Addazio had plenty of haters among fans

Could Steve Addazio have been a good football coach at Temple? We'll never know. He took off up I-95 to Boston College before anybody found out, two seasons in.

Wednesday's e-mails from Temple folks suggest that Addazio was smart to have the car running. If I had gotten a positive note about how he handled this, I'd print it. (If I get one Thursday wishing him well, I'll tweet it.) Nobody agreed with my view, that you couldn't blame Addazio for upgrading to a BCS league.

From Rick Dunlop: "In my opinion, any coach who is with a team for only two years is a carpetbagger who used that school to get to the next rung! Had Addazio stayed at Temple as long as [Al] Golden, and built on what Golden started and then left, I'd wish him well. Temple administrators are stupid if they hire another Addazio type. Stability in the program is possible with the right hire."

If Temple can get San Jose State coach Mike MacIntyre, a former Owls assistant who built something quickly in San Jose, I wouldn't worry about how long he stays. That's exactly the kind of hire Temple needs to make.

From Ross Donolow: "Maybe I am no expert on all these college football BCS leagues and what is better than the other, but maybe I have some inkling of human character. Nick Saban is a Saint, did you hear me a 'SAINT' compared to this Addazio . . .

"Hey, Saban led a very successful LSU program before taking off for Alabama, LSU won a national championship with him and yet Saban was called scum, which I disagree with . . . this Addazio comes off a successful program at Florida, good, goes to Temple, takes them to a bowl game and then this year joins a new league and does fair, then last week he says, (paraphrasing) I am in for the long haul, if these kids think we worked hard this year, well wait until next season 'cause we are going to really work hard. . . . Then yesterday in a 5 minute speech he quits the team, that's it, done and over. . . ."

Offering Nick Saban for sainthood - there's a man who knows how to make his point. No rebuttal here, other than that if MacIntyre or some coach on his level comes here, the Owls may have upgraded. And yes, the system is stacked, allowing coaches to leave and players needing to sit out a year if they do the same.

From Bob Elkman: "I hated this guy's demeanor. Mostly bark. Little bite. The way Addazio screamed at the players in front of everyone sickened me. He's a big blowhard, a bully with no track record for recruiting. Anything good that he did was a reflection of what Al Golden left him."

Addazio generally got pretty good reviews on recruiting, and football coaches do tend to yell at football players.

This last e-mail, from Mike Cooke, also shows a gift for metaphor.

"Ambition is good. Addazio made a commitment and recruited players like he had made a commitment. He lied!!! He made no commitment. He's the sports version of the Wall Street thieves that promised their investors that derivatives were a safe investment and then went to Gstaad for some fun when their clients lost their life savings at 80 and took jobs at Walmart. Do you or Steve Addazio know what the words honesty and honor mean?"

The faithful have spoken, or at least hit the send button, sending Addazio off with a little Temple Tuffness.