Rhule expected to land Temple football job

Temple is expected hold a news conference Monday to introduce Matt Rhule as its football coach.

The former Owls assistant was offered the job on Friday. Before he can formally accept, there is the matter of negotiating a contract. It's hard to imagine any way the details don't get worked out.

Temple and athletic director Bill Bradshaw, who hired Al Golden 7 years ago and Steve Addazio in 2010, had no shortage of candidates after Addazio left Dec. 4 for Boston College. But it was clear from the outset that many people within the Temple community, including a large number of players, wanted a familiar face.

Rhule, who played at Penn State and has 14 years of college coaching experience, spent six seasons on North Broad Street. His duties included offensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator. Addazio credited him for helping to hold the recruiting class together during his transitionary period. But Rhule left last offseason to become an assistant offensive-line coach with the New York Giants.

He had a second interview Thursday night, where sources said he met with incoming president Dr. Neil Theobald, who is still working at Indiana and isn't scheduled to arrive until early January.

The other finalist was Mark D'Onofrio, who was the defensive coordinator for five seasons with Golden. He was offered the job when Golden left for Miami, but opted to follow Golden there instead. Rhule also was a candidate at that time.

And when was the last time Temple hired one of its own?

Neither Golden or Addazio had been an FBS head coach before, either, although Addazio did have two national-title rings as an assistant at Florida.

The Giants are playing at Atlanta Sunday. Sources have said that Rhule will continue to coach in North Jersey during the day and commute here to work at night. Hey, Bill O'Brien continued to coach with the Patriots all the way to the Super Bowl a year ago while he was putting the pieces in place at Penn State.

Rhule's wife still works at Temple, so he'll be coming home, which should make it easier to spend more time with his young son.

The Owls will be heading into a realigned Big East in 2013. This was their first season back since 2004, when they were ousted. They went 4-7, 2-5 this season. And while they need to replace a few key players, they also return a slew of freshman and sophomores who played a lot this year. The Owls will be in the West Division, along with Boise State, San Diego State, SMU, Houston and Memphis.