A crawl coming to the bottom of your TV screen soon (we think).
I've been hearing speculated on two web sites, Owlscoop.com and and OwlsDaily.com, that the decision to name a head football coach at Temple University could be a rush job.
That's because Ann Weaver Hart, the school's president, is set to go on vacation on Wednesday in Utah and they want her to be here for the decision.
I don't think I've ever heard of a worse reason to rush into a decision of this magnitude.
First, I don't think she needs to be there.
Second, I think it's more important to get the "right guy" than for it to be the "right time."
To me, the right guy is the current offensive coordinator with the Pittsburgh Steelers, Bruce Arians, but I'm also willing to accept the notion that there is more than one "right guy" for this job.
Look, unless some billionaire Steelers' fan approaches Temple and says he will pay for a an expanded E-O, a bubble and Bruce's contract and that of his assistants if they hire BA, I'm realistic enough to know that Bruce Arians is no longer on Temple's radar like he was in 2005.
Would he do the best job of all these candidates?
In my mind, yes.
In my mind, too, it's time to move on to get a head coach now.
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| Bob Davie, semifinalist for 2000 coach of the year in college football |
If it's not Bruce, I'm 100 percent sure I know who the "right guy" type is.
The right guy, right now, is a proven winner as a head coach (did I say head coach?) and brings instant national credibility and name recognition to the program.
That eliminates Penn State assistant Tom Bradley, it eliminates Florida assistant Steve Addazio and it eliminates Pitt assistant Frank Cignetti.
All good names, but I don't want to find out they can't make good decisions on the fly when they are already employed by Temple.
Western Michigan head coach Bill Cubit?
I think he can do the job and I know his body of work well, but does the Joe Philadelphia fan know who he is?
By all accounts, Bob Davie was a winner at Notre Dame, is a great recruiter and has name recognition from his college football TV work. He's from Western Pennsylvania and knows the lay of the land on both sides of the state.
The only comment I could ever find Bob Davie making about Temple was a positive one.
"I remember watching Temple a year ago," Davie said. "Watching Temple, we watched them against Boston College, we watched them against Pittsburgh, we watched them against Navy, West Virginia, Temple is a good football team."
Davie was talking about the 2000 Temple football team in a Notre Dame question-and-answer session posted on Sept. 25, 2001.
If he liked what he saw then, he should like what he sees now.
I first met Bob Davie while working as a sports writer for The Daily Intelligencer in Doylestown in 1979.
Bob and I were both in our early 20s at the time, I a guy who covered the dynamite Central Bucks West football team, and he a lead recruiter for the University of Arizona.
Davie was in town to sign CB West superstar quarterback Kevin Ward.
I covered that press conference.
"Coach Davie is the reason I'm going to Arizona," said Ward, who was recruited by every major school in the country.
Maybe Davie can sprinkle that recruiting dust here.
He could get recruits to come to Temple and it won't take much to be a better game coach than Al Golden.
My guess is that he won't line up in an illegal formation on the first play of the biggest game of the year after a nine-day layoff. I might be crazy, but I think he'll take the victory formation rather than hand the ball off to a running back with 17 seconds to go. I hope he knows it's probably not a good offensive philosophy to hand the ball off to a 5-foot-5 guy on every first and second down, then throw on third down when everybody knows it's coming.
If he can avoid even little game-day brain farts like that, I'll take him.
