Happy New Year! I hope 2023 is off to a good start for “Owl Nation.” Here at Temple, it has been busy with men’s and women’s basketball opening conference play, fencing, women’s gymnastics and women’s indoor track all starting their seasons. We also welcomed back all student-athletes earlier this week for the start of the spring semester.

Read on for some of our recent highlights!

Monday was a great start to the spring semester as all 19 varsity athletics teams joined athletics staff and coaches to participate in a Day of Service to honor the legacy Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. After listening to three-time Temple grad and letter winner Danny Alotta share his inspirational journey, we left campus and traveled to 15 separate locations to help make an impact within the Philadelphia community.

Congratulations to our student-athletes on an amazing fall semester. The overall grade point average of 3.28 was the highest non-Covid related fall semester on record. I also want to thank Tara Evans and the incredible staff of the Nancy and Donald Resnick Academic Support Center for their service to our student-athletes. Through Tara’s leadership and the support from the Office of Provost, the Resnick Center continues to help our student-athletes find greatness in the classroom.

It was a big day on campus today as we officially introduced Bryan Green as our new men’s soccer coach. We announced Coach Green’s hiring right before the holiday break but waited to formally introduce him to the Temple community at a media conference today so his student-athletes could be in attendance.

Coach Green has everything we are looking for to lead our program. He served as the top assistant at highly successful programs at the University of Louisville and West Virginia University and knows the Philadelphia area having previously served on the staff at Drexel. He also has head coaching experience at Belmont University and Keystone College.

Welcome back to our 10 student-athletes who spent the last week of winter break studying abroad in Barbados. Special thanks to Dr. Debra Blair for serving as the instructor for the course: Culture and Sport in the New Republic of Barbados, as well as Associate Athletics Director for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Student-Athlete Welfare Prince Moody for serving as our athletics representative on the trip.

In the coming weeks a group of twenty student-athletes will begin learning about Italian culture in preparation for a short duration “study abroad” trip to Temple’s Rome campus this spring break. We are very grateful for the partnership with our School of Sport Tourism & Hospitality Management for providing these transformative experiences for students.

Congrats to our spirit squads who competed at the 2023 UCA & UDA College Cheerleading & Dance National Championships this past weekend. Our Cheer squad placed third in the Cheer Game Day Routine category while the Diamond Gems earned a ninth-place finish in the Dance Game Day Routine category.

Men’s Basketball, which has jumped out to a 4-2 record in AAC play, had a heartbreaking loss to Memphis, 61-59, at the buzzer Sunday.

Women’s Basketball dropped its only game last week to East Carolina to fall to 2-2 in conference play.

Fencing, ranked 11th nationally, handed #3 Columbia (14-1) its first loss of the season, 15-12, as the Owls went 2-3 at the Penn State Invitational. Read more here.

Women's Gymnastics saw two athletes earn event victories in a third-place finish at the University of New Hampshire tri-meet. The Owls scored 193.200, falling to UNH (194.475) and Central Michigan (194.100), but got a gold on bars from Sarah Stallings (9.850) and a winning vault from Ashley Glynn (9.850). Read about the meet here.

Women’s Indoor Track competed at the Nittany Lion Challenge with Itasu Shirek and Marissa White earning Top 10 finishes in the 60m (8th) and 400m (4th), respectively. Click here to read more.

Temple Football season ticket holders should have received an email on renewing your tickets for what looks to be an exciting 2023 season. The home schedule features games against the Miami Hurricanes, Akron Zips, Norfolk State Spartans, Navy Midshipmen, SMU Mustangs, UTSA Roadrunners, and Memphis Tigers.

TO RENEW YOUR 2023 FOOTBALL SEASON TICKETS, CLICK HERE OR CALL THE TEMPLE TICKET SALES OFFICE AT 215-204-TIXX (8499)!

One of the biggest topics in college athletics is Name, Image and Likeness (NIL). I recently reached out with a letter to our Owl Family explaining the ways alumni and friends of Temple can assist in this important area. In case you missed it, see the letter at the link below. Please note that donors who contribute to the TUFF Fund do not receive credit from Institutional Advancement.

The NFL playoffs got underway this past Saturday, Sunday, and Monday with six games during wild card weekend. Half of the games featured former Owls with several pairs advancing to the next round. Since Philadelphia and Kansas City earned #1 seeds and a bye, we caught up with former Owls and current Eagles' linebackers Haason Reddick and Shaun Bradley, to discuss their experiences and expectations as the 2022 season continues.

Special shoutout to our Athletes of the Week/Month since our last edition of From The Nest: women's basketball's Tiarra East (December), men’s basketball's Jahlil White (1/3), women’s basketball's Jasha Clinton (1/9) and fencer Eva Ventura (1/16).

Please come out and continue to support all our Temple Athletics teams. Below is a link to our composite schedule.

Missed an edition? See all past newsletters HERE.