Temple and WKU to the MAC?
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Temple is poised to become a member of the MID-American Conference for football, sources say.
A deal has basically been struck, several sources familiar with the situation confirm. Those same people say the announcement will most likely come from the MAC.
The MAC school presidents are scheduled to meet Feb. 7 in Indianapolis. A conference source said any decision on expansion will come from the presidential level. The MAC reportedly also is considering Western Kentucky, which is looking to move up from Division I-AA.
The 2004 season was Temple's last in the Big East. The Owls are scheduled to compete as an independent this year. If they become a member of the MAC, it would be for football only, at least for the time being. And it wouldn't happen until at least 2006, although sources say the Owls would add three MAC opponents this year, to go with the three (Miami of Ohio, Toledo and Bowling Green) they're already playing.
They played two of those three last season and lost both games: 45-17 at Toledo and 70-16 against Bowling Green.
It was only yesterday that Temple made it official that it will continue to play football at the Division I-A level. That, of course, was what a 12-person university task force that had been studying the future of the program since last summer recommended to the Board of Trustees in December.
Chairman Howard Gittis, who was on the task force, made the formal announcement following yesterday's regularly scheduled board meeting.
"Football will continue to have a place at Temple," he said. "There are challenges ahead, with the most pressing being a conference affiliation. We are confident that our program will be part of a I-A conference in the near future."
"Our goal is to not just have a football program, but to have one that will make Philadelphia and the Temple community proud," said school president David Adamany.
The Owls, who haven't won more than four games in a season since 1990, were 2-9 last season.
