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| The Great Chris Harris. |
In the late stages of Bobby Wallace's tenure as Temple coach, a player named Chris Harris stepped up and went public in a very courageous way. What Chris Harris did below might have saved the program. It certainly led to the hiring of Al Golden ....
The signs have been there all along.
Even the casual Temple football fan knows there is something seriously wrong with the leadership of the program.
From suspect recruiting, to suspect execution (false starts abound), to suspect discipline (laughter on the sidelines during losses), something is seriously wrong.
Then there is the story of Chris Harris, former Temple football player.
In all my years of following Temple football, I have never seen a more courageous and situation-specific treatise on what is happening behind the scenes.
His grammar may be rough, but his points seem to be well made.
Some might dismiss the following diatribe as the rant of a disgruntled former player.
I don't.
I think the following post deserves a wider audience so I'm posting it in its entirety here in its complete and unedited form. Temple needs a new head football coach and now.
I think a lot of what he says rings true, a lot truer than what the current head football coach at Temple says.
It follows in White:
Hello, I am Chris Harris the Starting right tackle from Last season��s team. There have been many questions about the program and my situation and I am going to lay it all out right now. I found out at the end of the summer that I was not going to make my NCAA 75% senior rule. It states that a senior has to be done with 75% of his major to be eligible.
Therefore, I had to take classes online at BYU to achieve this grueling goal. I was playing football, taking 15 credits here at Temple and 9 credits at BYU. So all season I have been at practice playing scout team and playing my starting right tackle position. I took fewer reps so Tariq Sanders can get his reps in.
I finally finished my classes, so I was waiting for the classes to transfer in from BYU so I could play in the Toledo game, but they never came in. Coach Turner (the Greatest), Coach Brock, and I contacted the BYU office that Monday to see why my grades did not come in. They said that I had missing assignments. I showed them on the websites that I submitted the grades and that the dates were posted. I was told to do them over because they did not have them.
So that following weekend I could not stand on the sidelines because the players got a notice in the locker room that if you were not on the dressing team or ineligible, you could not stand on the sidelines, so I was in the stands.
A reporter had asked Coach Wallace about my situation and he said that I quit the team and that he has not seen me since Monday. He stated that he did not know if I had financial problems or if I had failed a class but he said that I quit. I have not quit anything in my life. I have fought blood, sweat, and tears for this program (in the little time I have been here). Therefore, after that LIE was made to save his ass, I decided not to come back to the team.
All of my teammates understood my decision and wished expressed their common feelings towards Coach Wallace. I still go to the facility and Talk to Coach Turner, which I must add is the best coach ever. The entire team wishes he was the head coach.
This program has many problems. There is no discipline on our team. When somebody does tries to discipline, the Head Coach does not reinforce their efforts. We have top talent on this team.
We almost beat V-Tech last year. We have players here that top schools wanted. I am extremely impressed with this years recruiting class, I feel that these guys are going to win some games in the future, they have great attitudes but they are going to need help.
Everybody is talking about axing the program but that is not the answer. We need a new leader.
Somebody that is going to bench an important player if he is a problem. It happened this week with Goo, but If a higher power did not come down on Coach, Goo would of played. We need a leader that has a proven record of accomplishment on the D-1A level. It hard to play football here. There are too many things going on here besides football.
As players, there are unnecessary things about this team and school that stresses us. The team is split apart.
For example, a player will not go to practice all week but start in the game. Players miss weight training and there is no penalty.
I am officially done with college football. My senior year is ruined. My GPA is fine and the classes are on their way in. I thought I was the 1st person this happen to but as I talk to former players it is a common them.
We need a change. There are coaches on this staff that are priceless but we need more. We have the talent to win big games but an army is only as good as their general. Too many people want to see this team succeed and we will, but there is more than what the fans see.
Also, Paul Palmer is the spirit of Temple football. For those who do not know the whole story please understand that Paul was disrespected and mistreated. He means a lot to the players. I remember the speech that he gave the team before the Penn State game and I felt the fire in the team. That Fire is gone. The Chicago Bulls would not do that to Jordan, the Lakers would not do that to Cookie and Magic, so why do we do it to Paul.
Some players dont want to speak out because of back lash they might recieve but I'll be a voice. If enough people stand up and fight for us, we will win.
As a player, a fan, and Owl I am asking someone to help. You can email me at Chris56@temple.edu and catch my family and me in the stands during all of the home games, Id love to talk and share. Thank you for your time Christopher Harris TU Football #56
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