Sources: Latina, Drayton eye Owls' job

THROW TWO more names into what Temple athletic director Bill Bradshaw has said is a lengthy list of people interested in the Owls' football coaching vacancy.

A source familiar with the situation has told the Daily News that John Latina, who was on Temple's staff in the 1980s under Bruce Arians and just completed his first season as the offensive-line coach at Duke, is expected to reach out to Bradshaw on Friday.

Latina was a candidate 7 years ago when Temple and Bradshaw hired Al Golden. At that time Latina was at Notre Dame.

College-football sources also have said that Stan Drayton, a Villanova assistant in the late 1990s who just spent his second season as Ohio State's running-backs coach, is trying to get in the discussion.

Golden's successor, Steve Addazio, left Tuesday after two seasons to go to Boston College.

Sources have indicated that San Jose State coach Mike MacIntyre, who just took the Spartans to their first 10-win season since 1987 in his third year there, has been contacted. He interviewed last week for the Cal job that since has been filled. He was the defensive coordinator at Temple in 1997 and '98.

Sources also said that Bowling Green's Dave Clawson, another former Villanova assistant who has been successful at Fordham and Richmond (both FCS programs) and now has the 8-4 Falcons in a bowl game (ironically against San Jose), could be involved. Word is he might have been in line for the BC job had Gene DiFilippo, the former Villanova AD, still been the AD there.

Latina also has worked at Kansas State, Clemson, Mississippi and Akron. The source said that Arians, now the interim coach of the Indianapolis Colts, will speak to Temple on his behalf.

Drayton has been hired three times by Urban Meyer, at Bowling Green, Florida and now Ohio State. He also spent three seasons with the Green Bay Packers. He's a past nominee for the AFCA Assistant Coach of the Year award, and was recognized by Rivals.com as one of the nation's top 25 recruiters.

There are many in the Temple community who would like to see Matt Rhule emerge as the choice. He spent six seasons here, as Golden's offensive coordinator and Addazio's recruiting coordinator. As one person put it, "He's done everything here to earn the chance." Rhule is in his first season as an offensive-line assistant with the New York Giants. He obviously knows a lot of the players, who will be looking at their third coach in 4 years. There's something to be said for continuity.

In Temple's previous 14-year stint in the Big East, it never had more than four players receive postseason honors in a single year. And that was in 1991. This year the Owls had six, in their first season in the conference since 2004. And three were recognized twice. Senior Matt Brown was the special-teams player of the year. Freshman linebacker Tyler Matakevich was the rookie of the year. Brown, senior running back Montel Harris and senior punter Brandon McManus made the first team. McManus also was the placekicker on the second team. He was joined by Matakevich, senior o-lineman Martin Wallace and senior d-lineman John Youboty.