Q: As you return to this mid-Atlantic region and make your way back home, how much do you look forward to recruiting in this area/etc?

Keeler: Yeah, so my recruiting background is unique in that, as a Division 3 coach (at Rowan), you recruit New Jersey. Because of in-state tuition, that made the most sense. I developed relationships through my whole 10 years there in New Jersey. And when I went to Delaware it was a lot of Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, New York, and then it ended up being pretty much from New Hampshire down to Florida. I started taking some Georgia kids, some Florida kids, and then when I got to Texas, I realized (a different scene), and that’s what the job of a head coach is, to kind of solve this rubik’s cube. In Texas, at Sam Houston State, we recruited Texas, Texas, and Texas. We didn’t go outside of Texas. And I understood why, because within a three and a half hour radius of where I was, the high school football was so outstanding. Plus, you had the discount because they didn’t want to go away and play at a MAC school or one of those schools outside the area.

I think coming back to the region, and here at Temple, my job is to figure out the best way to attack this recruiting. I believe, if you look at the history of Temple football, and all of the NFL players they’ve had, a good portion of those are Jersey guys that they got out of high school. High school recruiting will always be our foundation. That’s the fabric of the team. I believe if you are taking transfers to fill every gap and hole, it’s tough to develop a culture. We’ll start with high school recruiting, but we’ll obviously be involved in Junior College and transfers also. 

Keeler noted that he vets his players “really hard.” He wants culture as much as talent, so they’re going to be a little slower to make sure they get the right guys before jumping into personnel decisions right off the bat.

But he’s right about Temple’s foundation. Haason Reddick is from Haddon Heights. Ryquell Armstead is from Millville. Matt Ioannidis and Dion Dawkins are Jersey guys. Those Matt Rhule teams especially featured a lot of homegrown talent and had a culture and an identity. When you coach in Texas, as Keeler notes, you don’t have to recruit anywhere else. So there’s gonna be a shift back to doing what he did at Delaware and Rowan, now in an NIL world. They need to set a new foundation and build some continuity here and they’ll be okay.

The post “That’s the Fabric of the Team” – K.C. Keeler Says High School Recruiting Will Be the Foundation for Temple Football Success appeared first on Crossing Broad.

IT’S OFFICIAL

Welcome to @TempleUniv, @CoachKCKeeler!

: https://t.co/jGy8yWhNYh pic.twitter.com/GazB9H19ZT

— Temple Football (@Temple_FB) December 1, 2024

You probably know who Keeler is. Emmaus native who got his first head coaching job at Rowan. He won a national title with Delaware in 2003 and coached the Blue Hens to two 2nd place finishes at the FCS level. He coached Joe Flacco, Mike Adams, and Pat Devlin and was flanked by assistants like Kyle Flood, Dave Cohen, and Kirk Ciarrocca, who all went on to bigger and better programs. After Delaware, Keeler won 97 games and a national title at Sam Houston State, which transitioned from FCS to FBS in 2023 and joined Conference USA.

Keeler is 65 years old and has only led three schools. He tends to stay for a decade or more at each stop. If you’re banking on that trend to continue, then it’s a good hire, because you need someone to come in, solidify this program, establish a culture, and channel some continuity. Back in the not-so-distant past, Temple could get by with these transactional Power 5 coordinator hires, like Geoff Collins and Al Golden, but in an NIL world and after logging 10 wins in four seasons, the situation seems to call for a veteran program builder who is here to stay. Keeler isn’t a threat to run off to the ACC at age 67, is he? I don’t think so. In that sense, this hire feels like Fran Dunphy going to La Salle, essentially returning home to stabilize things and get the program on the right track, maybe fuck around as well and wind up in the Big 5 championship game.

In the first paragraph of the press release, it notes that Keeler brings “a track record of effective recruiting in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions.” Temple isn’t an NIL powerhouse at this particular moment, so there needs to be more of an emphasis on recruiting locally and scouring the transfer portal for Moneyball-type reclamation projects. Keeler should be able to do that. He’s been gone for a decade, and has spent most of his career coaching below the FBS level, but in CUSA year number two, Sam Houston went 9-3 with wins against Rice, Hawai’i, and Liberty. It was a decent enough conference with Jacksonville State, Western Kentucky, SHSU, and Liberty all winning 8+ games. He just went through that jump in competition with the Bearkats, so he’ll have an idea of the competition level adjustment here. Conference USA is probably closer to the MAC and Sunbelt while the consensus usually has the American right after the big four power conferences. Hope he’s ready, because Temple has Oklahoma and Georgia Tech on the schedule next season.

Let’s give K.C. Keeler a warm Philadelphia welcome back. He’s a proven winner and knows how to build a program. Someone tell Kyle Pagan that Temple is a football school.

The post If K.C. Keeler Can’t Fix Temple Football, then the Program is Doomed appeared first on Crossing Broad.

tempLe#GoExplorers pic.twitter.com/JIIo5ste4X

— La Salle Men’s Basketball (@LaSalle_MBB) November 30, 2024

Getting trolled by another team’s Twitter account will never not make my blood boil. That’s why I never want it to happen again. The Temple Athletic department is slowly figuring out you need NIL money to win in college. So while they drag their feet I’ll just get shit done.

That’s why I’m challenging Temple alum and new Philadelphia Phillies investor, Mitchell L. Morgan, to a three-point shooting contest. All-Star Weekend rules. Loser donates 1% of their net worth to the TUFF Fund. Who says no?

One more Temple tweet before I go for the night…

I’m tired of losing Big 5 Championships. So I’m challenging Mitchell Morgan to a 3 pt shooting contest at the Liacouras Center. NBA All-Star set up. Loser donates 1% of their net worth to the @TUFF_Fund . Your move @MorganProps. pic.twitter.com/5z1dnMxWM8

— Kyle Pagan (@CBKylePagan) December 1, 2024

If Mitch was in Glaser yesterday getting chirped from all angles like I was by La Salle fans than he’d accept this challenge immediately with grace and dignity. My entire subway ride home was ruined knowing little brother got to smile for the first time in seven years. If he saw the way Temple got bullied yesterday on the boards and the atrocious 1/16 shooting display they put on from three he’d write a blank check to the TUFF Fund TODAY. We should be playing in the Big 5 Championship every single season. It’s been two years and the cupboard is bare. I want a banner in the rafters. Your move, Mitch.*

Now I will admit Temple losing is good for the Big 5. It’s crazy as I type it, but it’s true. The more parity in the Big 5 the more every fanbase will be interested. It’s awesome seeing Villanova not even sniff the championship game in either year.

Last night there was an aroma of intensity in the air right from the tip…or that might’ve been the swamp ass since La Salle turned the arena into a 3,000 person sardine can. No one was safe from the spittle of shit talking between Owl and Explorer fans. My section kept telling former Temple player, Jahlil White, to shoot every time he got the ball. Some bald headed La Salle fan didn’t like us barking “at a 19 year old” (he’s 22). It was on from there. I was fighting a three front war in the stands. Luckily I had some cherry and white reinforcements with me to dish it back. All in good fun for the most part until baldy started chirping again at us after 25 minutes of silence in his seat. It’s one thing to give it back and forth the entire game like most La Salle and Temple fans were. It’s coward shit to sit in your seat for an entire half like a good boy and then turn around when the game is in hand. I thought at one point it was going to spill over into fists between baldy and one Temple fan until cooler heads prevailed. Don’t you dare tell me the Big 5 is dead.

Quick pause for an Explorer Ale review:

3/10 pic.twitter.com/FYky5X8jD5

— Kyle Pagan (@CBKylePagan) November 30, 2024

It was delivered to me lukewarm. Did they run out of money for a cooling system in Glaser? I had to switch to a cold refreshing great tasting, less filling Miller Lite in the second half in an effort to turn around the shooting tide for Temple. Unfortunately, they kept shooting like I would after a couple beers.

On other note, the rollouts continue to remain embarrassing. The percentage of good ones over the last decade are less than Temple’s performance from three yesterday. This is the only one I remember seeing from the La Salle student section:

Make me the Big 5 rollout czar because these signs nowadays suck pic.twitter.com/Wb8JPIXMxS

— Kyle Pagan (@CBKylePagan) November 30, 2024

Everyone knows Temple is a basketball school. Am I missing the joke? Are La Salle kids calling us a football school part of the punchline? Rollouts shouldn’t have to make you think that hard. Could’ve just put “Basketball School” and it already becomes 10x funnier because it’s true. The Temple fencing team rips. Make me the rollout czar. Make Rollouts Great Again. I’ll take pay in beers and hot dogs.

Credit to La Salle yesterday. They did everything right except continue the smoke machine tradition. Now the Explorers get St. Joes in the Big 5 Classic championship and the Owls will play in the third place game against Villanova. It’s a very small consolation prize for your boy. Now that the Big 5 format has changed, any chance you get an opportunity to beat Villanova you take it. I hope we send Kyle Neptune out with his last Big 5 loss ever. Though if the big men for Temple don’t come to play than Eric Dixon might drop 70 in the Wells Fargo Center.

*Maybe I can even negotiate if I win we get to rename the dorm building on campus with his name on it for a month. Now I don’t want to be greedy but Pagan Hall has a nice ring too it.

The post I’m Sick and Tired of Losing Big 5 Championships appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Temple president John Fry has released a statement that reiterates the university’s commitment to the football program. pic.twitter.com/5yO0fHAeMC

— Kyle Gauss (@kylegauss) November 25, 2024

I’m not a huge fan of Temple football. Everyone knows Temple is a basketball school. I even went there during football’s heyday, which isn’t saying much, and could not care less about the program. After firing another coach while continuing to be an AAC doormat, there felt like a realistic chance they’d just nuke the entire program. I was excited. Lets take all of those resources and put them into the basketball team. Maybe the ACC would come calling after a couple great seasons on the court and we’d be a part of a basketball super conference! Not so fast my friends.

There were reports that the administration would re-evaluate the program last week. Fry says in his statement that evaluation has already been ongoing and it’s not solely focused on the football program:

We are writing today to address recent media coverage, which misrepresented Temple’s position with respect to our football program. Football is an integral part of our identity, and we want to honor and reinvigorate our tradition and legacy. For generations, Temple football has been a source of pride and community, bringing us together to celebrate teamwork, perseverance, and excellence on and off the field.

Last spring, under the leadership of Vice President/Debbie and Stanley Lefkowitz ’65 Director of Athletics Arthur Johnson, and with oversight from the Board of Trustees, the university began a comprehensive review and assessment of the athletics program. This evaluation started prior to President Fry’s arrival. No single program is the focus of that review. Any indication to the contrary is not accurate. Like many other schools across the country, this proactive step was taken so the university can strategically plan amidst a dynamic and shifting landscape.

From the surface level I just don’t understand why keeping the football program is the move. Are the football TV deals keeping the athletic department afloat? If football happens to be the money maker, they’re just as much of an anchor.

First thing Temple has to do is find a way to get out of the AAC. That’s probably their biggest issue right now. You could argue that the program has been the most disadvantaged from conference realignment. Remember, they were accepted into the the Big East for football, that conference goes under, the AAC is formed with UCONN, Louisville, Rutgers, Cincinnati, Houston, Memphis, and UCF. All teams with a rich history of football or basketball success. Now all of them have been poached by other conferences, which leaves Temple in a geographical nightmare playing the entire state of Texas and flying to Charlotte, Florida, and Birmingham, Alabama. Nothing like the battle for Owl supremacy between Rice, Temple, and FAU. There’s very little to get excited about during conference play. All you have to do is look at the play on the field and the attendance to know Temple football is hurting.

It’s gotta be embarrassing every time the Temple football Twitter account hits send on a highlight and you can count the people in the Linc:

“Casual” for Maddux #TempleTUFF pic.twitter.com/9KBKDgggzM

— Temple Football (@Temple_FB) November 16, 2024

Next, if they’re going to keep football, they have to build a stadium on campus. You can’t keep throwing money at the Eagles to rent out the Linc. They sunk $4.5 million in 2022, up from $2.85 in 2021. They have an option after this season that would need to be picked up and would be exercised to 2029. Barring a quick material change they’ll likely do that. That gives them time to get everything in line for a new stadium by the end of the contract. Fry has a history of transforming campuses. Drexel was voted one of the country’s ugliest campuses back in the day. Now it’s beautiful. If you’re keeping the program you need to figure out a way to build a stadium.

Finally, they need to get way better about NIL. From everything I’ve heard the athletic department stinks at this. How the AD comes from Texas and stinks at NIL is ironic. A lot of it seems to be on the coaches, players, and generosity from alumni. We’ve got people on the board of trustees that don’t even give money to NIL. Hell there’s an alum with a new stake in the Phillies, Mitchell L. Morgan, who hasn’t given a cent to the athletic program (allegedly). I’m not gonna tell people how to spend their money, but don’t you think a guy who obviously has an interest in sports should be engaged by the athletic department to find some way to get some money in transfers and recruits pockets? We’re in a top-5 media market in the country. Half the sports media in this town has a Temple degree. If they got their shit together we’d promote the hell out of these programs. You think North Korea has a propaganda problem? Let Temple make a deep run in the tournament this year. Adam Fisher will be my Supreme Leader.

The post Can Someone Much Smarter Than Me Explain Why Temple Keeping Football is the Right Choice? appeared first on Crossing Broad.

We don’t want to remember the bad times, only the good.

So let’s rank his Temple victories from one through nine:

1. Navy

Drayton’s best Temple win was in 2023, against a Navy team that finished 5-7. They went up 17-0, almost blew it, then got their shit together and put together a couple of nice touchdown drives to claim a 32-18 home victory. The run defense really did a nice job, limiting the Midshipmen to just 144 yards on 48 carries, a 3.0 YPC average on the afternoon. The Owls struggled to run the ball themselves, but E.J. Warner showed up big time, completing 27 of 33 passes for 402 yards, four touchdowns, and two picks.

2. Tulsa

Tulsa is not a good team, currently 3-7, but the Owls played great defense in this game. They limited the Golden Hurricane to 240 total yards and a 2-11 third down mark, overcoming 10 penalties of their own for a 20-10 victory. It’s the fewest points they’ve allowed in 2024.

3. Utah State

The Aggies are a three-win team in the Mountain West, but Temple put together a whopper of a fourth quarter to take ’em out, 45 to 29. Evan Simon completed 17 passes, five of which were touchdowns, and ran the ball 11 times for 49 yards and a touchdown as well. His six-score day was the catalyst as Temple scored four second half touchdowns to run away with it.

4. FAU

Drayton’s final win was an overtime victory against the currently 2-8 Florida Atlantic Owls. They almost blew it, too, allowing FAU to storm down the field in less than two minutes, scoring a touchdown and hitting a two-point conversion to tie the game at 15. Temple escaped the battle of Strigiformes with a 39-yard field goal from Maddux Trujillo in what will go down as one of the greatest games ever played at Lincoln Financial Field.

5. South Florida

Temple’s only conference win in 2022 was against a USF team that went 1-11. This was the game in which Edward Saydee ran for 265 yards and three touchdowns on 24 carries. South Florida’s run defense put up the resistance of a wet Philly Pretzel Factory bag.

Edward Saydee had NO INTEREST in being tackled pic.twitter.com/L0fv66wz8h

— The Transfer Portal CFB (@TPortalCFB) November 5, 2022

6. Akron

Temple was down 21-7 in the 2023 season opener against a Zips team that finished 2-10. That’s when Warner and Saydee said “not so fast, my friend,” linking up for two second-half touchdowns to pull off the comeback, 24-21 your final score. Temple couldn’t run it for shit against a STOUT Akron run D, but Warner threw for 292 yards on 49 attempts.

7. Norfolk State

You don’t take the Norfolk State Spartans lightly. Temple showed out in this 41-9 victory with a 290-yard rushing effort, led by Joquez Smith and his 9.5 yards per carry. The Owls scored on 7 of their 9 possessions and added a safety for good measure.

8. Umass

The only shutout of the Stan Drayton era. Three Minutemen quarterbacks combined to go 11 for 26 for 80 yards and two interceptions. They finished 1-11 that season.

9. Lafayette

The only thing I remember about this game is that one guy blocked three punts. De’Von Fox his name was. Three punt blocks in one single game. Incredible.

That’s about it. All nine of Drayton’s wins came at home. Four were in-conference. There were some really close calls, like the OT loss to Navy, the two-point loss to Rutgers, and the 2022 season finale against ECU. Just not enough though. Best of luck to the man. His suffering is over.

The post Ranking All Nine of Stan Drayton’s Temple Football Wins appeared first on Crossing Broad.

PHILADELPHIA – Temple University Vice President/Debbie and Stanley Lefkowitz ’65 Director of Athletics Arthur Johnson and head football coach Stan Drayton have announced that Drayton will no longer lead the Owl football program.

“I would like to extend my appreciation to Coach Drayton for his commitment to Temple University, our student-athletes and the football program over the past three years,” Johnson said. “Under his direction, our student-athletes have excelled in the classroom, been outstanding members of the community and Coach Drayton has represented the University with a tremendous amount of integrity and class. I wish him and his family well in their future endeavors.”

“With the changing landscape of college football and the playoff format, the opportunity for Temple football has never been greater. Our expectation is to compete for American Athletic Conference titles, appear in bowl games consistently, and build a program that our fans, alumni, and students can be proud of in the classroom and on the field. I am confident that our fans will rally around our student-athletes and support them as they always have.”

“I appreciate the opportunity that I was given to lead a great group of young men at Temple University,” Drayton said. “I wish them nothing but the best in football and in life.”

Defensive coordinator Everett Withers has been named interim head coach for the remainder of the season.

Drayton won nine games and lost 25. He was 3-7 this year after two 3-9 seasons in which the Owls weren’t particularly competitive. Temple is not some NIL power in 2024, and they were also on a gradual backslide after putting together five consecutive winning seasons from 2014 to 2019. That’s not to make excuses for Drayton, who put a pitiful football team out there, but ask yourself if prime Nick Saban could have coached this progrum to bowl eligibility in 2024. The answer is probably no.

Firing Drayton in November gives Temple extra time to really go through the process and find the right person for the job. Is that someone who knows the program? Is it the next up-and-comer who is going to be here for two seasons before taking a power 5 job? Matt Rhule ain’t walking through that door ever again, but maybe one of his assistants is, and you can absolutely find yourself another Geoff Collins or Al Golden. The Rod Carey thing was rushed because of the Manny Diaz screw job, and they didn’t hire him until January. Drayton, they thought, was a return to bringing in a coordinator or associate head coach from a big school, but the cupboard was mostly empty when he got here, a product of that transfer portal mass exodus that took place during Carey’s tenure. They never recovered from that. It hasn’t been THAT long since guys like Jahad Thomas and Ryquell Armstead played here, but at the same time it feels like it was a hundred years ago. Temple will never be a desirable destination considering that the team rents an NFL stadium, plays in a terrible conference as a geographic misfit, and has had one draft pick in the last four seasons. Other than that, it’s a great job!

Stan Drayton was a nice guy, but not the right fit for Temple.

Should Arthur Johnson be making this hire?

The next coach will either save or end Temple Football.

Would @CoachCollins return?

My out of the box name for the job is Terrance Knighton. Bring @Coach_Knighton home! pic.twitter.com/RdoxKGthyu

— Zach Gelb (@ZachGelb) November 17, 2024

The post The Stan Drayton Era Comes to an End with 9 Wins and 25 Losses appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Here’s a round-up of everything. We’ve got Big 5 Action, yo!

Temple

WE WIN!!!!#Team129 pic.twitter.com/BfBNFbndjc

— Temple Men’s Basketball (@TUMBBHoops) November 5, 2024

The stars were out on North Broad to watch the NCAA’s Most Wanted:

The stars are all out tonight on North Broad pic.twitter.com/kWHIGv0HPq

— Kyle Pagan (@CBKylePagan) November 5, 2024

It was tighter than expected as Sacred Heart rallied to a 10 point lead in the first half and it was tight the rest of the way until the Owls pulled away in the second half. Can’t get out-rebounded by Sacred Heart and 16 turnovers is too much, but they showed how deep they run after the bench scored almost 33% of their points.

I am officially declaring Jamal Mashburn Jr. HIM.

26 points from the Minnessota transfer:

Couldn’t ask for a sweeter way to get your first collegiate bucket #Team129 pic.twitter.com/z8vXspz4Uk

— Temple Men’s Basketball (@TUMBBHoops) November 4, 2024

Play of the night:

Couldn’t ask for a sweeter way to get your first collegiate bucket #Team129 pic.twitter.com/z8vXspz4Uk

— Temple Men’s Basketball (@TUMBBHoops) November 4, 2024

Did they cover? No. A team in desperate need of a cover just to get some heat off their backs because, you know, didn’t cover.

Villanova

Lets head over to a three-bid league where the Big East fluffers are already trying to pad Nova’s resume for March:

Year 3 is Kyle Neptune’s year it appears pic.twitter.com/c5Q1RbrRZ8

— ky (ALL IN) (@RealKYMuskie) November 5, 2024

With Eric Dixon missing the game because of one of the dumbest rules in the NCAA. It was a lot like the Temple game. Back and forth with nine lead changes in the first half until the Cats went on a 13-2 run six minutes into the second half and never looked back.

Wooga Poplar led the Cats with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Speaking of Wooga, there is no shot the wine and cheese crowd out on the Main Line are going to be able to pronounce half the names on this roster:

It’s gonna take 15 games for Villanova fans to learn how to pronounce the names on the roster: pic.twitter.com/PPJfDOT23w

— Steve Franklin (@MyGuySteve) November 5, 2024

Play of the night. My goodness:

This Enoch Boakye slam was my play-of-the-day last night. Great look by Tyler Perkins, sensing a double team, and even even better finish by Boakye

Villanova was completely devoid of a physical paint presence last year, but looks like they may have found their guy this year pic.twitter.com/4IOwVnHzmW

— Tommy Godin (@tommygodinjr) November 5, 2024

Did they cover? Not even close. The Cats were 20.5 point favorites.

La Salle

1-0 in John Glaser Arena#GoExplorers pic.twitter.com/7MNuqcgnXk

— La Salle Men’s Basketball (@LaSalle_MBB) November 5, 2024

La Salle opened a new arena. Gone are the rows that extend vertically 100 feet in the air. It’s now an intimate spot that looks pretty sick to watch a basketball game. Feels like the crowd is on top of the players which will provide an even better atmosphere:

Appreciation post for La Salle’s new arena. pic.twitter.com/HfREL915tl

— Michael Fiore (@fiore_michael) November 5, 2024

The new home pic.twitter.com/0eQiM54riw

— Olney Fans (@TheGolaStandard) November 4, 2024

Vibes in Glaser are #GoExplorers pic.twitter.com/OaZOfTKjLt

— La Salle Men’s Basketball (@LaSalle_MBB) November 5, 2024

No announcements yet on what they’ve done with the old smoke machine.

I’m pretty sure Daeshon Shepherd might be able to fly. This is how you open a new arena:

The first @Dshepherd022 alley-oop in John Glaser Arena pic.twitter.com/iBqJZi3DkD

— Olney Fans (@TheGolaStandard) November 5, 2024

Game was closer than it the final score let on. The Explorers and American Eagles (don’t know how that hasn’t been a lawsuit) traded buckets most of the first half until La Salle went up 11 heading into the break. Coming out of the locker room the Eagles got the game to within three. The Explorers stifled the attack and went up 13 and the Eagles never recovered. If we don’t have a President after tonight then maybe the Explorers can be declared the winner for a couple hours. They own Washington D.C. They’ve won four straight against opponents from D.C. (h/t GoExplorers.com)

Play of the night. Not to make this all about Temple, but I’m going to make it all about Temple because I can. First points in Glaser Arena come from a former Temple player, Jahlil White, coached by a former Temple coach, Fran Dunphy:

Jahlil White with the first ever bucket at John Glaser Arena pic.twitter.com/ZFtBYumiMv

— Olney Fans (@TheGolaStandard) November 5, 2024

Did they cover? Yes.

St. Joes

Hawks Win!#THWND pic.twitter.com/VMKpC9a1Ch

— SJU Hawks MBB (@SJUHawks_MBB) November 5, 2024

St. Joes has the best backcourt in the Big 5 and Erik Reynolds is probably the best player in it. He paced St Joes with 29 points:

Erik Reynolds II today in the win against Navy.

29 Points
2 Assists
9/17 FG
6/13 3FG

Reynolds had a huge season debut where he showcased his high level shooting ability along with his scoring ability. pic.twitter.com/6JGIPGjFU1

— KJ (@KJ__Hoops) November 5, 2024

His running mate Xzayvier Brown, who worked with Kyle Lowry this summer, went off for 22. St. Joes might get smoked on the boards this year, but they are going to score so many points. They’re easily the most exciting team to watch in the city and there’s no reason why this team shouldn’t compete for a bubble spot in the tournament.

Play of the Night. A ridiculous and-1 from Xzayvier Brown. PCL tough:

Xzayvier Brown with the swipe at one end, and the ridiculous bucket at the other! #THWND pic.twitter.com/hLFPnwa1FW

— SJU Hawks MBB (@SJUHawks_MBB) November 5, 2024

Did they cover? No. Lot of Big 5 teams got off to a slow start including St. Joes who was down double digits to Navy halfway through the first half as 16.5 point favorites.

Penn

 

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A post shared by Penn Men’s Basketball (@pennmbb)

Penn was lucky to escape this one. They were down double digits most of the game and at one point 17 in the second half before going on a 23-5 run in the last 13 minutes. Look at these Quakers actually show some fight! How does a team only score five points in the last 13 minutes? This was brutal. Both teams shot in the 30% margin from the field and in the 20% threshold from three. There were only 12 fastbreak points. If you love basketball when it was played in black and white you should’ve been in Newark, NJ.

Play of the night: I don’t even know if this game had one single camera in the arena. I can’t find any video on social media. For all I know it didn’t happen. Just close your eyes and imagine a white guy shooting a deep three and I think you get the gist.

Did they cover? No.

Drexel

First of many. #FearTheDragon pic.twitter.com/5lkHELheel

— Drexel Men’s Basketball (@DrexelMBB) November 5, 2024

I’ll throw Drexel a bone since they now get to participate in the Big 5 Classic. The boys in University City BLEW OUT a college that I don’t think is even real. They’re so bad it’s one of those teams that ESPN doesn’t even have a logo for on the app. If you know where Georgian Court is located congratulations. You’re a real college basketball sicko. Apparently they’re a D2 college out of Lakewood, NJ. Well they traveled 75 miles on 295 to have their butts WHOOPED by 50.

Play of the night. Gimme that!

Clem with the swat #FearTheDragon pic.twitter.com/gmNOai3MNh

— Drexel Men’s Basketball (@DrexelMBB) November 5, 2024

Did they cover? I don’t even think there was a line, but if you could find one it’s safe to say they did.

The post The Big 5 Went Undefeated On Opening Night appeared first on Crossing Broad.

BREAKING: Temple basketball guard Lynn Greer III has been suspended nine game for NCAA rule violations while attending Saint Joseph’s.

Assistant coach Chris Clark has been suspended for impermissible benefits to student athletes. He will return on Dec. 11.

— Samuel O’Neal (@SamuelOneal43) October 24, 2024

What a dirty program they’re running over there at Hawk Hill! Not only did Billy Lange let Ben Simmons practice in their gym while he refused to suit up for the Sixers, now he’s running a circus of illegalities! At a Jesuit school???? Seven Our Fathers, and five Hail Marys for the entire coaching staff. Remember Commandment #10, Bill? The most important one of them all. Though shall not covet. Tsk. Tsk. Now their sins have directly impacted one of Temple’s best players.

And listen, if you ain’t cheating in college basketball, you ain’t trying. Even with paying players nowadays. But leave that for the public universities. You think it’s a coincidence that Villanova running a squeaky clean program coincides with their fall from grace? Doing things the right way in college basketball is for the birds.

All reports are saying this is unrelated to the ongoing gambling case, but maybe there’s a domino effect. The NCAA probably wasn’t liking the information they were getting from Temple so they dug more. If Lynn Greer transfers to another school does he get caught? Probably not. Pat Forde at Sports Illustrated reported that more information was discovered earlier this month. Why do you think that? It starts with Greer and Coach Chris Clark and then it slowly devolves into more. The NCAA isn’t an organization that governs college athletics, these guys are the god damn Mafia.

FWIW the Temple coach being suspended for a similar timeline as Greer is unrelated, according to Temple via Jeff Neiburg at the Inky.

The post Temple’s Lynn Greer Suspended Nine Games for Rules Violations at St. Joes appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Statement from #Hokies men’s basketball: Hysier Miller, a point guard transfer from Temple, is no longer with the program. pic.twitter.com/brr4O5g70d

— David Cunningham (@therealdcunna) October 23, 2024

“Temple transfer point guard Hysier Miller has been permanently released from the Virginia Tech men’s basketball program due to circumstances prior to his enrollment at Virginia Tech. There will be no further comment by the university on this matter.”

I honestly thought Temple was out of the woods with the whole gambling controversy that came up at the end of the season, but I guess not.

For those who don’t remember, here’s a quick synopsis from Pat Forde at Sports Illustrated:

Gambling watchdog company U.S. Integrity sent out an alert to casinos Thursday regarding unusual wagering activity on the UAB Blazers-Temple Owls men’s basketball game, the American Athletic Conference confirms to Sports Illustrated.

“We are aware they flagged it,” AAC men’s basketball director of communications Tom Fenstermaker says.

The betting line moved significantly during the day Thursday leading up to the game. At one casino, the line moved from UAB as a 1.5-point favorite over Temple at the beginning of the day to UAB as an eight-point favorite by mid-afternoon, then settling at seven closer to tip-off. The Blazers routed the Owls, 100–72, in Temple’s home gym, the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia.

After the Owls were flagged they went on an AAC Tournament run for the ages which Miller was a HUGE part of and we never heard anything else until Wednesday, when the news was made public. There are conspiracies galore on Owls message boards and social media. I see a couple people pointing at the Wagner defeat to start the 2022-23 season as a potential red flag because they lost outright and Miller missed the front end of a 1 and 1 when Temple was up six with 1:20 left in the game. That doesn’t really check out. If a guy is shaving points he’s not going to outright lose games. Especially to fucking Wagner. That would just bring unnecessary heat on the program and whomever is running the point-shaving operation. I’d say the AAC Tournament run where he averaged 27.8 PPG immediately following news of the scandal is a bigger red flag. Still, it’s not wrong to question everything about this program since Miller got here. Those were some good teams that underachieved and would leave you scratching your head. A lot of their top players transferred to big time schools and had a significant impact.

Obviously this looks like the end of Miller’s time in the NCAA, which sucks because for all intents and purposes the guy was a good kid. He’d put on free basketball camps and speak out against gun violence in his local community. Hopefully no one currently on the team was a part of anything, because Adam Fisher’s building something good over there.

And wtf NCAA? You had an entire summer and fall to investigate this and the news is coming out a week before the season. Pat Forde reported new information came to light earlier this month. Oh did it? Who’s sitting on their hands over there twiddling their thumbs? Chop chop. Adam Fisher has some games to win. And shouldn’t Virginia Tech be held accountable too, because they took him no questions asked? Even Andy Reid nowadays waits for the investigation to play out before he goes and signs a guy with the off-the-field issues.

A resolution from the NCAA is expected shortly, according to Jeff Neiburg at the Inky. If they don’t find that anyone else on the team last year was involved there shouldn’t be any penalties against Temple. Don’t make these players and this coaching staff an example when Miller played for multiple coaches and half the players from last year’s team are gone. Postseason penalties would be absolute bullshit.

Not gonna lie…this tweet aged terribly:

The post Ex-Temple Owl Hysier Miller Dismissed by Virginia Tech with Possible Tie to Gambling Investigation appeared first on Crossing Broad.

“First of all Go Birds” is exactly how you should open your question at a town hall in Delco pic.twitter.com/22LICPwTl6

— Crossing Broad (@CrossingBroad) October 24, 2024

The VP rolled with that pretty well, but of course she should’ve. She and Trump are in the Delaware Valley what feels like every other day.  If she would’ve had a look of confusion she might’ve lost the entire city. Someone on her staff must be from Philly. Probably sat her down for the first time when they axed Biden and told her we say ‘Go Birds’ like people in Hawaii say ‘Aloha.’ Just smile and nod. Smile and nod. After the election both candidates probably don’t want to hear ‘Go Birds’ just as much as we don’t want to watch another one of their political ads.

Of course this wasn’t the only sports team represented in Delco. We had a guy rocking a Union hat AND pullover:

“in this current economy, we can only afford to sign players from the Bulgarian 3rd division” pic.twitter.com/C7epvgOVGA

— Kevin Kinkead (@Kevin_Kinkead) October 24, 2024

That’s the most Delco looking guy of all time. I surprised he didn’t hit her with a, “Hey Madame VP. First time, long time. Can youse get rid of Jay Sugarman?”

No doubt, Philly’s own Jake Tapper was off screen wiping a tear from his eye with how proud he was of his home state’s team pride.

We even had a Crossing Broad Spelling Bee contestant who got to ask a question! Joe Donahue from Birds Nest Media asking the tough questions:

Town Hall participant: What weaknesses do you bring to the table and how do you plan to overcome them?

Kamala Harris: I’m certainly not perfect (laughs awkwardly) and um…I think that…I…Perhaps some would say is a weakness some would actually say is a strength is I value… pic.twitter.com/XIXGfUPzTe

— Kevin Dalton (@TheKevinDalton) October 24, 2024

I wonder if a town hall or a packed Gaul & Co. was the more nerve-wracking venue:

The post Temple Student Drops a “Go Birds” Before Asking Kamala Harris a Question at Delco Town Hall appeared first on Crossing Broad.

@gfedgocrazy

I went to the lightest attended event at an NFL stadium to see how long I can stay there

♬ original sound – GFed

Can you believe Temple pays the Eagles millions of dollars a year to draw maybe 1,000 fans every game? That’s nuts. They don’t even open up the second level during games because there is no reason to. The illustrious Temple vs. Army rivalry isn’t getting asses in seats. I gotta wonder if Temple even invite recruits to home games. I think if I was a coach I’d be too embarrassed. I’d invite them to an Eagles game before I let them see the type of crowds we’re drawing. If you’re any good and you come watch Temple get pummeled in front of 100 people why would you want to go there? I wouldn’t be shocked if Villanova or West Chester draws more. How did this program only host College Gameday a decade ago?

If you’ve watched GFed’s videos before, you know he’s typically walking around stadiums for an hour-plus after games. He lasted 70 minutes in CBP this summer. He had zero shot to hit that number. Clearing a stadium in less than 30 minutes after the clock struck zero, while having to stay for both team’s alma maters, is crazy. It has to be the greatest job in the world. Getting paid to barely work and not have to fight traffic in the parking lot is what dreams are made. Instead of a ‘how long can I stay’ video he should’ve timed himself to see how fast he could leave.

Also, he suggested Temple should partner with Villanova or Penn to share the stadium. Nova I doubt has the facilities to accommodate the team and Franklin Field is still a 52,000 seat stadium. Sure, it’s embarrassing to show off this gameday experience, but the only selling point for recruits might be the amenities the Eagles and the Linc provide.

The post TikToker Learns the Temple Football Gameday Experience is Unlike Any in the Country appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Wild scenes at Temple University

Shots fired outside of the St. Louis vs. LaSalle field hockey game halts play

(via @MidtownMadPod) pic.twitter.com/PWBokXIzqy

— Crossing Broad (@CrossingBroad) September 27, 2024

That was WILD! Play was halted. It’s a terrible situation. We need to get guns under control blah blah blah. I can’t stop watching the referee absolutely EAT IT!

SNIPER!

OH MY GOD A SECOND SHOOTER!

I’ve watched this a hundred times and I think I laugh harder every time! How did this ref bite the dust? She’s got less awareness than Miles Sanders. Wide open field and she somehow hits the goalie net. Make it make sense. The goalie has a million pounds of gear on and she’s running like a gazelle. This klutz couldn’t even sidestep a giant goal. I hope she’s gotten this video texted to her 15 times today. It’s amazing! For years these players will be talking about the time their game was cancelled because someone got a little wild in a KFC parking lot. I’ll be talking about the ref eating turf.

Now that we got that out of the way I want to school some suburban patriots who are scared to get on the R5 commenting “Typical Temple” under this video. Of course Temple is going to take the brunt of it because it’s their field. It’s embarrassing that athletes can’t even play a field hockey game without 20 shots ringing out across the street. BUT St. Joes Prep is closer to this field than Temple is! Fairmount, one of the best neighborhoods in the city, is closer than Temple. Don’t let the haters and losers, for which there are many, let facts get in the way of a good dunk attempt on Temple:

If you ever been to Temple’s campus you’d know this normal as hell https://t.co/zNBjrYPPXL

— Slick (@NickStillHere) September 28, 2024

Whatever you do, do not send your kids to temple university if you care about them https://t.co/8QkzM0y2mX

— Brinks (@bobby_brinks) September 28, 2024

Well the school is in a ghetto so it’s expected

— Ronnie Serpico (@RonnieSerp) September 27, 2024

Hey dumb dumbs the square is Temple’s campus and the red dot is where the turf is:

Temple’s PR team is in crisis mode and the Prep administrators are enjoying brunch. Where are the “Typical Prep tweets”? It’s crickets out there. This is Temple’s snowballs at Santa. Tired tropes about how dangerous the school is when it’s mostly isolated incidents. But I will not let my alma mater get dragged through the mud while Prep gets a pass. We already let them recruit football players out of New Jersey illegally. Now they don’t have to answer for shootings? How’s that fair? Poor Temple. That’s the headline…and the referee eating turf…twice.

The post Yea There Was a Shooting During a Field Hockey Game at Temple But I Can’t Stop Watching This Ref Eat Turf appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Cam Miles, a four-star guard out of Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy, has committed to Temple, he tells @247Sports.

Story: https://t.co/UbnBkvHJ8g pic.twitter.com/pcd5Wx6oGM

— Travis Branham (@TravisBranham_) September 25, 2024

#Committed pic.twitter.com/gyzY6Tmm1K

— Cam Miles (@_CamMiles) September 25, 2024

What was the NIL deal? Unlimited Diamond Dollars? Priority ordering at Richie’s?

Now I know the Villanova contingent is going to stick their noses up at this. I get the wine and cheese crowd will laugh at little brother basically throwing a party on Broad for a four star recruit when they have a line out the door for them. But this doesn’t happen at Temple. Not recently. The last time we signed a four star recruit, Fran Dunphy was on the sidelines. Adam Fisher now has two of them! The Big 5 is under new management. Get your laughs in while you can because we’re coming and Coach Fisher is bringing his luggage with him and it’s Louis:

What sealed the deal? The campus, via Travis Branham at 247Sports.com:

Miles took an official visit to Temple last weekend and his time on campus was a big selling point for him to join the program.

They must’ve taken him by Maxis during his visit. Wouldn’t be the first student prospect to fall in love with the on-campus bar.

I think my favorite thing is about signing a new recruit, and I know they do this at other schools, is the Temple coaches all tweet out gifs that relate to the commit. You’ll be minding your business on the timeline than all of sudden Adam Fisher hits you with a Mickey Mouse gif because the next guy is from Orlando. It’s a fun guessing game for fans to decipher. I wonder if there’s a group chat in the office where they’re all communicating what gif they’re going to send out. It’s like a war cry. The Dudley Boyz had tables:

Adam Fisher and the Temple coaches are armed with gifs to let everyone in the country know they just scooped another one:

pic.twitter.com/3A11Tvkiyh

— Adam Fisher (@Coach_Afish) September 25, 2024

Assistant coach Bobby Jordan went with a very creative Kane Brown and Marshmello’s hit “Miles on It.” That’s how you appeal to the youngs and let them know you’re still hip:

pic.twitter.com/xJ33NaCvX2

— Bobby Jordan (@bobjordan1) September 25, 2024

Here are a couple more:

pic.twitter.com/e2fHy67bCU

— Michael Huger (@CoachHuger) September 25, 2024

pic.twitter.com/y1jDasnmdN

— Chris Clark (@chrisclark215) September 25, 2024

We’re going to need Coach Clark to pick it up if we’re being honest. Just Hooter? Were all the good gifs in the group chat claimed? Give me a picture of one of those mile markers on the highway. Give me a Miles Morales or a Miles Davis gif. Miles Teller doing something badass. Les Miles eating grass. Anything! We’re changing the program here coach! Just Hooter isn’t going to cut it! And don’t think I didn’t see you using the same gif only two weeks ago. If you need a gif guy I’m sure coach can find it in the budget to hire me.

Here’s another gif. Me realizing the greatest Temple coaches in my lifetime have all come by way of Penn State:

I’m not mad. Don’t you dare say I am mad.

The post Don’t Look Now, But Temple Basketball is Back to Signing 4 Star Recruits appeared first on Crossing Broad.

A decade ago we hosted College Gameday and took Notre Dame to the buzzer. Now we’re the worst team in college football battling the legendary Kennesaw State program for who sucks less. pic.twitter.com/OzhiaDBDtP

— Kyle Pagan (@CBKylePagan) September 4, 2024

I’m old enough to remember when Temple was good. Come along with me children as we regale the story of Matt Rhule, PJ Walker, Tyler Matakevich, and Ventell Bryant and College Gameday.

Now in my old age I might not be able to recant every fine detail, but I’ll do my best to paint the picture of a lovely Halloween in 2015 where the Temple football program peaked. After years of mediocrity and being the only program ever kicked out of their conference because they were so bad, the #21 undefeated Temple Owls faced off against the 7-1 Irish with playoffs on the line.

It was a crisp fall day on the grass of Independence Mall where a large crowd gathered before the sun came up. Most were wearing cherry red with some green sprinkled in waiting for ESPN’s College Gameday programming to start. Children, adults, and students lined the Mall grass with posters as far as the eye could see. Some took shots at the Owls’ opponent, Notre Dame:

But was he offsides? pic.twitter.com/DHUswtVb4o

— College GameDay (@CollegeGameDay) October 31, 2015

Most took shots at Penn State:

Absolutely ruthless. pic.twitter.com/U9ktyqlH13

— Kmarko (@Kmarkobarstool) October 31, 2015

Even poking fun at the most famous guy to ever graduate from the school. The irony being Cosby is probably the guest picker if this matchup happens the year before:

The Temple students knew this would be the only time they’d have to show off their creativity and they fucking brought it. Multiple sites clutched their pearls at the signs from Penn State’s campus outlet to Sporting News to even local pubs like Philly Mag couldn’t believe college kids could make jokes.

Before College Gameday kicked off ESPN had a pregame show. The producers brought out former Eagles QB Ron Jaworski to give some analysis on the matchup and then make a cheesesteak. A gratuitous gesture to the crowd that was met with little fanfare. The crowd was growing restless of Rocky euphemisms and external shots of the LOVE sign until 9am when four men appeared and wrapped themselves around a mahogany desk. Rece Davis, Kirk Herbstreit, a still spry Lee Corso, and Desmond Howard. The crowd was back. If Gameday started at 9am we had our first Rocky analogy by 9:01am when Davis recounted “the last time the Owls were ranked Rocky Balboa had just become heavyweight champ”.

Thankfully “LETS GO TEMPLE!” “LETS GO TEMPLE!” chants almost drowned out Davis.

You’ll never believe this, but the Owls were the best team in town at that point:

The Sixers had just begun The Process, the Eagles would fire Chip Kelly in eight games, the Phillies were trying to navigate to the next chapter in the franchise, and the Flyers were hovering near .500. The Owls on the other hand were off to their best start in school history. They had a legitimate title shot and the city had fallen in love with a lovable loser.

Cameras on strings 15 feet in the air whizzed by as ESPN went in and out of commercial. The crowd of drunk Irish and Temple fans would bust balls. Herbstreit would get his nose powdered. Davis would check his phone. Corso would sit and just stare off into the distance. It was cool to see the behind the scenes in person. So much people and resources went into this production.

Finally, it came time to get to the special celebrity guest picker. Who would it be? Hall & Oates? Boyz II Men? It was the Phillie Phanatic. Fine. Whatever. This has to be one of the only celebrity guest pickers ever that couldn’t talk.

Gameday ends we kill time drinking back at my buddy’s place and head down to the tailgate, which was massive. Honestly it was a blur. Not because I was blacked out (yet) because I think the anxiety kicked in like, “Holy shit. We’re about to play Notre Dame on national television in front of the entire world and we actually have a chance to win this game.” We shuffle into the Linc. Somehow we got student tickets seven rows in the endzone. Tyler Matakevich’s pick early in the game happened right in front of our section. I watched Jahad Thomas on 4th and goal allude a ND defender with one of the sickest cuts I’ve ever seen to tie it up:

Holy shit. We could win this. We could actually win this.

The stadium was on fire. If you came there as a neutral party you were definitely rooting for Temple at that point. Hell I’m pretty sure some uncles in the Northeast had our back that night.

What happened after? I forget honestly. Like I said I’m old. Guess that’s just the price of aging.

Since then I could probably count on one hand the amount of times I’ve went into a Temple game. The program sucks right now. It’s been mismanaged, coaching hires don’t make sense (Manny Diaz being hired and resigning within hours didn’t help), and it doesn’t look like it’s going to be fixed any time soon. They brought in an AD from Texas who somehow doesn’t have the first clue what to do with NIL or what even is NIL really. The Temple coach, Stan Drayton, another Texas guy just started his third year and still hasn’t won a road game? That’s crazy. The football team has had three winning seasons in the eight years since Rhule left. They’ve won one conference game in each of the last four seasons. I’d probably be annoyed if we weren’t a basketball school.

The post Temple Football is Officially The Worst D1 Program in the Country appeared first on Crossing Broad.

That’ll do it from Norman, Okla.

TEM 3 – OU 51 | 0:00 |

— Temple Football (@Temple_FB) August 31, 2024

10 points would have gotten the job done, but alas, it was not to be.

To recap, Forrest Brock went 12-25 on the evening, throwing for 128 yards and two interceptions. He finished with a QBR of 7 and lost a fumble. E.J. Wilson led the Owls on the ground with 31 yards on six carries as the entire team mustered 69 yards total, good for a 1.9 average. Dante Wright didn’t fare much better in the receiving game, catching three passes for 36 yards while fumbling twice.

They went punt/fumble/punt/interception/fumble/punt/punt/fumble/end of half and found themselves down 34-0 at the break. However, they HELD Boomer Sooner twice in the third quarter and knocked in a 49 yard field goal to cut the lead to 37-3, but with covering in sight, they finished the 4th quarter with an Oklahoma scoop and score before throwing a pick and taking two sacks in a row to run out the clock. Other than that, it was a great game!

The post The Temple Owls Did Not Defeat the Oklahoma Sooners appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Some are saying the Owls are getting TOO many points #DoubleDigitTUFF pic.twitter.com/71LsWLIHks

— Kyle Pagan (@CBKylePagan) August 26, 2024

Now I don’t care about the football program as much as the next Temple student does. We’re a basketball school. We’re focused on the juggernaut Adam Fisher is building. But this game isn’t about the football team. This game is about pride. Temple football has been an afterthought in their entire history except for a little three season blip back in the 2010s. Stan Drayton was picked to finish last in the AAC. They lost their best QB in a decade to the Rice fucking Owls. We have no idea who the starting QB is. But it’s time to take #SingleDigitTuff and make it #DoubleDigitTuff. This is the first step to turning this program around. You want people to start taking you at least a little seriously you go into Norman and cover +43.5 and +27.5 in the first half at NJ sports betting apps. Get the boys confidence up heading into a new AAC season. Because as we all know good teams win. Great teams cover.

It’s not crazy either. OU’s QB has one career start and the wide receiver core is banged up. The running back depth at OU is crazy. They might run 60 times on Friday, which is music to my ears. Bleed that clock. We need the Owls to get to 10 points. 10 is the key number. We get to 10 I think we cover. If coach is smart he gets the boys to Norman early. Can’t let them celebrate syllabus week at White Girl Wednesday or whatever $1 beer special they do at the old Draught Horse nowadays.

I’ll see you on Broad Friday night! We’re tipping schooners when they cover:

The post Some are Saying Temple is Getting Too Many Points Against Oklahoma appeared first on Crossing Broad.

None of the major sports are on TV, which means 90 percent of your friend group is already through their first three seasons of the new NCAA college football game.

Only one of the three local teams (Penn State, Rutgers and Temple) will be good in 2024, and there’s strong case to be made they are the only watchable program of the trio too.

But we certainly do not discriminate against bad teams in the betting space because money can be made anywhere, so here’s a look at where the Nittany Lions, Scarlet Knights and Owls stand.

Penn State 

Win Total: Over/Under 10.5

Penn State is finally in a college football landscape where being the third-best team in the Big Ten is good enough. That will get the Nittany Lions into the expanded 12-team playoff.

A not-so-daunting schedule is in front of James Franklin’s team in 2024.

The Nittany Lions only have five true road games and truthfully only three of them will be somewhat difficult against West Virginia, USC, and Wisconsin.

The West Virginia road trip is sneakily tough because it happens in Week 1. There’s always a few uncontrollable variables in play for the opener.

But by all accounts the Penn State offense should be even better than last season. Drew Allar is expected to take another step at quarterback, Kaytron Allen and Nicholas Singleton are back at running back and the new top wide receiver is Ohio State transfer Julian Fleming.

The Nittany Lions also brought in a new offensive coordinator, Andy Kotelnicki, who helped revive Kansas’ program in recent years.

Defense typically isn’t an issue for the Nittany Lions, which is why they have gained a reputation of beating 95 percent of the teams beneath them in the standings for most of the James Franklin era. Beating the top teams is where Franklin mightily struggles.

Ohio State at home on November 2nd and USC on the road on October 12th will be Penn State’s two toughest games. Michigan is not on the schedule in 2024, which is unfortunate because the Nittany Lions likely would’ve beaten the depleted reigning national champion. Washington comes to Happy Valley on November 9th, but the Huskies are not projected to be anywhere close to their runner-up level of 2023.

So the easy approach to Penn State’s win total is that they have to beat one of USC or Ohio State and maintain the normal level against everyone else, but 10.5 also presents the most slender of margins of error. 10-2 should be enough to get Penn State into the playoff, so it might be better to drink the juice at -140 and bet Penn State to make the playoff instead of taking the over 10.5 at plus money.

You could also double down on the win total and playoff future at PA sports betting apps if you’re that high on Penn State because 11-1 guarantees you a spot in the playoff no matter which conference you play in.

Rutgers

Win Total Over/Under 6.5

Greg Schiano hasn’t exactly brought Rutgers back to the promised land.

The Scarlet Knights won seven games last season after three straight sub-.500 years under the second-time Rutgers coach.

They’ll likely land somewhere in the wide-open middle of the Big Ten. Fortunately, Rutgers does not have to play Michigan, Penn State, or Ohio State. I’d argue they should play Penn State every year for geographical reasons, but no one at Penn State considers Rutgers anything remotely close to a rival.

Rutgers has one of the more difficult road schedules. The September non-conference trip to Virginia Tech is tough. The Hokies will be a very popular preseason darkhorse pick in the ACC.

Rutgers then visits Nebraska, USC, Maryland, and Michigan State in Big Ten play. I can only confidently say the Scarlet Knights will be better than Michigan State. So let’s assume a 1-4 road record.

That would mean Rutgers can only lose once at home for the win total over to hit. The deciding factors in that will be the early Big Ten home contests with Washington and Wisconsin. If wins come in both games, Rutgers should beat UCLA, Minnesota, and Illinois at home.

But a lot of those results should be toss ups, especially at the start, when Rutgers tries to find what it has in Minnesota transfer Athan Kaliakmanis at quarterback. He had a 53.1 completion percentage, 14 touchdowns, and nine interceptions last season. Not exactly inspiring numbers when looking at these totals on NJ sports betting apps.

Temple 

Win Total Over/Under: 2.5

Temple just needs to win three games to hit the over.

Laugh all you want, but the Owls achieved that feat last season under Stan Drayton.

Like Rutgers, Temple has to figure out its quarterback situation with new transfers after E.J. Warner moved on to Rice. Warner was decent enough to keep the Owls in some games last season. I’m not sure you can say that in 2024.

Temple runs an early-season gauntlet with road trips to Oklahoma and Navy and home games against perennial Group of Five powers Coastal Carolina and Utah State. After that, there’s another meeting with the triple option against Army.

There are only three American Athletic Conference home games after October 5th and only the trip to East Carolina on October 26th is winnable on paper away from home.

The Owls could always surprise people if the quarterback play figures itself out, but even as the house degenerate at Crossing Broad, I wouldn’t suggest betting on any aspect of Temple football.

The post An Early Look at Win Totals for Penn State, Rutgers, and Temple appeared first on Crossing Broad.

• 47. Adbul Carter (DE)
• 57. Kevin Winston Jr. (S)
• 64. Nick Singleton (RB)

All three have a 91 overall grade. Carter is in a three-way tie for the fourth-best defensive end in the game. Winston Jr. is the 7th-highest safety but 2nd-highest strong safety, and Singleton is tied for 8th on the running back list. Seems pretty reasonable to land three in the top 75 considering the Nitters lost eight players in the NFL Draft after a 10-2 regular season and Peach Bowl loss.

There isn’t much representation in our region throughout the top-100 list, as one would expect. Rutgers running back Kyle Monangai made the list at 96th overall after a year in which he carried the ball 252 times for 1,262 yards and eight touchdowns. No players from Pitt or Temple. Maybe if this was nine years ago, Jahad Thomas and Tyler Matakevich would be on there. Pitt had a nice run but oh no, they suck again, and that’s about it. It’s somewhat sad when college football comes around every year because you realize all of the teams around here are butt and no one really cares. We’ve got a strong Penn State contingent, but James Franklin always lets them down. Maybe Greg Schiano gets us thinking about the Scarlet Knights again after a 7-6 season. They don’t have to play Michigan, Ohio State, or PSU this year. RU rah rah! Ru rah rah! hooooo rah

The post Penn State Lands Three Players on College Football ’25 Top 100 List appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Listen, like I said in the beginning. I don’t care if you’re left, right, center, up, or down. A former President comes to your alma mater with a lightning rod fanbase like his I’d be stupid to not drop what I was doing to go to this. I know people are just going to get mad to get mad, but I really don’t fucking care. So save your breath. Enjoy the video and laugh a little bit.

God bless Adam Fisher and God Bless Temple Basketball.

The post Make Temple Basketball Great Again! appeared first on Crossing Broad.

@offguardpod

Storytime: Duke f*** around and loses to Temple on Coach K’s grandson’s birthday. #dukebasketball #storytime #offguard #foryou #hoops

♬ original sound – Off Guard

“I asked you motherfuckers to do one thing for my grandson’s birthday. I asked you to win. And now for the rest of this kid’s life. Every time it’s his birthday he’s going to be reminded that you guys dropped the ball and lost to Temple. To fucking Temple.”

That “To fucking Temple” hurts btw. That was a good team! Khalif Wyatt, Ramon Moore, and Juan Fernandez finished 24-8 and won the Atlantic 10 regular season. Then they were upset in the conference tourney by UMass and upset in the first round by #12 South Florida, but we don’t have to talk about that. That team still set the table. Next year they reloaded and came back strong and took #1 seed Indiana and Victor Oladipo to the brink in the Round of 32. God I miss those days. Now the only newsworthy thing that happens at the Liacouras Center is a Trump rally. Make Temple Basketball Great Again.

I love Coach K thinking these guys were going to go out and win one for his grandson like he was the Gipper. Was his grandson sick? Nope. It’s just his 8th birthday. I hope that guy is still miserable today. Duke’s won two National Championships since then, but he still carries the pain from that time Temple beat up on Duke in the Wells Fargo Center back in 2012. The Big 5’s last victory against Coach K might I add:

The post Austin Rivers Tells Hilarious Story About Temple Ruining the Birthday of Coach K’s Grandson appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Former President Donald Trump will hold a campaign rally on Saturday at the Liacouras Center on Temple University’s campus in North Philadelphia. https://t.co/B4FERog5gh

— CBS Philadelphia (@CBSPhiladelphia) June 16, 2024

Now I don’t know about you, but when I think of former President Trump, I think of North Philly and Temple University! Thick sarcasm obviously, but was Cal Berkeley already booked? This would be like the Democrats securing a time slot for President Biden in Oxford before an Ole’ Miss game. Bring the teleprompter and the hot toddies to The Grove.

Genuinely curious, because this has the potential to be a total shit show. Is there a single Donald Trump supporter in North Philly? Didn’t Philadelphia vote 104% Democrat in the last election? And didn’t Trump do the whole “bad things happen in Philadelphia?” routine a couple of years ago? I honestly can’t believe this is happening. The former President’s voter base in this region is up in Bucks County and the southern Lehigh Valley/Berks County so you’d think he’d rally in some place like Doylestown. Maybe Boyertown. The “let’s go Brandon” chants would be audible in Shartlesville.

But North Philly? This is the most unusual pairing since Madonna and 2Pac secretly dated in the 1990s.

disclaimer: Crossing Broad is not a political blog and has no official political stance. most politicians are useless and don’t care about you

Montco stand up pic.twitter.com/srDyEB7RMg

— Kevin Kinkead (@Kevin_Kinkead) November 9, 2022

The post When I Think of Donald Trump, I Think of North Philly and Temple University appeared first on Crossing Broad.

(EDIT #2 – After careful consideration, I’m going to tweak the headline slightly because Temple didn’t necessarily “lose” Jahlil White. You can read between the lines and take it from there) 

There’s been a lot of anti-Villanova sentiment on this website and our social media channels, and that’s because we have a Temple alumnus at the controls. But what does Kyle Pagan make of his basketball program losing transfers to LA SALLE? –

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by jahlil white (@j2hlil)

Now let’s be clear – Jahlil White is not exactly prime Michael Beasley at Kansas State. Nice player? Absolutely. Third leading scorer for the Owls this past season, 10.1 PPG , good for 5-6 rebounds while either starting or being the first guy off the bench. He’s had injuries in his college career but we’re talking Big 5 Freshman of the Year not that long ago. Surely any coach would like to hang on to an experienced 6’7″ guy who can get you some baskets, hit the glass, and play some good defense.

If White, or any player, outgrew Temple to the point where they were ready for something bigger and better, then so be it. Transfer to the ACC like Hysier Miller. But Temple shouldn’t be losing decent players to La Salle. Not now, not ever. Am I wrong? Tell me I’m wrong.

I hate the optics of this. That’s why I ask the question in the headline – is it worse to lose your third-best scorer to La Salle, or your starting quarterback to Rice? To RICE! That’s the point. It’s not that kids are leaving Temple, it’s that they’re leaving for schools like La Salle and Rice. Lateral moves. Nobody is gonna think anything if Temple football players go to Rutgers or basketball players go to Dayton, but these aren’t exactly powerhouses we’re talking about year. Kurt Warner’s kid making the move he made is no bueno.

Same with this. I don’t like it one bit and I didn’t even go to Temple. I just want them to be relevant in something. They need some wins in the optics department. Good on Fran Dunphy, though. Nice addition.

The post What’s Worse: A Temple Basketball Player Going to La Salle, or Kurt Warner’s Son Going to Rice? (update) appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Point guard Hysier Miller intends to enter the transfer portal, OwlScoop has learned. The Neumann-Goretti graduate helped lead the Owls to the American Athletic Conference championship game last month.

— OwlScoop.com (@OwlScoop_com) April 1, 2024

The Neuman-Goretti alum was in the transfer portal last year, one of a half-dozen players to do so when Aaron McKie stepped down. Then he reversed course after Adam Fisher’s hiring and pulled his name out of the portal, announcing that he was coming back for his junior year to take care of some “unfinished business,” which was a 12-19 regular season record and shock run to the AAC Tournament final.

Miller was Temple’s best player this year. 15.9 points per game, though he didn’t have amazing shooting splits (35.3% from the floor, 29.4% from three). He played a team-high 36.4 minutes per game and threw four assists and nabbed two steals on average. He’s was fantastic in the tournament, scoring 21 against SMU and FAU, and then 32 in the final. He had 16 swipes over five tournament games and 23 assists. A solid do-it-all point guard, Miller is.

You have to think Kyle Pagan and the other 500 Philly sports media members who went to Temple are a shambles right now. If Miller does another lateral move, like Kurt Warner’s kid going to Rice, then Temple should just pack up both sports programs and call it a day. Pagan will have no choice but to embrace Villanova as Philadelphia’s premier college basketball program.

Live look at Miller going back into the portal:

The post Hysier Miller in the Transfer Portal Again appeared first on Crossing Broad.

The St. Joseph’s Hawks are a semifinalist in the chaotic Atlantic 10, where the top three seeds were eliminated on Thursday. The Temple Owls won two games in two days to reach the American Athletic Conference quarterfinals.

I don’t think anyone, even the biggest fan boys of their respective schools (Sup, Kyle Pagan), expected either team to still be alive.

Temple carries much longer odds to win the AAC than St. Joe’s does the A-10. The Owls have the longest odds of any remaining team in the AAC at DraftKings at +7000. They’ve impressively gone 6-2 in their last eight games, but only one of those wins, Thursday’s triumph over banged-up SMU, came against a top-eight conference team.

Temple is a seven-point underdog against Charlotte in the late tipoff in Fort Worth on Friday. KenPom projects Charlotte’s margin of victory to be five points, so there’s at least a glimmer of hope for the Owls to keep the Cinderella story alive for one more day, but I don’t think they advance past the semifinals.

Florida Atlantic is in a different stratosphere from Temple, and even though those Owls don’t need the AAC’s automatic bid, they would probably beat the Philly-based Owls by double digits, especially when you consider it would be Temple’s fourth game in four days.

Regardless, it’s a nice finish to the season in Adam Fisher’s first season. There’s at least some hope things turn around there.

As for St. Joe’s, there’s a real opportunity to be the A-10 bid stealer. The Hawks are +310 to win the A-10 tournament at Pennsylvania sportsbooks and New Jersey sportsbooks.

The Hawks face the highest seed left in the bracket, No. 4 VCU, but because of the day off between the quarterfinals and semifinals, they’ll be fully rested for the clash with the Rams.

(It’s bullshit that the A-10 scheduled this day off. True conference tournaments should not have an off day in the middle.  The A-10 killed all the buzz around it this year because of all the upsets that happened on Thursday. I get that it wants to have the Sunday final, but adjust your schedule accordingly then). 

St. Joe’s only lost to VCU by four points on February 25th. The Rams lost four of six to close the regular season and struggled with Fordham in the second round. As we’ve seen so far in Brooklyn, no favorite is safe.

St. Bonaventure and Duquesne play in the other A-10 semifinal. The Hawks split the regular-season series with Duquesne and lost by 19 to the Bonnies. Despite that, the Bonnies may be the preferred final opponent for St. Joe’s since Duquesne is 8-1 in its last nine games.

St. Joe’s is essentially playing with house money, and it probably should just embrace the underdog role this weekend in Brooklyn since it will be the dog in any potential matchup.

The post Assessing St. Joe’s and Temple’s Updated Odds of Winning Conference Tournaments appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Kyle Neptune’s team will cruise into the quarterfinals with a win over DePaul on Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden. The ‘Cats are a 23.5-point favorite.

If you care to bet it, Villanova covered as a favorite of 19.5 points and 10.5 points against DePaul this season. They won those games by 25 and 36 points. DePaul is 3-4 against the spread in its seven games as a 20-plus-point dog.

But the bigger picture is what matters for Villanova over the next couple of days in New York.

News broke on Wednesday morning that Marquette starting point guard Tyler Kolek is out for Thursday’s quarterfinal, where the Golden Eagles would play Villanova.

Marquette lost to UConn and beat Xavier by six points without Kolek last week. They’re probably playing the safe game with the point guard and making sure he’s close to 100 percent for the NCAA tournament.

Does that result in any longer term value for this heightened week of PA sports betting or NJ sports betting? Villanova is now +1600 at both FanDuel and DraftKings to win the Big East tournament. It’s still a bit of a reach for the ‘Cats to win the whole damn thing because UConn still exists, but they can at least confirm their spot in the NCAA tournament with two wins. DraftKings lists Villanova at -105 to make the field of 68.

A third win in New York, likely over Creighton, might even be needed if a few more bid stealers emerge. Indiana State dropped to the bubble on Sunday after Drake won the Missouri Valley tournament.

Temple, La Salle and St. Joe’s, are also in action on Wednesday. St. Joe’s drew the ungodly early 11:30 a.m. ET tip off in the A-10 tournament. The Hawks closed as a slight underdog against George Mason.

La Salle barely survived its first-round matchup on Tuesday against George Washington, but survive and advance, right?

The Explorers are a 6.5-point underdog against St. Bonaventure on Wednesday, and while the Bonnies might seem like a lock based on the spread, the Explorers might be the play.

La Salle beat St. Bonaventure by 13 points on February 21st and the Bonnies finished the regular season with losses to GW and Saint Louis, who both finished in the bottom six of the A-10 standings.

As for Temple, it’s playing UTSA for what feels like the fifth time this season. The Owls beat the Roadrunners twice in the last month, including in Sunday’s regular-season finale.

Despite those results, the Owls are a two-point underdog for their AAC tournament opener in Fort Worth. You should feel most confident about the over 150.5. Both UTSA-Temple games hit the 160-point mark.

The post Breaking Down the Odds on Villanova, Temple, La Salle in Wednesday’s Conference Tournament Games appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Penn did not qualify for the four-team Ivy League tournament and Drexel shit the bed as a No. 2 seed in the CAA quarterfinals on Sunday.

None of the remaining teams, Villanova, St. Joe’s, La Salle and Temple, are a top-four seed in their respective conference tournaments. They’ll have to win at least four games to earn an automatic bid.

If you’re scanning the odds and looking for value on your Pennsylvania sports betting apps and NJ sports betting apps, that means each member of the quartet is a long shot to win their respective conference tournaments.

Atlantic 10 

• St. Joe’s: +1800 (FanDuel) +2500 (DraftKings)
• La Salle: +25000 (FD), +35000 (DK)

La Salle needs to win five games in five days to earn the Atlantic 10’s automatic berth. The Explorers haven’t won more than two games at the A-10 tournament in more than a decade. The good news? La Salle went 4-2 in its last six games and beat No. 7 seed St. Bonaventure during that stretch. The Bonnies await the Explorers if they beat George Washington on Tuesday. The bad news? La Salle is 1-4 with four double-digit losses to the top four teams in the A-10

St. Joe’s has not won multiple games in a row since January 31 and February 3. The Hawks’ longest winning streak in conference play was three games. The Hawks could beat George Mason in the 8-9 game, but they’ll probably be close to a double-digit underdog against top seed Richmond.

American

• Temple (+50000, DK)

Temple hasn’t won more than three games in a row this season. The Owls need to win five in a row in Fort Worth to win the American tournament.

By the way: what an awful conference tournament site. I get it, the AAC has four Texas-based teams, but find a more central location.

Anyway, Temple could beat UTSA in the first round, but it won’t have an extended stay in Fort Worth.

Big East

• Villanova: +1600 (DK) +2000 (FD)

Villanova is realistically the only Philly area team that can make the NCAA tournament.

The ‘Cats will beat DePaul, and probably by double digits, but more on that Wednesday when the spread comes out.

Villanova must beat Marquette on Thursday to feel okay about itself, but it probably needs to defeat Marquette and then Creighton on Friday to feel 100 percent safe about its chances. Kyle Neptune’s team can advance far because Marquette is dealing with some injury issues and they beat Creighton earlier in the season. And don’t forget the experience Eric Dixon and Justin Moore have. Both of those players need to have massive tournaments for Nova to go far at MSG.

That was a long-winded way to say it’s Villanova or bust for the area, and if not, hope you like the NIT!

The post Assessing the Chances of Philly’s College Basketball Teams Winning their Conference Tournaments appeared first on Crossing Broad.

The betting line moved significantly during the day Thursday leading up to the game. At one casino, the line moved from UAB as a 1.5-point favorite over Temple at the beginning of the day to UAB as an eight-point favorite by mid-afternoon, then settling at seven closer to tip-off. The Blazers routed the Owls, 100–72, in Temple’s home gym, the Liacouras Center in Philadelphia.

That was the second straight loss for Temple and the second straight game in which the Owls did not come close to covering the spread. They were favored by 5.5 points Saturday at home against the Tulsa Golden Hurricane and lost by five. Tulsa opened the game by jumping out to a 16–2 lead and stayed ahead the rest of the way.

The post Temple Owl$ Men’s Basketball Games Have Been Monitored By Gambling Watchdog for “A While” appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Statement from Commissioner Bernadette V. McGlade regarding UMass pic.twitter.com/wJAhWdptze

— Atlantic 10 Conference (@atlantic10) February 27, 2024

UMass had been playing football independently since 2016. The Atlantic 10 did play football from 1997 through 2006, then the Colonial took over in 2007, so there are some A10 parallels to the way that the Big East ultimately reshuffled based on the football/basketball split.

But that’s not really the point. The point is that it feels wrong to have an Atlantic 10 without UMass. With the Minutemen departing, only George Washington and Duquesne will remain as founding conference members. Think about all of those classic battles between Temple and UMass, John Chaney vs. John Calipari, Lou Roe and Marcus Camby and Eddie Jones and Aaron McKie. You take all of those great regional memories and now think about UMass playing Eastern Michigan on a Tuesday night. It’s gross. Same thing we’ve been experiencing with Temple in the fugazi American, embarking on these conference road trips to SMU and Rice (and losing).

Of course, football rules all, and nobody is naive to the reality of conference realignment. UMass football has been absolute dreck in recent years, playing a schedule that includes a hodge podge of teams from all sorts of conferences. They alternately get crushed by BYU one week, then Coastal Carolina the next. This gives them more stability and will leave Notre Dame and UConn as the lone football independents in 2024. Army is joining the American.

Still, you look at A 10 basketball in 2024 and think… what? Temple is gone. UMass is leaving. Dayton is the lone ranked team and the conference still has not been to a Final Four since UMass did it almost 30 years ago. VCU is typically good, and Richmond too, but it’s a one-bid league with two Philadelphia schools that have been average for a long time now. Things change over time, and the heyday of UMass and Temple basketball certainly was not recent, but for people who had the fortune of growing up watching that era of A10 hoops, it kinda stinks to see how it played out.

Now only 5 remain. It’s embarrassing to see where UMass is going compared to where the other teams went after the Atlantic 10. With that being said, I am excited for the next chapter of A10 hoops. pic.twitter.com/IuD1ogmOJ5

— A10_Vault (@A10Vault) February 26, 2024

The post Conference Realignment, and the Importance of Football, Gives Us an Atlantic 10 with No Temple and No UMass appeared first on Crossing Broad.

“When I see you, I’ma kick your ass!”

Today is the 30 year anniversary of one of the most memorable press conference dust-ups of all-time.

John Calipari vs. John Chaney.

Here is SportsCenter’s segment from that night. pic.twitter.com/CGCbWwUfnL

— The Field of 68 (@TheFieldOf68) February 13, 2024

“I just got my ass blasted for giving (the refs) hell down in West Virginia. And here (the refs) did a hell of a job right here today. Good job. Three class guys. And you pick them out here and single them out. You can’t <yelling and shouting ensues>… I’ll kill you! You remember that! When I see you, I’ma kick your ass! Kick your ass!”

This was a one-point UMass win, a really close game back in 1994 near the end of the season. Both teams were really good and finished 1/2 in the A10, then met again in the conference tournament final, which was a 70-59 UMass win. Calipari had Lou Roe and Marcus Camby on that team and Chaney had three future NBA players in Eddie Jones, Aaron McKie, and Rick Brunson. Both squads lost in the second round of the NCAA tournament, to Indiana and Maryland.

There have been some really good stories about this interaction, but the best might be this one by Amin Touri at The Daily Collegian:

‘I’ll Kill You!’ An oral history of the John Calipari-John Chaney feud, 25 years later

The post It’s the 30th Anniversary of John Chaney Threatening to Kill John Calipari appeared first on Crossing Broad.

There were a variety of reasons – with one of them being he wanted to explore the possibilities that may have been out there… but at the end of the day he needed a change & it was as much off the field as on.

— Kurt Warner (@kurt13warner) December 24, 2023

That’s Temple guy Harry Mayes asking Kurt Warner why his son E.J. transferred to Rice. We did a short writeup on the site, noting that Rice plays in the same conference and is only a marginally better program than Temple in 2023. It would have been one thing if E.J. left North Broad for Clemson, but he didn’t, he made a lateral-ish move, and that’s a kick in the nuts for Owls fans and alumni.

Notable is that Rice is a great academic school on a much nicer campus. Some people speculated that this was a driving factor in the decision, and so it’s curious to see Kurt talk specifically about his son needing a change “as much off the field as on.” It’s not like that’s a throwaway line in a much longer explanation. Kurt explicitly notes that an off-field change was just as important as an on-field change. Of course, he’s not coming out directly and saying “My son transferred because the Temple campus sucks ass and so does Philly.” It could mean that the big city just wasn’t EJ’s vibe, or he never felt settled in the northeast, etc. But the way Kurt left the “off the field” dangling, you’d understand why people might assume the former.

Anyway, here’s where EJ is gonna be playing ball in 2024. It’s an older photo, but you get the point:

Michael Vergason Landscape Architects

The post Kurt Warner Says Transferring Son Needed Change “As Much Off the Field as On” appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Thank You Temple! pic.twitter.com/RoOGRBDBx8

— Elijah “EJ” Warner (@elijah13warner) November 28, 2023

Committed to Rice University! @mbloom11 pic.twitter.com/mVfRWaTN9j

— Elijah “EJ” Warner (@elijah13warner) December 20, 2023

Rice plays in the same conference and stinks only slightly less than Temple, so this isn’t some amazing football upgrade. Yes, it’s true that Rice is closer to home. Warner went to high school in Phoenix. People actually go to the Rice games, so that’s something different for him moving forward. It’s also a great academic school and a nicer campus, so there’s that. More NIL opportunities, probably. Maybe we slice and dice with Occam’s Razor and find the simplest explanation here. It’s less about how great Rice is and more about how undesirable Temple is.

To be clear, nobody thought Warner was transferring to Oklahoma, but Temple losing him to another AAC team says what about Temple? It’s a kick in the balls, no matter how you slice it. It would be one thing if he went into the transfer portal and came out as the QB of a power five team, but he didn’t. This would be like Eric Dixon leaving Villanova to go to Providence.

I don’t know if Temple is a shambles or if the football program has simply fallen back to what it was before Matt Rhule showed up. Maybe two straight seasons of 3-9 and zero interest is the rule, and not the exception. But for people who are fans of college football in general, it feels like those super-fun days of Temple relevance never even happened.

The post I Didn’t Even Go to Temple and I’m Embarrassed that EJ Warner Bolted for Rice appeared first on Crossing Broad.

The deal is finalized, source tells @YahooSports: Manny Diaz is the new head coach at Duke. https://t.co/DdolmksQ9n

— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) December 8, 2023

Diaz ran a pretty sick defense at Penn State. They beat every team not named Michigan or Ohio State in the two years he was there. Those four particular losses I’d blame on joker James Franklin and whatever particular offensive coordinator was stinking up the joint at the time.

But yeah, this is Diaz’s second stint as an ACC head coach. He left Temple after two weeks because the Miami job opened up, and he led the Hurricanes to a 21-15 record over three seasons. Duke became available because Mike Elko left for Texas A&M after two seasons. That’s a decent, low-pressure type of gig. Coaching the football team at an ACC basketball school? Low risk, high reward.

The post Temple Legend Manny Diaz Taking Duke Job appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Hearing a rumor one of the greatest traditions in sports is coming back tomorrow pic.twitter.com/ddVxbdghT6

— Kyle Pagan (@CBKylePagan) December 1, 2023

Bring out the streamers!! Drexel celebrates their first made basket as an official member of the Big 5 as anyone would, throwing streamers on the floor, as is tradition in Philadelphia. pic.twitter.com/Zf7jsEUVNQ

— Big 5 Pod (@Big5Pod) November 15, 2023

If you don’t know what I’m talking about, I’m talking about streamers baby!

After each team’s first basket during the game, streamers in that team’s colors are thrown from the student section. The tradition was carried for decades before the NCAA cracked down on it, because people started to throw more than just streamers on the court. Going forward, any fans who threw streamers during a Big 5 game would be assessed a technical foul. In 2014, streamers were brought back for one game thanks to Temple and La Salle:

Streamers at The Palestra today for Temple-La Salle. pic.twitter.com/To4KdCi7SO

— Dan McQuade (@dhm) December 6, 2014

Both teams were assessed a technical and each team had their player intentionally step over the foul line, which waved off the basket.

This is going to be sick to watch in person! If you got some kids and you want them to learn about the history of the Big 5, come out tomorrow. Three games for one ticket ($45). Streamers, roll outs, and I’m hearing Temple is bringing back the tradition of dressing in black for the Hawks’ funeral:

We’re having a funeral for a bird. Do attend:

The post There’s a Rumor that One of the Best Traditions in Sports is Coming Back for the Big 5 Classic appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Nova lost to both Penn and St. Joe’s in pod play, so they open against Drexel at 2 p.m. at the Wells Fargo Center. It’s La Salle and Penn in consolation game 1, then Temple/SJU for the title.

Jay Wright is enjoying retirement and won’t be coaching in the tripleheader, but he’s a proponent of the event and excited for it.

“I love this,” he said on Monday’s episode of Crossing Broadcast. “It’s something we’ve been talking about for years, and to finally put this together, I think Dan Hilferty was a big part of this, and to have Comcast-Spectacor behind this is really good for the city of Philadelphia and good for the teams. It’s hard for traditional Big 5 fans to understand, that as college basketball changed, and TV contracts changed, it’s so difficult to schedule these games. As much fun as the games are, it can actually affect your next game sometimes, or your previous games. It was actually sometimes hurting Big 5 teams, where you had to put this game in on Sunday, you’ve got a league game on Monday, but it’s a Big 5 game and you’re emotionally invested, then you come to your first league game and you’re not ready. That’s a little bit of an exaggeration, but it did happen sometimes.”

Wright noted that Big 5 games would get lost in the scheduling process, diminishing the significance and awareness of local competition.

“I know we would sometimes play Temple in February,” he continued. “Because it was Temple’s home game and ESPN had the rights, and they would dictate that’s where they wanted the game, which was great to get it on ESPN, but Temple would be playing Houston right before us, we’d be playing Connecticut, it would be crazy. And then, you didn’t know who the Big 5 champion was, because you never knew when it ended or when it started. We always wanted this to be a positive for the teams and a positive for Philadelphia basketball. Now, you’re gonna know who the Big 5 champion is. It would end sometimes and no one even knew that the Big 5 season ended. You’re gonna know who the champion is. You’re going to get to see everybody. And as we build this thing, everybody in the Big 5 should make money off this tournament for their programs. In the past, everybody lost money on Big 5 games, because the schools all invested in these games but lost money.”

When we had Fran Dunphy on the show a few weeks ago, the veteran Philly native and coach spoke about the idea of Philadelphia providing so many sports and entertainment options in 2023. There are four pro teams in the city limits, the Union in Chester, concerts, restaurants, and events, but the figurative attention pie doesn’t expand. It remains finite.

Wright is keen to that idea of oversaturation, and the thought that the Big 5 needed to evolve and find a new way to carve out a city niche.

“This where I applaud Dan Hilferty, because he has started to build this and promote this,” Wright said. “There used to be a director of the Big 5. That was back in the day, when you had doubleheaders at The Palestra, and teams were making money, and it was a good business venture, too. But now there is no organization of the Big 5, it’s just the athletic directors or the schools. We could keep building this thing, where you’ve got a TV contract, where teams are making money, they share the revenue, or we add Coaches vs. Cancer to this, where we benefit cancer research in the city – and really make this thing a big event. To Fran’s point, you’d have a Big 5 game, let’s say Temple/Villanova, the winner of that game is Big 5 champion, and the game was in February, and the Sixers had a game, and Flyers had a game, and St. Joe’s was playing Dayton for first place in the Atlantic 10, and no one even knew (about the Big 5 title). If this is the same weekend, and we know when it is, people know that’s what they do on that weekend, over time I think it could really become a great event in Philadelphia.”

Tickets are available at the WFC/Big 5 Classic website. $45 for the entire day, so you get to see all three games.

Here’s the full interview with Jay:

The post Jay Wright a Proponent of New Big Five Classic – “It’s Something We’ve Been Talking About for Years” appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Granted, the Barstool games took place on a Friday night, while the Big 5 games were on a Wednesday, but it was unfathomable to think that a Barstool event involving four non-local teams would outdraw local squads in their hometown.

That’s a snapshot of the current Big 5, which is fighting for relevancy in an oversaturated Philadelphia sports market. Understanding the need to do things differently in 2023, Drexel was added to the group as an official member, and a new tripleheader event was scheduled for December 2nd at the Wells Fargo Center. Dubbed the “Big Five Classic,” all six teams will play on the same day.

We had La Salle head coach Fran Dunphy on Wednesday’s episode of Crossing Broadcast, and asked him about the new approach.

“There’s been talk throughout the Big 5 schools over the last number of years, of how we can do this better,” Dunphy said. “I have a great admiration for Jay Wright in so many ways, and obviously he did a phenomenal job coaching at Villanova. What he accomplished was extraordinary. And he’s always been in favor of continuing the Big 5 as it’s been, because he felt it was important. I think we all felt that way, that we did not want this to die, and things go in cycles, you know? When I was a kid, you would have never thought about going away to college. There were so many great choices here in Philadelphia. That’s what we all did, however, time’s have changed, life is different. ESPN has changed everything we’ve done in college basketball. Every game we play is on ESPN+ at the minimum, and so is any other division 1 team. So you can see any games you want on TV. I think that diminishes the on-site (reasons) for why people go to games. It’s easy to watch it on TV. It’s that way.”

Dunphy was pragmatic in talking about the reality of the Philly sports climate in 2023.

“There are so many more things to do compared to when college basketball in Philadelphia was in it’s heyday,” he admitted. “There were a lot of people going to the Palestra, which is still one of the great nights, in my memories, I still like going to the Philadelphia Catholic League playoffs, just to sit there in the corner and watch two great games. But people are different these days. We have to figure out how to do this better, and this is our try to do it better. …I applaud those people within the Big 5 and the university administrators, to say ‘lets try something different and see what we can do.’

The tripleheader is the culmination of a new format in which the six teams are split into two groups for pod play. This year, La Salle is with Temple and Drexel, while Villanova, St. Joe’s, and Penn are in the other pod. Each team plays the other two on campus, then will be seeded for the tripleheader. The top seeds in each pod play for the championship, the second place teams play each other, and same with the third place teams.

“It’s a start,” said Dunphy of the format change. “Maybe we can make this thing a total event that everybody shares in. Not just the six schools, but the city itself is benefited by the uniqueness that we have in Philadelphia, where everybody does try to play everybody else. It doesn’t happen in D.C., or New York, or Chicago, or LA, or what have you.”

“It’s interesting what we do and what we have. Let’s celebrate it rather than letting it go by the wayside.”

Big 5 Classic tickets are $45 at big5classic.com. That’s $15 per game, with access to all three. Here’s our full interview with Fran:

The post Fran Dunphy Hopes New Big 5 Classic Can be a “Total Event that Everybody Shares in” appeared first on Crossing Broad.

PHILADELPHIA (August 15, 2023) – Tickets for the first-ever Big 5 Classic, which will be held at the completely transformed, built-for-basketball New Wells Fargo Center on December 2, are on sale now. Tickets for the tripleheader start at just $45 and are good for all three matchups. Group and premium ticket options are also available at big5classic.com.

…

Last April, the Big 5 officially welcomed Drexel University and revealed details of a new series format where the Big 5 champion will be determined during a same-day, Big 5 tripleheader in South Philadelphia.

Just last month, the Big 5 announced its new round-robin schedule which will determine the tripleheader matchups at Wells Fargo Center.

For the 2023-24 season, Pod 1 features Drexel, La Salle and Temple while Pod 2 features Penn, Saint Joseph’s and Villanova.

2023-24 Philadelphia Big 5 Men’s Basketball Schedule

(All game times TBA by host school)

• Monday, Nov. 6 – Drexel at La Salle
• Friday, Nov. 10 – Penn at Saint Joseph’s
• Monday, Nov. 13 – Villanova at Penn
• Tuesday, Nov. 14 – Temple at Drexel
• Wednesday, Nov. 29 – Saint Joseph’s at Villanova
• Wednesday, Nov. 29 – La Salle at Temple
• Saturday, Dec. 2 – Big 5 Classic Tripleheader at Wells Fargo Center

All teams will participate in the Big 5 Classic tripleheader with the first seed in each pod competing for the Big 5 championship, the second-place teams in each pod competing for third place, and the third seeds competing for fifth place.

Honestly, that’s a pretty good deal. Three games for $45? The pod format seems a little corny, vs. having all of the local teams play each other at least once, but they’ve got to try something different to inject some life into the Big 5. Last year they did the Barstool Invitational at the (New) Wells Fargo Center and it pulled more fans than the Palestra doubleheader. Mind you, the Barstool tournament featured the basketball powerhouses of UAB, Toledo, Akron, and Mississippi State, while the Big 5 back-to-back had La Salle, Temple, St. Joe’s, and Penn. Might have been better numbers if Villanova was there, but on no planet should a tournament featuring U-A-fucking-B outdraw the Big 5 in Philadelphia. Embarrassing!

But yeah, let’s give this format a try. You get three games at $15 apiece, and the Big 5 winner will be determined when the two #1 seeds play. It’s different. It’s unique. We are intrigued.

The post Big 5 Classic Tickets Seem Like a Pretty Good Deal appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Created by Owls, for Owls. Today, we’re excited to announce the new Owl Mark! pic.twitter.com/xqxckQEmWY

— Temple University (@TempleUniv) August 1, 2023

Anyone that’s designed a logo nowadays knows it’s all about sharp angles, bold lines, and fierce looking animals. Look at some of the greatest logos of all time. The Nike swoosh? Sharp angles. McDonalds? Bold lines. Wawa? Fierce bird. This is right out of the logo playbook. This logo would peck the eyeballs out of a Wildcat and leave them to die then come back later to pick apart their flesh. This logo just covered against Rutgers IN New Brunswick next month!

Now I understand people’s love for the 90s logos and the cartoon owl. It’s the most recognizable one in the school’s history:

via logos-world.net

It’s an era where Temple did all their winning in basketball, and as we all know, Temple is a basketball school. But sometimes you got to switch it up. I love the Owl logo too and there is still a ton of merch I can get with it if I want. But the hate feels like when everyone got fired up over the new Eagles wordmark last year? We grew to like it. Just like Temple fans will grow to like this when we’re in the Big 12. It’s already the third best logo right now behind the Longhorn and Kansas State and will be number two when Texas moves to the SEC.

Plus, I think I like the secondary logo even more. I think it would look sick on the football helmets:

New Temple merch available at the bookstore! What are your thoughts! GO OWLS! pic.twitter.com/Amxhvwewn3

— Katie Colbridge Ganzelli (@katiecolbridge) August 1, 2023

Here’s the process behind how they came up with it:

Just remember it could always be worse:

P.S. Anyone catch what happened in 2014 in that photo of Temple’s logo history earlier in the blog? Did the bird shed some feathers or something or am I looking at the same exact logo from ’96-14 and ’14-’17?

The post Temple Unveils New Athletics Logo appeared first on Crossing Broad.

@pointforward

Donte DiVincenzo almost transferred from Villanova to Temple. A few months after deciding to stay, he was MOP of the Final Four, a National Champ, and a first round draft pick by the Milwaukee Bucks. Safe to say, he made the right call. #dontedivincenzo #villanovabasketball #marchmadness #nba #ncaa

♬ original sound – Point Forward podcast

My reaction:

Don’t get me wrong, that Temple team he would’ve joined the next year was good. They went 23-10 and made the tournament then lost in the First Four. Temple’s last NCAA Tournament appearance in fact. But they weren’t Villanova. They definitely weren’t the Villanova team he wanted to leave until Jay Wright told him he couldn’t.

Sidenote: Does the NCAA know Jay was keeping guys at Nova against their will? That’s borderline kidnapping if you ask me. No chance the statute of limitations have run out. Maybe the NCAA should investigate. Take away some scholarships. I don’t know I’m just spit balling.

Could you imagine though if DiVincenzo actually transferred? Great get for the Owls, but lets be honest, his life is completely flipped upside down on its head. No MOP, no National Championship, and no first round pick. That’s insane.

Or is it? Because the Girlfriend Transfer Portal Theory is up there with Newton’s Law of Physics and E=MC2. Who was Donte DiVincenzo dating in North Philly?

https://twitter.com/BarstoolU/status/1476964249541005322?s=20

The post Donte DiVincenzo Reveals He Almost Transferred to Temple appeared first on Crossing Broad.

PHILADELPHIA (April 11, 2023) – Today, the Big 5 officially welcomed Drexel University and revealed details of a new series format where the Big 5 champion will be determined during a same-day, Big 5 triple-header at the New Wells Fargo Center on Saturday, December 2, 2023. The announcement was made on the court at Wells Fargo Center which has been home to numerous NCAA Tournament games, and has featured all of the Big 5 teams in action during its more than 25-year history. 

For the new series, the six schools will be separated into three-team pods: Pod 1: Temple, La Salle, and Drexel; Pod 2: Villanova, St. Joseph’s, and Penn. Each team will play the other two teams from their pod at their individual on-campus arenas. All teams will participate in the Big 5 Classic triple-header at the New Wells Fargo Center on December 2 with the first seed in each pod competing for the Big 5 championship, the second place teams in each pod competing for second place, and the third seeds competing for third place in the Big 5.

…

The Big 5 Classic is the latest event hosted by Spectacor Events and Entertainment (SEE), which finds or builds exciting events for the city of Philadelphia at the Wells Fargo Center and beyond.  SEE spent the past 6 months working to bring the Big 5 Classic to the Wells Fargo Center and will promote the event of behalf of the schools. 

Thoughts? I have none because the Big 5/City 6 this past season had less juice than a desiccated orange.

When you look at how little interest/attendance there was for those Palestra games earlier this year, I think we were at least in agreement that the local hoops scene needed some kind of shot in the arm, really ANY kind of shot in the arm, so while doing two pods and playing a triple-header at the WFC may or may not the be the solution, it’s good to try SOMETHING different… right? We’ll see what Pagan and other local alums have to say about this. Not sure if the new pod format, which has Temple and Villanova on opposite sides, means the possibility of them not playing at all. We’ll see if they clear that up in the presser.

And honestly, no issue with Drexel being included permanently in this. It does feel goofy to have a “Big 5” with six teams, but that’s how shit works these days. The Big 12 only has 10 teams and the Big 10 has 14 teams, so there are examples of this all over the place at the college level.

Drexel “welcomed” into the Big 5 pic.twitter.com/JOa1kbEmsA

— Mike Jensen (@jensenoffcampus) April 11, 2023

The post Drexel Officially Becomes a Big Five Member, New Triple-Header/Pod Format Revealed appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Description:

Under the direction of the Head Basketball Coach, the Chief of Staff will provide high-level administrative support and advice to the Head Men’s Basketball Coach. Primary duties will consist of communicating the team’s strategic initiatives and objectives, oversight of general Men’s Basketball office operations, and liaison with athletic department and University administration. Chief of Staff will assure the smooth and efficient operations of daily office activities, providing direction and supervision to staff as necessary. Performs other duties as assigned by the Head Men’s Basketball Coach.

I am operations. Two creams and a sugar coach? I’ll have your coffee on your desk in the morning so fast it’ll make your head spin. Smooth and efficient are my middle and Confirmation names. You need some advice? Here’s the best advice you’ll get. Do exactly the opposite of whatever Aaron McKie did. Call one offensive set a game, beat Villanova ever so often, make the NCAA Tournament, and buy a round for the students at Maxi’s every now and again. We’re not asking for much, but if you do these things you’ll be loved here.

Required Education and Experience:

Bachelor’s degree. Two or more years related experience. Previous experience with a Division 1-A Men’s Basketball program preferred. Knowledge of NCAA and Conference Regulations.  An equivalent combination of education and experience may be considered.

Preferred:

Master’s degree. Demonstrated experience in the management of the day to day operation of a Men’s Basketball program.

I’ve got a lot of experience with a D1 Men’s Basketball program. Eight years in fact. I watch every Temple game. I’ve seen it all. Major triumphs and major heartbreaks are a part of my DNA. Now do I know much about NCAA and conference regulations? Nope. But I assume you’re asking so that we can find loopholes in the system and skirt those regulations. Very Belichickian of you coach. I love it! I’ll drop bags wherever. You give me a location and time to show up to a 5-Star recruit’s house and I’ll get them the duffel bag. You need me to fly to Wichita State and film their practice? I’m on the next flight to wherever the hell that school is.

Also, I know you prefer a master’s degree. Listen here. The only goal I’ve ever stuck to in my life was never going back to school. Master’s degrees are for people who fucked up on their original one. I learn just as much interviewing mongrels in Jetro as I would sitting in class. Don’t punish me because the Tyler School of Art kids who didn’t become Picasso had to go back to school to get a real job. Also, if you ask me the word “Masters” means you’re finished. The job is never finished, Skip. I have an insatiable desire to continue to learn. I’m a jack of all trades, and a master of none.

Required Skills and Abilities:

*Ability to analyze and interpret policy and procedural guidelines to resolve problems and questions specific to a collegiate athletic team.

Skip, let me tell you about my ability to analyze and resolve problems specific to a collegiate athletic team. I played D3 ball. Shot 100% from the field actually (not to brag). But due to my proficiency for partying my freshman year I got a 1.6 my first semester and was benched for the rest of the year (not that I was playing much anyway). So what did I do? I quit. I didn’t want to continue to bring the team GPA down plus I was over the game of basketball. Credit to me. Threat neutralized.

*Demonstrated competence with film editing.

I edited this bad boy all by myself and Temple won. Just think of that:

*Strong organizational skills, interpersonal skills, and a commitment to customer service.

Five years as a cashier at Staples. Slinging hooch at bars around Philly for another eight. You could say I’m OVERQUALIFIED for this role.

*Demonstrated knowledge of MS Office Suite to include Word and Excel.

This is almost insulting you’d even ask coach. Everyone born post-1990 is proficient in Microsoft Word & Excel. What’re you gonna ask me next? If I know how to send an electronic email on the World Wide Web?

*Strong written and verbal communication skills along with the ability to relate well with a diverse group of individuals including students, coaches, staff and managers.

I’ll be honest with you, Skip, this might be where you got me. I have the grammar chops of an ape. There’s a good chance I fuck up ‘to’ vs ‘too’ and the occasional ‘there’, ‘their’, and ‘they’re’. (Kinkead: or put the punctuation outside the quotes). If you can look past this one thing, I promise you won’t regret it.

*Must have a valid driver’s license.

Whip game is proper. Wanna see me do donuts? (I’ll be honest. I don’t have car insurance. Will you guys pay for that? I’m also going to have to ask my girlfriend if I can use her car most days. You know what? Maybe we can work out a car in the deal. MJ got one when he signed with Nike. You’re a Jordan brand school. Just think of all the money you’re saving letting Khalif Battle walk. Yea. We’ll work something out.)

*Ability to work flexible hours, including evenings and weekends.

I’ll be honest. I’ve got a lot of bachelor parties and weddings coming up. I’m also going to need every Sunday off during the Eagles season. I saw you tweet a Nick Sirianni gif today so I’m sure you’ll understand.

*Strong integrity and character who shares a commitment for knowing and complying with NCAA, Conference and University rules.

Yea. Definitely. Whatever you say. ;).

Well I can’t wait to get started! I’m excited to bring Temple back to the promised land together. You’ll be like Nick Saban and I’ll be whatever offensive coordinator that needs reform. I’ll also take payment in the form of Diamond Dollars. J&H fourth meal here I come!

The post I’m Applying to Be Temple Basketball’s Next Chief of Staff appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Source: Temple will hire Adam Fisher as its next head basketball coach. Fisher was on staff at Penn State under Micah Shrewsberry.

— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) March 29, 2023

What’s that you say? Charlton Young? I’ve never heard of him. Just as the AD’s secretary rips down a “Welcome Coach Young” banner.

I’m wondering how real the Rothstein report about Young was. Sounds like some agent shenanigans. His name was never really floated out there in reports. He was also reportedly offered the job at 2pm today. Withdrew his name by 3pm. Then Fisher is on campus and hired two hours later with an entire interview and press release from the school ready to go? Nothing happens this fast in academia.

Like I said earlier when I wanted to send Temple to the PSAC. I don’t know if this dude can coach X’s and O’s, but he’s a hell of a recruiter. Look at the guys he’s been able to recruit from the area already via 247Sports.com:

NBA talent, an ACC Player of the Year, and McDonalds All-American. If Fisher can sell Memphis, FAU, and SMU to a 4-star recruit we have to see if this dude can walk on water. Now let’s string a couple strong seasons together and get the fuck out of the AAC. Because if there’s anything Penn State guys know it’s how to fix a Temple program:

https://twitter.com/kylepaganCB/status/1579517874095677440?s=20

P.S. Fuck Jeff Goodman. I can’t wait to shove this down his throat:

https://twitter.com/goodmanhoops/status/1641199326734024705?s=42&t=5LiVvvyurmrsi39TOpSZOA

The post Temple Basketball Gets Their Guy! 😉 appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Sources: Temple has offered its head coaching vacancy to Missouri's Charlton Young. Decision expected in next 24 hours.

— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) March 29, 2023

Less than an hour later, Young pulled his name “due to the uncertainty with the leadership of the school” which follow’s President Jason Wingard’s Tuesday resignation:

Sources: Missouri's Charlton Young has withdrawn his name from consideration for the head coaching vacancy at Temple due to the uncertainty with the leadership of the school.

Temple's President resigned yesterday. https://t.co/gj7ojlh2PT

— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) March 29, 2023

I don’t even think I wanted Young, but this whole search has looked terrible for a program with a great basketball history. There’s no head coach, every player is in the transfer portal, and now your #1 choice, who had almost no close ties to successfully recruiting in Philly (a major qualification), publicly tells you to kick rocks. Mix that together with an AAC that lacks any juice or tradition now that its best teams are going to the Big 12 and we’re looking at a bleak future on North Broad. If the rumors that Colgate’s Matt Langel, a former assistant, didn’t want to leave the fucking Patriot League for Temple, then you might as well relegate this program to the PSAC.

Are you done complaining yet, Kyle?

Maybe! I’ll get off my soap box if Penn State’s Adam Fisher takes the job:

Does Temple now turn to Adam Fisher? Or does Karl Hobbs at Rutgers now get a call-back? According to a source familiar with Hobbs’ thinking, “If Temple calls, he’s racing down the Jersey Turnpike. This is the job he wants.”

— Mike Jensen (@jensenoffcampus) March 29, 2023

I don’t know how great the guy is at X’s and O’s, but he can recruit his ass off in the Philly area. Also, no offense to Karl Hobbs, but I now have zero interest in him because of how badly he wants this job.

The post Temple Basketball: Top Head Coach Candidate Withdraws Due to “Uncertainty with the Leadership of the School” appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Source: Temple has parted ways with Aaron McKie.

— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) March 13, 2023

This needed to happen. Getting blown out in the AAC quarterfinals by 30 on a neutral court, your best player leaving the program before the end of the year, and the “tournament or bust” quote before the season was the final nail in the coffin. If you would’ve told me that Temple would beat Villanova and Aaron McKie would still be fired before the season I would’ve called you crazy.

Of course it happens when his kid is one of the best recruits in the state as a sophomore. But if Temple fans know anything it’s how to deal with a future All-American going to Villanova because their pops was fired.

Rick Pitino when he sees the Italian Market:

UPDATE: So the original title of this blog was Temple fired McKie. It looks like they gave the legend the opportunity to step down, which is the right move, and carved out a special advisor position for him via OwlSports.com:

Temple University Vice President and Director of Athletics Arthur Johnson announced today that Aaron McKie will not return as the head men’s basketball coach for the 2023-24 season. McKie will transition into a new role as a special advisor to the athletics department. 

I believe McKie had one more year left on his deal so seems like they’ll just let him collect that check and throw his name in the media guide.

The post UPDATE: Aaron McKie Resigns appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Here’s the full bracket, via CBS:

At least we don’t have to do the obligatory “is Villanova a Philly school?” column this year.

Final results for our local college basketball teams:

• Villanova: 17-16 (10-10 in Big East)
• Temple: 16-16 (10-8 in the American)
• Drexel: 17-15 (10-8 in Colonial)
• Penn: 17-13 (9-5 in Ivy)
• St. Joe’s: 16-17 (8-10 in Atlantic 10)
• La Salle:  15-19 (7-11 in Atlantic 10)

Penn had the best shot. They were 17-11 at one point, and 9-4 in the conference, but couldn’t beat Princeton this year. Nova lost to Creighton in the conference tournament and that was it for them. No miracle run from the other teams, either.

So yeah, 1977 was about 45 years ago. Star Wars was opening in movie theaters. Jimmy Carter had just taken office and Fleetwood Mac was releasing the Rumours album. It’s been some time since we had a March Madness donut like this one.

The troublesome thing is that this might not be a blip on the radar. Jay Wright is retired, and Nova was totally meh this year. The other five teams don’t stink, but they’re very average and hovering right around .500. Do you see one of Temple, Drexel, Penn, La Salle, or St. Joe’s taking a significant step forward next season? I don’t.

The post Officially Official: No Philadelphia Men’s Team in March Madness for First Time Since 1977 appeared first on Crossing Broad.

It’s depressing to realize no local men’s team is going to be dancing in March. That hasn’t happened- according to @BoopStats – since 1977

— Kevin Cooney (@KevinCooney) February 21, 2023

I mean, our best hope for a tourney team is Penn. PENN! I know they’ve won seven straight. I’d still rather no team from Philly make the Big Dance than have to watch the Quakers get their doors blown off by a #1 seed. They’ll get that Thursday mid-afternoon time slot against Houston that the bar you’re at doesn’t even waste a TV on. Nobody outside of 33rd through 37th street will even notice they played.

Philadelphia has a college basketball competition problem right now. Villanova was expected to compete in the Big East, even with the Justin Moore injury, due to the fact they had a lottery pick in Cam Whitmore. Kyle Neptune ended up being the best-dressed .500 coach in the nation. I know I had Temple, like a lot of alum wearing cherry-colored goggles, penciled in as a double digit seed before the season and now it looks like their best player might’ve been dismissed from the team. La Salle and St. Joes are La Salle and St. Joes. They haven’t sniffed the tournament since 2013 and 2016. Drexel is young, but playing tough in a stacked CAA.

It might happen again next year.

Every Villanova fan believes they’ll be back at the mountaintop, and how can you blame them after 20+ years of dominance? Only problem is Jay Wright ain’t walking through that door. He had the ability to make four and three-star recruits into NBA role players. Can Neptune do that? Whitmore is leaving for the draft and the only commit they have next year is a three-star small forward to pair with four-star guards Mark Armstrong, Jordan Longino, and Brendan Hausen. Justin Moore’s decision is up in the air and former four star Trey Patterson can’t get off the bench and could transfer. Temple has relied heavily on the transfer portal in the last couple of years and will need to again with Damian Dunn and Khalif Battle likely walking. I don’t know who is scoring next year for the Owls if their names aren’t Hysier Miller and Jamille Reynolds. Zach Hicks is streaky and Jahlil White is a black hole on the offensive end. McKie did actually recruit a kid from Philadelphia now twice in three years in All-Catholic first teamer Zion Stanford, so we have to give credit where credit is due. Little wins. Only problem is his job is in limbo. Did I mention La Salle and St. Joes are La Salle and St. Joes? Drexel has been to the tourney once since 1996. Only positive take away from this is maybe the Big 5 will be more competitive going forward. Too bad they changed the Big 5 format.

If you do want college basketball in March? Swarthmore is #15 in the nation right now in D3 hoops. Pack the kiddos in the car, head out to Good Delco, and get some of that sweet, sweet Centennial Conference basketball played below the rim.

EDIT: This article would lead you to believe Villanova is a Philly school. It is in fact not.

The post Philly Could Have Zero Men’s Teams in March Madness for the First Time Since 1977 appeared first on Crossing Broad.

The Philly Six has found a solution to keep the Big 5 tradition alive. After months of conversations and searching for solutions to reinvent the deep-rooted city series, administrators and coaches have agreed to institute a new format, starting with the 2023-2024 season, a person involved in the planning told The Athletic. Here’s what you need to know:

Under the new format, the six schools — the traditional Big 5 teams of La Salle, Penn, Temple, Saint Joseph’s and Villanova, plus Drexel — will be split into two three-team pods.

The pod teams will play each other in November, with the winners matching up based on their record in a tripleheader (a designated fifth place, third place and championship game, if you will) at the Wells Fargo Center on the first Saturday in December.

I like where the Big 5 is headed, but I hate the new format. The addition of Drexel should be welcomed. They’ve strung together a couple strong seasons and made the tournament two years ago. But a round robin tripleheader is bogus. So you’re telling me I’m not guaranteed to play Villanova or St. Joes every year? If that’s the case make it a tournament and seed teams based on their Big 5/City 6 records the previous year. Give the first two overall seeds a bye to the second round and play it throughout the week. First round is Monday, second round is Wednesday, the championship game is Friday or Saturday. Bring back the streamers. Have basketball alumni compete in some sort of Shooting Stars contest like they do on All Star Weekend. Who wouldn’t want to see Ryan Archidiacono vs. Jameer Nelson vs. Pepe Sanchez vs. Malik Rose vs. Lionel Simmons vs. that white shooter from the 1996 Quakers basketball squad? Get someone who can work the fucking camera too:

https://twitter.com/kylepaganCB/status/1598115667211079681?s=20&t=XdemQBvgn6ZrnNpowE5Chw

I feel like the Big 5 got spooked because they overreacted to nobody going to the doubleheader on a Wednesday in November. Even though both schools involved provided zero transportation and gave away zero tickets. So what did they decide to do? Put the championship game in the Wells Fargo Center. No Big 5 game should be in the Wells Fargo Center. Ever. This was a Temple vs. LaSalle game at the Palestra when College Gameday came in 2014:

https://twitter.com/CBroadBurner/status/1619093064085291013?s=20&t=iOnFV1yoioqO2GRk1i3Pfg

This was the Temple vs. Villanova game this year:

https://twitter.com/kylepaganCB/status/1591256473870409730?s=20&t=vFopmUNe7LAt4kSXbHDCIA

You can’t tell me we can’t get back to that. Even with the new format.

Now does the Big 5 have bigger problems? Of course. Lack of competition and local talent being one of them. All you have to do is look at the Imhotep Charter vs. Camden High game tomorrow. If it wasn’t for the Eagles it’d be the hottest ticket in town:

Anyone selling tickets for Imhotep-Camden at St. Joe's on Saturday?

— Jake Pavorsky (@JakePavorsky) January 25, 2023

I need a Ticket for that Imhotep vs Camden game man somebody know who selling them?

— Juice Murray (@EST___1991) January 13, 2023

Who’s selling tickets for Imhotep/Camden this Saturday????

— Mathew (@mathewr_2) January 26, 2023

Why? Two of the best players in the nation, DJ Wagner and Justin Edwards, are going head to head. Where are both of them going? Kentucky. We’ll never get back to the heyday of the Big 5 until the schools around here other than Villanova start becoming more competitive and keeping kids home. While we wait for that to happen the Big 5 should get it’s format right for longterm success.

The post Friday News Dump: They Killed the Big 5 Tradition appeared first on Crossing Broad.

https://twitter.com/kylepaganCB/status/1617285070707908613?s=20&t=MkKNIzOnfiiejfA2YvC5aQ

What a last two possessions from Kur Jongkuch:

Temple got TWO blocks in the final four seconds to take down No. 1 Houston.

That's tough

: @ESPN | #CBB pic.twitter.com/qt8btcQblV

— FanDuel (@FanDuel) January 22, 2023

This Temple team is an enigma. They lose to Wagner and Maryland Eastern-Shore, but beat Houston and Rutgers. It makes zero sense. The entire season has been frustrating. A lot of fans had high expectations coming into it and it just hasn’t gone the way a lot of us had hoped. But shout out to these guys to go down and battle a week after Memphis broke their hearts on a last second shot in the Liacouras Center. That’s an awesome fucking win. A badly needed resume win. Now if Villanova could get their heads out of their asses and start beating some teams that aren’t Georgetown, that win early in the season could go from Quad-4 to maybe Quad-2.

Baby steps:

Temple jumped from 130th to 113th in KenPom following today’s win at Houston. Thought it might be higher. The Owls were rated 143rd in the NET, we’ll see the new number tomorrow morning.

— OwlsDaily.com (@TempleOwlsDaily) January 22, 2023

T for Temple Uuuuuu! Uuuuuuuniversityyyyyy! Fight fight fight! For the Cherry and the White! For the Cherry and the white! Fight Fight Fight!

The post Temple University (a Basketball School) Takes Down #1 Houston on the Road as 20 Point Dogs! appeared first on Crossing Broad.

They’re honestly a team for everyone. Do you like scoring? Meet Khalif Battle. Do you like hard nosed defense and a guy that makes his free throws at a 90+% clip? Tell your dad Damian Dunn is his guy. Do you like drop steps and dudes who put their shoulder through a poor defender’s solar plexus? Focus on Jamille Reynolds tonight. You have the classic tough-nosed Philly guard in Hysier Miller that is coming into his own. If all of that doesn’t do it for ya they’re the hottest team in Philadelphia. Don’t believe me? Numbers never lie. Here are the longest winning streaks in the city right now:

• Temple – 3
• Eagles – 3
• Villanova, La Salle – 1
• Sixers, SJU, Penn, Wings, Phillies – 0

They control their own Big 5 destiny:

Temple vs. St. Joe’s tomorrow! If Owls win, they will at least share the Philadelphia Big 5 title.

Current Big 5 Standings:
Temple: 2-0
St. Joe’s: 1-0
Villanova: 1-1
La Salle: 1-2
Penn: 0-2

— We Give A Hoot TU (@WeGiveAHootTU) December 6, 2022

Tonight they tip off against St. Joes at home and let me tell you Jameer Nelson ain’t walking through that door. The Owls are 10.5 point favorites and I’m telling you to responsibly take the Owls. They’ve been on a scoring tear lately and are 2-0 ATS in Big 5 games and 3-0 if you count the City 6 (I do). Also, St. Joes harbored a terrorist last year:

Ben Simmons has been spotted at Saint Joe’s once again

Simmons continues to work out in the facility but these workouts are occurring behind closed doors

credit @Michael_Ott10 pic.twitter.com/WhvqxBAXnN

— Sean Barnard (@Sean_Barnard1) November 16, 2021

People don’t forget.

I’ll be there tonight to witness history.

The post Temple Basketball (The Hottest Team In Philly) Controls Its Own Big 5 Destiny appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Sure enough:

Even if the Big 5 did not exist , how could only a couple hundred people in Philly want to watch La Salle – Temple ? No students.
Death by a thousand cuts. pic.twitter.com/bLevDKE3Ss

— Dan Gelston (@APgelston) November 30, 2022

For The Record . . . pic.twitter.com/CikU21PvbV

— Bob Vetrone Jr. (@BoopStats) December 1, 2022

They couldn’t even pull 4,000 people for a Big 5 doubleheader? The Palestra holds a little less than 9,000 when full, so the arena was less than 50% for these two games last night.

For comparison, the Barstool Invitational was played on a Friday night at The Wells Fargo Center and featured UAB, Toledo, Akron, and Mississippi State. Not exactly a marquee lineup of basketball powerhouses, but that pulled more folks than a Wednesday night doubleheader featuring all local squads.

I know these four teams aren’t what they used to be, and Villanova isn’t exactly off to a flying start in the Kyle Neptune era, but it wasn’t long ago that St. Joe’s was in the tournament and La Salle went to the Sweet 16 behind Tyrone Garland and The Southwest Philly Floater.

Eight years ago:

Photo from when Temple played La Salle back in 2014 (on a Saturday). pic.twitter.com/ao6ySKkWDc

— Olney Fans (@TheGolaStandard) December 1, 2022

There are ebbs and flows to these things, as you’re seeing with the Flyers right now at the professional level. Sometimes you’re up and sometimes you’re down, as the cyclical nature of sporting relevance guides our usage of the remote control and purchasing of tickets, or lack thereof. Still, with all that the Big 5 has meant to this city over the years, it’s pretty sad to look at this in a vacuum and realize that the juice just doesn’t seem to be there right now.

The post Barstool Invitational Had Better Attendance than Big 5 Doubleheader at The Palestra appeared first on Crossing Broad.

https://twitter.com/kylepaganCB/status/1592721477878845440

Battle hasn’t started a game all year. Reminder, he’s arguably the team’s best player. There were rumors the team was easing him back coming off a season-ending foot injury last year, and then there were rumors it was to send him a message after they were unhappy with him this summer. We have a definitive answer after now. At one point Battle just sat on the bench during a timeout with the rest of the team huddled on the floor. It all just seems like a shit show internally from a player who thinks his shit doesn’t stink and a coach who isn’t going to take any. And it sucks because the fans who have waited five years for a good basketball team suffer. Especially after getting a win against #16 Nova for the first time in 10 years and the team labeling this season “tournament or bust.”

It took three days. THREE DAYS! For Temple to go from season turning win to same ‘ol Temple. The schedule doesn’t get easier with Rutgers and St. John’s back to back before they go through the Big 5 gauntlet and conference play starts. Aaron McKie also only has two years left on his deal. He’s four years in and he just got his first signature win. If things go south does he even get to finish it out? There’s one thing that will always remain the same about Temple basketball. If being a fan was easy everyone would do it.

Please don’t let this story distract you from the fact that Villanova was down at half to Delaware State and only pulled away at the end on Monday. KenPom’s 361st ranked team out of 363.

The post It Took Three Days for Temple to Ruin All the Good Vibes from the Nova Win appeared first on Crossing Broad.

People say pro sports are better than college, but when have you ever seen something like this during an NBA game? pic.twitter.com/Q7ZVQLYdCt

— PSC Highlights (@psc_highlights) November 14, 2022

For anyone who isn’t familiar with the tradition, during Big 5 games after each team’s first made basket, fans would litter the floor with streamers of their team’s colors. The NCAA banned this in 1985 because they hate fun and thought it was dangerous. Temple and La Salle gave them the middle finger in 2014 via Rob Dauster at NBCSports.com:

The practice has been banned since the early 90s, with technicals being assessed to each team for objects being thrown on the floor. On Saturday, when the technicals were called, the coaches for both teams instructed their players to put their foot on the foul line as they shot, making sure the free throws didn’t count.

Here’s video:

If anything, college basketball needs more tradition. The way conference realignment is going, one day Duke and UNC probably won’t play twice a year. It’s time we get the Big 5 back to the Palestra for every game. The split crowd, the small venue, and the history of the Palestra on the walls as you walk to your seats is unlike anything you can find in college basketball today.

You can even add new concepts to the Big 5 to keep it fresh. Adding Drexel and using the relegation model would be awesome. Have a round robin type of tournament like you do now and whoever comes in last gets relegated to the City 6 until next year. You can seed each team the next year how they finished in the Big 5 standings the year prior. Is it going to matter in the grand scheme of things? Absolutely not. But in hindsight the Big 5 doesn’t matter towards anything except your record. It was always about shit talking and bragging rights. I now own Kyle Scott for the next 365 days. Imagine if Villanova makes it to the Final Four this year. What do I care? Now I can claim the Temple Owls were just as good as a Final Four team.

The post The Big 5 Needs to Take a Page Out of Georgia Southern’s Playbook and Bring the Streamers Back appeared first on Crossing Broad.

https://twitter.com/kylepaganCB/status/1591256473870409730?s=20&t=Ycx_D3nKINgRcl7BWbYfmA

DOWN GOES NOVA! pic.twitter.com/GwAyztGoah

— Crossing Broad (@CrossingBroad) November 12, 2022

Last night was fun. Student section was crazy. Thank you Temple fans! pic.twitter.com/LryAGS1YSG

— Temple Owls (@TempleOwls) November 12, 2022

Damian Dunn made big shot after shot, Jamille Reynolds came up big against Eric Dixon, and Aaron McKie finally gets his signature win. I mean how does Kyle Neptune (who allegedly hates charity) lose in all velvet when the guy on the other bench looks like he just rolled out of bed for his work-from-home sales job? How do you talk to the team after the game looking like a blackjack table? We’re on ESPNU dude. This isn’t the Final Four.

Just a sore loser effort from the Main Line all around on Friday night. From the coach to alumni showing off their trophies like they’re the Dallas Cowboys:

https://t.co/zvgM0ouBPb pic.twitter.com/fVxoKfuW98

— Kyle Scott Laskowski (@KyleScottL) November 12, 2022

We’ve had seven pandemics since then bro! TikTok wasn’t even a thing the last time Nova won it all. You hate to see it from a once proud institution. Can’t believe how fast the mighty have fallen. From the ref calling a foul with .2 left to go and Neptune BEGGING for a technical foul because the students rushed the court. Then there’s Brizzi flopping so badly on the last play it would make Collin Gillespie proud:

https://twitter.com/kylepaganCB/status/1591314242451697665?s=20&t=wfyQVLya8xknQKk3fL74yQ

THEN for Nova to call timeout after Zach Hicks sinks two more foul shots to go up 4? Just absolute bush league shit all around.

I hope Villanova loses every game the rest of the season. They’re not good. Caleb Daniels looks like Stanley from The Office dribbling from one side of the court to the other block while everyone stands around and watches (didn’t see him go left once btw). Chris Arcidiacono is a liability. If the dude can’t play defense what the hell is he out there for? This is Villanova. Not Make-A-Wish. Brandon Slater is a problem, but he has ankle braces that a young Forrest Gump would think are a little much. That Longino dude is the sweatiest human being I’ve ever seen and I used to play in a Men’s League at LA Fitness. He might have a medical condition:

https://twitter.com/kylepaganCB/status/1591246808692711425?s=20&t=wfyQVLya8xknQKk3fL74yQ

I mean when’s the last time you saw a Villanova team only take seven threes the whole game? It’s going to be a lonnnnnnng year out on the Main Line.

I’m so happy for the Temple players, especially after losing to Wagner. A lot of fans expected this to be a tournament team and were punched in the mouth the first game of the season. But that’s Temple basketball. If it was easy, everyone would be a fan.

Give me the Big 5 baby! –

Big 5 Basketball is back @kylepaganCB pic.twitter.com/XRnOUWx8Nf

— Crossing Broad (@CrossingBroad) November 10, 2022

The post Temple Basketball is Back! appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Anyway, what the hell is up with Temple basketball? The Owls were a 16 point favorite at home against Wagner and then blew a 15 point lead with seven minutes remaining en route to an overtime loss.

I mean look at this shit, they are celebrating in North Philly:

What a way to earn your first win as a head coach @CoachDCope201 pic.twitter.com/zgTcC7neWe

— Wagner Men's Basketball (@Wagner_MBB) November 8, 2022

Owls everywhere should be fuming after that loss. WAGNER? This is the same Wagner that plays in the powerhouse Northeast Conference, alongside perennial contenders like Fairleigh Dickinson, Stonehill College, and Central Connecticut State University. I’ve never even heard of half of these towns where the schools are located. Apparently “Loretto PA” is west of Altoona.

Some guy saw what was happening and threw a hundo on the Wagner live line:

Wagner trailed Temple by 15 with 7min to play.

Seahawks storm back to force OT, win 76-73.

A nice win for the @BetRivers bettor who wagered $100 on Wagner live ML (+1200).

— Troy Machir (@TroyMachir) November 8, 2022

That might be it for Temple’s tournament hopes. After one game. Their next four are against Villanova, Vandy, Rutgers, and St. John’s. Then it’s Drexel, La Salle, and VCU. What games on that list do you feel confident about? None.

Aaron McKie may not be long for this world. Not like life or death, but coaching Temple basketball. He’s now 36-41 overall and 20-29 in conference play. You can throw out the first two seasons, with the COVID nonsense if you want, and focus on building off last year’s 17-12 (overall) and 10-7 (conference) records, but losing at home to Wagner in overtime to begin the season is a huge red alert.

I’m old enough to remember when Temple basketball was good.

The post Temple Basketball Off to a Great Start with Overtime Home Loss to Wagner Seahawks appeared first on Crossing Broad.

P.J. WALKER LAUNCHED IT OVER 60 YARDS TO DJ MOORE TO TIE THE GAME

The extra point was no good.

(via @Panthers) pic.twitter.com/0RqOlsLI4z

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) October 30, 2022

Game over? Nah. Here’s what happened next:

1. D.J. Moore gets penalized for taking his helmet off
2. extra point is moved back 15 yards
3. Eddie Pineiro MISSES
4. the game goes into overtime
5. Marcus Mariota throws a pick
6. Eddie Pineiro MISSES a game-winning field goal attempt
7. Atlanta comes back down and Younghoe Koo puts it away

You really can’t make this shit up. What a wild ending, but the Panthers are going to Panther. They should be trying to lose anyway.

The post Temple’s P.J. Walker Hits Insane Fourth Quarter Bomb, Panthers Lose in Comical Fashion Anyway appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Panthers fired HC Matt Rhule, who has gone 11-27 during his three seasons in Carolina.

Rhule leaves Carolina with four years left on the seven-year contract he received from Panthers’ owner David Tepper in January 2020.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) October 10, 2022

They owe him more than $40 million. That’s awesome. I’d sit on my ass and play Goldeneye 007 for a full year before doing anything at all.

Rhule never had a tier 1 quarterback in Carolina, but he also didn’t do himself any favors. The defense was pretty poor. Christian McCaffrey couldn’t stay on the field. They were stuck in the same division as the Bucs and Saints. It just felt like those Panthers teams were spinning their wheels and not really going anywhere.

That said, colleges should be lining up the Brinks truck for Rhule’s services. This guy not only made Temple a legit program, but turned around a Baylor program that got rocked by that sexual assault scandal. Rhule is 47 years old and still relatively young by football coaching standards.

My top choice for Rhule is…. the Nebraska Cornhuskers! Auburn would be wise to get in on the action as well, but if I’m jumping back into the college game, not sure I’m going straight into the SEC West. The Big 10 west is where it’s at. All you have to do is score like 13 points to beat Iowa, and Wisconsin fired Paul Chryst this season, so they’re not going anywhere soon unless Rhule prefers Madison. Illinois and Purdue are frauds.

A dark horse candidate for Rhule’s next job? How about Arizona State? He’s already shown that he can turn around a troubled program, and the PAC 12 isn’t exactly murderer’s row these days. I actually kind of like that fit because you know you have some leeway in straightening things out. I also think he’d do a good job at Georgia Tech, replacing another former Temple dude in Geoff Collins. Ultimately, I think Rhule’s dream job is probably Penn State, but my three year old will be in college by the time James Franklin finally leaves.

Ranking my top five preferred and available gigs for Matt Rhule:

1. Nebraska
2. Arizona State
3. Wisconsin
4. Auburn
5. Georgia Tech

https://twitter.com/kylepaganCB/status/1579517874095677440?s=20&t=6cKvFAXLkgQRsiC6P2Zc8A

The post Five College Jobs that Matt Rhule Should Consider After Panthers Firing appeared first on Crossing Broad.

Here’s a blurb from Sam Cohn at the Inky:

“Andy Carl, Seth Goldblum and Chris Squeri announced the formation of The TUFF Fund, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit charitable fund utilizing community-focused initiatives and partnerships intent on creating name, image and likeness opportunities for Temple student-athletes, according to a release. The fund is not affiliated with Temple University.”

Temple alum John Kincade narrated the introduction video:

Introducing the TUFF Fund. By Owls, for Owls.

Hit the link in our bio to learn more. pic.twitter.com/gpCj7KPfi9

— The TUFF Fund (@TUFF_Fund) August 30, 2022

The most important part of the entire fund is that this isn’t investment for a new football stadium. It’s getting Temple back to its roots and investing significantly in the Top-5 winningest basketball program of all time:

The post Temple Alumni Introduce NIL Collective Called the “TUFF Fund” appeared first on Crossing Broad.

This father-son moment. #TOURBound @B_Matthews12 pic.twitter.com/PIxt77hGNi

— Korn Ferry Tour (@KornFerryTour) August 14, 2022

What an all-time father/son moment. If you didn’t smile ear-to-ear watching a son live out his dream with his dad by his side, check your pulse. Hours of unseen preparation that started on a course right outside of Scranton now comes full circle. Matthews will be playing on the PGA Tour for a full season for the first time ever and his dad will get to live it with him.

I laughed out loud when Brandon called his pops a pain in his ass. Anyone that was ever coached by their dad growing up probably has said this exact thing. In the end though, once you hit that goal, it’s all worth it. This is what Brandon said about his dad after his first Korn Ferry win. It’s okay to be crying at your desk right now:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CZ7_Jz4p_Bz/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

One more thing. Can we talk about this guy for a second? Talk about trying to make yourself a part of the moment:

Hey buddy read the fucking room for me one time. We’ve got a father/son moment for the history books and you waltz in trying to ruin it. Who is this kid? Ban him from all golf events for the rest of his life. I don’t want him within 500 feet of a golf course. Nobody with that lack of awareness should be swinging a golf club anyway. He probably drives on the greens and takes two mulligans per tee shot when there’s a foursome waiting behind him. I wouldn’t be surprised if after this video cut he tried to give Brandon some unsolicited golf advice. Kick him off the tour, Doug!

The post Video of Temple Alum Brandon Matthews Celebrating PGA Tour Card Win with His Dad Will Warm Your Cold, Dead Heart appeared first on Crossing Broad.

This guy’s been through it all in the last six years. Multiple injuries, fixing swing mechanics, grinding through Q School, losing his Korn Ferry Tour card, winning Latinoamerica Tour Player of the Year, getting promoted to the Korn Ferry again, and than securing his PGA Tour card just last week:

Secured his @pgatour card right before flying to the U.S. Open. #TOURBound @B_Matthews12

— Korn Ferry Tour (@KornFerryTour) June 12, 2022

Basically the same highs and lows you experience on your muni course every weekend, except he has to find a way to feed his family when he has a shitty day and you just blame it on the 10 Miller Lites you housed.

Philly loves an underdog story! If that isn’t enough, this guy bombs it off the tee and makes eagle like he’s Happy Gilmore on the final hole of the Tour Championship:

Brandon Matthews flew this one almost 236 yards.

(Since a few people pointed out that a the 3 feet high heather was in fact NOT fairway, I guess I need to point out that the 236 yards part is a joke and he actually flew it 358) pic.twitter.com/kbirdU3vVP

— Monday Q Info (@acaseofthegolf1) June 14, 2022

That's one way to do it @B_Matthews12

Misses fairway
Approach hits house
Hits tree
Hits cart path
Rolls inside ropes
Chips in for eagle. pic.twitter.com/5vgnDhmYL7

— Korn Ferry Tour (@KornFerryTour) June 12, 2022

The only problem is the damn course could be Brandon-proof because The Country Club prides itself on design over distance. Doesn’t matter, I’m still putting some scratch on Brandon at 5500/1 because like Kevin Malone said, “If anyone gives you 5500 to one on anything, you take it.” 

If you want to follow Brandon’s week, there’s a Brandon Matthews Tracker on Twitter.

Lets Go Brandon (Matthews)!

https://twitter.com/KyleWooderboys/status/1537081336762187779?s=20&t=AnjK5ZRdsnk8sY6yfYXbvA

The post If You’re Looking for a U.S. Open Rooting Interest, Make it Brandon Matthews appeared first on Crossing Broad.

𝗨.𝗦. 𝗢𝗣𝗘𝗡 𝗕𝗢𝗨𝗡𝗗

Congratulations to Brandon Matthews on qualifying for the 122nd U.S. Open Championship where he will make his major debut!

» https://t.co/ZnACjVpQeT@B_Matthews12 pic.twitter.com/fDDKGuK7jV

— Temple Men's Golf (@Temple_MGolf) June 7, 2022

Out: Tiger Tracker –

BREAKING: Tiger Woods announces he won't be competing in the U.S. Open this year.

He says he hopes to be ready to play at The Open in July. pic.twitter.com/AHVaLxpRuf

— Stadium (@Stadium) June 7, 2022

In: BMatt Tracker –

#TEAMB pic.twitter.com/mT89clxiRO

— Brandon Tracker (@BrandonTracker) June 6, 2022

If you’re not rooting for Brandon Matthews next week, can you even call yourself a Philly guy? This is a true underdog story. The guy has been gutting it out on the Web.com, Korn Ferry, and Latinoamerica Tours for the last six years. Grinding through injuries and swing changes after having one of the most decorated careers in Temple history. He’s an A+ dude, too. You might remember the story of a fan with down syndrome making a loud noise during a golfer’s backswing during the playoff of a tournament to get into the Open. That was Matthews. Instead of condemning the patron he found out the guy had down syndrome and checked on him to make sure he was ok. The whole moment made SVPs “One Big Thing” segment:

Brandon Matthews was visibly upset when someone yelled during a missed putt, knocking him out of contention for a spot in The Open.

When he found out the fan has Down syndrome and lost control of his emotions, Matthews only cared about one thing — making sure he was OK pic.twitter.com/FHbyiUBbvP

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) November 20, 2019

LETS GO BRANDON (Matthews)!

The post Temple’s Brandon Matthews Qualifies for U.S. Open appeared first on Crossing Broad.

BREAKING NEWS … Sources: La Salle to hire Fran Dunphy as men’s basketball coach https://t.co/xaELOoBNeY via @phillyinquirer

— Mike Jensen (@jensenoffcampus) April 5, 2022

The most relevant passage from Mike’s story:

“According to multiple sources, Dunphy is taking the job after he himself tried to convince several others, including former assistant Matt Langel, now Colgate’s successful head coach, to take it. Dunphy’s concern, one alumnus close to him said, is for the institution itself, beyond the basketball program.”

That is a LOADED paragraph, but there’s nothing about it that should come as a surprise. La Salle went on that amazing Sweet 16 run with Dr. John and Tyrone Garland almost ten years ago now. It feels like the Southwest Philly Floater happened yesterday, but it didn’t, it’s been nearly a decade. Since then, they’ve only posted one winning record, and Ashley Howard was let go after four seasons that amounted to 45 wins, 70 losses, and zero NCAA or NIT tournament appearances. A bunch of their guys entered the transfer portal and the rest of the A10 feels like it’s light years ahead.

Dunphy is 73 but La Salle is his alma mater and he had two previous assistant coaching gigs there. This is a macro-level stabilizing move. They are trying to renovate Tom Gola arena and keep this program afloat at the same time. Fran is definitely a guy who can do that. Bridge the gap, settle things down, get the project done, and then pass it off. In a way, Fran Dunphy is kind of like that guy Marcus Lemonis from The Profit television show. He comes in, fixes the process, gets everything running smoothly again, and then steps aside to let the business run. That’s what’s happening here.

Remember, Dunph hasn’t coached in three years. He stepped aside from the Temple gig in 2019 and became the Owls’ interim Athletic Director. For all intents and purposes, he was hanging ’em up (we think, unless he was nudged), but then along comes this La Salle job and you feel OBLIGATED to take it, #1 because no one else will, but #2 because you feel a responsibility to patch things up until the program is on steady footing again.

The post Fran Dunphy is Here to Save the La Salle Basketball Program appeared first on Crossing Broad.