Addazio: 'We don't need to hear about other schools in Pennsylvania'
College sports news from Philly.com
Addazio: 'We don't need to hear about other schools in Pennsylvania'
Keith Pompey, Inquirer Staff Writer
Filed Under: Football
For years, Temple played a distant second fiddle -- and sometimes third -- in regards to fan support in its own city.
Even though Penn State is located three hours away, the Nittany Lions have traditionally been Philadelphia's favorite team.
But now that Temple's back in the Big East, Addazio wants to see a switch in fan support.
"Come out and support the Temple Owls," Addazio said after Wednesday's preseason practice. "You got a major college football program right here. We don't need to hear about other schools in Pennsylvania. We just need to talk about Temple right now.
"If you are a real Philadelphia person get behind this football program, and let's make the Linc an electric atmosphere that we are proud of."
Comments (15)
Love the enthusiasm Coach A! Attendance has been thin at the Linc but my guess is that if you can sustain the winning, steadily improve the recruiting and keep the program clean the City will embrace Owl football. While the PSU situation is sad, it clearly has created a void in the local college football scene and hopefully the Owls are in position to fill that void. Go Owls!— hueyfutch- Winning is the key to establishing a fan base here. Philadelphia is a football crazy town, it just needs a successful team in a major BCS conference to get excited about. Even if the Owls win, it will take a little time for fans to catch on, but the potential is huge. Most fans aren't old enough to remember that the Owls were once a national football power. They even went to the very first Sugar Bowl in the 1930's with the infamous Pop Warner as their coach.— OverFiftyYears
- If you're not aware and looking for extra incentive.. there is, in fact, tailgating at Temple football games, and they sell beer in the stadium. It's awesome on a nice fall Saturday.— bobbyd24
- For the first time since i was an undergrad i got my season tickets! Should be a fun year!— latinflo
- @MADKINS RU Kidding? That is an exciting schedule? Who are you kidding? So you hope to go 1 - 5 at home maybe at best 2-4. LOL
The Big East is a big sham now. And you guys will be the doormat anyway. You may not even beat Nova, a div 2 team. Temple football...lololololololol what a joke.— PHAZED - Temple is Eastern PA's team now— amr82
- PHAZED you sound like a Penn State fan .— Kerz
- @PHAZED,
First off Nova is 1AA not D2 and they will cruse past Nova with the starters resting the second half (no offense to Nova fans whatsoever...seriously). They're not about to compete against Bama or USC but they haven't been a doormat team for quite a while now. I don't know if they're going to go 9-4 but they'll be bowl eligible this season.
Go TU!— hellerj - Build a stadium that makes fans feel like they are at a college football game rather than a really poorly attended Eagles game.— bobcitydoc
- The coach can't worry about this stuff. The team is picked to finish last in the Big East so they need to win against some big time opponents. Even then, I don't know if Temple can draw attention since it doesn't play its games on campus and doesn't get national attention (yet). Just win and we'll see what happens.— AvoidSundanceVacations
- ADDAZIO AND TEMPLE FOOTBALL DESERVE YOUR SUPPORT. THERS A LOT OF BUZZ ABOUT TEMPLE. THIS IS A PROGRAM ON THE RISE THAT DESERVES THE SUPPORT OF STUENTS AND ALUMNI. THE LINC IS A GREAT VENUE FOR COLLEGE FOOTBALL. IT'S A FIRST CLASS FACILITY. UCONN PLAYS AT RENTSCHLER FIELD IN EAST HARTFORD, THIRTY MINUTES FROM STORRS. RENTSCHLER DOES NOT COMPARE TO THE LINC. UCONN DRAWS IN EXCESS OF 35,000 AND UCONNS TEAM HAS BEEN ON A PAR WITH TEMPLE. THERE ARE MORE PEOPLE IN PHILLY THAN IN THE ENTIRE STATE OF CONNECTICUT. TRULY, THERE IS NO EXCUSE, NO REASON NOT TO SUPPORT TEMPLE.— Amatloff98
- Temple could probably get 35,000 for home games now that they are in the Big East and if they win. I think the coach and people are thinking a little bigger than that.— AvoidSundanceVacations
- Go owls. There's a void in the easternpart of the state for a competitive D1 program. I think the owls are set up to fill with a vibrant campus, very strong coaching and a BCS conference. Now the fans need to show up. Let's go folks these kinds play for fun and frankly are much more competitive than prior generations owls.— owl87
- Yes, it takes more than winning. But winning is the first ingredient. Temple needs support from the admin at Temple. Additionally Temple needs support from the media, especially the talk radio sports guys. Temple alum and students need to provide support. Other colleges that don't have teams such as LaSalle need to come out to the games. Lastly, the casual Philly sports fans need to also come out and support...— Byron
- Coach A needs to learn that begging has never worked in Philly; go out and win and people will notice. You're not playing the stiffs in the MAC any longer; well, ok, you're playing the stiffs in the Big East! Temple will never average 35,000 paid; paid, the key word. Anyone can paper the house.— JBinPA
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About this blog
Keith Pompey has been an Inquirer reporter since September 2004. He began covering the Temple men's basketball team in November 2010 and Temple football in August 2011. Pompey previously covered the Penn and Drexel men's basketball teams after initially focusing on high school sports.
Keith Pompey
Inquirer Staff Writer
Pompey is a native Philadelphian and a University of Pittsburgh graduate. Follow him on Twitter @pompeysgridlock. Reach Keith at kpompey@phillynews.com.
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