For Golden, it feels like home

By Mike Gibson
If there was any doubt that Al Golden knew Philadelphia, Temple University or the area, it was erased today.
�This is my son, A.J. and my wife, Kelly,� Golden told the assembled media, players and fans in attendance. �We were on the beach in Stone Harbor (N.J.) and he decided he didn�t want to stay in anymore. We ended up at Cooper Medical Center the next three weeks in Camden.�
It was a natural progression from Stone Harbor to Camden and now Philadephia for the 23d Temple University football coach in its history.
Golden was born and raised in Colts Neck, N.J., the same town Dan Klecko became a high school star in before coming to Temple University.
Dan Klecko�s father, Joe, a superstar of some note himself, was in attendance.
Speculation raged about possible assistants, but Golden was understandably playing it close to the vest.
�I can�t say anything about that now,� Golden said. �People have to go through human resources and all of that.�
Golden did say plenty Tuesday, actually his second day on the job.
Well, maybe his third.
�This whole thing went down on Sunday,� said the former Virginia defensive coordinator. �I�ve spent the last two days drawing up a recruiting chart and I�m pretty proud of that. We have guys we�ve targeted and we�re already working on that.�
Golden knows how to chart recruits pretty well, having done much of the recruiting for Tom O�Brien at Boston College, Joe Paterno at Penn State and Al Groh at Virginia.
Golden said that �I last saw the Temple campus some 18 years ago� while being recruited by then Temple head coach Bruce Arians and �that so much has changed. ...you can recruit here. We�re going to be able to recruit here.
�This is a beautiful place and a great campus. We stayed at Conwell Hall last night and we walked around campus and this place is alive at night. I talked to some of the students at the 7-11. They didn�t know who I was, but that was OK.
�Recruiting kids to this campus will be a big plus, one of our strengths. I did know what they did here in the past but, we�re going to recruit an area from Boston to D.C. and west of Pittsburgh. That will be our core area.�
To the players, Golden said: �I don�t know what�s happened before and I can�t apologize for it, but you are going to get the best I have and the best our staff has. I will never turn down a request to talk to a player.�