Thursday, it was announced that six Conference USA schools would be leaving in a few years to join the American, replacing the teams that left for the Big 12.
It means your Temple Owls are going to be in a conference that includes North Texas, UAB, Texas-San Antonio, Charlotte, Rice, and FAU. It’s a group with no geographical connection to Philadelphia, which leaves Temple as even more of an outlier in a conference that already includes Tulane and Tulsa.
In a column at The Philadelphia Inquirer, Mike Jensen argues that Temple should leave the AAC, and he makes some salient points.
Among them:
We’ve written often about this box the Owls are in. The new folks in charge on North Broad Street will dream about the Atlantic Coast Conference, and sure, wouldn’t that be great? All problems solved. But phone calls to the ACC might not even be picked up. Temple would probably get some recording telling schools to leave their number and calls will be returned in the order they are received.
“They think they can get to the ACC,” said one ACC alum who still has deep ties to that league and has had some access to the current thinking on North Broad Street. “That will never happen.”
If the ACC someday decides it wants the Philadelphia market, hate to tell Temple, but the first call probably goes to the local school that has won a couple of NCAA basketball titles lately, asking Villanova honchos if they’re sure they don’t want to move up in football. The fact that hasn’t happened to any serious degree tells us the ACC really isn’t too concerned about being in Philly. We’ll also again point out that Temple building a campus stadium opens up the Linc for the ACC and Villanova to make an easier deal. (The truth is, Villanova is in the right place for all sports.)
Yeah, Temple to the ACC is a non-starter. But I’ve never really thought about Villanova as a possible candidate. Adding Nova basketball to a group that already includes Duke, North Carolina, UVA, Syracuse, etc? That would be pretty fantastic. Nova football could remain in FCS with the Colonial. I just don’t think there’s any interest in Division 1 college football in a pro sports town. Sad to say.
Jensen:
Temple also has chased the dual dreams of football and basketball glory right to this moment. UConn chased the same dream — got to the Fiesta Bowl one year — and finally gave up, orphaning its football program to independent status while rejoining its historic hoops home in the Big East. Temple does not even have that luxury.
Could there be a Northeast football league starting with UConn and UMass, maybe talk Army and Navy into it? That’s a start toward some sanity, but how do you fill out that conference? Please don’t suggest FCS football. Where would the Owls play? (Downsize those campus stadium blueprints to about 10,000 capacity.) Also, the Atlantic 10 isn’t the same hoop league that Temple left. It might be the right basketball league, but a return won’t solve all problems.
Temple played Atlantic 10 basketball from 1982 to 2013. It still feels like they make the most sense in the A10, but the A10 doesn’t have football. Some of their schools play FCS football in conferences like the Pioneer and Patriot, so if Temple was gonna go this route, they’d probably have to be a D1 independent football squad, joining the likes of UMass and Liberty. Big East football is dead and going back to the MAC doesn’t make much sense.
Jensen:
You know when it was plainly obvious when the AAC wasn’t going to be the long-term fit for Temple? In 2014, when Tulane and Tulsa joined the league. The Owls were on the upswing in football so expansion was not a front-burner issue. But like these latest moves, those additions were all right for the league, and great for those schools, but mostly worthless for Temple.
Several years back, AAC headquarters also moved from Providence to Irving, Texas. A neon sign saying goodbye to the Northeast. The moving van probably passed Temple on the highway, still 21 hours of driving to go. (Fun fact: If you’re driving from Dallas, Mexico City is two hours closer than Philly. Heading West, Salt Lake City is closer to Dallas, too.)
Temple is so vitally important to this city, but this city isn’t so vital to the wider world of college athletics.
Man, that last sentence is brutal. It’s true, but it hits home.
Temple seems to be in some sort of purgatory right now. The football program is okay, certainly not what it was during the Matt Rhule years. It’s always been a stepping stone for young coaches, but right now they aren’t compelling or competitive. And on the basketball side, they are not a geographic fit for the American, which is moving south and west in this round of expansion.
I agree with Mike. It doesn’t seem like there’s a clear path forward for Temple right now. Unless they prioritize one of football or basketball over the other sport, they’re just sort of floating around in a conference that doesn’t seem to be the best fit.
EDIT –
Here’s a thought from Major League Soccer analyst Matt Doyle, who is a huge hoops fan: