Former Temple head coach Steve Addazio

The Temple University football team is looking for a new head coach as Steve Addazio has resigned to take the job at Boston College. In two seasons on North Broad, Addazio was 13-11 including a 4-7 record this season as the Owls marked a return to the Big East. Picked to finish last in the eight-team league, the Owls were 2-5 which was good enough for sixth.

“Steve Addazio has done a tremendous job with Temple Football in his two years at the University, and we wish him nothing but the best,” said Temple University Director of Athletics Bill Bradshaw in a press release. “Temple Football has never been stronger, and I am confident we will be able to attract a high-level pool of candidates for the position and the program will continue its upward momentum.”

The new coach will inherit a team that is freshman and sophomore heavy but one that needs to settle on a quarterback. In the season finale against Syracuse, just six of 22 starters were seniors and only 12 seniors were making the finale appearance as Owls by contrast 19 freshman – 13 of whom were true freshman – played in the game. Under center, the Owls have Juice Granger, who started the final two games, Chris Coyer, who started nine games this year, and Penn State transfer Kevin Newsome in the mix.

“There’s a lot of buzz about our program,” Addazio said at his season wrap-up press conference. “I had a chance to talk to a lot of guys I know in the league and they all say the same thing to me, ‘you’ve got a good young football team, your kids are tough and they compete,’ it’s a resounding theme. We’re a little young and missing a few parts.”

In his first season with the Owls, Addazio guided them to a 9-4 mark including a win in the New Mexico Bowl over Wyoming. It was the first bowl win for the school since the 1979 Garden State Bowl.

Prior to joining the Owls, Addazio, a native of Fairfield, CT, was offensive coordinator at the University of Florida. He’s also coached at Syracuse, Notre Dame and Indiana. He began his collegiate coaching career in his home state at Western Connecticut under current University of Connecticut head coach Paul Pasqualoni. As a head coach at the high school level in Connecticut, Addazio won three state titles.

Addazio takes over a program that was 2-10 in 2012 but was bowl eligible every year from 1999 to 2010.

“Coach Addazio genuinely cares about his students and will facilitate their development in meaningful ways to create a family culture,” said Brad Bates, the Boston College Director of Athletics, in a statement. “He has a passion that is contagious and an energy that will motivate those fortunate to meet him. He is a proven winner with an extensive history of success as an assistant and head coach.”

e-mail Rock Hoffman at RDVSports@yahoo.com