The Wayne Hardin Project gains momentum

From left, Hardin, The Manhattan Project, Kennedy

"This nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to Earth, " President John F. Kennedy, May 25, 1961
By Mike Gibson
Forget about the degree of difficulty with The Kennedy Project or The Manhattan Project or even The Alan Parsons Project.
The Wayne Hardin Project could make them all seem like child's play in comparison.
Back in 1961, when Kennedy stood before Congress and said that "this nation should commit itself" to putting a man on the moon before the end of the decade, there were a lot of "huh?" looks in the gallery.
"Moon? You mean that same moon that's up in the sky?"
In the early 1940s, when a group of scientists said they were committed to splitting the atom, people said:
"What, are you crazy? Do you know how small that thing is?"
That's sort of the same reaction Hardin got when he went on the Temple football post-game show in November and "guaranteed" to put 66,000, mostly Temple, fans in the stands for the 2007 home opener against Navy at Lincoln Financial Field.
Guaranteed.
Hardin assured Temple athletic director Bill Bradshaw, the moderator of the show, that he wasn't kidding.
"We're going to do all we can to help you," Bradshaw said.
Hardin offered one caveat.
"We're going to try to play this game on the Thursday before Labor Day," Hardin said. "I've given Bill that job now. He'll get to work on it Monday."
Bradshaw worked and worked and worked some more. Sometime, in December, Bradshaw almost gave up, saying "it appears the Eagles want that date."
Yet he did not give up.
"We're not going to abandon the idea of Thursday night yet," Bradshaw wrote in an email in December.
Bradshaw hammered away on the problem for months and finally delivered his end of the bargain today with the announcement that the Owls now have that date.
Jeff Lurie and Joe Banner wanted to keep it for the possiblity of an Eagles-Jets' game.
The Eagles were originally going to play that night and were unwilling to budge.
Bradshaw conjoled and pleaded, even begged, for the game, saying that it would help the Eagles, Temple, Navy and the city.
The city got on Temple's side and convinced Lurie and Banner that it would best serve their community relations if they helped Temple out with this special night.
Mostly, though, it was Bradshaw who kept his word to Hardin that he would help. He didn't give up and neither did Temple. Getting Thursday night is huge and, if you've been a Philadelphian for any length of time, you know why. The city virtually empties on the Friday of the holiday weekend, the last chance for folks to go "down the shore" before the long, cold winter.
Playing on Thursday night was the only shot Temple had of getting a crowd that weekend.
Now it's up to Hardin to keep his word to Bradshaw.
Will Hardin be able to deliver?
Folks who've known Hardin for years say don't sell him short, even on something this ambitious.
"If you think he can't do it, you just don't know coach Hardin," long-time friend Kevin Touhey wrote in December.
Hardin was the guy who took the Temple job after it struggled against the Gettysburgs and Kings Points and Xaviers and looked people in the eye and said: "We're going to be playing Penn State and Pitt and we're going to go toe-to-toe with them. We're going to be in a bowl game."
Plenty of eyebrows raised, but few nods of belief.
Yet Hardin delivered. Temple played one of the greatest Penn State teams ever, the 1978 squad, toe-to-toe. Temple was nationally ranked. Temple went to a bowl game.
If anyone can do this, Hardin can.
Nothing gets The Wayne Hardin Project off to a running start like a Feb. announcent.
Now Billboards can be made, commercials can be filmed and radio spots can be written.
Hardin is still a compelling figure, both in this town and the Baltimore/D.C. area. He was, after all, the last Navy head coach to have that team in a major bowl and ranked in the top 10, as high as No. 2.
Hardin is counting on his Navy and Temple friends to deliver on some favors. Hardin already has convinced incoming recruit Corwin Acker, among others. "Our first game next year is against Navy," Acker said. "We have a sold-out crowd, 68,000 people. I can't wait to play in front of all those people."
If Hardin is able to pull this off, taking Navy to No. 2 in the country or Temple to No. 17 in both major polls will seem easy by comparison.
He deserves the benefit of the doubt and all the help we can give him.