First off, congrats and welcome back!

Can some of you enlighten me as to why Temple was kicked out years ago in the first place? How did you all feel about that and how do you feel about being back?

Attendance. (Once averaged fewer than 5,000 a game at the low point.)

I thought it was because they didn't invest in being a competitive athletic department... and attendance.

temple was only in the conference as FB only, and the people in charge didn't care about the football program. at one point there was a vote which i think was 4-3 which saved football (i think after having already been kicked out.) as previously stated, attendance was terrible and so was facilities. also temple took the money gained from the big east and used it to build the current basketball stadium which the big east didn't like

It feels great to be back, although as the OP stated, we were never in the BE for all-sports, but as an associate member for FB only. Here is an article that describes that dark time in TU history. Although the president at the time, Adamany, was portrayed sympathetically in the article, he was widely viewed as the villain who wanted to eliminate TUFB as a Division 1 sport. The new incoming president, Neil Theobald, who is a senior vp and CFO at Indiana University, has already expressed his support for TU's athletic programs. TU's future at this point, is very bright.

Article

(08-16-2012 11:30 AM)cttu Wrote:  also temple took the money gained from the big east and used it to build the current basketball stadium which the big east didn't like

Good article from the Temple News.

The Liacouras Center (nee "The Apollo Of Temple") was in the school's construction plans before Temple accumulated any significant Big East money.

(08-16-2012 11:49 AM)Owls_Law Wrote:  It feels great to be back, although as the OP stated, we were never in the BE for all-sports, but as an associate member for FB only. Here is an article that describes that dark time in TU history. Although the president at the time, Adamany, was portrayed sympathetically in the article, he was widely viewed as the villain who wanted to eliminate TUFB as a Division 1 sport. The new incoming president, Neil Theobald, who is a senior vp and CFO at Indiana University, has already expressed his support for TU's athletic programs. TU's future at this point, is very bright.

Article

Good read. Thanks.

Its great being back, especially because it’s for all sports. The article does a great job describing the situation, it came down to lack of support, and lack of commitment by the university.

Something to keep in mind is Temple University today is much different from Temple University in 2001. Back then Temple was primarily a commuter school, today over 12,000 students live on or close to campus. A brand new 25 floor state of the art dorm on the corner of Cecil B Moore and North Broad is under construction and is scheduled for completion next fall as part of Temples “20 20” plan to rebuild and renovate the campus. Temple is also in the process of implementing its academics and diversification initiatives, currently in year 2 of a 5 year plan. Parts of the area around campus have started to see a gentrification and the neighborhood has been changing.

Temple University today is much different than the Temple of 2001, not only in its commitment to football, but in its commitment to the students and surrounding neighborhood.

(08-16-2012 01:43 PM)NYCTUFan Wrote:  Its great being back, especially because it’s for all sports. The article does a great job describing the situation, it came down to lack of support, and lack of commitment by the university.

Something to keep in mind is Temple University today is much different from Temple University in 2001. Back then Temple was primarily a commuter school, today over 12,000 students live on or close to campus. A brand new 25 floor state of the art dorm on the corner of Cecil B Moore and North Broad is under construction and is scheduled for completion next fall as part of Temples “20 20” plan to rebuild and renovate the campus. Temple is also in the process of implementing its academics and diversification initiatives, currently in year 2 of a 5 year plan. Parts of the area around campus have started to see a gentrification and the neighborhood has been changing.

Temple University today is much different than the Temple of 2001, not only in its commitment to football, but in its commitment to the students and surrounding neighborhood.

Agree, and Temple has made huge gains in out-of-state students, and taken advantage of a recent trend favoring urban schools. As the Board of Trustee member said at the welcome back news conference, Temple did not deserve the BIG EAST when they were booted. And as a fan and alumni, I'm thrilled to be back and looking forward to the New BIG EAST in upcoming years.

We're psyched! Temple felt awkward and out of place in the MAC (obviously) and we finally feel we're back home with our peers. Temple's admin was a big reason why Temple football struggled and was eventually kicked out. Liacouras tried late in the game to boost attendance with concerts and other measures but the lack of facilities, history, and status as a commuter school kept Temple unsuccessful until getting kicked out.

I'm glad UConn is no longer blamed for Temple getting booted. UConn wasn't in Big East FB (and had no vote) in kicking Temple out. It was just a coincidence that we came in when Temple left.

My brother-in-law is a Temple grad. I'm glad you're back.

Temple was a football only member. Temple told the Big East it must be a full member or they could not compete, the BE declined and voted them out.

Attendance was not solely the reason we were booted. That's just a convenient reason for people who don't understand the situation. That situation is continuing to improve every year. We're now bringing 10K-12K students a game. The key for us is to continue to draw more casual fans. Once Philadelphia buys in, we're looking at 40K+ a game. The facilities are significantly better than they used to be, and once the bubble/indoor practice facility is built, we'll really be in good shape. Most importantly, Temple's administration is 1000% behind Temple Football, which was not at all the case previously.

I think Temple will fare much better this time around. That being said how crazy is it to be talking about Rutgers AND Temple bowl eligible in the Big East in the same year. 10 years ago no one could fathom it.

(08-17-2012 06:10 PM)brista21 Wrote:  I think Temple will fare much better this time around. That being said how crazy is it to be talking about Rutgers AND Temple bowl eligible in the Big East in the same year. 10 years ago no one could fathom it.

Proof that there's too many bowls.

But seriously, Rutgers is now expected to be bowl eligible every year and Temple will be competitive this time around in the Big East. It's not 1995 anymore. Too bad the other "big" conferences don't understand that.

(08-16-2012 06:31 PM)UConn-SMU Wrote:  I'm glad UConn is no longer blamed for Temple getting booted. UConn wasn't in Big East FB (and had no vote) in kicking Temple out. It was just a coincidence that we came in when Temple left.

My brother-in-law is a Temple grad. I'm glad you're back.

It wasn't purely coincidence that Temple was booted out as UConn was coming in, but UConn had nothing to do with it happening. UConn moving up was the final straw for daU and its threats to jump to a different conference. daU wanted the BE to expand to the South to help ease the travel costs for olympic sports and give it a southern football rival. The BE would not hear it and thought that daU was bluffing.
Once it became apparent that UConn was moving up, daU started serious talks with the ACC. During all the emergency meetings over the ACC raid, The Temple prez demanded an all or nothing vote on Temple. He got his vote and Temple was shown the door.
Although devastating for TU at the time, in the long run this became the push that Temple needed to get its act together. The Temple of to day is nothing like the old school that was in the OBE. These guys have excellent facilities, good coaches and a desire to compete on our level. This TU is going to be a player in this version of the BE.

(08-18-2012 09:35 AM)mikeinsec127 Wrote:  

(08-16-2012 06:31 PM)UConn-SMU Wrote:  I'm glad UConn is no longer blamed for Temple getting booted. UConn wasn't in Big East FB (and had no vote) in kicking Temple out. It was just a coincidence that we came in when Temple left.

My brother-in-law is a Temple grad. I'm glad you're back.

It wasn't purely coincidence that Temple was booted out as UConn was coming in, but UConn had nothing to do with it happening. UConn moving up was the final straw for daU and its threats to jump to a different conference. daU wanted the BE to expand to the South to help ease the travel costs for olympic sports and give it a southern football rival. The BE would not hear it and thought that daU was bluffing.
Once it became apparent that UConn was moving up, daU started serious talks with the ACC. During all the emergency meetings over the ACC raid, The Temple prez demanded an all or nothing vote on Temple. He got his vote and Temple was shown the door.
Although devastating for TU at the time, in the long run this became the push that Temple needed to get its act together. The Temple of to day is nothing like the old school that was in the OBE. These guys have excellent facilities, good coaches and a desire to compete on our level. This TU is going to be a player in this version of the BE.

I thought I read somewhere that Miami was actually blocking Florida schools from the BE to maintain the southern region as their own recruiting domain for BE conference purposes. Also I believe they kept their baseball team out of the conference as an independent. No links but maybe someone else can confirm this.

(08-18-2012 11:09 AM)panite Wrote:  I thought I read somewhere that Miami was actually blocking Florida schools from the BE to maintain the southern region as their own recruiting domain for BE conference purposes. Also I believe they kept their baseball team out of the conference as an independent. No links but maybe someone else can confirm this.

You are correct about the baseball team not participating in the BE. Not sure about them blocking other FL schools.

(08-18-2012 11:47 AM)LostInSpace Wrote:  

(08-18-2012 11:09 AM)panite Wrote:  I thought I read somewhere that Miami was actually blocking Florida schools from the BE to maintain the southern region as their own recruiting domain for BE conference purposes. Also I believe they kept their baseball team out of the conference as an independent. No links but maybe someone else can confirm this.

You are correct about the baseball team not participating in the BE. Not sure about them blocking other FL schools.

Very excited to back... the MAC/A10 thing was a real mess... though, will certainly miss the A10 far more than the MAC - though forever grateful to the MAC for saving football at Temple

(08-18-2012 11:47 AM)LostInSpace Wrote:  

(08-18-2012 11:09 AM)panite Wrote:  I thought I read somewhere that Miami was actually blocking Florida schools from the BE to maintain the southern region as their own recruiting domain for BE conference purposes. Also I believe they kept their baseball team out of the conference as an independent. No links but maybe someone else can confirm this.

You are correct about the baseball team not participating in the BE. Not sure about them blocking other FL schools.

daU baseball was kept out of the BE. Miami played FSU every year during this period and would have played Fla if UF didn't cancel the series. They didn't want the USFs and UCFs of the world to be included, but would have loved it if the BE brought in FSU allsports or even ECU.