NEWS
The Temple Owls have given head football coach Al Golden a five-year contract extension through 2014.
Financial terms have not been disclosed, but it’s likely that some type of small raise was involved.
Golden led the team to a 9-4 record and a trip to the EagleBank Bowl last season, a big step forward for the program.
It was the team’s first winning record since 1990 and their first bowl game in more than 30 years.
Temple’s program had been a laughingstock for a number of years before the school brought in the head coach.
Monday, May 10, 2010 at 4:08 pm by steve
The Temple Owls shared the Atlantic-10 regular season conference crown, ran through the conference tournament on its way to that title, and closed the season with 10 straight wins. They also beat Villanova, one of the Big East’s best teams.
How did the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee reward their outstanding season? With a No. 5 seed.
Temple fans, get on your soapbox.
The Owls seem to be woefully under-seeded, and as a result have to take on a similarly under-seeded Cornell team that won the Ivy League and sports a 27-4 record. The Big Red are very talented and now become the chic pick to spring an upset.
Apparently, a terrific year for the A-10 wasn’t enough to get Temple the respect it certainly deserves. The Owls are one of the best half-court teams in the country and can lock teams up defensively. But they’ll have to prove it yet again, against Cornell and then likely second-round opponent Wisconsin.
Sunday, March 14, 2010 at 7:15 pm by Raj Sethi
The No. 19 Temple Owls got off to a slow start Wednesday night against the visiting Duquesne Dukes, sparking an outburst from head coach Frank Dunphy demanding better focus and discipline. The message seemed to get through to his players, as the Owls quickly bounced back in what turned out to be an easy 76-60 victory.
Despite a lackluster performance from most of its starters, Temple controlled the game and scored with ease. The bench contributed 39 points to pick up the slack, with center Lavoy Allen doing the rest, recording 14 points and 15 rebounds. The Owls sizzled from the floor, shooting 57 percent for the game.
Temple has won eight of its past nine games to remain a half-game behind Xavier for first place in the ultra-competitive Atlantic 10. The Owls figure to be tested on Saturday, though, when they visit Richmond to take on the Spiders, who are 6-2 in the conference and very much in the conversation for an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Thursday, February 4, 2010 at 3:04 pm by Raj Sethi
The No. 16 Temple Owls continued their resurgence in the Atlantic 10 with a 77-72 win over the Xavier Musketeers.
It was a close game all the way. Temple took a five-point lead into halftime, but could not increase it in the second half.
The Owls grabbed just 23 rebounds, but they shot almost 50% from the floor. They also only had 12 turnovers.
Senior guard Ryan Brooks led the team with 22 points, and three other players reached double figures in scoring.
All of the sudden, Temple basketball is back on the map under head coach Fran Dunphry.
Friday, January 22, 2010 at 6:06 pm by steve
The Temple Owls finally found out who they’ll be facing in Dec. 29th’s EagleBank Bowl in Washington, D.C.: the UCLA Bruins, who clinched a spot with Navy’s defeat of Army over the weekend.
The Owls haven’t played in a postseason bowl since 1979. They’ll face a Bruins teams that went 6-6 in the regular season. Interesting to note is that before UCLA hired current coach Rick Neuheisel in December 2007, Temple head coach Al Golden actually interviewed for the vacant position before withdrawing his name from consideration.
Temple has a realistic shot of winning this game. UCLA doesn’t possess a potent offense, so the Owls should be able to keep it close. The Bruins do have a talented defense, though, so expect points to be scarce in this affair. Still, Temple couldn’t have asked for a more beatable opponent as it continues to build its football program back to respectability.
Monday, December 14, 2009 at 12:03 am by Raj Sethi
The Temple Owls know that they’ll be playing in the EagleBank Bowl on Dec. 29. What they don’t know is who they’ll be facing.
The Owls must await this weekend’s game between Army and Navy in Philadelphia to determine who they’ll see in two weeks in Washington D.C. at RFK Stadium. If Army (5-6) wins, they become bowl eligible and they’ll go up against the Owls; if Navy wins, the Owls will take on the UCLA Bruins out of the Pac-10.
Temple started the season on a rough note, dropping their first two games to in-state opponents. An alarming opening game loss to Div. I-AA Villanova foreshadowed what would come Week 2, when the Owls travelled to Penn State for a ritual sacrifice. They were bludgeoned by the Nittany Lions, 31-6.
But the Owls rebounded incredibly, rolling to nine straight wins after the loss to Penn State to jump to the top of the MAC East.
They squeaked out wins against Navy and Miami (OH) late in the season, but also hammered teams like Akron 56-17 and Kent State 47-13.
A 35-17 loss to Ohio on the Saturday after Thanksgiving took some wind out of the Owls’ sails, but they still knew that they’d find a place in a bowl.
Now, they’re simply waiting to find out who they need to prepare for.
Tuesday, December 8, 2009 at 9:15 pm by bryan
The Temple Owls lived on the edge for the second straight week and came away with a 34-32 with over Miami, OH.
The Owls jumped out to a 14-3 first quarter lead only to go into the locker room leading by eight.
Temple then put up 10 unanswered points in the third quarter to build a comfortable lead, or so they thought.
Miami, OH went crazy in the fourth quarter, scoring 19 points but failing on a pivotal two-point conversion that could have tied the game.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009 at 2:51 pm by steve
The Temple Owls earned a huge road victory Saturday with a 27-24 upset of the Navy Midshipmen.
Temple had a narrow lead at halftime and then rallied back in the fourth quarter to win on a late touchdown.
While Navy wasn’t ranked and didn’t come into the game as a huge favorite, few game Temple a shot on the road against such a quality opponent.
The victory goes to show that the Temple football program has indeed made significant strides over the past few years.
Saturday, November 7, 2009 at 8:21 am by steve
A day after being cut from the Philadelphia 76ers, ex-Temple guard Dionte Christmas was arrested by Philadelphia police for a felony weapons offense.
Highway Patrol Officers Dave Marcellino and Ivan Rosado stopped Christmas around 7:30 p.m. on Thursday for driving wildly in a car with tinted windows.
The officers discovered Christmas, driving without a license, and with a 9mm semiautomatic handgun, loaded with seven bullets, underneath the driver’s seat.
Police later learned that Christmas had been driving a car that belonged to current Sixer forward Marreese Speights, and that the 9mm was also registered to Speights.
Christmas is a Philadelphia native who made a name for himself at Temple, but went undrafted this past June. He was invited to the Sixers’ training camp, where he averaged 1.8 points and 1.3 minutes in 7.5 minutes of play for four games.
Friday, October 23, 2009 at 6:06 pm by bryan
The outcome was predictable, but the game itself was not. The Temple Owls went into Happy Valley and lost to the 5th-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions, but the final score wasn’t indicative of how the game played out.
Temple quarterback Vaughn Charlton passed for 205 yards and at times looked at ease moving the ball against the vaunted Nittany Lions defense. And the Owls’ defense performed respectably, frustrating Penn State quarterback Daryll Clark and limiting him to 167 yards passing and picking him off once.
For an overmatched MAC team playing one of the top squads in the nation, this was about as good a result as it could’ve hoped for, especially for a team that just two weeks ago lost at home to FCS Subdivision opponent Villanova at home. After losing so much from last year’s team there’s no reason to expect the Owls to make noise in conference, but its opponents can’t afford to simply look past them.
Saturday, September 19, 2009 at 7:12 pm by Raj Sethi
