The Golden Years
Philabuster is a blog about Philadelphia sports written by Philadelphia Inquirer sports columnist Phil Sheridan.
The Golden Years
Phil Sheridan, Inquirer Columnist
By taking his skills to South Beach, Al Golden becomes the first football coach in ages to leave the Temple University job under his own power. Golden will reportedly become the next head coach at Miami.
And no, not Miami of Ohio. The U, which has lost quite a bit of its luster over the last few years.
Everyone knew this day was coming. Golden was literally too good for Temple to hold onto. That is the reality on North Broad Street. It was always going to take an exceptional coach to get that program going in the right direction, and Golden certainly is that. Any coach who succeeded at Temple was bound to be lured away by a larger, richer football school.
The timing isn’t ideal. The Owls had a winning record at 8-4, but lost their final two games and missed out on a bowl appearance. The team has been troubled, too, by allegations that two players sexually assaulted a female student last month. That investigation apparently continues.
So it’s a shame Golden is leaving under those circumstances. It would have been better if he’d finished his tenure at Temple with an honest-to-goodness bowl victory. But there’s no way Golden could turn down this job. Miami? At 41, Golden has his career-making opportunity.
Athletic director Bill Bradshaw has been on a roll lately, getting Golden and then hiring Fran Dunphy away from Penn to replace Hall of Famer John Chaney. Golden will not be that tough an act to follow, but it’s a tricky hire. The program is in much better shape, but that winning tradition isn’t exactly set in concrete yet.
Golden will do well at the next level. The challenge is tougher for Temple.
Temple will hire Rich Kotite.— Theo1980
I knew it was a pipe dream to think Golden would stick around at Temple. I hope Bradshaw can pull another rabbit out of his hat. It's been good to see a resurgence of sorts at Temple and It would be great to see it continue.— uteowl- I wonder if Coach Golden has made any recommendations upon his departure? He certainly will be missed and always kept in high esteem in the Delaware Valley. He may be the best one to unofficially recommend his successor. Would Mike D. make a good choice, after all he has been a very big part of the turn around for the Owls, especially the rejuvenation of a defense, that has improved right along side the offense? Would Bruce Arians consider coming back to Temple? If the above mentioned are not to be considered though they should be, is there a Coach aside from the above mentioned that could step into Coach Golden's shoes? There is a great deal of talent and depth that the Owls now possess, and to build upon. One of the current Temple players was recently quoted as proclaiming the 2011 Owls will go undefeated! This is not out of the question, though it is a tall order. The calibre of the MAC is very underated, and the non-conference games will continue to be upgraded, especially if Villanova goes to Division I. It would be great to see the Temple-Villanova game be moved back to Thanksgiving Day as it was in the past. It was very common in the 20's, 30's, and 40"s for this game to draw 30,000 to 40,000 annually on that date!— boggie
