Others chime in with thoughts on Bruce Arians

By Mike Gibson
Everybody knows how I feel about Bruce Arians.
Simply put, Temple football is at a crossroads.
Bobby Wallace will almost surely be gone by December.
Temple University cannot afford to hire another guy who was 0-11 at Rice University (Jerry Berndt) or a guy who never took the clipboard as a head coach at any level (Ron Dickerson).
The Bobby Wallace Model _ hiring a guy who had success as a head coach at a lower level _ seemed like the right way to go in 1998, but that, too, has proven to be a failure.
Only two people have proven they can win here in more than one season.
One, Wayne Hardin, is not available.
The other is.
Let's go get him.
But I digress.
What follows below is some other opinions:
By MH55
Arians could do wonderful things w/ players considered marginal. For instance, Arians caused a huge controversy in Cleveland when he brought journeyman qb Kelly Holcomb from the Colts and took 6 milion a year Tim Couch's job. Within this thread you have rationalizations why Temple could never attract top prospects. Arians did and had many top area players considering Temple when he was fired.
He also recognized raw talent and produced two 1st round picks and a 3rd rounder, proving that players flourished at Temple, something recruits are much more interested in rather than what conference they will be playing in, which has been nonsensical ever since Temple started turning in 1-2 win seasons.
Arians gambled and made some wild decisions but at least, accepted the responsibility and consequences. He was fired because he had Temple disappointed because we expected so much more rather than now, where we tolerate so little and consider winning a bonus rather than an expectation. I don't know if Arians is right for the job now but, I do know that we need someone just like Arians...Committed to the region, the university. Someone who takes a podium in front of the press or an easy chair in a prospect's living room and sells Temple Football.

By Hank D 69
Several of the Arians' supporters, notably Owl87, put the advantageous of getting Arians here more eloquently than I can.All I remember is this:When Arians was here, his teams were tough, played a brutal schedule, never quit, never laughed on the sidelines during losses.They were very easy to root for.That gaunlet of a schedule to start 1985 _ defending national champ BYU (25-26) and No. 5 Penn State (25-22) and one other top 10 team whose name escapes me _ was something no other Temple coach had to go through and the Owls were tooth and nail in those games.The guy can recruit and he's making about 225K as a position coach in the NFL after several years as a coordinator. He's going backward in the NFL thinking, not forward. A head Division IA coach is above a position coach in the NFL.
By 87Owl
In my opinion, BA is the "only" choice to succeed BW at Temple.The challenge for anyone is to produce a "viable" candidate to be the next Temple coach.I told DOB that BW was not a "viable" candidate (for HC @ Temple) because he knew nothing about what it takes at Temple. Don't get me wrong - I like and admire BW the person.
I dislike the results, but I do not cast total blame at his office. Temple shares the blame.Are there better candidates than BA? Yes. Go ahead and list 25 coaches. Now, how many of those coaches will accept the position? Zero!
Solich signed on at Miami(Oh) because he knows that the MAC is an up and coming conference and he has something to prove to Div 1-A football.
BA would sign on again at Temple because he has something to prove (either to himself or the coaching fraternity) and would probably accept an incentive laden contract at the MAC pay scale.
As Hank stated above, we lost close games against Nationally ranked opponents because we were "close" to putting it all together and BA was in his 20's - inexperienced. We did not lose games because Temple was unprepared, unmotivated, overmatched......we lost because the other teams had the intangible or tradition of winning. We were that close at one point in the 80's. Jerry Berndt took BA's team and went 7-4 against basically the Big East and we all know he was a coaching hire mistake for Temple.The number one reason to re-hire BA at Temple: He sold recruits on accepting the challenge of playing football at Temple.
By two-ball
you are so right.I really wish someone in charge was so asute. Just like WH Bruce is made for TU. I talked to him when the job was open last time and he really wanted the job. There would be a ton of candidates for the job.But he is the right one.Another would be Rocky Hager.BW did not know what he had in RH.
All I needed to know about BW decision making occured the year he and Rob Likens were trying to run the offensive and Rocky was buried on the staff with little to say.Jesus Christ.
Like Sal and others I am excited about the Mac. But I also know that BW failures are about his inability to grasp the situation and provide his team the leadership it takes to win. Tney do not know him,so they will not go mto war for him, outside of a few on the staff they dont know him either.He will not win here and DA comments just show how much he knows about evauating a football coach.
By Jim Owl
I spoke with Bruce Arians the day before he was fired at "Bama". His office there was loaded with Temple memorabilia and he spoke warmly of his time and association with Temple. Here's another alumnus who would welcome his return to the Owls!
By Scarleto'hara
Saw a mention of Bruce Arians on here yesterday but can't find it now so instead of fishing for that thread, I will post my story here. (I didn't have time to yesterday; I was in the office.)
As a graduate assistant at Rowan in the summer of 2001 (a couple months before 9/11 and a couple of months after Temple had been given the boot from the BE), I had an opportunity to attend a Nike Coach of the Year Clinic.
Arians was giving a talk on coaching young quarterbacks.
I went and afterward had an opportunity to talk to Arians.
He could not have been nicer, so I said something like, "It's a shame about Temple ... yada ... yada ... yada."
He said something his one coaching regret in all the jobs he had in the last 20 years was not getting the Temple job in 1998.
He said he felt he was the one guy who could turn it around, given the lessons he learned about coaching at Temple the first time around and given his NFL experience afterward.
He said he felt that some jobs are made for certain people and he felt the Temple job was made for him, that he just didn't get it at the right time. He felt 1998 was the right time and said that Temple, in 2001, was poised for the kind of success he couldn't get in the 1980s or even in 1998.
Certainly didn't sound like a guy who would not come back to Temple now at the right price.
I got out of coaching because coaches don't get squat in terms of money in Division II and III and I've made a comfortable living in the legal field.
When I talk to coaches in this area, every one to a man believes a guy who knows Philly, Pennsylvania and South Jersey can turn Temple around in a heartbeat.
There are no coaches out there who think it's a hopeless situation.
Coaches don't think that way.
Coaches are egomaniacs.
But, that day, at the Nike Coach of the Year Clinic, I told Bruce Arians I wish he would have got that job in 1998.
We shook hands and that was the last I saw of him.