Thank you, Al (and Miami)

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What Miami can do to Temple, PSU can also do to Miami in a year or two.

? All of us agree Al Golden did a terrific job here at Temple University.
He did what a lot thought could not be accomplished: Save a football program at Temple.

Mark D'Onofrio: Crapshoot

So we have to thank Al today and wish him the best of luck in Miami.
He did what he said he would.
Build a house of brick, not straw.
Had Temple hired Rick Neuheisel or Jim Harbaugh (two guys who wanted the job for at least a couple of weeks), the house might have been straw.
Or at least stuco.
Al Golden has proven you can win at Temple and that makes this an attractive job for the next guy.
Before we cannonize Al for Sainthood, though, please remember that this is the same Al Golden who was 0-14 against winning MAC teams despite having the top recruiting class in the MAC for four of his five seasons.
This is the same Al Golden who was badly outcoached by Ohio's Frank Solich for two straight years.
This is the same Al Golden who lost to Miami (the fake one, not the real one), 23-3, in his final game at Temple. This is the same Al Golden who lost to a guy in that game who was 1-7 in the MAC the year before.
Just sayin'.
Thank you to Miami, too. I don't think Al Golden is any better a head coach than Randy Shannon, but you will find that out soon enough. He never reminded me of Wayne Hardin or Bruce Arians on game day, let's put it that way.
His game coaching was suspect at best.
A couple of weeks ago, I ran a poll asking Temple fans what Al Golden's best quality was.
Only two people voted for game-day coaching.

Bruce Arians: Sure thing

My guess is Al and Kelly Golden, but we will never know.
The next Temple guy, in my humble opinion, will be Mark D'Onofrio.
I like Mark very much.
Do I think he's the right hire?
Quite frankly, no.
When you get to this point, hiring an assistant _ any assistant, even a Temple assistant _ is a crapshoot.
I'm done with crapshoots.
Ron Dickerson was perhaps the top assistant in America when he was hired to be head coach at Temple.
How did that hire turn out?
Not good.
There's a Peter Principle involved here.
Some great assistant coaches are not made to be head coaches.
Temple lucked out with Al Golden.
I hope it has the same luck with Mark D'Onofrio, although hiring Bruce Arians, in my mind, would be a sure thing.
More on this in the next few days.