Temple Owls
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Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania has a long-running and prestigious athletic program. The school's sports teams are called the Owls, originating from the university's early days as a night school.
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[edit] Affiliation
The Owls are primarily members of the Atlantic 10 Conference (A-10), with the exception of football, where they are an affiliate of the Mid-American Conference (MAC). Since their football team participates in the NCAA's Division I Football Bowl Subdivision, and the now-defunct A-10 Football Conference (1997-2006) played at the Division I-AA level, they must maintain separate league affiliation for that sport. The football program was a member of the Big East Conference until its expulsion after the 2004 season due to a variety of program shortcomings. Temple played a limited MAC schedule in 2005 and 2006 before becoming an affiliated football-only member and playing a full 8-game league schedule in 2007. The school's men's basketball team is part of the Big Five, the traditional designation for the rivalries between the Owls and their Philadelphia rivals: Penn, Saint Joseph's, Villanova, and La Salle.
[edit] Achievements
The Temple University Intercollegiate Athletic Program is nationally recognized, not simply because one of the University's most famous alums - worldwide ambassador of goodwill Bill Cosby - was a track and field and football star in the 1960s and uses his football exploits in some of his comedy routines. The program is well known because of its outstanding achievements over an extended period of time.
Temple University was among the first institutions in the United States to sponsor extracurricular athletic activities for its students. Both the football and basketball programs were inaugurated back in 1894 under the direction of Coach Charles M. Williams.
[edit] Basketball
On the hardwood, Temple is recognized as having won the first-ever National Collegiate championship in 1938, under Coach James Usilton. That Owls team, which finished with a sparkling 23-2 record, won the inaugural National Invitation Tournament by routing Colorado 60-36 in the championship final. Because the NCAA Tournament was not held until the following year, Temple's NIT championship earned the Owls national title recognition. During the 1950s, the Temple basketball team made two NCAA Final Four appearances (1956, 1958) under legendary Head Coach Harry Litwack. Litwack would be inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame after concluding a 21-year coaching career that included 373 wins. Head Coach John Chaney, also a Hall of Famer, won a total of 724 career games and took Temple to the NCAA tournament 17 times. His 1987-88 Owls team entered the NCAA tournament ranked #1 in the country, and he has reached the Elite Eight on five different occasions. He was consensus national coach of the year in 1988. Current NBA players Eddie Jones of the Miami Heat, Aaron McKie of the Los Angeles Lakers, Rick Brunson of the New York Knicks, and Mardy Collins of the New York Knicks continue to enhance Temple's proud basketball heritage.
On March 13, 2006, Hall of Fame head coach John Chaney retired. Dan Leibovitz, previously of the University of Hartford was hired to serve as acting head coach.
On April 10, 2006, University of Pennsylvania head coach and La Salle University alumnus Fran Dunphy was named the new Temple's Men's Head Basketball coach. Dunphy had coached the Quakers for 17 straight seasons prior to the move. Dunphy and his Owls won the Atlantic-10 tournament in 2008 beating St. Joeseph's University, for their conference leading 12th title. The Owls were rewarded with a 12 seed in the NCAA Tournament and paired against 5th-seeded Michigan State, losing that game 72-61.
[edit] Football
The Owls football team participates in the NCAA's Division I-A; because the A-10 supported football only at the Division I-AA level (1997-2006), they must maintain separate league affiliation for football. They were a member of the Big East Conference until their expulsion after the 2004 season due to a variety of program shortcomings; they played a limited Mid-American Conference schedule in 2005 and 2006 before becoming a completely affiliated football-only member and playing a full MAC 8-game league schedule in 2007. In December 2005, Al Golden, the defensive coordinator for the University of Virginia, was named the new head coach; he replaced Bobby Wallace.
[edit] Baseball
Temple's baseball program has played in two College World Series and its coach, veteran James "Skip" Wilson, has guided the Owls to 901 career wins, including a recent trip to the Atlantic 10 championship.
[edit] Other Men's Sports
Under Fred Turoff, the men's gymnastics team has won 12 ECAC/EIGL championships. Recently Darin Gerlach continued a long line of national success by winning an individual event national championship in 1998.
Coach Gavin White's Temple crews of the past 17 years have won with regularity at Philadelphia's prestigious Dad Vail Regatta, in addition to several other events.
Additional men's programs with long and rich histories include soccer, golf and track and field. The soccer program, also established in 1926, produced five Olympians en route to surpassing the 500-win milestone in the fall of 1996. The soccer program has seen an amazing array of talent but has often had to settle with poor management/coaching.
The Temple golf program, inaugurated in 1931, has participated in 20 NCAA championship tournaments, produced 22 All-American citations and won 15 conference championships.
In track and field, Eulace Peacock remains a giant in the history of the sport. In the mid-1930s, Peacock brought national attention to himself and the Temple program with a string of sprinting victories over famed Ohio State and Olympic Games star Jesse Owens.
[edit] Women's Sports
Although women's athletics did not earn intercollegiate status until 1975, nor NCAA sanction until the early 1980s, Temple University established itself as a forerunner early in the century. As early as 1923, the University's women began participating on club sport teams. In fact, that year, Coach Blanche Voorhees guided an Owl basketball team to a perfect 12-0 record and also started a field hockey program. Additional sports for women followed: swimming in 1926, tennis in 1939, fencing in 1946, softball in 1949, lacrosse in 1957, and finally volleyball, track and field and gymnastics in 1975.
The modern era took root in 1974, when Temple named physical education instructor Veronica "Ronnie" Maurek to the dual role of head basketball and softball coach. When Maurek chose to coach only softball three years later, the University went outside the physical education department for the first time to hire its first modern-day full-time women's basketball coach, Andy McGovern. McGovern produced the Owls' first winning season of the modern era with a 14-10 mark in the 1979-80 season. Prior to the 1980-81 season, Temple named Linda MacDonald as its second full-time head coach and began the process of national recruiting and scheduling. By the 1988-89 season, MacDonald had produced the Owls' first team to qualify for the NCAA Tournament. In the 1983-84 campaign, Marilyn Stephens was named to the Kodak All-America team.
Under the direction of Tina Sloan-Green, and beginning in 1975, the Temple lacrosse program captured three national championships and has had individuals earn 43 All-American certificates. The tradition of excellence is carried on by current head coach Kim Ciarrocca, who was a member of the Owls' 1988 national championship club and guided her 1997 team into the NCAA Final Four.
Temple field hockey teams have finished among the NCAA's top 20 no less than 13 times in the last 15 seasons, while producing 24 All-Americans. Jane Catanzaro, a four-time All-American between 1987 and 1990, won the prestigious Honda Award in the 1990-91 academic year, for outstanding achievement and excellence in intercollegiate athletics.
Temple's fencing team has consistently been one of the nation's best under veteran head coach Nikki Franke. Between 1983 and 1995, Owl fencers competed in the NCAA championships every year and never finished lower than fifth. In 1992, Coach Franke's squad was crowned the NCAA champion in foil competition. Franke has been honored as national Coach of the Year on four occasions.
In 2005, by winning 25 straight games, a #15 national ranking and a trip to the NCAA Second Round for just the second time in school history, Temple Women's Basketball also upholds the reputation of Temple athletics. Women's Basketball coach Dawn Staley was the 2004 Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year, has won 74 games in her first four seasons, captured Temple’s only two conference championships and earned three postseason bids. In the summer of 2004 she captured her third Olympic Gold Medal, playing for team USA in the 2004 Games in Athens, Greece and was selected as the United States flag bearer for the opening ceremonies.
The Temple volleyball team is also a very notable women's sport at the University, led by one of the "architects of the game," Bob Bertucci.
[edit] See also
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[edit] Sources
- "Longtime Temple coach Chaney retires", ESPN.com, March 13, 2006
- "Temple Coach Chaney Announcing Retirement Today", The Washington Post, March 13, 2006
- "Dunphy leaves Penn, takes over at Temple", The Philadelphia Inquirer/Associated Press, April 10, 2006
- "The Bottom 10 goes punk", ESPN.com, October 18, 2006
