Temple football–Still hope?
Let me preface this by saying that I do not have anything against Temple or its football program. I do not think Al Golden is unintelligent by any means. He graduated from Penn St. where he played and coached under JoePa. Coach Golden also made stops at Boston College and UVa where he was able to earn a master’s degree in sports psychology. So I wonder when I see his resume why any man in his right mind would attempt to resurrect a program that should have long been dismantled.
This is not about Al Golden. I personally think he will be a good head coach someday after he recovers from this job. What this is about is the perfect catch 22 that the school’s administration faces with regards to football: there’s too much money vested to drop it, but not enough revenue to justify it.
Temple will begin next season as a member of the Mid-American Conference, playing against such natural rivals as Ohio U. and Western Michigan. Come on people. What’s really going on here? The administration should’ve made the move to 1-AA when they had the chance. Getting booted out of the Big East was the perfect out. They could have easily joined the Atlantic 10 and played against local rivals Villanova and Delaware. At the worst, they would have been able to contend for a playoff spot and maybe build a solid 1-AA program. The administration messed up by thinking that Division 1 football means big time money but the reality is Temple football is a sinking ship.
Problem #1-There are no facilities that warrant a top tier college football program. I don’t care how you dress up a lockerroom or practice facility, when you walk out onto Broad and Olney, its still North Philly. And do you honestly think that recruits are lining up to play at the Linc on a Saturday afternoon when the stadium is as empty as a recycling bin and real college football is on tv? Please. Temple will always lose out on recruits because, who can picture themselves taking their first snap in college against C. Michigan in front of 5,000 in a pro stadium? It feels like a charity game or something.
Problem #2-What does Temple have to offer that no other school in the area does? If you said playing at the Linc, go back and re-read #1. If you said tradition, then go to Temple’s website and see how they send out an S.O.S. to any letterwinner willing to admit to being an ex-Temple player. Temple has an all-time record of 387-505-52 for a winning percentage of .409. In order to find Temple’s last bowl game, you have to go back 5 Rocky’s, 4 presidencies, 3 wars, 2 President Bushs’, and 1 internet boom. There is simply no reason a high school football star wants to go to Temple right now.
Problem #3-Temple will always have a hard time when they do not have a recruiting region. South Eastern PA is a fertile recruiting area for Penn St., Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia, Syracuse, Pitt, and now Rutgers. They’ve tried the JC route but the only way to establish a solid program is developing players over four years. (see Wake Forest 2006) So now where do they go for players? New Jersey is off limits due to Rutgers resurgence, Maryland is building a good ACC program with in-state recruits, and quite frankly, the rest of Pennsylvania is devoured by the other Big Ten, ACC, and Big East teams looking for talent. The 1-AA schools are also stealing recruits with the promise of earlier playing time and sometimes better competition (i.e., A-10 football vs. MAC)
But, do not worry Temple fans (both of you) I have the solution.
First, admit you’ve made a mistake spending so much money on football but promise to take that money and build a stadium you can call your own. A well designed 25,000 seat stadium could even work up a home field advantage with the right setup. Even a stadium somewhere outside the city would give the school a sense of community if they know it’s theirs. Second, find your niche in recruiting. Make sure you go after local kids in order to establish a reason for people to connect, but don’t forget about making headway in the midwest. Often teams have success pulling players out of their opponents backyards. (Hell knows no wrath like a high school football player scorn) Finally, all of these solutions go back to tradition. No player coming out of high school remembers that Army and Navy once ruled college football. Or that TCU once won a national title. What they know is the hot school with the hot coach that started their own tradition (see, Rutgers 2006). Maybe Al Golden is that guy, we shall see. All I know is that Philly is too good of a football town not to have a decent Division 1 football program.
Make all these moves and there is hope for Temple football. Give me a call, I can make it happen. If not, then you can add “owl” to the endangered species list.
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Posted on January 11, 2007 by Shaz | Filed Under Temple, Philadelphia
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I will respond your three points with three points of my own.
Point #1- Temple has dumped MILLIONS into a state-of-the-art practice facility on campus. I, or the school, aren’t nieve enough to think that a practice facility is all it takes to bring in recruits. In no way does this guarentee that Temple will now be fighting with top tier schools for recruits (Even though lately, they have been. But more on that later.) But at least they are taking the steps necessary to promote a D-1 football program. And you are right, there is nothing inspiring about going to Broad & Olney to play football. Last time I checked, nothing to do with Temple ever graced that part of North Philly. If you would like, I will give you a guided tour of the new facility located @ 12th & Diamond. We can go watch the team do wind-sprints on that million-dollar synthetic field (similar to what the Superdome is now lined with) while you memorize where Temple is actually located.
Point #2- I would like you to go back and look at the last 10 years, and list for me the number of NFL players that have come out of Temple; and then compare them to the BCS-sponsored schools of UConn, South Florida, Cincinatti, and Rutgers. Actually, since I already wrote an article for another publication highlighting such numbers, I’ll spare you the work–The Owls trump it. Let’s face facts-D-1 football is the minor leagues for the NFL. Yes, as an Owl, you may spend 4 or 5 years of getting your head beaten in Saturday after Saturday, but I’m sure it gets easier to forget when those fat paychecks keep rolling in Sunday after Sunday. Go ask Raheem Brock, Dan Klecko, and Al Singleton.
Point #3- If you have been following the recruiting since Golden took over (which obviously you haven’t), you would notice that he has already gone leaps and bounds over what the school has been able to pull in in the last 15 years. Kids that would normally go off to the Penn State’s, Rutgers, and even Notre Dame’s of the world (Google Nate Schiccatano) are suiting up for the Cherry & White. I am going to repeat that sentence: TALENTED RECRUITS ARE PLAYING FOR TEMPLE. No one on North Broad Street is expecting the next Vince Young or Reggie Bush to bang down the doors and strap on a “T” helmet any time soon. But the steps Al Golden and the rest of the governing bodies of Temple football have taken lead to one goal–obtaining something the program hasn’t seen since the 70’s: respect.
Do the Temple faithful a favor (they do exist), get your facts straight before you try to clip the wings of an already wounded bird.
Well, Greg, I appreciate the feedback, but I’m just giving you the facts. The location of Temple is irrelevant, the point I was trying to make was, schools located in a tough, urban area are tough to recruit, bottom line.
Next, while some of Al Golden’s recruits are highly rated this year, they are exactly that RATED. None of them have played so the jury’s still out. My main message is that something radical must be done if they are to make the change. The have made the first move with a good coaching staff in place. Check. But college football is a business with a bottom line of results and we just haven’t seen any (other than the 62-0 kind) in a LONG time.
Next point, if you want to compare Temple players in the pros, then why are you going to UConn, USF, and Cinncinati? Is that where the expectation of the program is? Because UConn and USF are children in Division 1, not even 10 years in the big time. (UConn in ‘98, USF ‘01) Cinncinati is a disgustingly average program at best. So what if they have more players in the pros than them? That’s not the point. The point is establishing a program. The resources are available but the results are not showing up in the box score.
Temple has only 4 Division 1 programs within a 300 mile radius (Penn St., Rutgers, Maryland, and Virginia) Pitt is across the state but consistently comes into their territory to take players. Why you ask? Because they have an established program.
The whole point of my post was to suggest a better way to go about building the program, similiar to the way Greg Schiano has in Jersey. Now, he has top recruits wanting to play there when just 5 years ago, they got blown out at home by 1-AA Villanova (I was on that team BTW). Temple can do the same thing IF they take a look at what they’re doing and make a few adjustments. Remember the title of the post said, ‘Still Hope’ not ‘No Hope’. Again, I appreciate the comment.
I know I get fired up about something when I have to stop reading, find a pen and paper, and jot down all that I find wrong with an article. But, I don’t think anyone could have said it better than the previous response: you’re definitely kicking something while it’s already down.
And like the said responder, I don’t think you did much research for this “blog”. Come on, you can admit it.
Because if you did, you’d come back with something better than “schools in tough, urban areas are tough to recruit to, bottom line” after Greg provided YOU with THE FACTS on Temple’s mutli-millionaire dollar practice facility. You know, the one located on Diamond Street - not Olney, close though. Not really.
And because if you did, you wouldn’t question Temple’s move to the MAC instead of the Atlantic 10, a conference now disbanded regarding football-affiliates.
And because if you did, there is absolutely no way, and I don’t care what kind of Rutgers cool-aid you’ve been drinking, that you would compare the talent level of the MAC with the Atlantic 10. Since you knew TCU once won a National Title, I’m sure you’re aware that four MAC teams competed in bowl games this year.
And how do you defend your attack of “There is simply no reason a high school football star wants to go to Temple right now” with “the jury is still out” on current recruits?!?! Golden’s staff is entering it’s second season on North Broad and after playing 21 true freshman in ‘06…that’s right, 21…they are taking leaps and bounds in terms of recruiting. In fact, in Golden’s first season, he had approximately two juniors on the whole roster, which indicates he will have 48 players from last year’s team with him until 2008, barring transfers. If you want to reference making changes for a future, please, look no further. The jury is still out? Give me a break. That’s why you recruit. So a verdict can come to fruition.
But then again, TU will “always lose out recruits” to big-time programs. Like, Daryl Robinson (once verbaled to West Virginia, now set to sign with Temple in early February) and Adam DiMichele (once signed with Penn State, now Temple’s starting quarterback).
And I can’t stand how Rutgers is the Temple model and look at how Schiano can do it, what’s Temple doing? This is Schiano’s sixth season - two of which he was beaten by Temple (30-5 in ‘01 and 20-17 in ‘02). Were you on those teams, too? Or the ‘99 team that the Owls blasted 48-14? Throw that card at me in 2011 when Golden has finished his sixth season with the Owls.
Funny how you recall the title of the post like you’re actually writing about Temple football and its best interest. But then on two different occasions, assert that Temple football should have “long been dismantled” and “is a sinking ship”.
But, all the while, all the Temple administration had to do was call you. And for the facts, I presume.
Seriously, this guy is a joke. Why are you writing about Temple football at this time of the year anyway?
Hey, he could be writing about Drexel field hockey, if the guy says some flat-out wrong things, he deserves to hear about it.
By the way, Nova didn’t, as you said, “blow out” Temple @ the Linc. Nova kicked a field goal in OT to beat them. I know, I was there. Yes, it was an embarassment for the program, but in no way can you hang that on Golden. That’s just asinine. Let’s not (once again) skew facts.
Welcome Temple fans. I’m glad to have have awoken your sleeping souls. Some of the readers for this site are obviously Temple alumni and I apologize. Not for what I wrote, but that you went to Temple….just kidding.
But seriously, let’s get a couple things straight here. If you don’t like what I’m writing, write something better. I welcome the challenge, but I’m not gonna back down from what I said. To clear one thing up, I didn’t say that Nova “blew out” Temple, if you look cloesly, I was referring to Rutgers in 2002. Check the score buddy. Oh, and by the way, yes we beat Temple too the next year.
Second, the Atlantic 10 is now defunct I understand that. But in my post, I wrote about “when Temple got booted out of the Big East” which was after the 2000 season. The Atlantic 10 was the conference name then, it will be the Colonial Athletic Association beginning next year, I knew that already, but thanks.
Why I am I writing about Temple football now? Well, I’m a big college football fan and the season ended with Boise St. undefeated, Wake Forest in a BCS bowl game, and Rutgers winning a bowl. Last time I checked, none of these programs are “traditional” powers. I think Temple could be a good program in a great college town for basketball being the only D1 attraction for football. Excuse me for thinking out loud about what I think would help. Yes, Temple is down. Big deal. I’m not beating them down. I’m just telling it like it is.
With all due respect to Daryl Robinson, who may end up being a very good player, he is not a top 100 or even 200 player nationally. He was offered by West Virginia last summer, good for him. Is that the criteria for stardom? Being offered by West Virginia? What about Penn St., Ohio St., Boston College? Did Temple beat them out for anybody? That’s when you can start saying a staff has grown “leaps and bounds in recruiting”. The reason they played so many freshman, is because their upperclassmen stunk. Not because they were great. If you go back and read my article, I mention that is a good way to build a program as well, by playing and recruiting freshman instead of JC guys.
BTW, did you guys actually read the post or just pick out certain things you didn’t like and try to bash me for them? Personally, I could care less if you agree or disagree with my ideas, but don’t try to make me look like I just made stuff up because you may be ashamed of your alma mater.
The point of my post (again) was to throw out some ideas to help a struggling program that I hope as a Philadelphia resident, can produce a quality program for me to be interested in. Honestly, Temple is a sinking ship and should have been dismantled, but it is still here so why not try to fix it. If you have any better ideas, then by all means, share. Until then, useless replies doesn’t change the reality that Philly is being short changed by not having a quality D1 program.
Oh and I forgot something. Check out the Sagarin Ratings on football conferences in usatoday.com and you’ll see that the MAC is below the Great West Conference in 1-AA and the Atlantic 10 is two spots behind. Huge disparity in talent right? How many bowl bids does the Great West get?
The only difference between good 1A teams and good 1AA teams is 15 to 20 scholarships. That usually comes out to 10 more good players available than 1AA teams. That’s why every now and then, Montans St. (8-5, 1AA) will catch Colorado 19-0 in Boulder or New Hampshire (9-4, 1AA) will thump Northwestern on the road. Maybe YOU should do some research before you come at me with that garbage about the MAC getting 4 bowl bids. Who didn’t play in bowl game this year? Oh right, TEMPLE.
Shaz,
Primero que nada, tienes que saber sobre lo que estas deciendo antes de escribir lo! It probably would be wise to consider what you are going to write before you write it. Honestly, why would you write about a subject you know nothing about? The fact you do not know where Temple University is located immediately ruins the creditability of your initial post. How could you make comments about the surrounding neighborhood, or Temple’s lack of quality D-IA athletic practice facilities, if you’ve never actually been on the Temple campus yourself? Let me guess, you became an expert on Temple after taking one of those anti-Temple courses usually offered by the always supportive Philadelphia media. As a result, your post was written with confidence because you actually believe Temple University and the football program is what you described. Well, the replies you have seen, and will see, are from people who actually know what they are talking about!!!! In other words, back up what you say with research. Until then, you are going to hear it!!!
As far as comparing TEMPLE FOOTBALL to Rutgers, don’t even think about it. Seriously, do you believe it takes a program only two winning seasons in a row to build a winning tradition? If you do, then that must be the weakest reference anybody has ever made to support an argument. Sorry, but your initial post is weak and lacks a lot of facts.
21
I agree. The initial post was factually wrong and all over the place. It tells us that the program should have been dismantled, they should be 1-AA, they spent too much money but maybe building a 25,000 seat stadium is a good idea and Philly deserves a decent 1-A progam, etc. And the 3 problemsa he lists are not really problems at all: the facilities are in place, Temple has a lot to offer, and Temple does has a recruiting region, being only 1 of 4 i-A programs in its 300 mile radius. (Did he not ctahc all those kids from Jersey on the roster, or those SE PA kids on the comit list?) But who cares, Shaz’s errors point out the misconceptions that are out there. North Philly is urban HELL, the program has no facilities, the Linc is a lousy place to play (though it seems pretty impressive on Sundays), the MAC sucks, etc. Golden is making headway against all of that. And the things that drive high school athletes when deciding which program to run with are: will I play? Will I play quarterback or will they make me a safety? Will I get better and have a shot at the NFL? How far from home am I going? etc. If tradition was such a factor there would be no Rutgers resurgance, no Boise State, no Louisville, etc. Success breeds success. Golden is in living rooms all over the North East telling kids: “Come to Temple, come and PLAY RIGHT NOW. No red shirts, no waiting for the 2 kids ahead of you on the depth chart to falter. Help us rebuild, think of the pub that will get when we start to win. . . ” He is getting kids to buy in and soon it will lead to victories (compared to the rest of the MAC he’s grabbing recruits pretty well). The same way it did for Schiano. Here’s the prediciton: next season, with 7 home games and a MAC schedule, the Owls win at least 4 games and keep it close in few more. Cynical Philly guys will point to that still being pathetic, but that is BIG progress given where the program was. And in ‘08, the Owls are winners (who knows!).
Congrats, you guys are golden, pun intended. 4 wins and keeping it close in a few others? Yeah, that’s the sign of a great program. Get over Temple football. I tried to spark a debate and I found a couple of idiots who think they know something about football. Besides, that was written two weeks ago, did it take you that long to think of that? Sad.
I played college football in Philadelphia, so I think I am qualified to make an assessment of a terrible program. See, its guys like you idiots that make people hate Temple. I tried to give you props by saying there is still hope, but now I will root hard against your sad sack program. Good luck next year going 4-7. Losers. By the way, did you notice that Temple played a MAC heavy schedule this year? How did that work out? Let me remind you: 1-5. If success breeds success, than how do you explain Wake Forest? They have never had success before this year. No, finding the right players and growing them over four or five years is what breeds success. And to include Loiusville in argument is insane. They have been building a top notch program for about 8 years now. What do they teach you numbskulls at Temple? Wake up aand realize that just because graduated from a school, doesn’t make you an expert on the subject. How do I know you went to Temple? How else, nobody else would care if I tell the truth about Temple football. Thank you and good night.
Touchy, touchy. Listen, I found your post and the thread of responses today and jumped into the conversation. You sparked a debate and you got one, now you’re all steamed about it? It’s not my fault you, Mr. Philly College Football Player Man, did not know Olney Avenue is 20+ blocks away from Temple. Some guys don’t agree with your half-baked posts and you get all hate-filled over Temple football? Anyway, you missed my point. The success of getting a good number of decent recruits, which is happening for the first time in years, the conference afiliation with the MAC, the new facilities, the dynamic coaching staff, the fact that Temple is in the big media market and has the best facilities in the league will lead to WINS. And Louisville sucked unitl Jon L Smith got there, I guess that they should have gone 1-AA and built a 25,000 seat stadium and joined the A-10 back then too. Please. I made a realistic prediction about the outcome of next year’s Temple season for a team that has not won more than 1 game in 3 years and you go off about how that is not greatness, as if greatness was even in the conversation at any point, you start calling people losers, etc. I guess if a BCS berth is not in the offing next year, it is all wasted effort? You’ve gotta be kidding.
Thanks for setting me straight. Temple will be 4-7 next year with their great recruits, wonderful facilities, sprawling campus, and dynamic coaching staff. Why does everyone point out the fact that I mentioned Broad and Olney in my post? Don’t you think if I wanted to know the exact address of Temple, that I would just Google it? Are you people even from Philly? I purposely picked the worst possible place in North Philly for sarcastic effect. I guess you didn’t learn that in the J 0280 Sports Writing course at Temple. Prof. Washington would be so disappointed. (See how easy that was to just go and pick random facts from the website?)
Yeah, Louisville sucked pretty bad when Jonny Unitas was there too by the way. But I guess Temple will one day be in the Orange Bowl and make me look pretty dumb right? Why don’t we say 6 years from now, Temple is competing for a BCS bowl (out of the MAC by the way) Are you gonna take me up on that bet? If it’s SOOOO easy, then why has Temple been to 3 bowl games in their HISTORY???? You’re right, greatness was NEVER in the conversation mainly because we were talking about Temple football! If 4-7 gets you going, then I guess Temple football is just what you need. Good luck with that.
Sarcastic effect? The Olney Avenue reference was purposeful, in an attempt at being witty? Yeah right. Orange Bowl? Johnny Unitas? Prof. Washington? What the hell are you babbling about? You posted a story and got knocked around on it because you did not know as much about the topic as you thought you did. Instead of taking the information that others threw out at you as true to the extent that it was true, you kept fighting on. You started calling people idiots and losers because they did not agree with you. Why so defensive Shaz?
You’re right. You win. I guess when a guy defends something, he’s automatically an idiot for trying to explain his point. The fact that I have a different viewpoint than you, means I don’t know what I’m talking about. I’m tired of this argument. I’m sorry if you and the other Temple grads posting on this site disagree. Maybe next time, someone will write exactly what you want to hear and then you can spend all of your time in agreement with everything being said. If you disagree, fine, that’s your right. But, if you do, then why not make a counterpost proving me wrong and why Temple will be successful. I would have respected those who attacked me if it had been done respectfully. I stand by my original post. My original point was simply that Temple could do a little better with their football program. That’s it.
The last word is yours Shaz.
Hey, I never called you an idiot Shaz. Temple could certinaly do beeter with theri rpogram, no one would argue with that. Thanks.
Actually I am going to come back from the dead here and piss you off, more. I took that 280 class, and the guy who taught it won awards for covering the Flyers Stanley Cup runs in the 70’s. No Prof. Washington. Only more proof you know jack about Temple. I hope this irks you even more.