, I would make a special effort to keep quarterback Evan Simon and running back Torrez Worthy. Simon, who said last week “I love Temple” probably needs only someone important to tell him they love him. I will say this: He’s got the most moxie I’ve seen in a Temple quarterback since Adam DiMichele. He knows how to get rid of the ball and when to get rid of it. Watch his tape vs. Utah State. Kid made 10 great throws under hellacious pressure, five for touchdowns, to win the game 45-29.

Dave Gerson, from a younger generation, is also a Temple treasure. Get to know him. No greater Temple fan. Nobody loves Temple football more. Nobody will be able to introduce you to people who love Temple quicker than Dave.

Two, the coaches:

I know you know Adam Scheier. To me, he’s one of the best special teams coaches in the country. I would keep him. The kids love him and the Temple special teams have been one of the few highlights over the last three seasons.

Chris Wiesehan, the offensive line coach, had great offensive lines under Rhule and Geoff Collins. He didn’t have a great offensive line under Stan Drayton but, like Bill Parcells used to say, he didn’t shop for the groceries under Drayton. Stan got him Aldi’s stuff. Rhule and Collins took him to Whole Foods.

Please stay away from Everett Withers and Danny Langsdorf.

This is the way a Temple team SHOULD celebrate a win.

Three, the traditions:

The “tradition” at Temple is that, after every Temple win, the team stands and sings the Alma Mater respectfully and then goes crazy singing “T for Temple U.” For reasons only Drayton knows, they stood respectfully with the band and sung the Alma Mater but broke ranks and went to the locker room before “T for Temple U.” That’s a no-no. “T for Temple U” is the main course. The Alma Mater is the appetizer.

Single Digit

The single digit tradition has been disrespected for at least the last three years, maybe more. Too many single digit Owls have left for other schools, causing something like this to happen when another team’s game is broadcast: “You know he’s tough because, when he was at Temple, he was a single digit.” That makes every Temple fan ill. You know the cure: No more single digits until your last year of eligibility at Temple.

Mark Bright was one of the best players on a team that gave K.C. Keeler his only loss in 1979.

Four, bring back the running game via the fullback:

In the 1979 Temple-Delaware game, the best player was fullback Mark Bright, from William Tennent High. The Temple tradition has always been to establish the running game with a fullback, then make explosive downfield plays in the passing game off play-action. The Hallmark of the last five years 1-6, 3-9, 3-9, 3-9 and 3-9 has been no running game. The reason is that all of those recent coaches have tried to establish a short-passing game first. All that has done is make Temple one of the worst rushing teams in the country and keep its defense on the field.

Five, The Community:

I don’t have to tell you that the Philadelphia Catholic League is the best high school football league in the country. People like Rich Gannon (St. Joe’s Prep, Delaware, NFL MVP), Frank Wycheck, Al Atkinson, Heisman Trophy winner John Cappelletti, Anthony Becht, the Pawlowski twins (Ken and Jim), Marvin Harrison Jr., John Runyon Jr., D’Andre Swift, etc. all played in the Catholic League. Hire someone like Father Judge’s Frank McArdle to keep that pipleline alive.

OK, I lied.

Maybe the coaches part and the running game part came under the substance of a football subject.

Everything else is solid advice.

Good luck, and welcome home.

Mike Gibson

Editor and Publisher, Temple Football Forever

Monday: The Temple Chain Gang

Friday: The Reaction

Monday: The Letter

11.30.24
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The most painful error of TU football is over

When the history of Temple football is written, the period between 2021 and 2024 will be forever known as “The 3-9 Era.”

You can’t go from 9 bowl games in 10 years to four-straight 3-9 seasons. That’s unacceptable, even in the NIL/transfer portal era.

That’s because in the long and often painful history of the sport at Temple there is arguably no worse era. You can’t go 3-9 four years in a row after teasing your fans with nine bowl games between 2009-2019.

Here’s my argument: I suffered through a 20-game losing streak and 30 years between bowl games only to see that losing streak end when Adam DiMichele threw a flea-flicker touchdown pass to Travis Sheldon to beat Bowling Green. Sheldon was the hero that day, also taking a kickoff return to the house.

After a rough first start against Layton Jordan and Temple for Rutgers in 2022, Evan Simon has proven to be if not a great Temple Owl a very good one. I would be happy if this kid is K.C. Keeler’s starting quarterback next year.

The coach that day, Al Golden, got an ice bucket bath.

It was onward and upward after that.

Three years later, Temple was in its first bowl game in 30 years.

Two years after that, Temple won its first bowl game in 32 years.

Four years after that, Temple was the major story in the nation with a Prime Time Game on ABC-TV that broke all kinds of ratings records. To this day, that was the No. 1-rated college football TV game in the nation’s fourth-largest market.

Any college football game. Ever, including Penn State-Notre Dame games, college football championship games. From the time Philo Farnsworth invented the TV set in the 1930s until 2024 and probably way beyond.

Unless Temple gets a prime-time game again, I doubt that record will ever be broken. (For the record, I doubt Temple will ever have a prime-time game again. Unless a Saudi billionaire wants to make a statement by backing the Temple NIL fund. Shoutout to MBS, who reads this website occasionally.)

Did I think Temple could sustain that kind of success?

Hell no. (I was just happy I lived long enough to see it.)

Did I think Temple could be a regular visitor to great bowl games and win its share?

Hell yes.

What happened?

Two buddy hires (Pat Kraft/Rod Carey and Arthur Johnson/Stan Drayton) poisoned the well of success we’ve been drinking from. Kraft and Johnson were responsible, but so was the BOT which should have provided oversight.

Today’s 24-17 loss to North Texas was bad, but proved the kids never quit and that is important.

They were down, 24-3, and had enough pride in themselves, the school and their teammates to compete.

The second half was 0-0 against a bowl team.

IF … and that’s a big IF .. the next coach can keep the core base of talent (I’m thinking QB Evan Simon, RBs Torrez Worthy, and some guys on defense) here and supplement them with P4 backup talent and FCS stars (not JUCOs), Temple has a chance at a winning season.

Not far in advance like the old days. Next year.

It also has to have a good coach who understands that the way to beat offenses is an attacking defense (which means sacks and strip fumbles in the backfield or forced interceptions) and an offense that supplements its base philosophy with surprises (i.e. halfback passes, double reverses, shovel passes and jump passes ot the tight end).

The last three years we saw nothing of that at Temple.

Disappointing but not surprising that this offensive staff played backup QB Tyler Douglas at RB on several downs but never realized they had a RB who could throw a halfback pass. North Texas might have been fooled by that but we will never know because Temple never tried to fool the opposition.

Wayne Hardin, who fooled Temple’s opposition for many years, was probably turning over in his grave.

The next four years we should see plenty of fooling the opposition or there will not be four years after that. Pain should be followed by gain, but we will see.

After four years of the most painful Temple football watching in history, no fans deserve that kind of future more.

Monday: Season Review

11.22.24
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Temple-UTSA: You can’t make this stuff up

Wanted: Head football coach Temple University: If you watched the Owls on national TV Friday night, you know the opportunity that awaits you. A bunch of kids representing a great university played their asses off, only to to lose at UTSA, 51-27, because there were a lot of illegal shifts and illegal formations. If you know how to structure a practice to eliminate those kind of mistakes and put these wonderful young athletes in a better position to win, please contact Arthur Johnson at Temple University, Broad and Montgomery, Philadelphia, PA, 19122. Only successful head coaches need apply. Temple can’t make a mistake on another “promising” assistant because promises are often broken.

That pretty much summed up Temple’s effort in a 51-27 loss at UTSA on Friday night.

https://twitter.com/awfulannouncing/status/1860131230026727765

The kids at Temple played as hard as they could but a lot of procedural errors held them back.

As we’ve said in this space many times over the past couple of months, illegal shifts and illegal formations don’t happen to teams playing Temple nearly as much as they do to Temple.

The reason for that is simple: Temple structures its so-called practices like a team that was coached by a career assistant coach, which is exactly what happened over the last three years.

A career winning head coach at any level knows how to structure a practice so those kinds of mistakes don’t show up on national TV.

So that’s the decision facing Arthur Johnson now.

Does he go out and get a “promising” assistant to be head coach or does he go out and get a guy who delivered for some other school what he promised.

I’ll go for the guy who delivered the goods and not someone who is promising to deliver.

Maybe the most remarkable moment of Friday night’s game was the interview of Johnson while a slow quarterback negotiated his way through the entire Temple team for a 75-yard touchdown.

You can’t make that kind of stuff up but there it was for the world to see.

It left Johnson speechless and the world laughing at Temple once again. So, if you are keeping score, the last four appearances on a major ESPN network, Temple gave up 55 points to SMU, 51 to Oklahoma, 52 to Tulane and 51 to UTSA.

Enough is enough.

Get a guy in here who knows how to stop someone and has proven it by delivering more W’s than L’s to the school he was at before Temple.

Monday: Russell Conwell’s Pick for Next Head Coach

11.17.24
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Temple can’t afford to roll the dice on another assistant coach

Temple can do a whole lot worse than re-hire former head coaches like Geoff Collins or Al Golden, currently two Power 4 DCs.

Had to chuckle when two games ago Temple head coach Stan Drayton said the Owls’ lack of an NIL a primary reason the team has been mired in 3-9 seasons.

Partially, yes. Primary, no.

Then I watched the Bowling Green vs. Western Michigan where Steve Addazio did the color and his former Temple OC, Scot Loeffler, is the head coach at Bowling Green.

Bowling Green and Temple is a similar level of G5 football and both teams have about the same NIL money in their coffers, which is pretty close to nothing.

Did not get the name of the play-by-play guy but hit “key plays” on Youtube and he must’ve said “he called these kind of plays for you at Temple” on about 11 of those 28 key plays. Good, imaginative, plays.

Don’t remember Loeffler ever blaming the lack of NIL for the performance of his team.

BG is atop the MAC with a 5-1 record, 6-4 overall. Played tough against Penn State this year (34-27 loss) and won at Georgia Tech last year.

This is what we wrote before the Manny Diaz hire.

Both teams with significant NIL advantages over Bowling Green.

Some coaches make excuses. Others just roll up their sleeves and get the job done.

Stan Drayton was in one category. Scot Loeffler is in another.

How did Temple end up with a career assistant coach in charge of a multi-million dollar program is the key lesson the school can learn and apply to next hire. How it ended up with a Midwestern head coach with no knowledge of Temple before that is another lesson.

No more assistant coaches. No more Midwestern fishes out of water.

A guy with Philly and Temple connections and a proven winner as a head coach is really the only way to go now.

There are plenty of guys who have head coaching experience and someone in charge of the hiring process should pull out a yellow legal pad and put some names at the top of the list.

I would shoot for the moon and work my way back to earth like Apollo 13 did.

One, Jon Gruden. Lived in Philly as an assistant coach for the Philadelphia Eagles for years. Very familiar with the Temple program and once said on draft night that “nobody plays tougher than Temple.” Has said he would like to coach a G5 program. Would bring star power to Temple. Probably would say yes. Would be a major splash hire, just like Pop Warner (1930) and Wayne Hardin (1970) were for Temple. That worked out pretty well.

Two, Al Golden. Already has done a more impossible job taking Temple off college football’s deathbed and applying CPR to the program. Already in the Temple Hall of Fame. Would bring in major money to a Temple NIL fund and have the support of past Temple players. Would probably say no but I’d make him say it.

Three, Gabe Infante. Currently the assistant head coach at Duke University and a former Temple assistant coach. Current Buffalo Bills’ and former Temple RB Ray Davis said of Temple while at Vandy that “Coach Infante is the only great coach on that staff.” Has multiple state titles as a head coach at St. Joseph’s Prep, which is only five blocks from the Temple main campus. He is the embodiment of Temple founder Russell Conwell’s “Acres of Diamonds” story. Huge recruiting ties to Philadelphia.

Four, Geoff Collins. Rubbed some the wrong way while here as a head coach but you can’t deny this simple fact: Of all the head coaches in Temple history, Collins is the only one who has coached multiple seasons and never had a losing one here. Can you imagine Arthur Johnson introducing Collins with this line at the next press conference: “Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you the only head coach in Temple history who has never had a losing season and we fully expect that to continue after today.” Would jump at the opportunity to come back.

There are about six more head coaches with Temple ties who have won as head coaches elsewhere. Rolling the dice on another assistant who has never been a proven winning head coach is a crapshoot and the Owls might be down to one chip.

Friday: UTSA Preview

11.16.24
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The most consistent 3-9 team in college football history

In the midst of a long season, then Philadelphia Eagles’ head coach Andy Reid seemed frustrated by the questions of the media after a particularly ugly win and ended the press conference with these words:

“Enjoy the win.”

As Temple fans, we have no choice not to after an 18-15 overtime win over visiting Florida Atlantic that raised numerous red, or in this case, Cherry and White flags. It was the ugliest of ugly wins.

One, Temple struggled against an FAU team that got hammered by UConn, 48-14.

Temple should have won at UConn and was an ill-advised tush push away from doing so.

What happened in between?

You don’t need 12-0 seasons to bring this back to Temple. Just a new coach and a lot of 8-4 ones.

My view simply is this: Temple has been going through the motions since that spirited effort at UConn, knowing that it really wasn’t playing for anything but another 3-9 season.

After Saturday, that’s exactly what happened.

One thing we do know about Temple football: In the post-pandemic, post-NIL and post-transfer portal era, it is the most consistent 3-9 football program in FBS history. No school has ever finished 3-9 in even three-straight seasons without firing a coach and Temple will finish with four-straight 3-9s and the emphasis is on finish.

This is one of about 10 guys who can bring Temple football back to respect on a national scale.

One 3-9 Rod Carey season was followed by three 3-9 Stan Drayton seasons and that’s exactly how this thing is going to finish. Don’t give me any bunk about Temple having a chance against either North Texas or UTSA because it doesn’t.

North Texas and UTSA are only light years ahead of FAU and, by association, Temple.

Those two programs may be comparable to UConn but a Temple team playing out the string now and playing for something like it did in the UConn game are two different things.

Temple president John Fry is on the fly list (in this case, not a “no-Fry” list) to UTSA and he will be in the house for the Owls’ final game against North Texas. What he is likely to see is about a 35-14 loss in San Antonio and a 47-17 loss back in Philadelphia.

After that, the question he will present to the BOT is does Temple want to invest in an arms’ race in college football by paying players exorbitant money or does it want to fold up the tent entirely?

Winning would certainly help restore Temple’s image and bring fans back but it would take not only that investment but another significant one in a head coach who knows what he’s doing. That’s the case I would make to Fry if I had a chance to talk to him because a good football team can energize the entire Temple community (see above video).

I can also understand his point of view as a bean-counter.

That’s a lot of scratch and a school invested in doing other things like campus security and a hospital system that hemorrhages money might say the dollar is stretched too far.

If so, Temple’s football most recent legacy will be a maddening consistent 3-9 Final Four seasons.

Enjoy the win.

It might be the last one.

Monday: Debunking an NIL theory

11.09.24
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Time to make Wiesehan interim head coach

Unlike most of Drayton’s assistants, Chris Wiesehan knows the secret sauce to winning at Temple.

Safe to say that this will be the last time Temple football appears on a non-streaming ESPN network.

Maybe ever if the Owls decide to keep Stan Drayton around.

Getting that largest of the current G5 markets like Philadelphia certainly has its appeal but the last three appearances by a Drayton-led Temple team on a “regular” ESPN network has produced these results:

SMU 55, Temple 0 (ESPN)

Oklahoma 51, Temple 3 (ESPN)

Tulane 52, Temple 6 (ESPNU)

Enough is enough.

Arthur Johnson (rear, sitting) decides to fire Rod Carey (front) after a 49-7 loss to UCF which dropped his Temple record to 12-20. If he doesn’t do the same to Stan Drayton after a 52-6 loss to Tulane, John Fry should do the same to him. Drayton is 8-25. The numbers are the numbers.

That’s a lot of TV sets clicking off to other games by halftime.

That’s a lot of “regular college football Joes and Josephines” laughing at a great university.

If Temple University cares anything about its national profile, it should elevate offensive line coach Chris Wiesehan to head coach no later than Monday morning.

What does that accomplish?

A couple of things:

One, athletic director Arthur Johnson gets to keep his job for maybe one or two more years. Johnson was the guy who brought in his friend, Drayton, to be the head coach and it hasn’t worked out. Firing that friend will show new Temple president John Fry he is not wedded to that decision and able to separate his personal feelings about the guy from a business decision.

Two, it gives Temple a chance to see if the formula that worked for Troy could work here. When West Virginia plucked Neal Brown away from Troy, the Trojans looked around and said, “we only need a guy who knows Brown’s formula for winning here.” Jon Sumrall was that guy. At Temple, there is no guy on the staff who fits that description more than Wiesehan. He was here when Matt Rhule won here. He was here when Geoff Collins won here.

Chris Wiesehan was here when the Owls won under two head coaches. He’s seen all of the mistakes under this one and is the best hope now to reverse those before the end of this season.

He knows the secret sauce to winning here. If he’s able to stir that sauce with this pot, beat FAU and North Texas, then the Owls have their man.

If not, they have to look elsewhere.

What we do know at this current stage is keeping Drayton around for one more day does nobody any good.

No bigger Temple football fan than me, but I’ve checked out on the season. I’m not going to the final two home games. I imagine many of the other loyal Temple fans like me have come to the same conclusion. Hell, after seeing the effort against Tulane, I think a lot of the Temple players have already checked out.

Why Wiesehan now? Temple has to rid itself of the Unholy Trinity of Drayton, OC Danny Langsdorf and DC Everett Withers, the most responsible people for this mess. Wiesehan can name Chris Woods DC and Tyree Foreman OC. Temple needs to get back to a Temple TUFF running game and if they need to use two tight ends to help out Torrez Worthy, then that’s what must be done. This RPO stuff without the threat of a running game won’t work. On defense, they have to get after the quarterback. Withers’ philosophy of dropping 87 people into coverage never worked anywhere.

A new coach like the popular Wiesehan would be enough for me and a lot of other fans to change our minds. This is a guy the players can rally around as well.

With Drayton, there currently is a malaise in the program.

After nearly three years, Drayton is 8-25 without a single road win. Johnson fired Rod Carey after going 12-20 with multiple road wins.

Given that specific backdrop, firing Drayton now would not only be the fairest outcome but would give Temple a better look at the picture going forward.

The current picture is more than a little fuzzy and Johnson needs to move the antenna around or risk being removed from the screen himself.

Monday: Coverage of the firing press conference?

11.07.24
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Temple-Tulane comes down to a question of trust

This could have been at 12th and Norris had Lewis Katz had not gone way too soon.

Back in 2014 when Temple was beating Vanderbilt on the road, 37-7, fellow AAC member Tulane was opening Yulman Stadium.

It was a 30K on-campus stadium for a school used to playing in a big NFL stadium and it revitalized campus life and the football component.

In Philadelphia at the same time, Temple’s Board of Trustees was going in the same direction, approving a 35K on-campus stadium that had all the same intentions of Yulman Stadium, only bigger and better. Yulman was a big-time donor.

On Memorial Day of that same year, Lewis Katz died in a private jet crash.

What Yulman was to Tulane, Katz was to Temple.

Who knows?

Jon Sumrall is a great head coach. Stan Drayton is not. Temple needs a guy like this.

Maybe the Temple Stadium would have been named Katz Stadium and maybe Temple’s upward trajectory would have continued well past the Matt Rhule years.

Now Katz is gone Temple plays Tulane on Saturday (4 p.m., ESPNU). Katz had a lot to do with both the hiring of Steve Addazio (bowl winner) and Matt Rhule (AAC conference champion) as the head of the athletics committee at Temple both times.

Had Katz lived, do you think he would have hired guys like Geoff Collins, Manny Diaz, Rod Carey and Stan Drayton?

I don’t think so but we will never know.

Saturday’s game comes down to a matter of trust.

Do you trust Temple with Drayton and his sieve-like DC Everett Withers or do you trust a guy who made Troy a national power (Jon Sumrall)?

Not a betting man when it comes to the school I love but, if I was, I would lay the 25.5 points on the Green Wave and not blink an eye.

At Troy, Sumrall was a guy like current Temple OL coach Chris Wiesehan–an assistant who had the blueprint of success at that school drawn up by current West Virginia head coach Neal Brown. Wiesehan has all the secrets of Geoff Collins and Matt Rhule, two guys he worked under, at Temple.

When Brown went to the Moutaineers, Troy said, hey, we have a diamond in our own backyard in Sumrall. We don’t need to go elsewhere.

Sumrall took those receipts and made Troy better.

Now he parlayed that into a better job at Tulane, bringing with him his DC and OC and faces a RB head coach in Drayton and a DC who hasn’t been able to stop anyone in the last two decades. It’s Homecoming there. In a packed on-campus stadium that revitalized Tulane football from a few thousand fans rattling around the New Orleans Superdome to a college experience students will remember the rest of their lives.

Tulane went out and hired a head coach who proved he could get it done.

As a head coach, not a running back coach.

Who would you take?

I’ll be rooting hard for my team but I don’t trust my coaches. Have no doubt that my kids will play hard but I don’t see a DC who has ever believed in putting the other quarterback on his ass to my satisfaction. In fact, he lets every QB Temple faces pick his defense apart. Bruce Arians famously said while head coach at Temple that the best pass defense is putting the other quarterback on his ass. Everett Withers’ philosophy is to drop way to many guys into pass coverage and never risk sending way too many guys to force sacks and fumbles.

That’s a passive defensive philosophy and definitely not Temple TUFF.

Hate to say this, I trust the bad guys’ coaches a lot more.

Tulane 48, Temple 10 is about the right prediction. Praying for Temple to win, 24-23, but God might be saying: “Mike, hey, I’m God, but I can only do so much.”

Late Saturday Night: Tulane game analysis

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.