Temple Fires Bobby Wallace

I can't believe that Temple allowed this to go on for so long. Temple football is still the same sad shape that it was when Bobby Wallace took over as head coach in 1998. The Owls have gone only 19-66 under Wallace and were booted out the Big East, a conference that has been scrambling to find football schools to fill up the conference. While Temple has found a new football home in the MAC, the program isn't in any better shape. The Owls are 0-6 and have already blown their best shot at victory this season when they lost at home to Western Michigan. The Owls also lost 70-7 to Bowling Green, one of four MAC teams they have already or will face this season. Things don't exactly get much easier for the Owls as the Miami Hurricanes roll into Lincoln Financial Field next Saturday. The only thing bright for Temple football is their 2007 "home" game with Penn State. It is the only time you will see the Linc soldout for a Temple football game.

Now the big question needs to be answer- who will succeed Bobby Wallace? More like, who in their right mind would want to succeed Bobby Wallace? Temple is a graveyard for head coaches. The Owls are going to have a very limited number of candidates to work with. Not many successful 1-A coordinators, 1-AA head coaches and even 1-A position coaches would take this job. Failure is expected. What strong minded coach would risk his career to become the head coach at Temple? Early reports are that Temple is going strong after Penn State defensive coordinator Tom Bradley. Bradley is widely regarded as the top choice as Joe Paterno's successor. Is he going to throw that all away to go coach (and fail) at Temple? Look at what happened to three past Penn State coaches who went on to coach at 1-A schools. Jim Caldwell was fired by Wake Forest, Ron Dickerson was fired by Temple and Dick Anderson was fired by Rutgers. Jerry Sandusky, Penn State's legendary defensive coordinator, passed up the Temple job. Here are a couple of candidates who might be interested in the job or guys that Temple should look at:

1. Paul Pasqualoni, Tight Ends Coach, Dallas Cowboys- He had a pretty successful run at Syracuse, he played at Penn State and his name carries some wait in Eastern Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York, some of Temple's prime recruiting territory, and he would bring some national attention to Temple just as Dave Wannstedt did to Pitt.
2. Ron Vanderlinden, Linebackers Coach, Penn State- The ex-Maryland coach turned down Eastern Michigan a couple of years ago and he is currently the linebacker coach at Penn State. Since he turned down Eastern Michigan, I would hazard to guess that he won't be interested if Temple comes calling.
3. Dana Bible, Offensive Coordinator, Boston College- I can't believe that he hasn't already been hired away by a mid-major school. He has produced some tremendous tailbacks and quaterbacks at Boston College as their offensive coordinator and he has ties to Philadelphia, serving as the Philadelphia Eagles' offensive coordinator in 1998. He doesn't have any head coaching experience but I think he would make an excellent hire if Temple decides to go the coordinator rout.
4. Jay Paterno, QB Coach, Penn State- Why not? He couldn't do any worse than Wallace and his name alone would create a buzz throughout the state. Besides, it would add some excitement to the upcoming Penn State-Temple games, Paterno vs Paterno.