Owls coach cheers Florida protege Tebow's success

Temple coach Steve Addazio coached Tim Tebow during their time at Florida. He sees what's happening now at the NFL level, where the second-year quarterback has become one of the most polarizing athletes in recent memory: mainly for not necessarily looking the part and defying the odds to lead the Denver Broncos to wins in seven of his eight starts, which, of course, has left the experts perplexed.

Anyway, here is Tebow's former offensive coordinator's admittedly biased take on the situation.

"I think it's a joke," said Addazio, who will take his first Temple team to Albuquerque to face Wyoming in Saturday's New Mexico Bowl, the first of 35 this holiday season; both teams are 8-4. "What he's doing is who he is. Why do people discount that? He's a winner. He's got it, the intangibles, bringing the best out of his coaches and teammates. He's got energy, he's got juice. People want to watch him play. I don't see the problem.

"The game is set up to go win. I listen to the detractors, and it bugs me. I get angry. What works long term in the NFL? High character, competitive, tough as [bleep]? And then they start criticizing his faith. You know what we need, more jerks in the NFL being idiots. So a kid that stands for all that's good, that's wrong now. C'mon.

"I mean, what is it that people don't like about this guy? Huh? Can they not just like the fact that he's a good guy? They want him to fail, which he will. And then they'll be, like, 'I knew that.'

"He threw for a lot of yards in the SEC, which is the best defensive conference in college football. That's a pro league. They say he has an elongated motion. Sonny Jurgensen had a bad motion. What are we talking about here?

"Hell, he's a young guy. Give him a chance to develop, and he'll get better and better. He can develop those things. But other guys can't develop the things he has, the it."

The offense rests. Meanwhile, Tebow's club leads the AFC West. Nobody said it had to be pretty, and it usually hasn't been. Just ask John Fox or even John Elway. They could be shaking their heads all the way to the playoffs. So how many teams would trade places with that?