UMass is recruiting Walter Fallas a 6-3 240 pd LB from Everett, MA with a 4.8 forty. The Boston Herald has a story here .
He was a member of the Herald's Dandy Dozen .
Walter, hope you choose UMass --- the best defensive team in the East!
Saturday, 30 September 2006
Friday, 29 September 2006
Hatchell Brothers play big for UMass
Celeste Whittaker has an article in Cherry Hill Courier-Post about the Hatchell brothers. The article includes two nice images of the Hatchells.Senior DE John Hatchell 6-2 270 has been a two year starter for the Minutemen on the defensive line. Last year he had 14UT 22 At 36TT 1-7 sacks 5.5-23 TFL
His brother Jason Hatchell 6-0 224 has started the last two years at LB. He had a breakout year in 2005 43UT 65AT 111TT 1-7 sacks and 1 PBU.
The above image is by David Moler. The Springfield Republican has a image gallery of the UMass-Stony Brook game here .
Thursday, 28 September 2006
Thursday Odd & Ends
The image to the left is by David Molan from the Springfield Republican. Nick Friedell of the Orlando sentinel has a nice article about Steve Baylark here.Matt Dougherty has his weekly state-of-IAA "Extra Point" here .
One nice thing about a bye week is that we can sit back and watch A10 rivals beat up on each other.
The A10 has gameday details for the three A10 matchups here .
Of particular note is the game between future UMass opponents Hofstra and William & Mary (next home game Oct 7th). The Odds Guy Keeper has that game as about even .
That game is on A10 TV. In the words of the press release the game will be "aired live on Comcast SportsNet in Philadelphia, Comcast SportsNet D.C., Fox SportsNet New York, and WSGR in Winston-Salem, NC. In addition, the contest will be aired on tape delay Saturday on Cox 3 in Rhode Island (3:30pm) and College Sports Television (5:00pm)"
CSTV is available on Dish Network channel 152 for anyone wanting to do some scouting.
UPDATE: Bruce Dowd has his weekly A10 newsletter A10 Den up .
Wednesday, 27 September 2006
UMass History --- The 1960 team
The 1960 UMass Football team was honored during halftime. The 1960 team was the first UMass team (of 17 UMass league champion teams) to win the Yankee Championship.According to the game program, present at the game were: Chuck Studley (Head Coach), Tom Delnickas (Captain) John Burgess (Captain), John Bamberry, Roger Benvenuti, Ed Bumpus, Vin Caputo, Armand Caraviello, Jack Conway, Jerry Cullen, Bob Foote, Ed Forbush, Dave Harrington, John Harnett, Al Hedlund, Dick Hoss, Ken Kezer, Tom Kirby, Joe Long, Sam Lussier, Paul Majeski, John McCormick, John Morgan, Wayne Morgan, John Murphy, Art Perdigao, George Pleau, Mike Salem, Carmen Scarpa and Doug Wood (hopefully, I didn't garble any names)
Bob Foote T and John McCormick QB were All-Yankee Conference First Team.
Ken Kezer led the team in rushing 88-408 5.2 yards/carry 5TD
John McCormick was 42-86-682, .488 ave, 4/5 TD/INT 119.2 Eff
The 1960 team went 7-2
- Maine W 21-13
- AIC W 7-6
- Harvard W 27-12
- UConn L 0-31
- Rhode Island W 34-16
- Northeastern W 7-0
- Boston U L 7-20
- New Hampshire W 35-15
- Springfield College W 35-8
Tuesday, 26 September 2006
Special teams strong in 2006
The Springfield Republican has an article about UMass kicker Chris Koepplin. His 48 yarder against Stony Brook was the third longest in UMass history.- 52 Sandro Vitiello (BC 1978)
- 52 Dennis Gagnon (UNH 1971)
- 48 Chris Koepplin (Stony Brook 2006)
J.J. Moore does most of the punt returns. He had 2-68 against Stony Brook. Overall we have 12 punt returns for 121 yards 10.1 ave.
Monday, 25 September 2006
In this case, silence is Golden
By Mike Gibson
Richard Nixon was elected president on the campaign pledge of having "a secret plan to end the war," meaning, of course, the Vietnam War.
One of the things Al Golden promised Temple fans is that they will see a program with a plan.
It's not a war, but Golden's plan to end the suffering of Temple fans certainly is a secret one.
And that's fine with me.
Just ending the suffering will suffice.
Key players disappear for a game or two or three or four and the silence coming from the Edberg-Olson Football Complex is deafening.
No one knows if they're injured, stolen cookies from the Coaches' Lounge or disabled the cookies on one of the coach's laptops.
And that's fine with me.
However Golden feels it needs to be done is the way it's going to have to be.
Yet he's offered enough clues along the way about why he's doing what he's doing and it makes sense.
"I've learned when I was at Boston College that it serves no purpose to talk about injuries," Golden said.
The rest of the plan is murky, but some pieces of the puzzle are emerging from the E-O.
If anything is obvious from the first third of the season, it's this:
There needs to be an immediate infusion of big-time talent into the program.
Golden appears to be addressing that need by bringing in transfers from BCS schools and bringing in up to nine high-quality academic and athletic Junior College players.
This represents a small shift from Golden's stated goals of buidling the program with almost exclusively high school players. It's a shift brought on by the lack of quality at some key spots, like the offensive line.
Already, Temple has a transfer from Syracuse and one from Minnesota in the fold.
Expect more.
Expect Temple to bring in immediate impact JC players and incorporate them into the spring program. Think Walter Washington, Tim Brown and Phil Goodman in terms of talent, Eliot Seifert in terms of character and dedication to academics.
If this plan can be implemented, the days of 62-0 losses to BCS schools and 41-7 losses to the likes of Western Michigan are over.
If Golden brings in the kind of immediate help he's seeking, look for some tangible on-field results as soon as next year.
As far as this year goes, he's buttoning the lip when it comes to team personnel matters and that doesn't matter to me at all.
This year isn't all that important in the plan. Next year is. From all signs, Golden appears to be taking that bull by the horns.
Richard Nixon was elected president on the campaign pledge of having "a secret plan to end the war," meaning, of course, the Vietnam War.
One of the things Al Golden promised Temple fans is that they will see a program with a plan.
It's not a war, but Golden's plan to end the suffering of Temple fans certainly is a secret one.
And that's fine with me.
Just ending the suffering will suffice.
Key players disappear for a game or two or three or four and the silence coming from the Edberg-Olson Football Complex is deafening.
No one knows if they're injured, stolen cookies from the Coaches' Lounge or disabled the cookies on one of the coach's laptops.
And that's fine with me.
However Golden feels it needs to be done is the way it's going to have to be.
Yet he's offered enough clues along the way about why he's doing what he's doing and it makes sense.
"I've learned when I was at Boston College that it serves no purpose to talk about injuries," Golden said.
The rest of the plan is murky, but some pieces of the puzzle are emerging from the E-O.
If anything is obvious from the first third of the season, it's this:
There needs to be an immediate infusion of big-time talent into the program.
Golden appears to be addressing that need by bringing in transfers from BCS schools and bringing in up to nine high-quality academic and athletic Junior College players.
This represents a small shift from Golden's stated goals of buidling the program with almost exclusively high school players. It's a shift brought on by the lack of quality at some key spots, like the offensive line.
Already, Temple has a transfer from Syracuse and one from Minnesota in the fold.
Expect more.
Expect Temple to bring in immediate impact JC players and incorporate them into the spring program. Think Walter Washington, Tim Brown and Phil Goodman in terms of talent, Eliot Seifert in terms of character and dedication to academics.
If this plan can be implemented, the days of 62-0 losses to BCS schools and 41-7 losses to the likes of Western Michigan are over.
If Golden brings in the kind of immediate help he's seeking, look for some tangible on-field results as soon as next year.
As far as this year goes, he's buttoning the lip when it comes to team personnel matters and that doesn't matter to me at all.
This year isn't all that important in the plan. Next year is. From all signs, Golden appears to be taking that bull by the horns.
Stony Brook Wrap up
UMass has it's Stony Brook game info here .
Stony Brook has its wrap-up here .
The Springfield Republican has a nice two-page article . The Boston Globe has an article here .
Matt Dougherty has his weekly state-of-I-AA Extra Point here .
UPDATE: Matty Vautour has two articles in today's Hampshire Gazette (registration required, but worth it). A game article here . And a article on the Coen-to-Rasheed Rancher connection .
Sunday, 24 September 2006
UMass-Stony Brook Images
As usual, Blogger displays a larger view of the image if you right click on it.
The game was 42-0 with about three minutes left in the second quarter. It could have been 84-7 if UMass had wanted.
Good game for the UMass special teams. UMass only threw 8 passes in the first half and two in the second.
Good win for UMass and an excellent time to go into the bye week.
The game was 42-0 with about three minutes left in the second quarter. It could have been 84-7 if UMass had wanted.
Good game for the UMass special teams. UMass only threw 8 passes in the first half and two in the second.
Good win for UMass and an excellent time to go into the bye week.
Chris Koepplin was perfect for the day
Koepplin was perfect on extra points and hit two LONG field goals in the second half
The 1960 UMass Football squad was honored at half-time
The 1960 UMass team was the first team in UMass history to win the Yankee Conference Championship!
Saturday, 23 September 2006
What a well-recruited and well-coached Owl group can do at Western Michigan
Or should do at Kalamazoo.
Or did do at Kalamazoo.
Once .....
OWLS ROLL TO 49-17 VICTORY
PALMER'S RUNNING RIPS W. MICHIGAN
Sep 14, 1986
By Chuck Newman, Inquirer Staff Writer
KALAMAZOO, Mich. _ Midway through the first quarter of yesterday's Temple- Western Michigan football game, a passenger train passed alongside Waldo Stadium and sounded its shrill whistle.
However, the warning blast was too late for Western Michigan , which already trailed 14-0 en route to a 49-17 shellacking.
The Owls' easy victory was a morale-booster in the wake of their opening- game pounding at Penn State. The Broncos' two touchdowns came against Temple's deep subs in the second half.
Temple quarterback Lee Saltz ran his career passing yardage to 3,957, bettering the school mark of 3,913, set by Doug Shobert (1970-72).
But it was Paul Palmer who provided the bulk of the offense, collecting 175 yards in 20 carries before retiring from the game late in the third period.
Palmer may not be one of the leading Heisman Trophy candidates, but it's unlikely that any of his competitors will get to 100 yards as quickly in one game as he did yesterday.
Palmer had 100 yards after his first four carries, getting there with 7 minutes, 30 seconds left in the first period on a 34-yard touchdown run up the
gut on a draw play.
The 5-foot, 9-inch, 180-pound senior enjoyed a 149-yard first half, but coach Bruce Arians was not about to let him try to run up 300 yards at the expense of embarrassing the Broncos (0-2) - especially after Palmer's cranky hip acted up.
"I did think he could have a very big day," Arians said. "But it wouldn't have been fair to Western Michigan or to Paul."
"When we looked at the films (before the game), we thought we could pretty well do what we wanted to do against them," Palmer said. "I mean, if we executed correctly."
The Owls, for the most part, executed meticulously both on offense and defense.
Saltz completed 8 of 12 passes for 111 yards, including a 20-yard touchdown pass to Stan Palys.
Palmer had TD runs of 55, 34 and 3 yards - it was the fourth three-TD day of his career - and was helped by a big blocking effort by fullback Shelley Poole.
"Shelley was destroying people," Arians said.
Palmer, who went into the day leading the NCAA in all-purpose yards after gaining 268 against Penn State, yesterday racked up 203 more, including 28 on a kickoff return, raising his total to 471.
"I think it was a normal Paul Palmer day," Arians said. "He really didn't do anything that I haven't seen before."
The Temple defense was not to be denied, either. The Owls harassed Western Michigan quarterback Chris Conklin into a miserable day, sacking him four times. Conklin was 10 for 21 for 174 yards, but 156 of those came in the second half, when the Owls substituted liberally. Temple also held the Broncos to 107 yards on the ground.
"They really came after us, and we have to do a better job of protecting," Western Michigan coach Jack Harbaugh said. "Temple has a lot of great players."
The only Temple negative was a sprained knee suffered by starting defensive tackle Mike Swanson, who is expected to be out for at least three weeks.
"We did what we came here to do," Arians said. "We wanted to win and win decisively. We wanted to have some fun, and we did that. Now we have a chance for a special season."
After being staggered by a 43-yard return of their opening kickoff, the Owls yielded a first down that put Western Michigan at the Temple 43-yard line. However, the Owls then got a break when a delay-of-game penalty wiped out a 7-yard gain by the Broncos.
The call killed the drive and the Broncos.
Temple needed only two plays to go ahead after Western Michigan punted.
Saltz, faking a handoff to Palmer, found Willie Marshall racing up the right sideline and hit him for a 38-yard gain. The play would have gone all the way had not Broncos safety Willer Berrios lassoed Marshall by the shirttail.
No matter. On the next play, Palmer swept left, got a wipeout block from Poole and hip-faked safety Denny Robinson. Fifty-five yards later, the score was 6-0. It became 7-0 when Bill Wright kicked the extra point.
Temple's next possession lasted only five plays. Palmer started it with a 2-yard gain and ended it with his 34-yard scoring run.
The Owls didn't score again until Palmer went in from 3 yards out with 17 seconds remaining until intermission. The touchdown capped a 7-yard, two-play mini-drive that was spawned when freshman Loranzo Square recovered a muffed fumble.
But things got worse for Western Michigan before it could reach the safety of the locker room. Temple defensive back Terry Wright picked off a desperation throw by Conklin at the Broncos' 20 and made it to the end zone after what seemed like an impossible journey through a maze of potential tacklers up a narrow alley along the right sideline.
The Owls made the score 35-0 on an 80-yard drive meticulously engineered by Saltz at the outset of the second half, and Western Michigan didn't end the shutout until John Creek kicked a 34-yard field goal with 6:28 left in the third period.
Or did do at Kalamazoo.
Once .....
OWLS ROLL TO 49-17 VICTORY
PALMER'S RUNNING RIPS W. MICHIGAN
Sep 14, 1986
By Chuck Newman, Inquirer Staff Writer
KALAMAZOO, Mich. _ Midway through the first quarter of yesterday's Temple- Western Michigan football game, a passenger train passed alongside Waldo Stadium and sounded its shrill whistle.
However, the warning blast was too late for Western Michigan , which already trailed 14-0 en route to a 49-17 shellacking.
The Owls' easy victory was a morale-booster in the wake of their opening- game pounding at Penn State. The Broncos' two touchdowns came against Temple's deep subs in the second half.
Temple quarterback Lee Saltz ran his career passing yardage to 3,957, bettering the school mark of 3,913, set by Doug Shobert (1970-72).
But it was Paul Palmer who provided the bulk of the offense, collecting 175 yards in 20 carries before retiring from the game late in the third period.
Palmer may not be one of the leading Heisman Trophy candidates, but it's unlikely that any of his competitors will get to 100 yards as quickly in one game as he did yesterday.
Palmer had 100 yards after his first four carries, getting there with 7 minutes, 30 seconds left in the first period on a 34-yard touchdown run up the
gut on a draw play.
The 5-foot, 9-inch, 180-pound senior enjoyed a 149-yard first half, but coach Bruce Arians was not about to let him try to run up 300 yards at the expense of embarrassing the Broncos (0-2) - especially after Palmer's cranky hip acted up.
"I did think he could have a very big day," Arians said. "But it wouldn't have been fair to Western Michigan or to Paul."
"When we looked at the films (before the game), we thought we could pretty well do what we wanted to do against them," Palmer said. "I mean, if we executed correctly."
The Owls, for the most part, executed meticulously both on offense and defense.
Saltz completed 8 of 12 passes for 111 yards, including a 20-yard touchdown pass to Stan Palys.
Palmer had TD runs of 55, 34 and 3 yards - it was the fourth three-TD day of his career - and was helped by a big blocking effort by fullback Shelley Poole.
"Shelley was destroying people," Arians said.
Palmer, who went into the day leading the NCAA in all-purpose yards after gaining 268 against Penn State, yesterday racked up 203 more, including 28 on a kickoff return, raising his total to 471.
"I think it was a normal Paul Palmer day," Arians said. "He really didn't do anything that I haven't seen before."
The Temple defense was not to be denied, either. The Owls harassed Western Michigan quarterback Chris Conklin into a miserable day, sacking him four times. Conklin was 10 for 21 for 174 yards, but 156 of those came in the second half, when the Owls substituted liberally. Temple also held the Broncos to 107 yards on the ground.
"They really came after us, and we have to do a better job of protecting," Western Michigan coach Jack Harbaugh said. "Temple has a lot of great players."
The only Temple negative was a sprained knee suffered by starting defensive tackle Mike Swanson, who is expected to be out for at least three weeks.
"We did what we came here to do," Arians said. "We wanted to win and win decisively. We wanted to have some fun, and we did that. Now we have a chance for a special season."
After being staggered by a 43-yard return of their opening kickoff, the Owls yielded a first down that put Western Michigan at the Temple 43-yard line. However, the Owls then got a break when a delay-of-game penalty wiped out a 7-yard gain by the Broncos.
The call killed the drive and the Broncos.
Temple needed only two plays to go ahead after Western Michigan punted.
Saltz, faking a handoff to Palmer, found Willie Marshall racing up the right sideline and hit him for a 38-yard gain. The play would have gone all the way had not Broncos safety Willer Berrios lassoed Marshall by the shirttail.
No matter. On the next play, Palmer swept left, got a wipeout block from Poole and hip-faked safety Denny Robinson. Fifty-five yards later, the score was 6-0. It became 7-0 when Bill Wright kicked the extra point.
Temple's next possession lasted only five plays. Palmer started it with a 2-yard gain and ended it with his 34-yard scoring run.
The Owls didn't score again until Palmer went in from 3 yards out with 17 seconds remaining until intermission. The touchdown capped a 7-yard, two-play mini-drive that was spawned when freshman Loranzo Square recovered a muffed fumble.
But things got worse for Western Michigan before it could reach the safety of the locker room. Temple defensive back Terry Wright picked off a desperation throw by Conklin at the Broncos' 20 and made it to the end zone after what seemed like an impossible journey through a maze of potential tacklers up a narrow alley along the right sideline.
The Owls made the score 35-0 on an 80-yard drive meticulously engineered by Saltz at the outset of the second half, and Western Michigan didn't end the shutout until John Creek kicked a 34-yard field goal with 6:28 left in the third period.
Game Day!
Well, soon it will be time to start making our way down from New Hampshire to McGuirk Stadium.Weather looks like a repeat of the first home game------cloudy with showers.
Stony Brook has its game notes up here . The Springfield Republican has a game day story here .
Matt Vautour of the Hampshire Gazette has a story about the UMass stable of running backs (registration required)
The Springfield Republican has a story about the UMass brothers Jason Hatchell and John Hatchell here .
Friday, 22 September 2006
Coen win New England Gold Helmet Award
UMass' Liam Coen has won the New England Gold Helmet award for the top performance in I-AA.The UMass announcement is here. The Boston Herald has an article here.
So far this season Coen is 49-76 3 INT 7TD 64.5% (tops in the A10) 654 yards 218.0 yds/game 150.6 passing efficiency.
In the A10 Coen is
- 1st in completion average
- 3rd in pass efficiency
- 3rd in passing average per game and 3rd in total offense 213.3 yrds per game.
Thursday, 21 September 2006
Thursday Morning Odds & Ends
There are several articles covering UMass' Saturday meeting with stony Brook.Matt Dougherty has his weekly state-of-I-AA article Extra Point-Week Four .
Bruce Dowd's A10 Den article is up .
I wanted to make sure you did not miss the quote from Andy Talley after his troops lost to UMass last week.
"I've been in this league for a long time, and that's as good a team as I've seen," said Talley, who is in his 22d season at Villanova. ``I really feel they're a Final Four team. They can win the whole thing."
That quote is included in this article from the Boston Globe.
Finally, remember to listen to Coach Brown's radio show via the internet feed tonight at 7:00 pm.
Wednesday, 20 September 2006
A look as Stony Brook
UMass has some HTML game notes up here. Full pdf notes are here .
Stony Brook, as you know has committed to upgrading their program to a full 63 scholarships and leaving the NEC Conference to go independent.
The Seawolves may want to reconsider leaving the Northeast Conference as fellow members Albany and CCSU have been tearing up I-AA lately. Albany beat A10 power Delaware before 22,000 stunned Hens fans at the Tub last week. CCSU beat I-AA power Georgia Southern and earned its first ever top 25 ranking last week.
Stony Brook has a killer schedule this year. They play three A10 teams. Albany, #1 UNH and #9 UMass.
The results so far:
- L 17-8 Hofstra
- L 7-0 Georgetown
- L 62-7 New Hampshire
It is the Seawolf offense that is not yet competitive at this level. The offense line features four new starters. The Seawolves have only managed 231 yards/game and have only scored 15 points in three games. Their QB Josh Dudash is 28-49-0 261 yards 1 TD with a poor 108.62 efficiency rating. The season Seawolf stats are here .
Matt Dougherty of the Sports Network has UMass by 38-6.
The odds guy Keeper has UMass by 41.
Tuesday, 19 September 2006
UMass three-for-three in A10 player-of-the-week awards
UMass has played three games. UMass players have won three A10 Player-of-the-week awards.
- Liam Coen won Offensive Player-of-the-week last week
- James Ihedigbo won Defensive Player-of-the-week for the Navy game
- Christian Koegel won Special Teams Player-of-the-week for the Colgate game.
Coen wins A10 Offensive Player-of-the-Week
sophomore QB Liam Coen 6-2 205 won the A10 Offensive Player-of-the-Week Award. The UMass article is here .Ron Chimelis of the Springfield Republican has an article about Coen in today's paper.
The UMass Daily Collegian has an article about the return of Brandon London in the Villanova game.
In the Villanova game Coen went 28-21-0 350 yards 2TD. For the year, he has a 150.57 efficiency rating and has completed 64.5% of his passes. The yearly UMass stats are here.
Brad Listori helps the UMass short passing game
Rutgers transfer Brad Listori TE 6-4 245 has made an impact on the UMass offense.Against Villanova he had four catches for 49 yards and a TD
Overall this year he has 7 catches for a 11.3 yards/catch and is tied for third in overall number of receptions.
For a number of years UMass has lacked a short passing game. We either threw it downfield or to a running back. Having a pass catching TE is going to make a difference in the UMass offence.
Monday, 18 September 2006
What is, versus what could have been .....
By Mike Gibson
One of Al Golden's strengths as Temple University head football coach is the expertise that comes with his sports psychology degree.
After a pair of 62-0 beatdowns, it helps that your head coach has some knowledge of the fragile pysche young people can have.
There are a couple of classic "Golden-isms" already.
"I'm going to build a house of brick, not straw," or "we're going to keep pounding at that rock until it cracks."
Surely, there will be more.
From what Golden says and what he has done so far, it seems pretty apparent that Temple athletic director Bill Bradshaw picked the right guy to build that house and pound that rock.
You can't tell by looking at the house or the rock because it's not built or cracked yet.
There's a lot of building and pounding to do.
It'll take time.
If you are looking through the prism of consecutive 62-0 losses, that's probably not the right way.
Yet by looking at what Temple could have had, it seems clear that they got the right guy.
It's hard to imagine, say, a Brian White or a Jerry Glanville having the patience needed to build this house. Or a George Welsh living through a pair of 62-0 losses.
Let's look what happened to some who expressed strong interest in the Temple job last year:
JIM HARBAUGH _ The most intriguing of the late entries 10 months ago, Harbaugh would have been the only Temple coach ever to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Now currently the coach of the 3-0 University of San Diego Torreos, Harbaugh is 19-5 in his three years as head coach. Made strong late push, even was interviewed by search committee but, by the time he threw his hat into the ring, Bradshaw was sold on Golden. Was quoted in the San Diego Union as saying "the Temple job would be a great opportunity."
BRIAN WHITE _ Rumored to have had pre-Bobby Wallace resignation meeting with Bill Bradshaw and that moved him to the top of the last year's wish list early when he was a Wisconsin assistant. For a long time, White was at the top of the list until Bradshaw met Al Golden. White currently is offensive coordinator at Syracuse University, which put up 31 points at Illinois.
JOHN LATINA _ Latina is the assistant head coach at Notre Dame. As a Temple assistant in the 1980s, he helped develop John Rienstra into a first-round NFL pick and a first-team All-American.
JERRY GLANVILLE _ Glanville would have given Temple fans the "name" coach Bradshaw reportedly promised in informal tailgate gatherings. Not sure if he would have been well-received by Temple fans since he is a) old; b) a blowhard; and c) has little or no knowledge of Owl football. Currently defensive coordinator at Hawaii, where they put a 42-14 spanking on UNLV Saturday.
GEORGE WELSH _ The retired Virginia and Navy coach reportedly threw his hat into the ring in November. Problem was the hat was a fedora. Guy was 72 years old and probably a lot less qualified to turn Temple around than Wayne Hardin, who is seven years his elder. Now the head coach of a USA group of collegiate all-stars, who will tour Japan at the end of the season.
TOM CLEMENTS _ Another interesting candidate, like Latina, with Notre Dame ties, like search committee consultant Gene Corrigan. Now quarterbacks' coach with the Green Bay Packers.
RON PRINCE _ The current Kansas State head coach is 3-0. Like Golden, was a former Virginia assistant. Reportedly, Bill Cosby pushed hard for Prince or current Cincinnati Bengals' assistant Hue Jackson to get the Temple job.
TOM BRADLEY _ Current top aide to Joe Paterno was encouraged to apply for the Owls' job. Showed initial strong interest, then backed out late when Paterno talked to Bradley. May have used Temple to get some promises from Paterno.
AL GOLDEN _ Along with Harbaugh, Golden was one of the more intriguing late candidates. Fit the profile of a young, energetic guy who has been a huge success as a recruiter. Virginia fans and insiders seemed to feel Golden had a bigger upside than Prince.
Prince had the good fortune to inherit more talent and a softer schedule than Golden.
It's shown in the records and scores so far. What the records are four years from now will determine the rest of the story.
One of Al Golden's strengths as Temple University head football coach is the expertise that comes with his sports psychology degree.
After a pair of 62-0 beatdowns, it helps that your head coach has some knowledge of the fragile pysche young people can have.
There are a couple of classic "Golden-isms" already.
"I'm going to build a house of brick, not straw," or "we're going to keep pounding at that rock until it cracks."
Surely, there will be more.
From what Golden says and what he has done so far, it seems pretty apparent that Temple athletic director Bill Bradshaw picked the right guy to build that house and pound that rock.
You can't tell by looking at the house or the rock because it's not built or cracked yet.
There's a lot of building and pounding to do.
It'll take time.
If you are looking through the prism of consecutive 62-0 losses, that's probably not the right way.
Yet by looking at what Temple could have had, it seems clear that they got the right guy.
It's hard to imagine, say, a Brian White or a Jerry Glanville having the patience needed to build this house. Or a George Welsh living through a pair of 62-0 losses.
Let's look what happened to some who expressed strong interest in the Temple job last year:
JIM HARBAUGH _ The most intriguing of the late entries 10 months ago, Harbaugh would have been the only Temple coach ever to appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated. Now currently the coach of the 3-0 University of San Diego Torreos, Harbaugh is 19-5 in his three years as head coach. Made strong late push, even was interviewed by search committee but, by the time he threw his hat into the ring, Bradshaw was sold on Golden. Was quoted in the San Diego Union as saying "the Temple job would be a great opportunity."BRIAN WHITE _ Rumored to have had pre-Bobby Wallace resignation meeting with Bill Bradshaw and that moved him to the top of the last year's wish list early when he was a Wisconsin assistant. For a long time, White was at the top of the list until Bradshaw met Al Golden. White currently is offensive coordinator at Syracuse University, which put up 31 points at Illinois.
JOHN LATINA _ Latina is the assistant head coach at Notre Dame. As a Temple assistant in the 1980s, he helped develop John Rienstra into a first-round NFL pick and a first-team All-American.
JERRY GLANVILLE _ Glanville would have given Temple fans the "name" coach Bradshaw reportedly promised in informal tailgate gatherings. Not sure if he would have been well-received by Temple fans since he is a) old; b) a blowhard; and c) has little or no knowledge of Owl football. Currently defensive coordinator at Hawaii, where they put a 42-14 spanking on UNLV Saturday.
GEORGE WELSH _ The retired Virginia and Navy coach reportedly threw his hat into the ring in November. Problem was the hat was a fedora. Guy was 72 years old and probably a lot less qualified to turn Temple around than Wayne Hardin, who is seven years his elder. Now the head coach of a USA group of collegiate all-stars, who will tour Japan at the end of the season.
TOM CLEMENTS _ Another interesting candidate, like Latina, with Notre Dame ties, like search committee consultant Gene Corrigan. Now quarterbacks' coach with the Green Bay Packers.
RON PRINCE _ The current Kansas State head coach is 3-0. Like Golden, was a former Virginia assistant. Reportedly, Bill Cosby pushed hard for Prince or current Cincinnati Bengals' assistant Hue Jackson to get the Temple job.
TOM BRADLEY _ Current top aide to Joe Paterno was encouraged to apply for the Owls' job. Showed initial strong interest, then backed out late when Paterno talked to Bradley. May have used Temple to get some promises from Paterno.
AL GOLDEN _ Along with Harbaugh, Golden was one of the more intriguing late candidates. Fit the profile of a young, energetic guy who has been a huge success as a recruiter. Virginia fans and insiders seemed to feel Golden had a bigger upside than Prince.
Prince had the good fortune to inherit more talent and a softer schedule than Golden.
It's shown in the records and scores so far. What the records are four years from now will determine the rest of the story.
Whew! Glad to get out of Villanova!
When I looked at the 2006 schedule back last spring I knew the Villanova game had bad Ju-Ju written all over it. Vince DiGregorio of the Springfield Republican has an article here.First of all, the trio of games UMass opened its season were all tough games.
- Navy is undefeated and only three wins from being bowl eligible.
- Colgate is still my pick to be Patriot league champion.
- And Villanova is in a class of its own for bad karma.
Then there is the "I-A hangover". I-AA teams make a heroic effort against a I-A team and then play flat against their regular competition. Take a look at Montana State. They beat Colorado in one of the greatest wins ever by a I-AA team. Then lost their next two game against a DII team and a 0-45 rout at home. Willian & Mary played a tough game against Maryland, then lost a A10 game to Maine.
The win against the Wildcats should put UMass into the by week at 3-1. That a whole lot better than starting off the A10 slate with a loss.
UPDATE: Matty Vautour of the Hampshire Gazette in his UMass Sports Blog also discusses UMass' schedule so far. Right now, it looks like the November 4th game against UNH is going to be one of the best in the nation...
Sunday, 17 September 2006
Sunday morning reading
I'll be back with some thoughts on UMass' win over Villanova later today.For your Sunday morning reading:
From the UMass side
- The Springfield Republican is here .
- The Hampshire Gazette is here (registration required, but worth it)
- The Boston Globe is here .
- The UMass Athletic Dept is here
- The Boston Herald is here .
Saturday, 16 September 2006
Remember live internet feed from UMass and CN8
Remember you can get the game over the internet. UMass will be forwarding the video feed from CN8. Click on the "Watch Live" link here (UMass site).Don't know if the feed from the UMass site will have the UMass audio feed of Bob Behler and Matt Goldstein.The UMass audio will be better. Behler and Goldstein won their second consecutive "Best Play-by-Play" honors from the Associated Press award in 2005.
Game Day Articles
Matty Vautour has an article in the Hampshire Gazette . Registration required but worth it.The Springfield Republican has an article here.
The Villanova Rivals site has a game day article by Bob Phillips here .
The Daily Progress has an article about Brandon London and today's game with Villanova.
A Maryland paper has an article on UMass Senior cornerback Tracey Belton relating to the Navy game.
Friday, 15 September 2006
More UMass-Villanova stuff
Not a lot on the wires right now.
The Springfield Republican has a game article here.
This is a cool feature. It's an interactive Villanova depth chart (should be useful while watching the internet video feed from CN8 via the UMass site). If you use Firefox as your browser, then you can have depth chart on one tab and the video feed on another and switch back and forth as needed...
Thursday, 14 September 2006
We need a win at Villanova!
Last year we played an emotional game against Army and lost by a close score.The next game was against Hofstra and we were flat as the man in this kid's drawing. That loss knocked us out of the playoffs.
This year, we again played a great effort against Navy and came up short. Will UMass have another subpar performance against Villanova?
If we loose to Villanova, we will start the season 1-2. We still have to play UNH and other tough A10 teams. UMass could be again "the best team not to make the playoffs". We need this one.
Andy Talley just challenged his players to get mean.
Matt Dougherty has us winning in his weekly I-AA review.
The odds guy Keeper has UMass by 14.
Hopefully, the UMass seniors will have UMass ready to play. If not, the 2006 season could be again be in trouble.
UPDATE: Bruce Dowd has his weekly A10 column A10 Den up. Note that he spends a lot of time talking about emotion. Lots of UMass stuff.
Wednesday, 13 September 2006
Minnesota: A good model for Temple to follow
By Mike Gibson
Temple University head football coach Al Golden likes to say he "knows what's around the bend" and it's encourgaging for the program and its fans.
No one can actually see what's around that bend, but if you look at the University of Minnesota you might get a clue.
Temple fans who make the trip on Saturday for the 2 p.m. game will get a close-up look.
Both Minnesota and Temple have a lot in common.
Both are large state-related universities.
Both have established national reputations of academic excellence.
Both are located in relatively cold-weather cities.
Both play their home games in large pro stadiums.
Both are located right in the middle of fertile recruiting areas.
Both offer what a lot of the young athletes are looking for today: Four years of a big-city experience.
Both struggled before their current head coach arrived on campus.
Take that last point.
When Glen Mason arrived on the Minnesota campus, the Golden Gophers were coming off a string of losing seasons.
Prior coach Jim Wacker was coming off three- and four-win seasons.
Minnesota "wacked" Wacker after that 1996 season and brought in current coach Glen Mason.
After a two initial losing seasons, Mason has suffered only one losing campaign since _ not bad in what many feel is the nation's toughest conference.
Mason did it with aggressive recruiting, targeting the kid that wanted a big-city experience as opposed to the more bucolic, some say boring, atmosphere offered in most other Big 10 locales.
There were enough of those kids to win and to go to bowls.
Golden is targeting the same kind of kids looking for the same kind of experience.
That's why Golden can't see what's around that bend he's always talking about, but can guess.
Or Glen Mason can tell him.
UMass-Villanova Game notes up
Both sides have their game notes up.NOTE: Since we will be in a three year cycle of playing Villanova, I've added a link to the 'Nova Rivals site in the "Other I-AA Schools sidebar list"
Tuesday, 12 September 2006
UMass band at Navy & Flyover
The UMass Marching Band wowed the Navy Fans. See this thread from the Navy Message Board. I took the shuttle back to the Park-and-Ride lot. While I was getting organized, two Navy fans came over to say that they loved the UMass band.
Also the Navy flyover was a FLYOVER. The two S-3's looked to be about 150 feet up. Below is an image from the Navy Rival's site picture gallery by Ed Kujat.
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