Fortuna Files: Which way is the wind blowing?
Everybody's a contender. Or are they? Coaching movement continues to heat up. And who wants to go bowling? It should be a fun final two weeks.
Twenty-five thoughts in honor of … well, our inability to rank anything other than 25 teams in every major poll.
Buckle up, folks. The stretch run is here.
1. Temple fired Stan Drayton on Sunday after a 9-25 record across nearly three full seasons, including a 4-18 mark in AAC play. This seemed inevitable — frankly, every hire the Owls have made in recent years has seemed doomed to fail — but there was some genuine surprise on Diamond St. in regards to the timing, as the Owls had just beaten FAU one day earlier.
2. Temple just hired its fourth full-time president since 2016. When AD Pat Kraft left for Boston College in 2020, Temple took 16 months — yes, 16 — to hire a successor in Arthur Johnson. Drayton is the second coach to get fired in three years or fewer, with Rod Carey (2019-21) getting fired before that. Geoff Collins (2017-18) was two-and-out and off to Georgia Tech after building off Matt Rhule’s success (2013-16), and Steve Addazio (2011-12) did the same off Al Golden’s foundation (2016-10), leaving for BC.
3. That’s five coaches in 13 years, and three in eight. That’s no recipe for success.
4. Golden may have been responsible for the greatest modern college football resurrection this side of Bill Clark at UAB. It gets lost to history because of what happened afterward with Golden at Miami, but Temple football was on the brink of literal collapse before Golden saved it, culminating in a nine-win season in 2009 and an eight-win season in 2010.
5. Golden, by the way, is currently leading a Notre Dame defense that is tied for first nationally in takeaways (25), and is second in turnover margin (1.5). It is first in pass efficiency defense for the second straight year, too, this after losing top corner Benjamin Morrison to a season-ending hip injury in the sixth game of the season. Not bad.