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| Steve Addazio needs to make a strong statement today or leave tomorrow. |
It wasn't five minutes after he was hired, but too soon for my taste.
I called the post: The Elephant in the Room because a lot of Temple people just didn't want to talk about it.
Call this one The Elephant in the Room Part II.
A report out of the Hartford Courant newspaper, not some anonymous blogger, links current Temple head coach Steve Addazio's "representative" contacting the UConn search committee about the current football opening there.
Because this report was in an actual newspaper last night and supposedly confirmed today, I think it might have some legs.
I'm willing to give Addazio the benefit of the doubt, though.
For now and not for long.
If I was UConn, I'd avoid Steve Addazio like the plague. The PR hit the school would take for "stealing" a coach just hired by another school is just not worth it
I just can't fathom a guy who got up on the podium two weeks ago telling people how excited he was to be here could do such an about-face because another job comes open, even a job in his home state.I can't picture how the guy who kept mentioning "Destination Temple" can change that speech to "Destination UConn" so quickly.
If I was UConn, I'd avoid Steve Addazio like the plague. The PR hit the school would take for "stealing" a coach just hired by another school is just not worth it. Plus, Addazio is no more the slam dunk hiring for UConn that he would be here. So far, his OL hiring is a grad assistant and his strength coach is a guy from Marshall, who supposedly made no real positive impact at Marshall. Also, Florida co-DC Chuck Heater, who was rumored to be coming here with Daz, is nowhere in sight nor are any big-time recruits from Florida (the state, not the school) that Daz might have been connected to prior to his hiring.
Something smells like dead fish out there.
Would a guy leave a job he was hired two weeks ago for a similar job 200 miles away?
I don't know.
Stranger things have happened, though.
This is one elephant that can't be ignored.
This is one time Temple people can't stick their heads in the sand and hope the Elephant finds its way out of the room on its own. This is too vital a time for recruiting both coaches and players. This doesn't need to float out there in cyberspace any more than the 18 hours it already has been out there.
If Bill Bradshaw doesn't get to the bottom of this today, then Ann Weaver Hart or Lew Katz need to get Addazio to address this right now.
If Steve Addazio doesn't come out and say this report is totally false and that he is totally 100 percent committed to Temple University, then he should be fired and Temple should feel free to pursue Bruce Arians (the best choice, IMHO) or Tom Bradley, outcome of the UConn search notwithstanding. Even if UConn hires, say, Mark Whipple later this week, this story will be out there and in the folder of every coach who recruits against us this year and next to question Addazio's commitment here. Addazio might not think he needs to reaffirm it, but he does. That's the way of life in the real world.
There's an Elephant in the Room today and the more people ignore it, the more damage it is likely to do.
