By Jack Kerwin  |  ydkjack1@gmail.com

Unfortunately, it was inevitable.

It really was.

The moment Matt Rhule opted out of his program-building vocation with Temple University football weeks ago for the greener pastures provided by wide swaths of grass in central Texas and an association with a Power 5 school, the Owls’ hopes of registering a Cherry & White-record 11th win were dashed.

Didn’t matter that only a mediocre ACC squad stood as the obstacle in Tuesday’s Military Bowl.

Temple was cooked, lost, lacking the underrated soul and used-car salesmanship that had pumped life into anything with a grid connection to the North Broad campus like never before.

Yeah, it’s a way of life in college football these days. Success breads a bailout, and often a buyout, as the orchestrator cashes in for a better gig, at least theoretically.

But Rhule’s move was more devastating than most. There are few coaches who impact every aspect of a program the way he did. Frankly, he’ll never go down as one of the great game-day Xs and Os generals or possessing the “feel” to call just the right play at just the right time. But the guy had a magic touch with putting things in place.

With cultivating a winning atmosphere. With putting the program on the national map. With actually getting the Owls some attention in a pro sports-rabid city.

A team takes that kinda hit, all the gut-busting effort and rah-rah speeches in the world preparing for that shot at history, well, things ain’t gonna go too well usually … and they didn’t in this case.

If anything, new coach Geoff Collins was made aware of a glaring omission under Rhule. Wake Forest brought to light just how overmatched Temple was along the line of scrimmage in the Demon Deacons' 34-26 victory, particularly when the Owls had the ball.

That vaunted running attack, the one that had steamrolled eight straight opponents in yielding Temple an American Athletic Conference championship? It was nowhere to be found … unless you checked for burning embers in the dumpster postgame as the Owls’ net “gain” on 20 carries was minus-20 yards.

Sure, the line can thank senior quarterback Phillip Walker’s wayward wandering at times to make things look that bad statistically, but, c’mon, that performance was embarrassing.

Especially when you had two backs – Ryquell Armstead and Jahad Thomas – just 82 yards each away from 1,000 for the season. Needless to say, neither had a grand time.

Nope. All Temple got in the last few weeks was Rhule’s grand exit.

Unfortunately.

Goodbye, national ranking. Good luck, Collins, with maintaining, never mind building on, what Rhule created.
 
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By Jack Kerwin  |  ydkjack1@gmail.com

It's a problem.

BIG one.

How the 76ers didn't see this coming, and plan accordingly to handle it, efficiently, effectively and professionally, kinda defies all sensibilities.

Four centers, seven players standing 6-foot-10 or taller all told, with egos to match their size, and limited minutes available for two sports, or, at best, three. Maybe.

Let's be honest here, Ersan Ilyasova, the most pleasant of surprises added to the roster this season, and Dario Saric may be able to handle the “3,” but, really, they're both power forwards playing out of position, and No. 1 Ben Simmons, well, he remains as much of a question mark as he does a potential freak due to an injury that already has delayed his start in the NBA several months.

Joel Embiid may be a game-changer, but he is, without question, suited solely for center, as is Jahlil Okafor, Nerlens Noel and role player Richaun Holmes – despite the latter three being either shoved into the “4” repeatedly or expected to be in the future.

Sorry, doesn't work. In theory, or in practice.

Especially not with five of those guys being ballyhooed first-round draft picks, and another – Ilyasova – often the best player on the floor for the club. Yeah, even nights when Embiid is getting his full load of “be careful, he's brittle” allotted 24-27 minutes.

As head coach Brett Brown experiments with lineups and match-ups, tensions are going to mount ... regardless of whether victories ever do.

Noel's rant about “sh#t” gotta get figured out following his recent abbreviated stint will only serve as the tip of the iceberg on this.

It needed to be figured out long before this.

Pssst, it's OK to trade assets, Sixers, especially if it benefits the overall makeup of the team.

With the franchise sold on Embiid as the future, either Noel or Okafor had to go, preferably some place that would have yielded someone who could shoot, the Sixers' most glaring hole. Neither are going to satisfied in whatever role Brown comes up with for them at the moment, and once Simmons arrives things will change again – not to either of their liking.

The best lineup, peering ahead to 2017, with what is projected to be available, now with projected starting point guard Jerryd Bayless out for the rest of the season, seems to be this:

Embiid at center, Ilyasova at power forward, Robert Covington at small forward, Gerald Henderson/Nik Stauskas (pick your poison) at shooting guard and Simmons at point guard. It's not ideal, especially on the defensive side, but just can't take Sergio Rodriguez running the show anymore. He screams “liability” on both ends of the floor.

Noel could supply a burst of energy at the “5,” or Okafor some post-up offense there, depending on which guy gets in there ... or even remains. Saric and Ilyasova are almost interchangeable – which kinda makes either the drafting of the former or the acquiring of the latter only add to the overkill of bigs with similar skills – so the “4” would seem to be pretty consistent for 48 minutes.

Simmons, obviously, is the wild card. He could open things up a ton ... or further add to the glut that is creating a logjam that, frankly, never needed to exist by this point.

By Jack Kerwin  |  ydkjack1@gmail.com

No idea. No vibe. No nothing.

As far as Temple University’s hiring of Florida defensive coordinator Geoff Collins as the Owls’ new head football coach and what he may bring to the table, that’s about it.

His resume is solid. He fits the profile of a young, high-energy, character guy, too.

But, aside from that, it’s just numbers – the success he’s had at SEC schools in the past few years, Mississippi State being the other – and the typical bio of someone working their way up the coaching chain.

He is not Matt Rhule.

That is the one thing that needs to be emphasized to anyone already in the getting-carried-away stage, even before a formal announcement, as if Temple has unearthed yet another coordinator turned first-time head coach who is primed to take the program to another level. Al Golden, Steve Addazio and Rhule all proved to be positive choices for the modern-day grid evolution along North Broad.

All were Northeast natives. All had extensive professional ties to the Northeast beyond that. Rhule, in particular, had a special bond with Temple that he never failed to share. Despite all the uproar with him up and bolting for Baylor, strange move or not, considering the issues at that Power 5 school, Rhule did spend 10 of the last 11 years at Temple.
He left to be an assistant with the New York Giants after being undercut by Addazio’s coaching changes in 2012, but wanted – WANTED – to return when the top job opened up with the former’s departure for Boston College. He loved the school, the potential of the program, and had a connection with the city – in fact, he never left even as he coached for Tom Coughlin’s club up I-95.

Collins? At 42, he’s a year older than Rhule. He actually coached with Rhule for four years at Western Carolina, the school he attended and played for while an undergrad. He even has some Northeast ties, having coached at Fordham a year and Albright for two. The rest of his 22-year coaching career has been spent below the Mason-Dixon Line.

Frankly, his background probably is stronger than what Rhule brought to the table when he was named Temple head coach four years ago, if only for the “name” brand of the teams he coached … and, really, the success his defenses for those teams had. In each of the last three seasons, his units have ranked among the best in the nation.

But the Temple job, if the ultimate goal is to become a legit, relevant major-college program, requires a special touch, an intangible, hard-to-define quality from its leader that only time will tell if it exists in that individual.

Thing is, not even Golden, who rescued the Owls from the scrap heap, and Addazio, who led them to their first bowl win in 33 years, had it. Rhule did.
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Collins? At this point, no idea.
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By Jack Kerwin  |  ydkjack1@gmail.com

Sigh of relief.

Yep, that was the innate, natural, guttural reaction right here Sunday to the news that Charlie Strong – the knee-jerk, reactionary, big-name grab suggested as “the best guy” to succeed Matt Rhule at Temple University by the masses – had accepted the offer to be head coach at South Florida.

Seriously. Just one, big … phew.

In fact, make that a double … pheeeeeew.

Sorry, but him being recognizable and known as a quality individual only would serve as the superficial trappings that could spell disaster for the Owls and any hopes that they could continue their upward trend on the college football landscape. Like a box filled with coal encased in pretty wrapping.

Yes, Strong has respect around the country and he has a resume – some of it pretty good (especially with Tedy Bridgewater as his quarterback at Louisville), some of it not so much (16-21 at Texas?!!). But the reality of this situation, what awaits the next architect along North Broad, requires something much more than an ability to teach Xs and Os and to do things the proverbial right way.

Oh, those attributes will be needed, no doubt. But so, too, will be possessing the talent to sell the Cherry & White brand to prospective recruits, assistant coaches, fans, advertisers, the Philly area media, you name it. The next guy will have to be able to burn the candle at both ends, be brilliant, resilient and committed to the cause.

With those parameters in place, Strong isn’t a fit. In fact, few are. Might as well scratch anyone off the list who has put their 50th birthday in the rear-view mirror. Or 55th at least, as Strong has. Ohio State defensive coordinator Greg Schiano, whose miracle work at Rutgers a decade ago remains one of the most undertold success stories in the history of the sport, would be iffy at 50.

The current players’ choice, Owls defensive coordinator Phil Snow, 60, wouldn’t work.

If nothing else, Temple is a job that requires not only a young and enthusiastic mind, but also body. Rhule just turned 41. He infused a life into the program that, well, really never existed. Not in my lifetime, that’s for sure.

He also had the wherewithal, motivational skills, sense of timing and “touch” to turn a train wreck into an American Athletic Conference champion and Top 25 team within a span of four years.

Frankly, love the idea of Lane Kiffin, the mercurial offensive coordinator at Alabama, taking over at Temple, but with him, and even, say, Schiano, would the job even be worth considering. Just 41, he’s already been the head coach at Tennessee, Southern California and Oakland of the NFL.

For me, Temple’s top target right now is pretty obvious … and it’s a candidate who actually grates on me quite a bit, but he fits what is needed by the Owls: P.J. Fleck of Western Michigan. Like him or loathe him, the “Row the Boat” guy wins, he is relentless, tireless and he can get people to buy into a program with the slickness of a used-car salesman.

Currently prepping his undefeated Broncos for the Cotton Bowl, the 36-year-old Fleck just might be available and interested, too, even should he and WMU shake on a contract extension.
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Even with that, Temple could pay more, perhaps even twice the amount, and, despite the success he has enjoyed in Kalamazoo, Mich., working in Philly and playing in the AAC would be a step up.
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By Jack Kerwin  |  ydkjack1@gmail.com

Lotta good times.

The best in my lifetime of following Temple University football.

That’s what Matt Rhule brought to me and my alma mater, and, if it’s all the same to everyone else, that’s the way he’ll be remembered here.

Oh, sure, hate to see him go. Saying goodbye to someone who brought so much joy and hope into your existence is never easy. But if they determine it is time to leave, who are any of us to say they can’t?

After all, it is their life and their choice on how to live it.

With that, in bidding a final adieu to the departing head coach, who, in four seasons, managed to turn a dysfunctional operation into an American Athletic Conference champion, a two-time AAC East Division winner, and back-to-back 10-game winner and back-to-back bowl participant, we present the following:

TOP 5 WINS OF RHULE ERA
Dec. 3, 2016  |  Beat No. 19 Navy, 34-10
Mission accomplished. Rhule set out to win a conference title and did so, and probably stayed this season instead of bolting for Missouri last season only because Temple fell short against Houston on the same stage 12 months earlier. Regardless, his efforts, and those of everyone under his watch, paid off. The Owls didn’t just earn the crown, they annihilated the opposition in doing so, holding the Midshipmen’s vaunted option attack to just 306 total yards, including 168 on the ground – which was less than half its average. Quarterback Phillip Walker starred, as did running backs Ryquell Armstead, linebacker Jarred Alwan and safety Sean Chandler, but the effort was great throughout the squad. It was quite the capper to Rhule’s stint at Temple.

Oct. 21, 2016  |  Beat South Florida, 46-30
Unranked, but the most formidable foe during Rhule’s tenure as their coach outside of Notre Dame on Halloween night in 2015, the Owls delivered serious payback for the damage done to them a year earlier in Tampa, Fla. Armstead was awesome, erupting for 210 yards on 20 carries, including a 76-yard jaunt that reawakened Temple after it had blown an early lead. This is the game that made Nick Sharga the best-known fullback in the country, courtesy of ESPN color commentator Mack Brown falling in love with the youngster’s tenacious blocking. All told, Temple rolled up 319 yards on the ground and the Bulls could do nothing to stop them. Defensively, it held electric USF QB Quinton Flowers in check with All-America DE candidate Haason Reddick and Co. posting 11 tackles for loss in the process.

Nov. 21, 2015  |  Beat No. 21 Memphis, 31-12
Reeling after suffering their second loss in three games – an embarrassing blowout loss at that to South Florida – following a 7-0 start to the season, the Owls responded with their best overall performance during Rhule’s tenure. The offense, defense and special teams all clicked, as Temple basically manhandled the Tigers and eventual NFL first-round QB selection Paxton Lynch. The host Owls racked up 461 yards, including 261 through the air from Walker, while holding their explosive visitors to just 232, and they were dominant down the stretch, outscoring Memphis 17-0 in the final frame to put the game away.

Sept. 4, 2015  |  Beat Penn State, 27-10
This is the one that put Rhule’s program on the map locally – a huge deal considering how stubborn the region is with recognizing anything grid-related that is not Eagles- or Nittany Lions-related. The defense, headed by All-American LB Tyler Matakevich, was spectacular in registering 10 sacks and pestering PSU QB Christian Hackenberg all afternoon. The victory marked the Owls’ first in the series since 1941, and took place before a sold-out crowd at Lincoln Financial Field. Thomas became a household name with anyone having allegiance to the Cherry & White, racking up 135 yards and two TDs on the ground in the shiftiest of fashions.

Nov. 1, 2014  |  Beat No. 23 East Carolina, 20-10
Whether anyone cared to notice, this was the first time a Rhule-led Owls squad served notice that it could stick with, and prevail against, real quality competition. The win marked Temple’s first against a ranked team in 16 years and, again, Matakevich was key. He had 16 tackles in this one, whereas he’d have three sacks 10 months later against Penn State. Though the Pirates moved the ball, the conference’s top-ranked offense was derailed by five turnovers forced by the Owls.