What qualities should Temple’s next coach possess? 2 former Owls share their thoughts

Temple’s next coaching staff will be tasked with a major overhaul when it arrives at 10th and Diamond.

Newly appointed athletic director Arthur Johnson made his first major move on Nov. 29, when he fired coach Rod Carey, whose team went 12-20 during his tumultuous three-year stint. But while Temple has fallen on hard times, two former players believe the program’s past success can still be used as a road map to relevancy.

“The culture matters at Temple because there’s a new standard,” said former Owls tight end Colin Thompson, an Archbishop Wood product who now plays in the NFL for the Carolina Panthers. “This is not the old Temple. You can have College Gameday there, and you can do anything you can at any other schoo,l and you’re in North Philadelphia.”

Safety Amir Tyler arrived at Temple in 2016 during former coach Matt Rhule’s final season. After playing for three coaches in six years — Rhule (2016), Geoff Collins (2017-18) and Carey (2019-21) — Tyler said he felt the program’s culture shifted under Carey.

» READ MORE: Temple’s task now: Find the next Matt Rhule | Mike Jensen

What separated Rhule, Collins, and Carey most was coaching style. Rhule and Collins took a much more hands-on approach. Carey leaned heavily on the leadership council, a group of players nominated to work as an intermediary between players and staff.

“Coach Collins wanted to keep the culture and the house standards,” Tyler said. “He just added a little bit more of his taste to it, as in the media and stuff.

“With Coach Carey, it was like a players-led thing. Coach Rhule was player-led too, but [under Carey] it was player-led, as in he trusted us way more than any other coaches did. He expected us to understand the standard and already know what was set in stone for us, because we were grown men, and some of us have already been through that process before.”

Carey’s approach did help the team in some areas, but Tyler believes the message wasn’t fully delivered because the roster was so young.

“We didn’t go through that phase of us being bad. We went through the phase of us being average and we had above-average players,” Tyler said. “Certain players thought they didn’t have to do what they were coached to do or they didn’t have to abide by standards because they may not believe in the process.”

Tyler said it was difficult to uphold the “Temple TUFF” moniker, with the transfer portal leading to so much roster turnover. Since Carey was hired in January 2019, 27 players entered the portal, 14 of whom transferred to Power 5 programs.

“Just the fact that everybody came together and stayed together,” Tyler said of his freshman year. “The transfer portal wasn’t really that big at the time, so it’s easier to develop brotherhood and relationships with other peers.”

Carey also navigated restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic in his second season, something no other Temple coach has done. The limited team bonding and shortened schedule could have played a factor in players opting to transfer.

Thompson, who played under Rhule at Temple from 2014-16 and now plays for him with the Panthers, experienced Temple’s success firsthand, and said it was hard to watch his alma mater decline in recent years.

What made Rhule such a successful coach at Temple was his meticulous attention to detail. Rhule understood players and built connections with them, according to Thompson. “Coach is really a player at heart,” he said.

He said Rhule’s meetings were unlike anything he had seen, holding players accountable with thought-provoking stories and quotes.

Collins welcomed former players back to campus by allocating lockers at Edberg-Olson Hall. Thompson said working out at his alma mater contributed to him making it in the NFL.

Thompson believes the next Temple staff must establish relationships with local high school coaches to bolster recruiting in order to manufacture a successful rebuild. He added that they will need to reestablish the principles that led to the Owls’ 2016 American Athletic Conference championship.

It isn’t going to be an easy process for a Temple program staring down a multiyear rebuild.

“It’s going to happen in the cold weather, outside, running, lifting training — it’s not going to be anything pretty or special to write home about,” Thompson said. “It’s going to be the gritty hard work … to see who wants to be there and who really wants to be a part of the culture moving forward.”

Tyler and Thompson view the best fit for Temple’s next coach as someone who has already been through the school’s process. Johnson, who has hired a firm to find Carey’s replacement and will be charged with making the final decision, appears to share their opinion.

“The right fit,” Johnson said, “is someone who understands Temple.”