Friday, September 23, 2011

Steve Addazio vs. Al Golden




Al Golden's first Miami press conference lasted 49 minutes, during which he never uttered the word "Temple" once.

TU Fact 1:
Temple has seven wins
over schools currently
in the ACC; none while
they were in the ACC
If you make the trip with me to Maryland tomorrow, you will notice the game program says: Temple vs. Maryland.
Very true.
The subtitle, though, should say Steve Addazio vs. Al Golden.
We really don't know if Steve Addazio is a better coach than Al Golden right now.
TU fact No. 2
Temple is 15-0
with Bernard Pierce
getting 16 carries
or more
However, we could all get a much better handle on that come 4 p.m. tomorrow afternoon.
Bum Phillips, the colorful former coach of the then Houston Oilers, once said:
"The sign of a great coach is that he can take your 'ums and beat his 'ums and he can beat his 'ums with your 'ums."
Steve Addazio has a chance to prove that against Maryland.
If Al Golden, with arguably better talent than Temple, can't beat Maryland with his Miami group and Steve Addazio CAN beat Maryland with, err, lesser talent that could go a long way toward proving once and for all that Steve Addazio is the better game coach than Al Golden.
If not prove conclusively, than it would be a pretty good Exhibit A in any case to be made for Daz vs. Golden.
Many of the Daz fans, me included, were duly impressed with Addazio doing to Villanova what Golden was not able to do _ blow them out. Yet that body of work can be argued to be inconclusive since Villanova was in a rebuilding year.
Add a win over Maryland with a blowout of Villanova and you can make an argument that this is an open-and-shut case.
It might even cause one set of eyebrows at The U to be raised.