New Coaching Wrinkle - Golden Waiting It Out Too?

Temple head football coach Al Golden, who interviewed twice for the UCLA job, has withdrawn his name from consideration.

"UCLA is a world-class institution, and athletic director Dan Guerrero is a first-class person," Golden said. "However, we are on the brink of something truly special here at Temple."

My take on this: Turning Temple around is a noble task indeed. This team perpetually made ESPN's Bottom Ten, but managed to climb out of that mock list this year. They almost beat UConn in week three, and would have given PSU a game if it wasn't for the red zone turnovers. Golden has done a good job there and I understand why he wants to finish what he started. Sort of.

This is still UCLA, a Pac 10 team in a major market. Turn them down for, a lower tier Mac school? There has to be something else to this. And I think there is.

Spaniard has said that once the Paterno era is over they have no interest in signing a multi-million dollar coach. I believe him. Schiano (and if you're a dreamer, Stoops) would have to take a huge pay cut to be the Penn State coach. I just don't know if you would give up a decent/good thing with a lot of money for a not certain thing and something like one-third the cash. There is no promise that, with what will probably be the existing staff, you are going to do well enough to keep the job for more than five years.

This is where Golden steps in. The guy would probably be getting a raise if he were hired by PSU. He has the character to appease the older alums and the performance to get the "let's win already" guys excited. Patero love him, which appears to be more and more important as we sail through this thing.

Would I want the guy as a head coach? Sure, he has class, he is a "Blue-Blood", and he might even be able to land some Philly recruits. He turned around Temple, a team that was on the brink of folding, and now he has turned down the UCLA job to finish what he started. I know internal hire is another option, but if we go outside the program this guy's name is going to be at near the top of the list. He's a perfect fit from the progam's perspective.