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KNOW YOUR HISTORY: Peter Liacouras and Temple Football’s Major Conference Aspirations


  Whether you consider the area around the Owls’ campus to be part of “Temple Town” or part of “Temple Takeover,” one’s personal perception of Peter Liacouras must be universally positive. Even though Temple University’s growth has been a divisive occurrence for the residents in North Philadelphia, the effect that Liacouras had on the prestige of the university has been greatly constructive. One aspect of Temple University is in the spotlight as of late.

  Many notable alumni called Temple University home before Liacouras became its president in 1981. These alumni include JFK’s portrait painter Aaron Shikler, stand-up comedian Bob Saget and civil rights activist Cecil B. Moore. These individuals, along with countless others, gave Temple University a good name and widespread respect. However, the strides that the university took specifically under the direction of Liacouras between 1981 and 2000 are more far-reaching than any other individual’s impact on the institution to date.

  Peter James Liacouras was born on April 9th, 1931. His parents were James Peter Liacouras and Stella George Lagakos from Greece. Of James and Stella’s five children, Peter was the only boy. James was the brother to siblings Stathoula (named after her grandmother), Christo, and George. James’s father Panagiotis and uncle Nikolaos both had the same middle name: Athanasios, the name of their grandfather who was born in 1810 and married Stathoula Pasagiotis in Greece about 100 years before the birth of Peter in Philadelphia.

Liacouras Walk/Patrick Clark

Liacouras Walk/Patrick Clark

  Peter’s uncle George was a CPA, and his father James was a proprietor of a retail grocery store. Peter married his wife, Ann Myers, with whom he had four children: Greg, James, Stephen and Lisa. Peter attended numerous colleges where he studied law: William and Mary, Drexel University, UPenn, Tufts and Harvard. He began working at Temple University in 1963 as a Law Professor before becoming dean, president and then chancellor.

  As a human rights activist, Peter attempted to expand law professions to women and blacks. He changed the process for lawyers to be admitted to the bar, and in two years, “…82 black lawyers were admitted to the bar. In the previous 25 years, just 83 black lawyers had been admitted.” That statement was written in a report by Judge Ricardo Jackson.

  Wanting to connect the faculty, students and the community, Peter organized an art project for students to design the Temple “T” that is now a recognizable image we see on banners and billboards all throughout the city. Investing close to $1 billion in residential units and other construction projects, residents of Philadelphia began to see Temple’s borders expanding and the population on campus increasing.

The Liacouras Center/Patrick Clark

The Liacouras Center/Patrick Clark

  Peter Liacouras believed that if the athletic teams at Temple University were competitive, the university would become better. He focused a lot of his attention on building the reputation of his Division I sports teams. Great athletics would not only bring money and students to the university, but also prestige. He had great success in improving the college in many ways, but improving the sports programs would prove to be the most challenging. The team that would be the most challenging to redefine as a formidable program was the lackluster football program.

  The Temple football team began in 1930, and they played in 68 seasons. There was no team from 1952 – 1971. The team’s first coach was Henry Miller, who spent three seasons in charge. According to sports-reference.com, Miller’s overall record was 20-5-3, which is a win percentage of 76.8 percent. This is the best win percentage of any head coach of the Owls for the 65 years following Miller’s tenure.

  Temple began as an independent team, meaning that they did not belong to an NCAA conference. Temple would remain independent from 1930 through 1999. While this may seem like a long time to play without being in a conference, there were not many conferences that Temple could have joined. Early conferences did not extend as far as to include a Philadelphia team, excluding the Big 10 Conference, but that was founded 34 years before Temple even had a program. Temple missed out on joining the Atlantic Coast Conference in 1953, the Ivy League in 1954, the American Athletic Conference in 1979, the Northeast Conference in 1981, the Colonial Athletic Association in 1983 and the Patriot League in 1986.

  The Big East Conference was founded in 1979 but only operated as a basketball conference. In 1991, the Big East started incorporating football into its athletic sponsorship, and Temple University became a member in its inaugural season. By this time, Temple had its eighth coach.

/Patrick Clark

/Patrick Clark

  Jerry Brandt coached Temple from 1989 to 1992: two seasons without a conference and two seasons in the Big East. Coach Brandt led the Temple Owls to season records of 1-10, 7-4, 2-9, and 1-10. The next coach of Temple’s football team would be Rob Dickerson (14.5 win pct.) for five seasons. Based on win percentage, Rob Dickerson is the worst Temple football coach to date. With a record of 8-47-0, the Owls looked to rebuild their program with a new head coach in 1998 when they hired Bobby Wallace.

  At this point, Peter Liacouras was nearing the end of his second decade as the president of Temple University. After Wayne Hardin coached the Owls to a victory in the Garden State Bowl in 1979, the team progressively became worse and worse throughout the tenure of Liacouras’s presidency. Unfortunately, his vision of seeing a successful football team at Temple was not coming to fruition. Bobby Wallace coached through the end of Liacouras’s presidency and into the first five years of his time as chancellor. Bobby Wallace (21.1 win pct.) had eight unsuccessful years as head coach. In fact, Temple was kicked out of the Big East after the 2004 season for performing at a consistently uncompetitive level. In Wallace’s last season in 2005, Temple was independent from any conference and had a record of 0-11. It is the only Temple University football team to lose every single game in a season.

  Finally in 2006, the vision of football success was finally looking promising. Al Golden (44.3 win pct.) took over the team, and in his first season Temple went 1-11, independent from any conference. In Golden’s second season, Temple was a part of the Mid-American Conference and improved their record to 4-8. The team would improve until their loss in the EagleBank Bowl in 2009 after a 9-4 season. It had been 20 years between Bowl appearances for the Owls, and the future was looking bright. Al Golden decided to continue coaching at Temple, despite being considered by other colleges for a job. In 2010, Al Golden extended his contract through 2014. Temple University finally had some momentum and a foundation to build on for years to come.

  After a second straight season with an 8-4 record, Golden left to coach the Miami Hurricanes, seven months after he extended his contract with Temple. Golden’s replacement was Steve Addazio, a successful high-school football coach who won multiple championships. Golden would not remain as successful as he was at Temple at his new home in Miami, although he did have two bowl game appearances.

  Steve Addazio (54.2 win pct.) led the Temple Owls to the New Mexico Bowl in his first season as head coach in 2011. The team had a record of 9-4, and for the first time since 1979, they won a bowl game. It was one of the university’s two bowl wins ever, and it was the third bowl appearance in the team’s 64-season history.

The Liacouras Center/Patrick Clark

The Liacouras Center/Patrick Clark

  The success of Steve Addazio’s first season earned Temple a place back in the Big East Conference in 2012. Facing tougher competition in the Big East, the Owls only went 4-7 in 2012. Steve Addazio decided to leave to coach in Boston at the end of the year. Temple University was about to hire its third coach in four years.

  Temple had a new coach in Matt Rhule, and they were in a newish conference. College football conferences had major adjustments between 2012 and 2013. Some schools left their former conferences for ones with more money, and others left to join conferences with better competitive opportunities. Temple University’s football team was now a part of the American Athletic Conference. In Matt Rhule’s first season, the Owls went 2-10.

  After their worst season in seven years, Temple improved to 6-6 in the 2014 season. Even though Matt Rhule’s team did not play in a bowl game that year, the team’s future appeared optimistic for the first time in what felt like longer than it actually was. The football team had a record of 7-4 in 1990, but the next time they would reach that win total was under Al Golden in 2009. When he abruptly moved on to another coaching job, Temple struck gold in Steve Addazio. However, moving into a significantly tougher conference pushed him to pursue better personal opportunities. The Temple football roller coaster was finally ascending again, but under Matt Rhule, the feeling was different and more secure.

Liacouras Walk/Patrick Clark

Liacouras Walk/Patrick Clark

  The 2015 season was the pinnacle of Temple football in a generation. The team went 10-4 and appeared in the Boca Raton Bowl. 10 victories matched the school record for most in a season. The Owls opened the season by handling Penn State in a 17-point victory. Temple won their next game in a conference matchup, and then another two victories accumulated. At 4-0, Temple dismantled their conference opponent Tulane at home, defeating them 49-10. After winning their next game, Temple football was still undefeated at 6-0. Temple was now ranked number 22 in the nation entering their seventh game of the season, in which they defeated their fourth conference opponent of the season.

  At 7-0, spirits were high, and number 9-ranked Notre Dame came to Philadelphia to give the Owls their first loss of the season: a four-point nail-biter. Temple won three of the next four games and earned their best ranking of the season at number 20 in the country. The season would not have a storybook ending, as Temple lost the final game of the season and then their matchup against Toledo in the Boca Raton Bowl. Although Temple football has had high hopes in the past that turned out to not live up to the expectations, the 2016 season stands to be a pivotal moment for the Owls.

  Matt Rhule has loyalty to the team and seems committed to his contract that would keep him the coach through 2021. The biggest difference entering this season is that it will be the first one without Peter Liacouras at the University in over three decades. At the very least, Liacouras was able to see his vision at last. After years of dreaming of a competitive athletic program at Temple University, his final memories are of a great football season followed by an exciting March Madness tournament for the basketball team.

  The vision of Liacouras may have even grown bigger since his death in May. 17 schools are interviewing for the chance to join the Big 12 Conference. Of the hopefuls, Temple University has a chance to become the newest member. Philly.com explains that Temple is in the number-four television market in the United States. In addition to having strong academic programs, Temple has a large student body, an up-and-coming program, and sits in a metropolitan region with an enormous population.

  Considering the lack of success and consistency from the Temple football team, do not be shocked if they do not make it into the Big 12 this season. Matt Rhule has only a 47.4 win percentage, but that includes a 2-10 season. He won half of his games in his second season and over 70 percent of his games in 2015. In the last two seasons, the Temple Owls have won 61 percent of their games.

  Nothing would be sweeter than seeing Temple’s football team grow exponentially in one season by joining an elite conference. Regardless of the outcome of the Big 12 decision, the 2016 season is shaping up to be an important one. Will the Owls continue to succeed, or will they lose momentum again like we have seen in the past?

/Patrick Clark

/Patrick Clark

  It is not entirely clear which team(s) will be added to the Big 12 Conference. Considering that the Big 12 only has 10 teams, one would imagine that they would add two teams to give their name some relevance. If Temple remains in their current conference, the AAC, they would be in the sixth-best conference in the country according to bleacherreport.com. The Big 12 is considered the third-best conference in the country, behind only the Big 10 (with 14 teams) and the SEC, which has been the conference of  8 of the past 10 National Champions.

  Although it took a long time, Peter Liacouras was successful in creating a better Temple University, not only in sports but in all aspects. Temple University, along with the community, has a lot of things to look forward to in the upcoming years. While many people still see the growth of Temple as a negative occurrence, there are benefits to the changing community.

  As many may remember, groups of protesters gathered in April to fight the construction of a new football stadium for the Owls. Individuals at the protest held signs that questioned the priorities of Temple University. Large banners that read “Down With The Stadium” were carried by marchers. People in favor of a growing university and new football stadium would argue that there will be positive economic effects from the new construction. However, those against the university growth would ask, “Positive economic effects for whom?”

  Hopefully in the near future, the university and community will learn how to blend together painlessly. The work of Peter Liacouras and the revitalization of the Temple Owls football team are two things that can be seen as success stories to the neighborhood and city as a whole. The Big 12 decision is sure to bring extra excitement to the new football season as well as more controversy about how this ever growing university fits into the neighborhood.

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