Addazio: 'It's a new Temple'
Temple college sports - basketball, football and more - covered by the Philadelphia Inquirer's Keith Pompey.
Addazio: 'It's a new Temple'
Keith Pompey, Inquirer Staff Writer
NEWPORT, R.I. – Talk about bringing the excitement.
Temple’s Steve Addazio was by far the most animated coach at Tuesday’s Big East Media Day here.
As everyone listened, he talked about what the conference can expect from the Owls.
“It’s a new Temple,” he said. “It doesn’t resemble anything where it was six or seven years ago.
“We just completed a $10 million football facility, a state of the art complex, a new $50 million basketball complex. There’s change everywhere. We were a 1,200-person commuter school. We are [39,000] residential students.”
Temple, however, was picked to finish last in the eight-team conference by the media in this the Owls' second go-round in the league. Temple spent the last five years as a football-only member of the Mid-American Conference after being kicked out of the Big East for lack of success on the field and in the box office.
Temple is coming off three consecutive winning seasons. Last year’s 37-15 New Mexico Bowl victory marked the Owls first bowl win in 32 seasons. But they only return eight full-time starters from a squad that finished 9-4 last season.
“I don’t know where we’ll be in this pecking order at the end of the season. I have no idea,” Addazio said. “I do know this” we will show up. We’ll play really, really hard and we’ll represent the game the way it is supposed to be represented. That’s what I will promise you."
I'm a Temple Alum and I love where the program is going. However, I still feel that we are 1-2 years away from being competitive in the Big East. Addazio is on the right track though. I love his attitude and recruiting thus far. We may finish last, but things are looking up.— diamondd40- I love Steve A. He's the perfect Philly coach!— dcarbo
- Don't count on the Owls being last in the Big East. Starting from an underdog position, I'd bet on several "upsets"!— Cornwall Citizen
- Last place sounds about right considering they never even reached a Mid American conference championship game. In fact they could not even manage to win their division in their five year Mid American Conference stint. Temple football will never be what they pretend to be.— Taser
- He is a good guy but probably won't be there in 18 Months.— Booper
- Temple will be kicked out again wiythin 5 years.— rumple
- Temple should be better than last place, with Coyer and Monel Harris. I don's see a Steve Addazio team struggling as much as some predict. The Orlando Sentinal predicted Temple would finish #57 out of all schools.— robbjl
- Sounds like Villanova fans are still upset...Temple had the 3rd best scoring defense in the nation last season. Only ranked behind Alabama and LSU.
— Temple U Owls - GO TEMPLE.— Temple U Owls
- Ranked 7th in Rushing yards in the nation. And just got a running back transfer that is as good as Bernard Pierce if not better. Should have one of the best running back tandems in the nation this year with Montel Harris and Matt Brown.— Temple U Owls
- Over 40,000 students....13,000 students living on campus and directly surrounding it and that number continues to grow...— Temple U Owls
- Temple will be the BE surprise. Look for the Owls to end up 2nd or 3rd. Coach Daz is going to be at TEMPLE a very long time.— Clifton
- Hoot Hoot! Can I get a TEMPLE RISING!?!— theowldude
- Bernard Pierce is gone. Back to mediocrity you go unless they can get lucky again.— Zeru
- If temple alumni gets behind this program the sky is the limit. There are so many subway grads who didn't have the time to participate in campus activities because they were trying to earn a living and pay tuition. Your out there and have the opportunity to enjoy a good product. Get behind this team and go to the Linc to enjoy its success.— rich62
Pompey is a native Philadelphian and a University of Pittsburgh graduate. Follow him on Twitter @pompeysgridlock. Reach Keith at kpompey@phillynews.com.
