Yes, I am 100 percent positive he was seriously considered for the job. Absolutely.... positively! He may not have been their first choice but for sure they liked him enough to check into the possibility. Dude can coach man! He does not have a lot of College experience but everywhere he's been it's been a success.
Which is why Hocutt’s interview of Trestman was due diligence. We’re not that far apart in opinion. Never said he couldn’t coach. He does a good job in the CFL from what I understand. I just don’t think he was ever a genuine candidate: that is, I don’t think Hocutt went into that interview with Trestman thinking that he could be the guy. Trestman needed to make himself a candidate, and clearly that didn’t happen. Can we agree to let this topic die now?
Ah, the Golden one. Reading about what he's done for a "program" like Temple, I'm very curious to see what this guy could do with actual talent on a roster. Best of luck the Canes program.
Jason Whitlock, who watches a ton of the MAC, says that Al Golden is a TERRIBLE game day coach, but is a good recruiter because Temple had the biggest budget in the MAC while being in a major city. In other words...he is white Randy Shannon.
Temple was the worst program in the nation when Golden took over. Before Golden: Record/Points scored per game/Points allowed per game 2004:2-9/21.63/36.27 2005:0-11/9.72/45.18 Golden as HC: 2006-1-11/10.92/41.33 2007:4-8/16.42/26.25 2008:5-7/23.42/23.08 2009:9-4/29.54/22.31 2010:8-4/25.00/19.08
Good series of videos about Temple and Golden: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iE3oAmD0TzI Anyone notice him getting in kids' faces in the weight room? Don't think you could put together 5 minutes of Shannon ever doing that at UM.
I'm sure Shannon did get in the face of his kids in the weight room. But most likely having to do with the fact that they were working out instead of studying for their upcoming Jazz Appreciation mid-terms.
Since when is Jason Whitlock a guy who has a quality football opinion? He was a writer in the KC times or whatever they call it and he wrote some horrible articles.
At least he mentions that he wants to get players FBI up. They need that at Miami. Love Jarrett as a prospect. Talked him up last year. He is a 3rd IMO.
LOL At anyone taking Jason Whitlock seriously. Al Golden was my 1st choice after Gruden, since Bo Pelini was never really a serious candidate. I love the hire. What he did with the Temple program is amazing. That program was 3-31 the 3 years prior to him taking over, and he turned that program around. With what he had to work with, he did a great job as a recruiter, and was named Recruiter of the Year for a reason. He got the best out of the little talent he was able to get at Temple. He's a no nonsense type of guy. He's a real good defensive mind. Has done some great work with LB's. I hope he brings Mark D’Onofrio with him. Just PLEASE, PLEASE don't bring Mark Rhule along. He's like a Dan Henning clone. If he can get himself the right OC, we're back. It will be interesting to see whether we run a 3-4 or 4-3.
Just passing along what somebody that watches the MAC says. But be prepared for the possibility that this guy sucks and the only reason he is here is that they got turned down by better candidates and that Al Golden will work for a discount. His temple team fell apart this year with real expectations. I am not impressed. In short..he was the clear cut least accomplished of the candidates.
Just because he watched the MAC doesn't mean he knows anything. Whitlocks' job was to cover the Chiefs for all those years and he was horrible at it.
Just passing on an opinion. I am the last guy that would listen to Whitlock. The guy is full of ****. But let's face it...this is settling. Al Golden had to be a 4th or 5th choice.
Yeah he is, which is why I was surprised that you would post something of his and then say "he's a white Randy Shannon". That's fine. I like the hire so its fine with me.
Here is my beef. Forget Trestman..that was ridiculous. But they met with Gruden, Edsall, Pelini and Tuberville...but end up with Al Golden. Golden is clearly the worst of the candidates. So they either got turned down by all the others and are settling on their 5th choice...or they just can't pick a coach.
All i can think of is that Golden is a recruiting guru. But then we are in the same boat as having randy shannon.
I don't agree that he's the worst of the candidates. He's not at the level of Gruden or Pelini obviously, but a lot of people inside college football love this hire. How about we see what he can do before we say they can't pick a coach.
In my opinion, to succeed at Miami first and foremost you have to be a great recruiter. Next, you have to be a good, but not necessarily great coach. Shannon was a very good recruiter, but he and his staff were poor coaches. They consistantly couldn't get the best out of the talent they had. With Golden (who some call one of the best recruiters in the country) you will get the talented kids. Can he be a good enough coach to get them to realize their potential? Considering what he did at Temple, I'm willing to be he can.
I agree he was overrated, but he was still a good recruiter. By most accounts though, Golden is far superior.
I wouldn't go that far since he didn't do a good job at developing his recruits for us to validate his recruiting classes. We didn't get to see the end result.
I watch more MAC football than most people here probably (and watched it 1st hand for 6 straight years; 1 at Toledo, 5 at Akron). I think Golden is a very good hire, and I wouldn't label him as a bad gameday coach (even if he isn't great). I think he's a better hire than Gruden personally, since he has the college and recruiting experience and everything. I still can't believe Temple didn't get a bowl.
Is there any truth to the wins that Golden accumulated during his time at Temple came against teams with losing records? I hear he did beat UCONN by 2 TD's.
Well considering most seasons only like 3 or 4 MAC teams even wind up as bowl eligible, I wouldn't find it too surprising. I'm sure he has some wins vs winning teams though.
Well did his teams ever qualify for a bowl game? I'm sure his first year didn't. Perhaps his last few?
Hardly a good source for anything but this is what wikipedia says: On December 6, 2005, Al Golden, then the defensive coordinator for the University of Virginia under Al Groh, was named the new head coach. The Owls lost their first 8 games under Golden before beating Bowling Green during their Homecoming game on October 28, 2006. The win snapped a 20-game losing streak, one game short of the school record. The Owls finished 1-11 in Golden's first year. The Owls won 4 games in 2007, including three straight wins at one point in mid-season. During Golden's second season, Temple's defense was ranked 49th in the nation, as opposed to 118th in 2006.[1] The offense also improved from 118th to 113th, but it was clear that Temple's defense, despite their incredible youth, was the heart of their team. The Owls won 5 games in 2008, their most since 1990. In his fourth season, Golden's record stands at 19-29. In 2009, the Owls went 9-4, their best record since 1979 with three of four losses being competitive, the lone exception being a 31-6 loss to a Penn State team that finished 11-2 and ranked #8. Temple accepted a bid to play in the EagleBank Bowl, where they faced the UCLA Bruins, which was the Owls' first post-season appearance since the 1979 Garden State Bowl. The Owls fell to the Bruins, 30-21. In 2010, the Owls lost a crucial game to Ohio University which would have given them a potential MAC championship. The week after, Temple would lose to Miami-Ohio, and including losses to rival Penn State and Northern Illinois, the Owls finished at 8-4 for the season. On December 12, 2010, he was hired as the head coach of the University of Miami. Also they did go 8 - 4 this yr but were snubbed by the bowl selection committee http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/sports/index.ssf/2010/12/temple_universitys_bowl_snub_s.html
Watching the MAC and knowing what to watch for are two different things. I’m not saying Whitlock is automatically wrong, either. He could very well be right and this could be a terrible hire. But I’m not going to arrive at that conclusion based solely on Whitlock’s opinion. In fact, given Whitlock’s history, I might believe he’s down on the Golden hire because Al Golden is a white head coach who succeeded a black head coach. Whitlock is worse than Le Batard in seeing things solely in terms of race. Disagree. He has actual success at one of the worst jobs in college football. He’s a less sexy Chris Petersen, and I have no problem with that.
Also, at his introductory presser, Golden said the team will run a pro-style offense and a base 4-3 defense.
Well was originally excited after Shannon got canned. 3 weeks later and I can't say I'm still pumped after this hire. Did it really take 3 weeks to decide on this guy of all people?
It took 2, not 3, weeks to perform the necessary due diligence, yes. I prefer an AD who’s thorough to one who just picks a name out of a hat (*cough*Jeremy Foley*cough*).
I'm not a Hurricane fan, but I think it's a good hire. Maybe the Miami (FL) job isn't viewed as that great of a job right now, and this was indeed the best they could do? I'm curious, would you be more excited with the hiring of Muschamp?
