Temple Owls football The Temple Owls football team represents Temple University in the sport of American football . The Temple Owls compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision ( FBS ) of the National Collegiate Athletics Association ( NCAA ) as a member of the Big East Conference . They play their home games at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia , Pennsylvania , and are currently led by head coach Steve Addazio . The Owls were a football - only member of the Big East Conference from 1991 until 2004 . Temple was forced out of the league due to poor attendance averages , non - competitiveness , and a lack of commitment to the football program from university officials . Temple played the 2005 and 2006 seasons as an independent before joining the MAC in 2007 where they resided until the end of the 2011 . On March 7 , 2012 , the Temple Owls rejoined the Big East Conference with football membership beginning in the 2012 season and all other sports beginning conference play in 2013 . History . Although Temple began playing organized football in 1894 , the Owls ' modern era began in 1925 . That was the year that Henry J . " Heinie " Miller was hired as head coach , and for a time , the Owls were a regional power . To start the 1928 season , the Owls moved to Temple Stadium . Miller coached eight seasons and compiled a 50 - 15 - 8 record . Pop Warner era ( 1934 - 1938 ) . Following Miller ' s departure in 1933 , the Owls made a national splash with the hiring of their next coach , the legendary Glenn " Pop " Warner . Warner had spent the previous 19 years at Pittsburgh and Stanford , winning three national championships . He ended his career at Temple , going 31 - 18 - 2 in six seasons . In 1934 , the Owls went 7 - 0 - 2 in the regular season and were invited to play in the inaugural Sugar Bowl on New Year ' s Day , 1935 , where they lost to Tulane , 20 - 14 . George Makris era ( 1960 - 1969 ) . From the time Warner retired at the end of the 1938 season until 1963 , the Owls experienced only 4 winning seasons . The team reached a nadir in the late 1950s , enduring a school record 21 - game losing streak from the last four games of the 1957 season and through the entire 1958 and 1959 seasons . George Makris arrived as head coach to start the 1960 season and won his first game . Makris restored competitiveness to the Owl program , compiling a 10 - year record of 45 - 44 - 4 . Makris ' tenure coincided with Temple ' s 10 years in the University Division of the Middle Atlantic Conference , during which they won the 1967 conference championship . Wayne Hardin era ( 1970 - 1982 ) . After the 1969 season , the Owls became an independent again to upgrade their schedule and compete against the top teams in the East . Under new coach Wayne Hardin , who coached six years at Navy , Temple was up to the challenge . Hardin led the Owls to an 80 - 52 - 3 record over 12 years . Temple went 9 - 1 in 1973 and 8 - 2 in 1974 and won 14 straight games at one point . Temple played regular season games in Japan ' s Mirage Bowl twice , losing 35 - 32 to Grambling in 1977 and beating Boston College 28 - 24 in 1978 . In 1979 , the Owls had a 10 - 2 record and the most wins in school history . The Owls opened the season with a 38 - 16 win at West Virginia and later beat Rutgers ( 41 - 20 ) and Syracuse ( 49 - 17 ) . Temple ' s only losses during the regular season were to nationally ranked Pittsburgh ( 10 - 9 ) and Penn State ( 22 - 7 ) . In the game at Penn State , before a record - setting crowd , the Owls led 7 - 6 at the half . Following the 1979 season , the Owls defeated California 28 - 17 in the second Garden State Bowl . The crowd who witnessed Temple beat California ( 55 , 952 ) was the largest in the short history of that Bowl . Under Hardin , the Owls were one of the more stable Eastern football powers and often defeated local rivals West Virginia , Rutgers and Syracuse . In the 1970s , Temple went 4 - 4 against West Virginia , 2 - 1 against Rutgers , 1 - 1 against Syracuse , 4 - 1 - 1 against Cincinnati and 2 - 0 against Connecticut . Bruce Arians era ( 1983 - 1988 ) . When Hardin retired in 1982 , the Owls hired Bruce Arians - then 30 years old - to succeed him . Arians had some success , beating Pitt three times in his six years on the job . Arians had two winning seasons , going 6 - 5 in 1984 when the defense was ranked 21st in the nation beating East Carolina , Pitt , and West Virginia and 6 - 5 1986 . Unfortunately , Temple ' s six wins in 1986 were later forfeited because the Owls ' roster included an ineligible player . Decline . Jerry Berndt , who took over for Arians in 1989 , led Temple to their last winning season for almost twenty years in 1990 , when the Owls went 7 - 4 . Temple joined the Big East Conference in 1991 , but had difficulty competing against teams with better facilities and bigger budgets . The Owls would not win a conference game until 1995 , and would only win 16 conference games during their 14 - year run in the league . Temple won as many as three league games only once ( 1997 : 3 - 8 , 3 - 4 Big East ) and went winless in league play six times . Overall , they had a 14 - 80 record against Big East foes . Berndt ( 11 - 33 ) , Ron Dickerson ( 1993 - 97 : 8 - 47 ) and Bobby Wallace ( 1998 - 2005 : 19 - 71 ) were unable to halt the decline . Temple went 0 - 11 in Wallace ' s final year . In part due to the Owls ' noncompetitiveness , poor fan support , and lack of institutional support , the Big East voted to expel the Owls at the end of the 2004 season . Al Golden era ( 2006 - 2010 ) . On December 6 , 2005 , Al Golden , then the defensive coordinator for the University of Virginia under Al Groh , was named the new head coach . The Owls lost their first 8 games under Golden before beating Bowling Green during their Homecoming game on October 28 , 2006 . The win snapped a 20 - game losing streak , one game short of the school record . The Owls finished 1 - 11 in Golden ' s first year . The Owls won 4 games in 2007 , including three straight wins at one point in mid - season . During Golden ' s second season , Temple ' s defense was ranked 49th in the nation , as opposed to 118th in 2006 . The offense also improved from 118th to 113th , but it was clear that Temple ' s defense , despite their incredible youth , was the heart of their team . The Owls won 5 games in 2008 , their most since 1990 . After his fourth season , Golden ' s record stood at 19 - 29 . In 2009 , the Owls went 9 - 4 , their best record since 1979 with three of four losses being competitive including a last second loss to VIllanova . The lone exception being a lopsided 31 - 6 loss to a Penn State team that finished 11 - 2 and ranked # 8 . Temple accepted a bid to play in the EagleBank Bowl , where they faced the UCLA Bruins . In the Owls ' first post - season appearance since the 1979 Garden State Bowl , the Owls lost 30 - 21 to the Bruins . In 2010 , the Owls lost a crucial game to Ohio University which would have given them a potential MAC championship . The week after , Temple added another loss to Miami - Ohio , and coupled with losses to Penn State and Northern Illinois , the Owls finished at 8 - 4 for the season but did not receive a Bowl bid . On December 12 , 2010 , Al Golden was hired as the head coach of the University of Miami . Steve Addazio era ( 2011 to present ) . On December 23 , 2010 , a press conference was held on campus to formally introduce Steve Addazio , former two - year offensive coordinator at the University of Florida , to the Temple community . Addazio ' s first season continued to build on Golden ' s success . The team went 9 - 4 going to its 4th bowl game ever , the Gildan New Mexico Bowl . They dominated the University of Wyoming winning their 2nd bowl game ever , the first since the 1979 Garden State Bowl . They showed signs of promise during the year , almost beating Penn State , losing in the last minutes and winning their last 4 games . Beginning in 2012 , Addazio will lead Temple in its return to the Big East Conference . Home Stadium . From 1927 until 1977 , the Owls played at Temple Stadium . In 1978 , they moved to Veterans Stadium . During the 1986 season , the Owls averaged an all - time high of 34 , 543 fans to their games at Veterans Stadium and their games , regularly televised , did well in the local Nielsen ratings . Veterans Stadium remained their home field through the 2002 season . Lincoln Financial Field has been Temple ' s home field since 2003 , with the first home game being the inaugural college game at Lincoln Financial Field between Temple and Villanova , which drew over 30 , 000 fans . The most attended Temple game , with 105 , 950 attendees , occurred November 11 , 2006 at Beaver Stadium , home of Penn State . Temple lost that game 47 - 0 . Nine out of the ten most attended Temple games occurred at Penn State . The largest attended home game was November 10 , 2007 , at Lincoln Financial Field , when the Owls played host to the Penn State Nittany Lions , which had an attendance of 69 , 029 . Temple lost the game 31 - 0 . Media coverage . Eight Temple games were broadcast over Philadelphia television in 2005 , the most in school history . The Temple radio network , which once included 12 stations from as far north as Sayre , PA to as far south as Baltimore , MD , is now down to one flagship station , WPHT 1210 ( AM ) , in Philadelphia . Harry Donahue handles the play - by - play with former Temple Owl Steve Joachim doing the color . WHAT 1340 AM also carries the games . Past play - by - play broadcasters have included Dave Sims , who currently covers college football and basketball for ESPN ; Ron Menchine , the former Navy play - by - play announcer and Howie Herman , currently a sports columnist in Massachusetts . In the Polls . In the 1979 season , Temple finished 10 - 2 and ranked # 17 in both the coaches and AP poll , their only post - season ranking ever .