When a coaching change is made, recruiting dictates that such change is made as close to the end of the regular season as possible, especially with recent changes in the recruiting cycle that allows an early signing period in December.
By this new standard, Temple’s hiring of Manny Diaz was late, announced on December 13th. He tried to keep Temple’s recruiting class intact over the next frenetic week.
On December 30th, Diaz was interviewing an Offensive Coordinator candidate, when he got a stunning call. Mark Richt had bailed on Miami (or he was thrown overboard after the Hurricanes no-showed in a 35-3 bowl loss in a chilly Big Apple).
For Diaz, the U was his dream job. His father had been Mayor of Miami. Plus, he knew the Hurricane’s personnel, being Richt’s defensive coordinator. Diaz’ tenure at Temple lasted a whopping 18 days. The Odyssey wonders if Diaz actually cashed any paychecks from the Owls.
For Temple, the Diaz departure was a public relations nightmare. Four previous Owl coaches had used the Temple job as a springboard to a Power 5 job in the past decade (Al Golden to Miami, Steve Addazio to BC, Matt Rhule to Baylor and Geoff Collins to Georgia Tech) but an 18-day tenure. Ouch! Everybody in the college football world had to feel a degree of compassion for the Owls.
The irony is that the previous 4 Temple coaches had lifted the Owls program to a level never before attained on a consistent basis. Against all odds, the football program had overcome the stigma of being kicked out of the Big East due to years of football follies. GameDay even made a visit in 2015 when Notre Dame played in Philadelphia.
Almost as surprising as the Miami head coaching vacancy was Temple’s hire, two weeks later, of Rod Carey. Carey had fashioned a very respectable 52-30 record at Northern Illinois, winning 2 MAC championships and sported a gaudy 4-2 record against the Big 10.
Mind you, Carey certainly has coaching chops (OK, his bowl record was an embarrassing 0-6, but everything else was thumbs up) but successful MAC coaches graduate to the Big 10, a long-standing tradition going back to the days of Woody and Bo. Carey was a standout offensive lineman at Indiana so his Midwestern ties run deep.
In November, Carey received a 4-year extension which would pay a base salary of $2.4 million over the four years. His first-year compensation at Temple is reported to be $2 million. When trying to resolve a mystery, looking at money is often a good starting point. Mystery resolved. Carey went out of his way to say that Temple could name its buyout and the brass smartly did so. To the reported tune of $10 million during his first two years and grading down thereafter.
I hope this unexpected marriage between Carey and Temple works. The repeatedly jilted football program deserves a break. As for Diaz, the Odyssey understands his U-turn BUT Diaz should never complain if a heralded recruit decommits from the U at the 12th hour.