By Mike Gibson
Temple University head football coach Al Golden likes to say he "knows what's around the bend" and it's encourgaging for the program and its fans.
No one can actually see what's around that bend, but if you look at the University of Minnesota you might get a clue.
Temple fans who make the trip on Saturday for the 2 p.m. game will get a close-up look.
Both Minnesota and Temple have a lot in common.
Both are large state-related universities.
Both have established national reputations of academic excellence.
Both are located in relatively cold-weather cities.
Both play their home games in large pro stadiums.
Both are located right in the middle of fertile recruiting areas.
Both offer what a lot of the young athletes are looking for today: Four years of a big-city experience.
Both struggled before their current head coach arrived on campus.
Take that last point.
When Glen Mason arrived on the Minnesota campus, the Golden Gophers were coming off a string of losing seasons.
Prior coach Jim Wacker was coming off three- and four-win seasons.
Minnesota "wacked" Wacker after that 1996 season and brought in current coach Glen Mason.
After a two initial losing seasons, Mason has suffered only one losing campaign since _ not bad in what many feel is the nation's toughest conference.
Mason did it with aggressive recruiting, targeting the kid that wanted a big-city experience as opposed to the more bucolic, some say boring, atmosphere offered in most other Big 10 locales.
There were enough of those kids to win and to go to bowls.
Golden is targeting the same kind of kids looking for the same kind of experience.
That's why Golden can't see what's around that bend he's always talking about, but can guess.
Or Glen Mason can tell him.
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