Al Golden needs to build some walls of trust, too

By Mike Gibson
After his fliratation with UCLA, I don't know if I will ever look at Al Golden quite the same way again.
I never thought Al would be here forever, but I definitely bought into his commitment to build the university a house of brick, not straw.
That was the way Greg Schiano built the program at Rutgers, not going the quick fix like grabbing five or six JUCO All-Americans to make a quick impression.
It was, in my mind, the right way to build the program at Temple.
When he turned down Boston College last year, I thought, 'Way to go, Al, that's the way to get it done. We can't build that brick house if you listen to every Tom, Dick and Harry on the street asking you to build them one, too.' "
Ty Pennington doesn't listen to other sob stories when he's committed to helping one down-and-out family. He builds the damn house first, then goes on to the next sob story.
I was stunned beyond belief that he would go after a UCLA job when only one wall was up at Temple. I don't begrudge Golden a chance at bettering his status in life, it's just that he not only signed at Temple to do a job but he gave his solemn promise that he would get it done.
Then I thought of something John Chaney once said.
"Once you tell me you don't love me, it's over," Chaney said on March 24, 1992, talking about Rick Brunson when he transferred to Boston College for two months, took a job there, before having a change of heart and transferring back to Temple.
It ended well for the Owls then.
Hopefully, this story will end that way, too.
The way I feel about Temple football is that if you tell Temple football you don't love it, then it's over. It's that important to me this house gets fixed.
I know exactly where John Chaney was coming from.
Well, it wasn't over for Chaney and Brunson then and it probably won't be over for Al Golden and all of his current disenfranchised fans, either.
But he's going to have to show me a lot in the next month or so.
Eric Reynolds was, at least in my mind, a three-star running back that got away.
It would be nice to replace him with a three-star running back, say, an Albert Gray of Florida.
Keeping 99 percent of the current recruits, guys like Steve Caputo of Unionville, also would be another step.
When Kobe Bryant betrayed from his wife, he regained her "trust" with a $14 million ring.
I don't need the ring.
I need a running back, a kicker and no decommits to feel the Al Golden love again.