Getting the brand out

Owls have spent the last few days getting their brand name out.

By Mike Gibson
Al Golden has had to feel like a juggler in the last few days.
From the highly successful Al Golden Football Camp, to the Temple Owls' recent appearances on Independence Mall for a practice and Ocean City for a fanfest, the responsibilities of the head coach extend well beyond his office or the field below.
He's got to be part travel secretary, part football coach and it's a tougher job at Temple than most places because the Owls are battling for both visibility and respectability.

"The Temple football team is a credit to Philadelphia and deserves to be rewarded with all of their hard work both on and off the field with a special season in 2009. Good luck, Owls, and a final piece of advice to the 260,000 living Temple alumni (along with 33K full-time students and 12K full-time employees): GET OUT AND BUY TICKETS TO SUPPORT THESE GUYS."
_ My comment on Philly.com

Occasionally, though, something happens to make all of the ancillary things worthwhile.
The Temple football team won the Wanamaker Award for community service to Philadelphia. With the Phillies winning the other top award given at the banquet, the focus was on both Temple football and the world champion Phillies.
Not a bad pairing.
In the story running in the Daily News earlier this week, writer Ed Barkowitz focused on Temple's football team as much as the Phillies.
This caused me to write the following response on Phillies.com:

The Temple football team is a credit to Philadelphia and deserves to be rewarded with all of their hard work both on and off the field with a special season in 2009. Good luck, Owls, and a final piece of advice to the 260,000 living Temple alumni (along with 33K full-time students and 12K full-time employees): GET OUT AND BUY TICKETS TO SUPPORT THESE GUYS.
Now is the time to put your money where you mouth is if you haven't already done so. Please donate $5 or $10 here if you want a daily internet voice for Temple football and its players.
Also, If you've never bought Temple tickets, buy season tickets now. Even if you've been to one or two games in the past, make a commitment to be at every game in this most important season.
It's as easy as a click away:

Temple Football two-month video countdown

Lordy, lordy Al Golden is 40

Happy Birtday to Al Golden, head football coach, Temple University, who is 40 today.
He was born on July 4, 1969.
What we'd like to give Al is:
1. 40,000 TEMPLE fans (plus 2,500 'Nova) fans for a crowd of 42,500 for the HOME opener;
2. A 12-0 regular-season record, which would include wins over rivals Villanova and Penn State;
3. A return trip (for Temple) to the Sugar Bowl as the lone non-BCS representative;
4. A bowl win.

I think Al wouldn't mind waiting six or so months for those belated presents to be unwrapped.
Heck, that would be a good birthday present for me and my fellow living 259,999 Temple alumni as well.
OK, I won't get greedy.
I'll take one of the four gifts above as long as it is No. 2. For the work Al Golden has put in for this university, though, he deserves to unwrap all four.

Please help former Owl coach Spencer Prescott

Spencer Prescott coached under Bruce Arians, Jerry Berndt and Bobby Wallace and was credited with recruiting Heisman Trophy runnerup Paul Palmer.


By Mike Gibson
Donald Hunt is a longtime buddy of mine and we shared many laughs in the press box at Temple games, mostly at the old Vet.
In fact, nobody's quips made me laugh any harder than Don's and that's saying a lot because I've heard some pretty funny stuff in press boxes over the years.
This time, though, Don Hunt wrote a serious and poignant story on former Owl assistant coach Spencer Prescott the other day that everyone should take a couple of minutes to read.
Please help this great former Owl, who is waiting for a kidney transplant.

Top 10 all-time Temple football headlines

By Mike Gibson
Saw a headline the other day that an unbeaten Temple football team was expecting 35,000 fans for its home game against rival Villanova.
That sounded about right until I looked at the date of the story:
Nov. 23, 1934.

For more on Temple football in the New York Times, click here: The New York Times

The more things change, the more they remain the same.
Finding something on Temple football history can be challenging at best.
The local papers, the Inquirer and Daily News, have done an historically poor job of covering the team, even in the fat years of the 1970s and 1980s.
You can totally forget the lean years.
The Inquirer's archives go back only to 1978, so that eliminates a lot of pretty good years for Temple football.
They cover a Division I team 250 miles away from the center of Philadelphia far better than the one just 1 mile north of the newspaper's headquarters.
In fact, a strong argument can be made that a newspaper 90 miles away has done a far better job covering the team, at least archiving its history, than the newspapers in town.
After finding that Temple vs. Villanova preview in the New York Times, I found 116 stories about the Temple football team in the same newspaper's archives covering a wide range of years.
That's right.
One-hundred and sixteen stories, mostly previews and coverage of games, but a surprisingly large number of lengthy profile pieces (with large photos in many of them) covering the team's personalities and coaches.

Some NYT headlines:

No Pressure On Temple, Coach Says; Crowd of 20,000 Expected _ Story was about Temple football coach Wayne Hardin and his team's upcoming game against Rutgers. Hardin said that there's no pressure on Temple to win because there are so many other sports options in town (1979).


MORRISON PLEADS FOR CONFERENCES; Temple Football Coach Says Two Groups in the East Would Boost Interest _ Ray Morrison, then head of the American Football Coaches Association, proposed two conferences: What is now the current Ivy League and all other (then) Division I football powers in the East. He proposed that the winners of the two leagues play for the Eastern title (1945).

Temple Picked to Win Again - Before a 1974 game against a then good Holy Cross team, Crusaders' coach Ed Doherty said that the Owls had caught and surpassed Penn State as the No. 1 team in the East. In fact, the NYT notes that after Penn State's 7-6 loss to Navy the week before, the Nittany Lions fell to second-place in the Lambert Trophy balloting to Temple. Oh yeah. Doherty's fears were well-founded. Temple beat Holy Cross, 56-0, on the day that story was published (Oct. 19, 1974). That Holy Cross team won three games in a row that season, including wins at Villanova, UConn and UMass.
Temple's Football Stock Booms Under the Coaching of Warner; Stalwart Line and Speedy, Powerful Backfield Quick to Grasp Details of Famous Mentor's System -- Shift Adds to Deception on the Attack _ Pretty much an ode to then Temple coach Pop Warner. It's amazing to think that Temple had both Pop Warner and Wayne Hardin as head coaches. All Owl fans should be very proud of that heritage.
Spectacular Third-Period Drive Enables Temple to Upset Texas Christian; RALLY BY TEMPLE TOPS TEXANS, 13-11 Owls Gain First Triumph of Season as Bowles, Tomasic Excel in Second Half T.C.U. IS FIRST TO TALLY Thompson Kicks a Field Goal Then Clark Scores at End of 89-Yard Assault - I didn't know you could write the whole story in a headline until I saw that one.

Temple, Under Hardin, Gains Football Heights; Not a Normal Season Made Reputation at Navy Temple Lifted by Hardin - A preview of the 1979 Garden State Bowl.

Comic Turns Quips Into Tuition; Bill Cosby, Student at Temple, Featured at Gaslight Cafe Philadelphia Negro Aims His Barbs at Race Relations - My guess is that headline would not fly past any copydesk today (1962).

TEMPLE practices on roof of recreation building - Pretty self-explanatory story about Temple coach Heinie Miller being "happy" with his team's practices on top of the school's recreation building. Got to wonder if the punter looked down to the street and yelled, "a little help" when the ball flew off the field. Facilities, who needs facilities (1931)?
TEMPLE SQUAD ON EDGE.; Unbeaten Football Team to Meet Villanova in Homecoming Game. - Talks about the Owls expecting 35,000 for the 'Nova game.
TEMPLE TO TRAIN AT BATON ROUGE; Accepts Offer of Louisiana State - Squad Will Depart on Thursday Night. - Nice of LSU to allow Owls to practice there prior to the Sugar Bowl. Maybe they'll do the same for the 2010 game.

The Times had a nice piece on then 24-year-old comic Bill Cosby, reviewing his appearance in a Grenwich Village club called the gaslight. In it, Cosby said his mother wants him to graduate from Temple and "I probably will." He also noted that New York critics called him "Philadelphia's Dick Gregory." He said he might not even pursue this showbiz bug, but at least wants to pay his college bills. Some $365 million later (and that was his top earnings' year, not what he earned for his career), he's probably happy that he did.
One story on Warner, by Allison Danzig, marked the first sports story I've ever read written by a female sports writer and that was in the early 1930s.
(I'm sure there were some before that, but I haven't been able to find one.)
One writer, Gordon S. White, Jr., wrote 24 of the stories on Temple football and they were all complimentary, mostly of Hardin and the job he did.
In a story about the Owls' win in Hawaii, White noted that it was a good sign that Hardin nailed a hole-in-one on the famed Waikoloa course there.
In one of the pieces, White quotes Hardin as comparing his quarterbacks to handicap golfers.
"Steve (Joachim) was a 2 or 3," Hardin said. "Fortunately, I've never had a bad quarterback."
When you think that Hardin had guys like Frank DiMaggio, Marty Ginestra, Joachim, Brian Broomell and Tim Riordan, you know he's right.
Al Golden should only have that kind of quarterback luck.
Or was it design?

New York Times gives Temple Football Forever some love

The New York Times gives Temple Football Forever some love.

"For a little while there earlier this decade, we weren’t sure if Temple football would really stick around. Now, we can safely state Temple football will be around forever."
_The New York Times, in the same paragraph it mentions this blog

By Mike Gibson
Bill O'Reilly isn't going to like this, but we're going to be paying some positive attention to the New York Times today because they paid some positive attention to us.
O'Reilly is The Times' biggest critic, calling that institution the center of the secular progressive universe, whatever that is.
The Times referred a whole new set of readers to us in picking the Owls as the No. 74 team in the country in the recent Quad Countdown.
While they were throwing bouquets in our direction, they also tossed a few at Al Golden's Owls.
"We're No. 74" doesn't sound like all that positive a chant for Cap Poklemba to lead the crowd in this year, unless you take a historical perspective.
Temple was No. 105 in the same countdown two years ago, No. 86 in the same countdown last year.

New York Times Quad Countdown
No. 73: Colorado State
No. 74: Temple
No. 75: Memphis
No. 76: Louisville
No. 77: Florida Atlantic
No. 78: Buffalo
No. 79: Baylor
No. 80: Northern Illinois
No. 81: Virginia

Even more illuminating is a look at who The Times have ranked BEHIND the Owls.
Memphis is ranked No. 75 and Louisville is ranked No. 76.
Louisville beat the Owls, 62-0, in Golden's first season.
The Times, like us, feels those days are over.
The next step is a winning season and that must be accomplished now.
The Owls are also ranked ahead of Buffalo (No. 78), Baylor (No. 79) and Garrett Barnas-led Northern Illinois (don't get crazy, tongue firmly implanted in cheek) is No. 80.
Five years ago Virginia was beating the Owls, 44-0, at halftime with a defensive coordinator named Al Golden.
Now Virginia is ranked seven spots behind Temple at No. 81.
So we're moving on up like the Jeffersons.
At least in the area of perception.
Before we get excited we've got to do it on the football field.
We've still got to find a quarterback who can turn the scoreboard into an adding machine, but I believe that guy is on the roster now. The cream will rise to the top once the full squad reports on July 5.
There's a lot of hard work ahead and it won't be easy, but it's nice to know some influential folks will be positioned at the end to say "I told you so."
The New York Times earned at least that much college football street cred with its bold and well-researched opinion.

Temple football: Three-month countdown

Another excellent job by Fran Duffy (not to be confused with hoop coach Fran Dunphy) and the boys in the Temple video department.
Less than 30 days until the two-month countdown appears and, presumably, that will include different highlights, limited to all returning players, of which there are many.

And just a reminder:
Because the season tickets soon transfer from the control of Temple to the Eagles' ticket office, you'll save yourself a lot of headaches by purchasing season tickets from Temple in the next month or so. Click over the Temple football helmet and let's fill up the stadium for the Nova game with people wearing only Cherry and White. With 260,000 living alumni, 33,000 full-time students and 5,867 full-time employees, we can make it happen.
We should make it happen.

Temple football: Back in business

By Mike Gibson
Temple football apparently is back in business, poised for a winning season, and so are we here at Temple Football Forever.
Just as the university made a significant investment in the process four years ago by hiring Al Golden, I had to make a much smaller investment in getting the site back up and running.
Laptop problems caused me from updating this site in over a month, but we've recently hooked up with a used laptop that seems to work and I got internet service installed for $20 a month so we're back in business for awhile.
This will be an ongoing problem, though, unless a sufficient revenue stream can be created here.
I'd like to get the new Verizon deal that offers a small laptop for $199 with an internet plan of $59 a month, so I'd like to have at least a capital investment of $500 to implement that plan.
All I need is a bunch of small contributions, $5 and $10, and in return I will have the ability and incentive to update the site with the latest Temple football news and commentary on an almost daily basis.
So that's why I have the paypal contribution option on the sidebar of this site.
Any gift will go toward that Verizon internet option. With that, I could file Temple stories from anywhere on the planet and not be tied down to a connection or an unreliable computer.
I realize this is a bad economy, so any donation would be appreciated.
Temple Football Forever is a labor of love for me, but the supporting systems to keep it up and running on a regular basis cost money.
Google ad income just doesn't cut it.

DiMichele to compete for spot on Eagles

I got a lot of grief on this site last year when I wrote that, in my mind, Adam DiMichele is a better quarterback than Donovan McNabb.
By my mind, I meant for my team.

We're talking about a young quarterback with a fresh set of legs and a world of moxie against an old quarterback with tired legs and questionable moxie

I had more confidence in DiMichele getting the job done in a big spot for my primary team (Owls) than I had McNabb getting the job done in a big spot for my secondary team (Eagles).
That's based on close observations of both over the last three years.
Is the 22-year-old DiMichele better than the 32-year-old McNabb?
That's for the Eagles to decide, since they have now invited him to a preseason mini-camp for rookies.
We're talking about a young quarterback with a fresh set of legs and a world of moxie against an old quarterback with tired legs and questionable moxie.
You can say that Reid did this out of a professional courtesy to the local team, but leaving the door ajar for DiMichele might just been good enough for him to find a permanent home there.
The Eagles will find out a few things about my favorite quarterback at the upcoming mini-camp:

• He can make throws on the run;
  
• He won't throw balls at the feet of receivers;
  
• He can still scramble;
  
• He has a knack of making the big play at the big time;
  
• He can throw an accurate deep ball;
  
• He doesn't wear a flak jacket that limits his mobility in the open field;
  
• He won't throw up on the field like a certain other quarterback has done twice at crunch time.
  

My admiration for this tough-as-nails young man is well-documented here.
I wish he would have had the opportunity, for example, to go up against Penn State for four full quarters, that game would have been a lot closer than a 42-point spread, I really believe.
Maybe 10-15 tops.
Maybe Adam could have made enough plays to keep them in the game to the end.
There are 22 guys on a football field at any given time but, for Temple, it's been a long time since one man has made such a difference.
That man was (I have to use was now, unfortunately) Adam DiMichele.
Football is a funny game.

The Eagles have had one quarterback who has mostly infuriated me for the last three years. They now have another who has never let me down

Had ADM been fully healthy for the last two seasons, I have no doubt that the Owls would be going for their third-straight winning season.
No doubt.
Adam now has a blog on Owlsports.com and he's shown a nice ability to express himself on paper. Heck, I even like his blog better than McNabb's.
The Eagles have had one quarterback who has mostly infuriated me for the last three years. They now have another who has never let me down.
All he has to do is be himself and Andy Reid will love him. So will Eagles' fans.

Cherry and White Day 2009

Video courtesy of Owlified... great job, Owlified

My Harry Kalas Story

We've been cursed in many ways as Temple football fans and one of the biggest curses is living in a town with two of the best play-by-play men anywhere, Harry Kalas and Merrill Reese, and knowing our own play-by-play situation is just the opposite of that.

By Mike Gibson
On my way to the Cherry and White Day football game on Saturday, I'm going to take a little detour, head straight down I-95 and pay my respects to Harry Kalas.
I'm also going to take a detour away from Temple football in my post today and I think you'll understand.
We've been cursed in many ways as Temple football fans and one of the biggest curses is living in a town with two of the best play-by-play men anywhere, Harry Kalas and Merrill Reese, and knowing our own play-by-play situation is just the opposite of that. Harry and Merrill are among the best at what they do. We, unfortunately, have settled for the worst since Dave Sims left after the 1991 season.

My letter that appeared in the Daily News

Pipe down - and let Harry call it
Apr 21, 2004
ONE OF my great joys over the last 33 years as a Philadelphia sports fan is hearing Harry Kalas call a walk-off home run for the Fightin's.
Since I was outside most of Sunday, I didn't hear him call the Doug Glanville one live. So I rushed home, turned on the Channel 29 news and heard Sunday night sports guy Bill Vargas yell OVER the Kalas call.
Ugh.
Fortunately, I was able to channel hop over to John Clark for the 11:30 sports at Channel 10.
Clark set the situation up perfectly and let the pro, Harry the K, do the call.
One of Harry's best ever, with the inflection of each word rising in decibel level. Long fly ball . . . it's got a CHANCE - followed by the signature . . . IT'S OUTTA HERE!
Beautiful. Thanks, Harry, and thanks, John Clark.
Mike Gibson , Philadelphia

In Philadelphia, everywhere really, it's not necessary to say who Harry Kalas is.
Everybody knows.
When you reach Icon status with a capital I, everybody knows your name.
I got to know Harry as an acquaintance in the 1980s when my newspaper, The Doylestown Intelligencer, sent me down every other year to spend two weeks with the Phillies and tap out stories on an old Radio Shack TRS-80 Model 100 laptop.
Even though he was as an acquaintance, Harry always treated me as a friend and always remembered my name.
"I think it's great that Doylestown sends down a reporter," Harry told me.
Then, since Calkins Newspapers had a beat guy, I wouldn't cover a Phillies game until the editor cleared the budget for me to go to spring training.
That's why, one day when I showed up in the press box at the old Busch Stadium in St. Louis, Harry said in that distinctive baritone voice, "Mike, what are you doing here?"
I told him I was there with the Associated Press Sports Editors convention, as sports editor of the Intelligencer's then Montgomery County Record edition.
He then pulled a piece of paper from his jacket, asked me who the other Philadelphia-area sports editors there were and read our names and affiliations over the air.
I still have that VHS tape.
It's one of my most prized possessions.
Harry wasn't just that way to me.
He was that way with everybody.
Just a genuine, great person.
It's not often an Icon can be both iconic and genuine and a great guy.
There are a million Harry Kalas stories out there because he took the time to make them.

Why I hate (and love) Cherry and White Day

Our parking lot is No. 10, the green blotch circled in map and shown in photo below.

Photo, courtesy Owlsports.com


I have a love/hate relationship with Cherry and White Day.
It dates back to the Bruce Arians' days.
One year, the team looked particularly good in April and went out and laid a 4-7 egg a few months later.
It was then I decided I hated Cherry and White Day because, no matter how good the Cherry looked against the White or the White looked against the Cherry, the bigger picture was skewed.
A fellow reporter, it may have been Chuck Newman, it may have been Joe Juliano, I don't quite remember who, turned to me once and said:
"They always look good on Cherry and White Day."
There's about as much truth to that sentence as any single one ever composed.
Come to think of it, I don't remember ever leaving on a Cherry and White Day not impressed.
So, as a barometer of what might come in the fall, take it with a (very) large grain of salt.
Make that a boulder of salt.
That's pretty much why I hate Cherry and White Day.
Then there's the love part of the relationship.
I love getting together with Temple fans to discus the upcoming season.
I love meeting the parents of recruits and inviting them to our Parking Lot K tailgates, to become part of the Temple family as such.
I love the best day in the world in the best place in the world to do one-stop shopping for some inexpensive and quality Temple stuff, including game-worn jerseys.
I love the tailgating in April (hey, when can you get a chance to tailgate in April?) and I love getting together with all of the old tailgate friends.
I love the dedication of a guy like Ken Mayo, coolowl on the message boards, who holds a first-class tailgate and is inclusive of everyone in the lot.
Heck, I love being a Temple fan because there are no cliques.
We as a people (to borrow a Martin Luther King, Jr. phrase) are not large enough to have cliques.
One day, when all (or half) of the 260,000 living alumni and all (or half) of the 33,000 full-time students are clamoring to get into a sold out Lincoln Financial Field, I hope that part of being a Temple fan never changes.
Even though all of the lots will be filled with a sea of Cherry and White, everybody wearing a Temple T-shirt or sweatshirt or hat will be welcomed by every other Temple fan at whatever little or big satellite tailgate in the lot.
This Saturday, at 2 p.m. folks will be over at 11th and Norris Street to catch that rather skewed preview of the 2009 Owls.
By 11 a.m., most should be parked in Lot 10 (12th and Norris) to do some serious tailgating.
Nobody leaves until 1:55 when we all walk over to the $7 million Edberg-Olson Football Complex. Since it's a two-minute walk, we should be standing on the sidelines by 1:58, tops.
Bring brewskis and money.

Get your season tickets here

Temple football's four-month countdown.

The people have spoken.
At least the Temple fans who occasionally check this site from time to time.
Someone in the sports information department will run a slogan by Al Golden, who will either approve it or improve it, and the slogan will appear on the front of the media guide.

Click here for Temple football season tickets and order them by June 12 to get a free 2009 media guide

If the fans voting on the recent poll have anything to say about it, "Unfinished Business" will be this year's Battle Cry.

Here is the final vote count, with the number of actual votes next to the percentages:

Awe and Shock 2 (3%)

Shock and Awe 2 (3%)

Unfinished Business 19 (35%)

Bowl or Bust 9 (16%)

Sky's The Limit 14 (26%)

Destination Detroit 7 (13%)

It took a couple of days getting use to, but I like it.

Unfinished Business.

My slogan, Shock and Awe, came in a distant last.

I tried.

We had a couple of other suggestions since, though, that bear some examination:
FLIP THE MAC _ A takeoff on last year's "Flip The Switch" Flip the MAC refers to the constant barrage of negative messages about Temple football on the MAC bulletin boards. One guy keeps saying Temple=Bad Football when two teams he trumpets, Miami and Akron, were beaten two years in a row by the Owls. Another guy from Kent State keeps bringing up Temple attendance problems when there were maybe 400 folks, tops, at Kent State for the Temple game last year. The slogan can be accompanied by a logo that shows the familiar Styrofoam No. 1 finger given out at Temple basketball games. In this case, the finger is switched one digit over and a MAC logo appears on the back of the hand.

IT'S TIME _ Shortened version of "It's Time To Win" or "It's Our Time to Win" or "It's T Time" with the Temple logo substituted for the T. I can't argue with that, either, because it is time to win.

Unfinished Business captures what went on the last two seasons as good as anything.

Two years ago, the Owls left 28 points on the field in a 31-0 loss to Penn State.
Last year, the Owls didn't finish after leading, 27-7, at Navy, in the fourth quarter.
This year it's time to finish that business.
It's Our Time.
It's T Time.
If, in the process, it flips off the MAC, then so be that, too.

Meet Mike Gerardi: Temple's Duck

By Mike Gibson
I'm sure someone other than Bill Parcells said it first:
"If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it is a duck."
I'll give credit to Parcells because I like the way he says it, nodding his head like you all should know what he does.
"If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it is a duck."
You can say the same for quarterbacks.

Temple quarterbacks in their final high school seasons:
Adam DiMichele, Sto-Rox _ 2,706 yards and 36 touchdown passes.

In the mix currently:

Vaughn Charlton, Avon Grove _ 1,337 yards, 9 touchdown passes.

Chester Stewart, DeMatha _ 1,348 yards, 17 touchdown passes.

Aaron Haas, St. Joseph's Prep _ 1,430 yards, 21 touchdown passes

Mike Gerardi, Parsippany Hills (N.J.) _ 2,300 yards, 35 touchdown passes

Chris Coyer, Oakton (Va.) _ 1,407 yards, 15 touchdown passes (and 15 TD runs)

Despite “defined measurables” like 40 speed and vertical leap, quarterbacking now, as always, is better measured by a poised athlete’s ability to hit another athlete in the open field while under pressure.
It doesn't matter if the QB is running or if the receiver is running.
It doesn't matter if there's a 6-5, 280-pound guy charging at you.
Or, during the same play, all of the above is happening at full speed.
It's about your ability to do your job and hit the receiver.
Meet Mike Gerardi, Temple's Duck.
If Gerardi looks like a quarterback and throws like a quarterback, it's because he is a quarterback and a pretty darn good one.

Mike Gerardi

It would not be a stretch to say Gerardi was born to be a quarterback.
He's been one since Pee-Wee ball and excelled at a really high level from the time he first put on the pads.
I don't buy that stuff about "if he's so good, why didn't he get a scholarship offer" that so many negative fans parrot.
Good quarterbacks slip through the cracks all the time. At one time, UConn showed some interest but backed off.
For every Henry Burris, who was wanted by just about everyone out of Spiro (Okla.), Temple has had a Matty Baker _ a kid who was wanted by no one but became a winning quarterback.
Looks to me like Gerardi could be cut out of the Baker mold, a high-achiever in high school who somehow slipped through the cracks.
At Parsippany Hills in New Jersey two years ago, Gerardi threw for 2,300 yards and 35 touchdown passes. That performance made him a first-team New Jersey all-state performer at quarterback. The other quarterback on the first team was Matt Simms of Don Bosco, son of Phil Simms.

"Really the surprise has been Mike Gerardi. He's really come in. Every time he's gotten in, he's led us down and scored or played really well. So he's getting a lot of reps now." Matt Rhule
Offensive coordinator
Temple University

In prep school last fall, he tossed 16 TDs against no (zero) interceptions.
So, while most things in spring practice are pretty secretive these days, it should not be surprising to hear this out of offensive coordinator Matt Rhule's mouth when talking about Gerardi on Owlsports.com:
"Really the surprise has been Mike Gerardi," Rhule said. "He's really come in. Every time he's gotten in, he's led us down and scored or played really well. So he's getting a lot of reps now, because want to see who can lead us, who can move the football, who can push."
That could very well be coachspeak, something designed to light a fire under incumbents Vaughn Charlton and Chester Stewart.
Even if Mike Gerardi lights it up in the Cherry and White Day game on April 18, we probably won't even know then.

Nobody should be awarded the job because he's been here longer or it's his turn or because his feelings will be hurt if he doesn't get the chance.

At this point, it's about even money that Charlton, Stewart, Gerardi or even incoming freshman Chris Coyer takes the first snap against Villanova on Sept. 3.
That's the way it should be.
Nobody should be awarded the job because he's been here longer or it's his turn or because his feelings will be hurt if he doesn't get the chance.
It's all about moving the team and scoring touchdowns.
It's all about who gives your team the best chance to win a championship.
Nothing more. Nothing less.
Somebody is going to have to knock Rhule's socks off between now and Sept. 3.
So far, it's been Gerardi but we have months to go before we know who wins this most important of competitions.

Big 10 explores idea of adding Temple

As it turns out, that story that appeared in Newsday on Monday about Temple joining the Big 10 is more than mere speculation.

Exploratory talks have started last week between Big 10 commissioner James E. Delaney and Temple athletic director Bill Bradshaw, according to sources.
"It's a little premature," Delaney said on Tuesday, neither confirming nor denying the talks, "but we're at least intrigued by Temple."

Delaney said that the Temple positives outweigh its negatives.

"Look, Temple is in the fourth largest media market, Philadelphia, and its football stadium already is larger than Northwestern's and Indiana's by a good bit," he said. "It has a state-of-the-art basketball arena that more than fits our requirements and, academically, the school fits our profile group.

"The school is on the upswing in football. Four wins two years ago. Five wins last year. There's a solid business model there now to keep that momentum going forward.

"This wouldn't be like adding, say, Wake Forest, with only 4,000 students. This is a school that has 33,000 full-time students. This is a Pennsylvania state institution on par with Pitt and Penn State in many respects."

Bradshaw wouldn't comment, but has gone on record in the past by saying "we won't get involved in an arm's race" when it comes to bidding on coaches.
That could change, one high-level supporter said, once Temple is admitted to the Big 10.

"It's safe to say that getting Penn State in here every other year will be terrific for both Temple and Penn State," he said. "That alone would raise Temple's average attendance profile significantly. Temple could afford to keep guys like Al Golden, if his bottom-line warrants it.

"Then you have the other issue. Getting teams like Ohio State and Michigan in here will be a big plus to the athletic department bottom line. Our attendance could go from a 20,000 average to 40-45,000 with no problem, especially if Al Golden can raise our level of competitiveness in football, which I think he can."


The money coming in from Lincoln Financial Field attendance and Big 10 television more than make any extra investment the university makes on the short term sure to be covered on the back end.

"The most important thing is that the profile of the school goes through the roof nationally. This is a self-sustaining thing, really a license to print money. In this economy, our Board of Trustees must be aggressive in pursuing this."

"It's an exciting time for Temple," the athletic supporter said. "You have 260,000 living alumni just dying to have a big-time college experience every Saturday. You get those kind of numbers of people energized behind the school and it has a domino effect. Attendance increases, revenue increases, things like donations and endownments increase. The most important thing is that the profile of the school goes through the roof nationally. This is a self-sustaining thing, really a license to print money. In this economy, our Board of Trustees must be aggressive in pursuing this.

"That said, it'll work only if Al Golden can deliver the goods. By that, I mean, an eight-, nine-, or 10-win season this year in the MAC. Anything short of that and I don't think the other 11 Big 10 presidents will pull the trigger.

"They're willing to wait on us but not for long. I say we have until the end of the year and no more."

The man struck a cautionary note, though.

"I don't like the fact that this story is coming out on April Fool's Day," he said. "Is this an April Fool's joke?"

Yes, the man was told.

It is.

Happy April's Fool's Day everybody.

This year's slogan: Awe and shock

By Mike Gibson
Occasionally, a brilliant idea will come upon me at a place I least expect.
Usually, just before I nod off in the middle of the night or while I'm driving my car.
Tough places to reach for the notepad and jot the fleeting idea down so the idea flies by and I sometimes don't catch it again.
I was thinking about that while reflecting on last year's Temple football team slogan.
You know, it's the thing that appears on the cover of the media guide and in the ads for Temple football.
Last year's slogan was "Flip the Switch."
Good, but not great.
I want everything about Temple to be the best in the Mid-American Conference.
I want us to have the most wins, the most fans, the best quarterback, the best offense, the best defense.
I want us to have the best slogan, too.
Flip the Switch, while good, was lacking something.
I could not put my finger on it, but it wasn't inspiring.
All winter, I brainstormed looking for another slogan.
I could come up with nothing.
I thought of "Just Win, Baby" but I'm sure Al Davis has a copyright on that one.
Unfinished business was another.
Then something occurred to me a couple of weeks ago while watching television.
Semaj Inge was being interviewed after winning the A-10 tournament.
"Sky's The Limit," Inge said, referring to the Owls' chances in the NCAAs.
Hmm, I thought.
"Sky's The Limit" might be a damn good slogan for this year's Temple football team.
With three excellent recruiting classes in place and for the first time a sizeable group of redshirts to help the 2009 team, the sky is really the limit for this football team.
If Flip the Switch was good, then Sky's The Limit is great.
Then, while turning into the parking lot of the gym last night, I thought of an even better one.
"Awe and Shock."
Temple having a winning or championship season won't shock us or anybody associated with the program, but it would everyone on the outside.
The "awe" part comes into play with the terrific skill set our players have both on offense and defense.
Awe leads to shock.
That's why I would pick "Awe and Shock" over "Shock and Awe."
Think of James Nixon, Vaughn Carraway and Jason Harper catching long touchdown bombs from Vaughn Charlton, Chester Stewart or Chris Coyer.
Awe.
Or Kee-ayre Griffin showing the kind of running form in the open field that made him a consensus first-team all-state tailback in New Jersey for St. Peter's Prep.
Awe.
Or Daryl Robinson intercepting a pass in the flat and returning it for six.
More than once.
Awe.
So the potential for awe is there.
If realized, the Owls can shock the world.
Awe and shock is my first choice. Sky's The Limit is No. 2.
Those are my top two choices for this year's slogan.
Either way, I've got "Flip the Switch" beat.
What's yours?

Temple football schedule (finally) announced

By Mike Gibson
That puff of white smoke coming from the Edberg-Olson Football Complex today was not exhaust from the train station above, but the rather important annoucement that the Owls' 2009 football schedule has finally been released.
The Mid-American Conference released the schedule at 2:36 p.m. today or about 20 minutes ago.
Last year, they released the schedule on March 11.
Both years, the MAC was the last league to release season schedules.
The holdup?
Waiting for league braintrust to formulate various deals to keep games on national TV.

2009 Temple Football Schedule
Sep.
3 Villanova, 7 p.m.

19 at Penn State

26 Buffalo

Oct.
3 at Eastern Michigan

10 Ball State

17 Army (Homecoming)

24 at Toledo

31 at Navy

Nov.
5 Miami, 7:30 pm (ESPNU*)

13 at Akron, 8 pm (ESPNU)

21 Kent State

27 at Ohio, tbd (ESPNU/ESPN360*)


*ESPN Multiple-Game Selection Date

In one example, Miami was supposed to host Colorado. Kentucky wanted to play a game against Miami in Cincinnati, so that MAC had to find another league opponent for Colorado. They found one in Toledo.
That't the way these things work.
Temple will open its season on Thursday night, Sept. 3, at Lincoln Financial Field against Villanova. That much we knew weeks ago.
What we didn't know until today was exactly who the league opponents will be for the Owls.
They will host Buffalo, Ball State, Miami and Kent State.
They will visit Ohio, Akron, Eastern Michigan and Toledo.

The Redshirts Are Coming, the Redshirts Are Coming

Vaughn Carraway, in a Christmas visit to St. Christopher's Hospital with fellow Owls, is third from the right.


The last time we saw any glimpse of Temple football future the room was dark and the screen was running highlights of the 2009 football recruits.
Between the oohs and ahhs coming from the assembled big-money donors in attendance on national signing day (I was an interloper in that regard), I could tell people were impressed.
"They all look like they can play at USC," I said, breaking the silence from row four.

(Some) key returning Redshirts for the Owls:
Deven Baker, RS-FR, WR
Matt Balasavage, RS-SO, TE
Morris Blueford, RS-SO, DE
Marcus Brown, RS-JR, OL
Vaughn Charlton, RS-JR, QB
Vaughn Carraway, RS-FR, WR
C.J. Hammond, RS-FR, WR
Dave Nwasike, RS-JR, DT
John Palumbo, RS-SO, OL
Evan Rodriguez, RS-SO, TE
Jared Williams, RS-SO, CB
Lawrence Turner, RS-FR, TE

Heck, but that's the nature of high school highlight reels.
I could see the Bill Cosby commercial now.
They could have gone to USC, but they chose Temple.
Then coach Al Golden got up, essentially said he couldn't give two whits about what the scouting services are saying and that this was far and away his best recruiting class. (Not that the scouting services are pooh-pooing this class since Scout.com has the Owls rated No. 2 in the MAC behind only Central Michigan, but after having won three MAC recruiting titles in a row, people were wondering whether or not Al lost a little of his recruiting magic.)
Golden justified it by saying that his staff went out and identified athletes based on their upside and not necessarily on what stats they may or may not have accumulated so far.
The good news is that the Owls won't have to rely on that impressive class to make key contributions this year.
Essentially, the 2009 Owls are on display almost every day at the Edberg-Olson football complex.

Huge crowd in Buffalo watches Joe Jones run in the open field.
Owlsports.com photo

Seventeen of the 21 starters from the 2008 season return, bolstered by 15 high-quality players the Owls had the luxury of redshirting.
The Redshirts are coming, including Vaughn Carraway, the top receiver in Pennsylvania two years ago and others.
That's some damn good reinforcements right there.
Chief among those is Vaughn Charlton, a not-so-secret weapon who was the starting quarterback on the varsity for much of the 2007 season.
His poise and confidence under pressure as a backup in the win over Miami (Ohio) and subsequent games like the wire-to-wire win over Kent State give Owl fans some hope for the 2009 season.
Hope, but not hype.
One of the young men standing near Charlton during most practices is Chris Coyer, who is absorbing as much mentally now so he can focus on the physical come July and August. Coyer has to be given a lot of credit for getting up at 4:30 every morning and driving from D.C. to Philadelphia during breaks at Oakton (Va.) High.
Coyer is the raw talent, while Charlton is the more polished product. Adam DiMichele has taken Coyer under his wing.
Expecting Coyer to come in and start is not fair to the young man, in my opinion. Temple's one and only goal should be winning the MAC title and the last freshman to start and win a title as a QB was Bowling Green's Brian McClure in 1982.
I don't like those odds.
Adam DiMichele, in my mind, was a once-in-a-generation quarterback who will be sorely missed and the 2008 Owls deserved some major hype coming into the season because he was the ignition to this machine.
I asked Golden about Charlton on signing day, posing the question this way:
"A lot of us fans haven't seen Vaughn Charlton in two years. What kind of quarterback has he become in the year since?"
Golden looked me in the eye and said: "Vaughn's been working hard in the weight room and he's 238 pounds, stronger, more confident."
Not exactly the ringing endorsement I was hoping for, but he later mollified that comment in an illuminating audio with Owlscoop.com editor John DiCarlo, when he said: "Even though we lost Adam and everybody thinks the sky is falling, I'm impressed with our two returning quarterbacks."
Hmm, I wonder who Golden was referring to when he said everybody?
These Owls will go as far as the returning players and Redshirts take them.

"Even though we lost Adam and everybody thinks the sky is falling, I'm impressed with our two returning quarterbacks."
_ Al Golden

The thought here is that Charlton's productivity will be a shade below DiMichele's, but that the overall Temple product could be more appealing due to the depth and quality at other positions on the field.
I want to see continued improvement from running backs Kee-ayre Griffin and Joe Jones and I would like to see the breakaway runner Ahkeem Smith was when I saw him playing at Bethlehem Liberty. It would be nice if Jones showed the kind of breakaway speed that made him a Boca Raton legend. Maybe his injury is fully healed now. We can only hope.
That's what's being hashed out at the E-O. All practices are open only to Temple football alumni, Xtra Point Club members, and high school coaches, provided the individuals register in Edberg-Olson Hall before visiting the field. Practices are closed to the general public, but the adventurous can make out the goings on through the green canvas screen or the Temple train station above.
Meanwhile, the recruiting connections Golden established while an assistant at Penn State, Boston College and Virginia are continuing to bear fruit for the Owls.
A glimpse at the updated roster on Owlsports.com reveals Evan Rodriquez, a three-star recruit at West Virginia has transferred in as has Zack Kane, a safety from the real Miami (Fla.) and Keith Baker, a linebacker from Louisville.
Maybe good enough to play at USC, but they were certainly good enough to be recruited by West Virginia, Louisville and Miami and that's a sign that Golden is relentless in his search for talent.
That kind of competition within only bodes well for Owl fans and ill for Owl foes.

Good sign: Al Golden hates Villanova

By Mike Gibson
The illuminating moment came at halftime of a recent Temple vs. St. Joseph's basketball game at the Liacouras Center.
Temple football coach Al Golden, surrounded by 15 of his best returning football players, got up in front of 9,389 fans and said this:
"There's one thing both St. Joe and Temple fans agree on ... we dislike Villanova. I invite all of you to come to our game on Sept. 3 and cheer for us."
Notice he said dislike.

"There's one thing both St. Joe and Temple fans agree on ... we dislike Villanova. I invite all of you to come to our game on Sept. 3 and cheer for us."
_ Al Golden
In Villanova preparation, the Owls are focusing on the kneel-down play. Above, Golden shows Vaughn Charlton the proper technique during practice on Tuesday (only kidding, Cat fans).

Golden didn't say hate because he was trying to be politically correct, but you know he wanted to and that's a good sign because it's an indication that Golden gets it.
He's from Colts Neck, N.J., went to Red Bank Catholic and he could be excused for not understanding the, err, deep feeling not resembling affection Temple and St. Joseph fans on this side of the river have for those on the Main Line.
It's an indication that Golden has been here on the Philly side of the river long enough to get it.
For all we know, they feel the same way about us.
Rivalries are a good thing.

Heck, he must now know that an all-time beat down is his only directive.

When Temple and Villanova play for the Mayor's Cup, it's good to know that the coach representing the fans behind him knows that losing this game is not an option.
Heck, he must now know that an all-time beat down is his only directive.
To quote Bill Parcells off the Coors Light commercial, "that's a good thing, not a bad thing."