This Sunday, history will be made for Temple football when Matt Rhule of the Carolina Panthers takes on Bruce Arians of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers who both previously coached at Temple before transitioning to the NFL.
For the first time in 17 years, two head coaches who previously coached at the same college will be facing each other in an NFL game. The last time this occurred was September 21, 2003 when the Cleveland Browns led by Butch Davis played Dennis Erickson’s San Francisco 49ers.
This is not Bruce Arians first stint as an NFL head coach, he previously coached the Arizona Cardinals back in 2013. Arians hired many Owls during his time in Arizona and has followed the same formula with the Bucs. Arians has hired over 7 staff members who previously called Temple home including Keith Armstrong, Todd Bowles, Clyde Christiansen, Lori Locust, Todd McNair, Nick Rapone, and Kevin Ross.
On the other side of Sunday’s matchup will be Matt Rhule, who was hired by the Carolina Panthers back on January, 7 of this year. He will be looking to bounce back with a win after a tough defeat to the Las Vegas Raiders.
Rhule has followed the same formula as Arians filling many of his staff with members who have Temple roots. His staff includes E.J. Barthel, Evan Cooper, Matt Delgado, Ed Foley, Al Holcomb, Frisman Jackson, Jeff Nixon, Sean Padden, Marcus Satterfield, Jeremy Scott, Mike Siravo, Phil Snow, and Pat Stewart.
Rhule has kept his ties close to Temple after hiring a lot of his staff and explained what makes Temple Football a great program. “Temple’s about great people and I think its because you have to be a tough person to go to Temple, you have to be a person who gets things done and that’s what our staff has tried to be,” said Rhule.
He also added that the reason Arians and himself have many staff members who were with them at Temple and now in the NFL is because when they were on 10th and Diamond, they built something special together.
The matchup Sunday also features many former Owls including WR Robby Anderson, SAF Sam Franklin, WR Keith Kirkwood (IR), TE Colin Thompson, QB Phillip Walker, LB Tahir Whitehead who play for the Carolina Panthers and Bucs LB Chapelle Russell who is on the teams practice squad.
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