NFL Continues to Snatch Up Temple Talent

OwlSports.com was at the Senior Bowl recently and caught up with former Temple head coach Matt Rhule who made the jump to the National Football League with the Carolina Panthers. Rhule credits his time at Temple with helping shape the coach he has become and remembers his time on North Broad fondly. The 45-year old, who was born in New York and went to high school in State College, considers Philadelphia home having resided in the City of Brotherly Love more than any other home.

What have the past 2-3 weeks been like?
"They've been a whirlwind. I got on the plane the day after accepting the job and went to Carolina to do a press conference and I haven't been home since. I still have the same suitcase full of clothes. It's been a really good time, trying to build a staff. Obviously I'm here evaluating prospects, making sure we build the best team that we can. Also trying to find a house and also some other things along the way. It's been quite a time."

What are the plans for your family?
"They came down last week looking for a house and we'll try to get them there as soon as possible so they have a chance to get enrolled in the schools, and get comfortable so they are not spending the summer nervous about the fall. We'll get them there as soon as we can. I really don't like being away from my family."

You spent more time at Temple than any other job in your career, what did that time mean to you?
"It's funny, I sit here and look around and there's Ameena [Soliman of the Philadelphia Eagles]. Pat Stewart [of the Philadelphia Eagles], Jimmy Noel [of the Cleveland Browns]. All throughout this entire place are people that have deep and strong Temple ties. I loved my time there. It was 10 years of my life, 10 seasons over 11 years. I met nothing but great people. I loved the community. I love what Temple stands for. We said Temple TUFF - I look out on the field I see Al Golden [coaching for the Cincinnati Bengals] out there - and that wasn't a slogan to me. It was really who we are. You have to be a special type of person to excel at Temple and I think it breeds a certain quality in you. Being at Temple and excelling at Temple, when you leave and go to the rest of the world, you're not spoiled, you're not entitled. You believe that you have to work for everything that you get. So I loved my time there, it led me to where I am now. I'm happy to be a head coach in the National Football League. And I'm only able to be here because of my time there."

Recent bios about you mention you grew up in New York City and State College, Pennsylvania but you spent more time in Philadelphia than anywhere else.
"I consider myself a Philadelphian. When we have time we go home, we still consider it home. We still have a house in Cape May on the Jersey shore. All those places are great, all those places are special. Our family, we all consider ourselves Philadelphians. It comes down to people. Some of our best friends in the world are there. The players I'm the closest to, I coached there. Anybody who's ever been to Philadelphia knows exactly what I mean."

Philadelphia is known for its food. Does being a foodie strengthen your relationship with the city?
"No doubt. When [ESPN's] Kirk Herbstreit and Chris Fowler and those guys go to do College Gameday there, they did the Army-Navy game this year, they all texted me and asked 'what's the name of this spot, that spot?' Anytime someone's doing a game there, I'm sending them to the right cheesesteak place. I'm not saying I have all the answers, but I certainly have an appreciation for the food you can only get in Philadelphia."

Did you have a special superstition when you traveled to Temple games?
"We would eat at Mr. Joe's Cafe. They had fresh cannoli there that we would take on the plane. There was a place in Waco that had cannolis and we did that one time as part of our tradition but it wasn't the same?"

Your first game as head coach was at Notre Dame, what do you remember about that?
"I remember walking through their tunnel as the band was coming out thinking, 'wow this is pretty intense.' I remember them scoring quickly on us. Then I remember our guys settling down and I remember [quarterback] Conor Reilly putting together a great drive. Even at the end [Notre Dame] had the ball on the four yard line trying to score, it was 28-6, trying to put the game away even further. And I remember our guys making a goal line stand. I think if you ever go back and look at the guys who were playing, we weren't a great team yet but a lot of those guys ended up having great memories and being great competitors. That game is one of my great memories."

The team started off slow and your first win was against Army in late October. What do you remember about that first win?
"I remember going to the pep rally on campus the day before and basically guaranteeing a win. Then telling our team we better win. I remember P.J. Walker, I don't know if it was a flea flicker or not, but hitting John Christopher on a switch route. I just remember our team coming together that week and playing really hard. It's always kind of funny, my first win was against the triple option (Army) and my last win was against Navy in the Championship game, also against the triple option. To defend the triple option you have to be tough and disciplined and I think we built a team that was tough and disciplined and that game started it and obviously the Navy game finished it."

What helped turn the fortunes around?
"Just the players. I went in there and I thought I would be this young, fun, laidback coach and I quickly found out that there is a certain style that wins at Temple, a certain style that wins on North Broad Street. And you better be tough, you better be disciplined, you better be hard-nosed, I had to shift who I was and how I did things to that manner. Upon doing that, I think our players responded. We did really hard things, we did mat drills, all kinds of things that most people wouldn't do and we soon became a team that no one wanted to play. We were a team that no one want to play because we did the things that no one else wanted to do."

The following year Temple was bowl eligible but didn't go to a bowl. What do you remember about that team?
"I remember beating Vanderbilt on the road to start the season in that great rain delay. Fourth-and-seven hitting Shippen with a slant for a touchdown. I remember winning at homecoming, lot's of great things throughout that that year. I remember some heartbreak that year. Beating East Carolina who was a ranked team, which was our first ranked win. I remember after beating Tulane and Pat [Kraft] gave us the news that we were probably not going to a bowl game. This moment of tremendous joy becoming great sadness. I'll never forget the next day when we told the team, Kenny Harper telling the team, 'hey, this is the best thing that ever happened. Hopefully you'll never take anything for granted again.' That's a lesson that you don't learn in life very often and you have a chance to correct it. I think our team the following two years, we couldn't win every game but we certainly came out and tried to win every game and we didn't take anything for granted. Those things to me started with Kenny in that moment."

The next year was magical. Let's start with the Penn State win. As a Penn State alum, how important was that for you?
"It was fun for me but I think it really important for our team and for our players. We went down 10-0 and the game had a chance of getting away from us. Our guys rallied and fought and battled. To win in that nature was awesome. And then to go out to Cincinnati the next week who were preseason favorites, and get a big lead and hold on at the end. UMass, winning on the blocked extra point and the field goal. I just think we were a tough resilient team. There were such high moments, winning 10 games for the first time, going to the championship game and losing, losing the bowl game. Once again I think everything that happens in life prepares us for what's next. I think that season prepared us for the success we were going to have the following year."

Was beating Cincinnati on the road the following week even more important?
"I think the Penn State game was great for our fans. I think, if anything, it relieved this great burden off of our shoulders that people felt. That we can beat Penn State, we're not someone who might win this game or that game but people think, 'that's great but you'll never beat them.' We finally beat them and got that off of our shoulders so we can now be ourselves. Yes, the Cincinnati game was an impressive win, a very important win and really helped us."

A 7-0 start, the team being ranked for the first time in 36 years, and ESPN's College Gameday. That had to be a proud moment?
"It was. Bringing Gameday there, the attention it brought to the university, because Temple's such a great place. I think it brought so much to us beyond just, 'hey, they're winning.' It was showing everyone what the university truly meant and brought it to a national spotlight. Obviously the way we played that game, had a chance to win that game. I still have people stop me in the street to talk about that game. There's no moral victories, we lost, but I thought we brought great attention to the program."

What about the 2016 season that started off slow but resulted in the AAC Championship?
"We lost that first game to Army and I think we said we need to make sure we had fun. They were trying to win instead of trying to just play football and dominate. When you are trying to win, your eyes are focused on the wrong thing. You have to just go out there and play the game. We started off 0-1 and then I think we were 1-2 after we lost to Penn State by a touchdown. Had a touchdown called back that I'll remember forever. Then we beat SMU pretty good and were 3-2 and then we went to Memphis. We had a lead, threw the ball 50 times, didn't run the football, and they ended up beating us at the end. I remember going back after that Thursday game and having the weekend to think and being like, 'that's not the way we win here.' So I think we got back to our roots. We said we are going to run the ball for 200 yards a game. We're going to be physical. Our season was hanging in the balance and we went to UCF and we were down 25-7 and I made some terrible decisions in that game in terms of not taking field goals and trying to score touchdowns. But in the end, we won at Temple not because of me or the coaches, but because of the players. In the end it was the defense getting a stop on 4^th-and-2. It was P.J. Walker hitting two big passes to Ventell [Bryant]. It was [Keith] Kirkwood jumping up catching the ball with one second left. I think it was that moment that combined the new approach of let's get back to who we are with guys making plays at crucial moments that didn't stop for the rest of the year."

What would you like people to remember of your time at Temple?
"I don't want them to remember anything about me. It was just a great, great time. It was about a lot of different people. It was about Neil Theobald, it was about Bill Bradshaw hiring me, it was about Kevin Clark and then Pat Kraft. It was really about P.J. Walker and Tyler Matakevich, and Matt Ioannidis, and Robby Anderson, and all those great players who kind of hung in there. We had a plan, and sometimes people doubted the plan, and sometimes we probably doubted the plan. But we hung in there and stuck with it. My goal in life is that, well you can't stay somewhere forever, sometimes you leave and people are upset that you leave. My goal is always to leave a place better than you found it. I think we did. You know with changing conferences, upgrading the level out of the MAC to where we were headed, I thought we did that. I've always wanted to be known as a guy who liked to build things, I like to try to build places up and I think we did that. I think seeing the success that Geoff [Collins] afterwards and now Rod [Carey]'s having, hopefully we were some small part in setting the foundation for future success."

"Bruce Arians once told me when he was there when they were lifting in the Armory, 'You can sit there sometimes and think about what you don't have. But I prefer to think about what you do have. What you do have at Temple, the greatest asset is the people who are there.' There used to be a slogan 'We the T' I loved that concept of we. There is not a place in the world where I see a person wearing a Temple something that I don't go up and talk to them because you have to be a special person to go to Temple and to excel at Temple. I think when people come out of Temple – whether it be the NFL or in business - they are getting someone who does tough things, who's not afraid of hard work, that doesn't make excuses. We didn't do that. We didn't make excuses. We found a way to get it done from 2-10 to 10-3 the last year."

Temple University Athletics

NFL Continues to Snatch Up Temple Talent

Related News

Players Mentioned

Robby Anderson

John Christopher

Matt Ioannidis

Tyler Matakevich

Related Videos