NCAAF Temple Owls

Team History

back to 1894. Henry J. “Heinie” Miller began coaching the Owls in 1925. He coached eight seasons and led the Owls to monstrous wins including a 110-0 win against Blue Ridge College. He finished his career with a 50-15-8 overall record. 

The Owls hired Glenn “Pop” Warner as their head coach in 1933. Warner had previous stops at Pittsburg and Stanford, winning three championships. Warner brought instant success to the Owls program. In ‘34, he led the Owls to an undefeated 7-0-2 season. Additionally, they clinched a berth in the first-ever Sugar Bowl. Warner left in 1938 with a 31-18-2 record in his six seasons. But the 40s, 50s and early 60s were dark for the Owls. They only enjoyed a handful of winning seasons. 

From the 60s On

George Makris coached from 1960-1969, and the Owls had some success during that time, including a Middle Atlantic Conference championship in 1967. 

Wayne Hardin took over in 1970. Over his first two seasons, the Owls went a combined 17-3 and went on a 14-game win streak at one point. The year 1979 was special because they won 10 games, the most in Owls’ history. Hardin was successful at Temple and finished with a 80-52-3 career record. 

The Owls didn’t have a single winning season in the 1980s or 1990s with the exception of 1990. They joined the Big East in 1991 and would stay there before going independent in 2005. 

In the 2000s

Al Golden was named head coach in 2006 and held the post until 2010. The Owls weren’t good initially under Golden but they improved year after year. After the 2006 season, the Owls joined the Mid Atlantic Conference. In 2009, he led the Owls to a 9-4 record, their first winning season since 1979. Additionally, they were invited to play in the EagleBank Bowl against UCLA. In 2010, Golden led the Owls to their second straight winning season after finishing 8-4. Golden finished his career with a 27-34 record before taking the head coaching job at Miami (FL). 

Matt Rhule took over in 2013 and the Owls joined the American Athletic Conference. Rhule had slow, first two seasons but did great work in recruiting. In his third season, he finally broke through and brought a winning season to Temple. They finished with a 10-4 overall record, 7-1 conference record and won the eastern division of the AAC in both 2015 and 2016. In 2016, they went on to beat Navy in the AAC championship  game. Rhuled accepted the head coaching job at Baylor. He finished with a 28-23 overall record, a 19-13 conference record and 0-1 in bowl game record.

Geoff Collins coached the Owls in 2017 and 2018. He finished with winning records in both seasons. In his first season, they were invited to the Gasparilla Bowl, where they beat FIU 28-3. Collins accepted the Georgia Tech head coaching job in December of 2018. 

Rod Carey coaches from 2019-2021. His first season was fairly successful. The Owls went 8-5, beat multiple ranked teams and were invited to the Military bowl, where they fell to UNC. The Owls went a combined 4-15 during the rest of his tenure and he was fired in 2021.