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Temple looking for stability in next football coach

CONTINUITY. Stability. Two really good things. Every year, schools lose coaches. And the carousel gets rolling all over again. Some places have to go through that more often than others, for obvious reasons. It's a profession. People are always looking to move up.

Temple athletic director Bill Bradshaw said he wouldn't mind hiring a John Chaney or Fran Dunphy for football. (Frank Franklin II/AP file photo)
Temple athletic director Bill Bradshaw said he wouldn't mind hiring a John Chaney or Fran Dunphy for football. (Frank Franklin II/AP file photo)Read more

CONTINUITY.

Stability.

Two really good things.

Every year, schools lose coaches. And the carousel gets rolling all over again. Some places have to go through that more often than others, for obvious reasons. It's a profession. People are always looking to move up.

As Al Golden once put it, there are only so many of these jobs. And not all of them can be Texas.

Next season Temple will be playing for its third coach in four seasons. Golden left in 2010 after 5 years because it was probably time and Miami came calling. Last week Steve Addazio opted to move on after just 2 years, which shouldn't have come as any great shock. But it does mean starting fresh once more. Who wants to be the program that's constantly transitioning?

The good news is, there is no shortage of candidates. Notre Dame defensive coordinator Bob Diaco interviewed on Monday. As did former Owl Todd Bowles, the Eagles' defensive coordinator. Sources said an interview with Mark D'Onofrio, who was the DC here under Golden, was pushed back to Tuesday. Just-fired Florida International coach Mario Cristobal interviewed over the weekend, as did Ohio State running-backs coach Stan Drayton. Chuck Heater, Addazio's DC, is a possibility. Mike MacIntyre, who just took San Jose State to its best season in a quarter-century, was in the mix until he took the Colorado gig.

So Temple could go in any number of directions. And you won't really know if it was the right one for a couple of years, at least.

There could be even more names out there. Golden and Addazio both surfaced late.

Diaco is said to have interviewed at Cal and Boston College, where Addazio got hired. Don't know what that means. He is the DC of a team that's playing for a national title largely because of its defense. And Temple does open in 2013 in South Bend.

D'Onofrio could have had the job 2 years ago. But he chose to follow Golden to Miami. Now D'Onofrio's job status is rumored to be in jeopardy down there. Again, not sure what to make of that.

Cristobal nearly got the Rutgers job a year ago. Then he went 3-9 (after going 8-5 in 2011). That made him 27-47 in 6 years.

Drayton, who recruited Brian Westbrook to Villanova, has been hired three times by Urban Meyer.

I don't know how people interview, or what Temple is looking for other than a winner. I do know that athletic director Bill Bradshaw and the people he's working with haven't made a bad pick yet, a resume that would include the men's and women's basketball coaches. I also know that the program is much better off than it was not too long ago, even if the Big East is going to look more like Conference-USA than a BCS conference. Temple still has more to sell than it did in the MAC. So whoever the new guy is should be successful. That could mean seven or eight wins. Or maybe nine or 10. But there shouldn't be many non-bowl years. It also means the next guy could soon be looking elsewhere. Because this isn't Texas. And that's OK. It's merely the reality.

Bradshaw said he wouldn't mind hiring a John Chaney or Fran Dunphy for football. I'm not sure about the quarter-century thing, but it's every AD's dream. Dunphy, like Golden, was the perfect solution. The difference was staying power. Everyone understood Golden had to leave at some point, or else he hadn't accomplished what he was brought here to do. There's always a chance Dunphy could get an offer one day from some place higher on the food chain that might be tough to pass up. At the same time, it's easy to picture him never going anywhere. Because he's OK being on North Broad.

Which brings us to Matt Rhule, who worked at Temple for six seasons before going to the New York Giants last offseason to be their assistant offensive-line coach. He's been described as a guy who deserves this chance. He seems to be popular with many sectors of the Temple community, not the least of which would be the players. Which makes sense, since he helped recruit many of them. As senior kicker Brandon McManus said, "They have a bond with him. He's responsible for a lot of what happened here. He's someone who gets after you, but he's real personable. I think he's be a phenomenal leader. And he'd be familiar. That's the first big step. It goes a long way."

I don't know if being the guy a lot of folks apparently want actually works for him. I don't know what kind of coach he's going to be. I could say the same about Diaco, or Bowles, or Heater. But there's something about Rhule that just feels right. When was the last time Temple handed the keys to one of its own? His wife still works there. It's home. There's much to be said for that. And if he's the one being introduced, it would make another transition much more seamless.

Those can't be bad things.

One way or the other, we should find out soon enough.