University announces staff promotions

The university announced the promotion of seven staff members Tuesday.

Former Director of Football Operations Sean Padden and Lee Roberts, who served as the assistant athletics director, were both promoted to the athletic department’s senior staff.

“My philosophy has always been to reward good people and promote from within whenever possible,” Athletic Director Pat Kraft said in a university-issued statement. “So I am extremely happy to be able to do that with these key individuals.”

Padden has been promoted to associate athletic director/chief of staff, where he will have varsity sport oversight of football and work with Kraft on various projects.

Roberts, the new associate athletics director for facilities and event management, will oversee the maintenance and upkeep of the university’s athletic facilities and game operations of all athletic events.

Denise Fitzpatrick, Bryan Kulp, Quinton Smith, Morgyn Seigfried and Scott Wallace were the other five staff members promoted.

Foley leaves for Lafayette

Kristen Foley has been named an assistant coach for the Lafayette College women’s basketball team.

Foley, the former Senior Associate Athletic Director who supervised women’s basketball, crew, rowing and women’s volleyball, is being sued — alongside the university and former track & field coach Eric Mobley — by former athlete, Ebony Moore for $10 million in damages on charges of harassment, sexual harassment and gender-based discrimination.

Moore, competed as a discuss thrower for the women’s track and field team from 2009-2011. During her time with the Owls she claims she was subject to bullying, sexual harassment and neglect which led to a near suicide attempt. These issues were ignored by the administration when Moore brought them to Foley.

A 2014 investigation by The Temple News into the university’s men’s and women’s track & field teams found that Mobley, who coached men’s and women’s track & field until his resignation in June 2014, was accused of verbal abuse, intimidation and dereliction of his coaching duties.

The report also found that Foley was informed of student complaints on multiple occasions, but Mobley remained in his position until June 2014.

Before the allegations, Foley, who coached the women’s basketball team from 1995 to 2000, oversaw the track & field team. But on July 1, 2014, she was removed from the role and was replaced by Senior Associate Athletic Director Joe Giunta as the department’s track & field administrator.

Foley will coach at Lafayette alongside coach Theresa Grentz, who she played for at Rutgers University while leading the Lady Knights to consecutive NCAA Elite Eight appearances in 1986 and 1987.

Following her playing career, Foley was an assistant coach at Rutgers under Grentz for three years.

Temple Alum Harvey Pollack Died on Tuesday

This past Tuesday, Naismith Hall of Fame basketball statistician and Temple alum Harvey Pollack died at the age of 93.

Pollack, who received a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Temple in 1943, had been hospitalized since he suffered injuries in a car accident on New Year’s Day.

During his time as a student at Temple, Pollack worked as a manager for several Temple athletic teams including basketball. After graduation Pollack worked as Temple’s official football scorer until 2010. He was inducted into the Temple Athletics Hall of Fame in 2001.

Pollack is the only statistician inducted into the basketball Hall of Fame. His most impactful contribution to the sport may be the introduction of statistics such as minutes played, rebounds, steals, turnovers and blocked shots.

Former running back arrested on trafficking charges

Former Temple running back Matt Brown was one of two men arrested on numerous human trafficking and prostitution charges Thursday.

According to a report from Baltimore’s WBAL-TV 11, Brown and 30-year-old Anthony Leon Eley Jr., Brown and Eley Jr. brought three girls – ages 14, 16 and 17 – to a Baltimore hotel room. Police said one of the girls asked for money.

Vice detectives had responded to an advertisement known to be used by prostitutes and arranged a meeting at the hotel, leading to the arrests. According to the report, both men told police they knew the girls were underage and taking part in prostitution.

Brown, a 25-year-old Baltimore resident, was a special-teams standout for the football team from 2009-2012, and is the school’s fourth-best all-time leading rusher. He signed for the NFL’s Tampa Bay Buccaneers in May 2013, but was released prior to the start of the season. He also had a brief stint with the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League from 2013-14, but failed to appear in a game before his release in June 2014.

Brown was released on bail Thursday night and will await a May 19 trial in Baltimore. His father, Warren Brown, is a Baltimore attorney.

Brown marks the second former Temple running back arrested in three days, and the fourth Temple-affiliated player arrested this week.

The school’s second-highest all-time leading rusher, former running back Bernard Pierce, was arrested on DUI charges early Wednesday morning. He was released by the Baltimore Ravens later that day, the team with which he had spent the entirety of his three-year NFL career.

Pierce rushed for 532 yards and averaged 4.9 yards per carry as a rookie in 2012, but his numbers progressively dipped through his next two seasons as Baltimore’s backup running back.

On Monday night, current Temple players Dion Dawkins and Haason Reddick were arrested on aggravated assault and related charges stemming from an incident at an off-campus party in Philadelphia’s Northern Liberties section in January. Both players were released on bail Monday night and will appear in court for a preliminary hearing March 31.

They have been suspended from the team, but still remain on the roster.

Athletics hires new Olympic strength & conditioning coach

Senior Associate Director of Athletics Joe Giunta announced the hire of Tim Teefy as Temple’s head Olympic strength and conditioning coach Monday afternoon.

Teefy comes to Temple after spending three years at Villanova in the same role.  At Villanova, Teefy was in charge of administering all aspects of the strength and conditioning department involving all of its 19 Division I sports. Temple now funds 19 Division I sports following the elimination of five programs last summer.

Prior to working at Villanova, Teefy spent three years at High Point University in North Carolina, and made stops on the strength and conditioning staffs at George Washington University and Georgetown University.

Teefy is a graduate of West Virginia University with a bachelor’s degree in physical education and sports management. He went on to earn a master’s degree at West Chester University in kinesiology and exercise physiology, and is certified as a strength and conditioning specialist.

Campus Recreation adds three cut sports, six total clubs

Campus Recreation is adding six clubs to its club sport program, a source close to the department told The Temple News Tuesday.

Baseball, softball and men’s track & field, all victims of the Dec. 6, 2013 athletic cuts, will be among the new additions, along with men’s and women’s racquetball, men’s and women’s CrossFit and men’s wrestling. Men’s gymnastics, also a cut sport as a result of the December announcement, was announced as a club sport in April.

The move comes after Campus Recreation announced the hiring of Sarah Shouvlin as the department’s Assistant Director for Sport Clubs last week, working under Sport Club Coordinator Peter Derstine.

Check back soon for updates.

Alum named to new Athletics posititon

After a stint of nearly three years as the Business Manager for Temple Athletics, the department recently promoted the Temple alum (’08) to Associate Athletics Director for Finance and Administration.

A sport and recreation management major in his time at Temple, Theiss will serve as the Chief Financial Officer of the department, responsible in part for managing the university’s $44 million athletic budget as well as overseeing the athletics business office.

“Tim is an extremely hard worker, and has proven invaluable during his time here at Temple,” Vice President and Athletic Director Kevin Clark said in a statement. “His knowledge of the field, and of the inner-workings of Temple Athletics make him the perfect fit for the position.”

Before hiring on with the department in 2011, Theiss had held positions in the ticket and business offices at Rutgers and Villanova from his graduation in 2008.

“I’m very grateful for this opportunity,” Theiss said, per press release, “and I’m excited to continue working for my alma mater.”

Dunphy, Addazio were top earning Temple employees in 2012-13

According to Temple, men’s basketball coach Fran Dunphy and former football coach Steve Addazio were the two highest paid employees at the university during the 2012-13 fiscal year.

With a salary of $1.3 million, Dunphy made slightly more than Addazio, who earned gross earnings of $1.2 million during the fiscal year. Both coaches received huge pay increases from the previous fiscal year in which Dunphy and Addazio earned $659,000 and $612,414, respectively.

Before Addazio’s arrival, former football coach Al Golden took the banner as the highest paid university employee with gross earnings of $898,031 during the 2010-11 fiscal year. Addazio left Temple after the 2012 season for a head coaching position at Boston College, while Golden left after the 2010 season to fill the head coaching post at the University of Miami.

According to a USA Today study, Addazio’s salary, while high for University standards, ranked relatively low in the Big East with coaches earning as much as $2.3 million in 2012-13.

Among disclosed salaries, the Big East average was $1.6 million in coaches’ gross earnings, with Louisville head coach Charlie Strong’s $2.3 million topping the list.

Dunphy’s salary among the Owls’ former conference, the Atlantic 10, was below the disclosed salaries of Virginia Commonwealth’s Shaka Smart and Butler’s Brad Stevens, according to a Lansing State Journal study. Smart and Stevens’ earned $1.3 and $1.1 million, respectively.

-E.J. Smith

Theobald calls for meeting with cut teams

President Theobald has called for a meeting with coaches and student-athletes from the seven disbanded sports programs.

According to coaches, the meeting is scheduled for Tuesday at the Liacouras Center and will consist of 15 minute presentations for each team. Each coach will be able to bring two selected student-athletes.

Coaches were informed via e-mail that the university would be represented by multiple members of the administration.

Sophomore Evan Hammond of the men’s crew team said he hopes that this meeting will provide the disbanded teams answers.

“All the athletes want this decision overturned,” Hammond said. “If there is anything we can do to make that happen, we want to know what it is and how to get it done.”

However, Hammond believes the meeting could be nothing but an attempt to save face.

“I think the presentation will probably just be a justification of the cuts,” he said. “Based on the way this was handled, this seems purely a PR move.”

E.J. Smith

‘T7’ formed to fight athletic cuts

A new group, named the “T7 Council” was recently formed by parents and alumni in an effort to bring attention to the recent athletic cuts at the university.

The organization recently invited members of the Board of Trustees to an open discussion on Jan. 23. Because of a lack of publicly listed emails for board members, the group says it spent a large sum of money shipping the letters via Fed-Ex to each member.

Below is a copy of the letter: 

Dear Honored Servants and Dedicated Staff of Temple University,
 
We are the T7 Council (“T7”).  We are a small coalition of parents and alumni/ae, approved by coaches of the Temple 7, namely, the seven sports teams which Athletic Director Kevin Clark announced the elimination of at his December 6, 2013 speech to the affected student-athletes.  The T7 has come into existence to represent the interests of the Temple 7, to streamline communication amongst the various affected parties and to allow the coaches of the Temple 7 to concentrate on coaching and let others work towards the common goal of reinstating the Temple 7 to Varsity status.
 
We write to you concisely voicing the concern, universally expressed, of all behind the #SaveTempleAthletics movement, from students, to parents, alumni/ae (former student-athletes and not), TU staff, TU educators, Philadelphia residents, Pennsylvania citizens, fellow athletic supporters nationally and internationally on an individual basis, and national sports organizations.  This enormous concern is the abject refusal of the Board of Trustees to discuss this determination in the decision-making stage with anyone outside of the AD/President/Board of Trustees’ offices and their researchers, and since the announcement, to continually publicly declare their refusal to revisit the decision in any manner.
 
We know many have written to and called you individually asking for relief, most of which correspondence has been either unanswered or summarily denied.  We know that very recently there have been some discussions about certain possibilities going forward.  However, all of your communications have been conducted with secrecy and behind closed doors.  To date there has been no effective ability to establish a public, polite dialogue between TU and the vast majority of those concerned.  For this reason, the T7 has been established. 
 
We believe and agree with President Theobald’s recent words (responding to the ASA boycott of Israeli academic institutions):
 “[O]nly by engaging with one another can we build a deeper level of understanding and live up to the highest ideals of the worldwide academic community.”  
 
Accordingly, we ask permission to engage with you in a Special Meeting of the Board of Trustees of Temple University on January 23, 2014.  In the alternative, we ask permission to engage with you in the scheduled Executive Committee meeting of the same date.
 
We have information on costs and funding sources regarding the Temple 7 that we would like to compare with the AD’s data, and see if it represents new ideas and income.  If so, it is in the best interest of TU, and the Trustees, to meet with us to hear this information and formulate a plan together.  
 
Twenty years ago, TU decided that 10 teams were the sacrificial lamb to be offered up for slaughter to appease the polygods of fiscal balance, Title IX and sports conferences/media contracts.  However, the teams were then engaged in discussion, given time to fundraise, and with that success they have operated for these intervening years.  Twenty years of student-athlete graduates, going into the world, happily sharing their stories of their time at Temple, ambassadors in every sense of the word.
 
In the weeks since your December 6 announcement, Temple has had lights shining upon it.  Unfortunately for you, they have mostly been klieglights.  Additionally, you have suffered under a blitzkrieg of attention from the press, most of it bad (see attached list).  We offer you the opportunity to come into safe, natural daylight, to discuss openly, and problem-solve creatively.  We have a very, very large base of supporters who are eagerly awaiting our announcement of your answer.  We welcome your response, individually or as a group, sent to us at this email address:
 
 
Thank you for your service to the University to date.
 
Respectfully submitted,
 
T7 Council