Temple promised Keeler they would keep pace

Pitt has “Sweet Caroline”. WVU has “Country Roads” VT has “Enter Sandman”, Wisconsin has “Jump Around”. What are suggestions (serious suggestions, not trying to ridicule the university or any teams)? I feel Temple TUFF needs something like this.

Yes. I am starting this again, this year LOL. New staff, New team. Maybe something could be trialed at the Cherry and White game?

I do think the tournament is cool. But can we do leaders versus legends or something?
Temple and Villanova not playing each other regularly is a broken tradition. It’s possible you don’t play them for years.

The idea that you fix the Big 5 by redoing it is weird. It was down because Nova was dominate, the other coaches at the time couldn’t carry their weight. Now you have new coaches at TU, Nova, and Joes… and you have parity and things looking up across the board. (I was actually really impressed by the Joes, and I can see how Billy Lange could be a real smooth recruiter).

So the point is, it would have been more competitive Big 5 this year regardless of the tournament.

I’m good with the tournament if we can figure out how to play Nova regularly. You don’t want the traditions to die.

And Nova was typically a ranked team on the schedule. So you could count on that one for SOS. Bigger question for TU going forward ….. how the heck are we gonna schedule a tough OOC. We will need it in this AAC to beat named teams early on.

Login to view embedded media Now that the season is over I feel that it is appropriate to start this thread. Budd and Zion were teammates at West Catholic. I think Budd and Zion are very close friends. Budd had an unbelievable season at Merrimack and will be one of the best guards in the portal.

Some important official visits for Temple on the horizon this month.

Tyler Douglas was back on the field at practice today, and we heard from new running backs coach Andrew Pierce for the first time. Jay Ducker was supposed to speak but couldn't because he was banged up.

We know it's been a rough week, and we're here to listen and talk about it.
Send us your mailbag questions by 2 p.m. today and we'll answer them on The Scoop. Thanks as always for listening.

Good morning, everyone!

We're taking mailbag questions until 2 p.m. today for this week's episode of The Scoop. Happy to talk about the roster, recruiting or anything else you'd like to put on the agenda. Thanks as always for listening!

Per a source, Temple is set to host

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It's really hard to believe that there are 64 teams in the NCAA, 32 in the NIT, 16 in the Crown and no Temple. There are 112 college basketball programs more desirable for post season play. This is not mediocrity, this is downright disgraceful. And talk of giving a coach several seasons to build no longer holds given the portal. Look at St. John's with a first year coach, and there are so many others. Either go all out and produce a team worthy of fan interest or call it a day. Our new President and Board need to have some serious discussions. This just can't continue.

Per a source,

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Well, Landon Morris has left the team ... again.

I got to practice a little later and didn't notice that he wasn't out there. Ryan Mack later told me that Reese Clark was running some routes with the tight ends again as opposed to receiver.

I explained last night on The Scoop that we would initially be talking about potential names of coaches who could replace Aaron McKie and that we would continue to provide sourced updates to our subscribers as we get them, and we'll be doing that in this thread.

So why does Matt Langel's name keep coming up? Beyond the obvious - including his Temple ties and the great job he's done at Colgate - I continue to hear from people I trust that he has a lot of support and is very likely in the mix. He won't do anything until Colgate is eliminated from the NCAA Tournament. They're playing Texas, ironically, Thursday night.

Could and will Arthur Johnson consider and interview candidates to whom he has ties from outside the area? Absolutely. But as Kyle said, also remember that with the football coaching search, Fran Brown got pretty far in the process before Stan Drayton got the job, so Arthur isn't going to automatically rule out someone with Temple ties and is very much open to listening.

In addition to some of the other names we considered on last night's podcast, here are two others I've heard in the last few hours, enough to mention here.

Mike Morrell - UNC Asheville head coach
Morrell just guided UNC Asheville to an NCAA Tournament appearance. The Bulldogs, who went 27-7 overall and 16-2 in winning the Big South, are the 15th seed in the West Region and will face No. 2 seed UCLA Thursday night. So in addition to keeping an eye on what happens with Colgate Thursday night in its 15-2 matchup against Texas, pay attention to what happens with UNC Asheville and Morrell as well. He has a connection to Arthur Johnson in that he was an assistant at Texas from 2015 to 2018.

Frank Haith - Memphis assistant, former Miami and Tulsa head coach
Haith has had his ups and downs as a head coach at Miami, Missouri and Tulsa. He coached Tulsa to a 21-10 overall record and a 13-5 mark in the American in 2020 and had the Golden Hurricane playing some very good basketball before COVID canceled the rest of the season. Then he went 22-32 in his final two seasons before joining Penny Hardaway's Memphis staff prior to this season. The Nevin Shapiro investigation at Miami also turned up some improprieties with basketball, so Haith was suspended for the first five games of the 2013-14 season when he had moved on to Missouri. He's also had a good track record of graduating his players and with his programs posting good APR numbers, and he was the AP and Big 12 Coach of the Year in 2012 and the AAC Coach of the Year in 2020. He also has a friendship with Arthur Johnson, so he's another candidate to keep an eye on.

April's spring game will likely be Temple's last, Keeler said today, and he said Penn State reached out about a joint practice.

Don Bosco Prep's Rhett Morris, the 25th-ranked player in New Jersey in the 2026 class, talked to me about his recruitment a few days after he took in a recent Temple spring practice. He's the son of former Temple center Charlie Morris.

Rhett beat Stage 3 non-Hodgkins Lymphoma during his freshman year of high school and returned to the field to become one of the better players in the state.

Welp… lets go?

Temple scrimmaged Saturday. We were there. I wrote a lot about what we saw. Some players are starting to flash. Get the details here.

Figured it made sense to have its own thread

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Fellow Owls fans,

As I sit here watching yet another March Madness without our Owls - forgive me, but I need to rant. Let me preface by saying - I don't know the ins-and-outs about how all of this works. I'm simply a fan with no background in college athletics whatsoever. Maybe I'm playing a little devil's advocate here. I'm just so sick of these comments about blaming the "lack of donations" to the current state of our program(s). Let's face it, this NIL and Transfer Portal era of college athletics is absolutely ridiculous and has completely ruined something I once enjoyed.

Attending Temple was one of the best decisions I've ever made. Fast forward to now - I'm a proud alumni. I'm extremely thankful to everything I learned and the experiences I had on North Broad. I have a great career thanks to Temple - but I've never been "rich", and I never will be. I've still got bills to pay like the rest of us. But it's now on me and my fellow alums to decide whether or not the Owls win or lose? I seem to remember working to pay off four years of student loans. Now you're asking me to spend my hard earned money so some kid will join the basketball team for a year and leave for the highest bidder the next? What are we talking about here? I'm just a fan. At the end of that day, this is entertainment to me. No offense, but I can think of a ton more worthy causes to donate to - both within Temple University and outside (which I happily do, by the way).

Can we please stop the guilt trips and and off-putting remarks indicating that the reason we suck is because we're not throwing around OUR cash? Snap out of it. This isn't how it should work, guys. We shouldn't be pointing fingers at each other. I know what you're going to say - we should look to famous alums or corporate sponsors! You know what? It shouldn't be on them either. THE SYSTEM IS BROKEN. We're not Penn State. We're not Duke. Temple Alums aren't trust fund kids - we grind. This is not a landscape designed for Temple.

This isn't a slight against the TUFF_FUND or any other organization pushing for support, by the way. I have nothing but respect for these efforts and I've seen nothing but professionalism with everyone involved. Tip of the cap. KEEP GRINDING. If you're passionate and are willing and able to support, do it! More power to you. My thanks to you.

Me? I'm going to sit this one out. Does that bother you? Is my fan card now revoked? Don't care. You doing the same? Cool, I totally get it.

This isn't a rallying cry to join me in my apathy. I'm sure I'll be making a lot of message board enemies by saying the quiet part out loud. Just sharing the common sentiment. I am open to having my mind changed. In the meantime, I'll keep tuning in (when I can stomach it) and cross my fingers for rule changes at the top.

Go Owls.

Is The American a one seed conference?
Do we need to win our conference tournament? I like what we are seeing and think the program’s direction is on the way up.

In the old Barnes and Noble at Broad and Cecil B Moore. Article says the Peabody is still set to open this winter.

For me it was March 7th 2012 when it was announced we were admitted as a full conference member into the Big East. A little snippet from an article:

"In 2014, the BIG EAST basketball membership will include UCF, Cincinnati, Connecticut, DePaul, Georgetown, Houston, Louisville, Marquette, Memphis, Notre Dame, Providence, Rutgers, St. John's, Seton Hall, SMU, Temple, USF and Villanova".