On February 8th, Temple University President Richard Englert publicly announced our newest commitment to serving Philadelphia: the Temple Promise. This new initiative, which is being applauded by Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro and city of Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle L. Parker, will be implemented in the fall of 2024 to offset the cost of attending our university. All qualifying admitted first-year, full-time students residing in Philadelphia County with a family adjusted gross income of $65,000 or less are eligible for this financial aid award. As a last-dollar financial aid grant, the funds are applied to a student’s financial account after all other grants and scholarships have been awarded and will cover all remaining in-state Pennsylvania tuition and eligible university fees.

This is an amazing example of how Temple University serves the Philadelphia community and it makes all who work here very proud.

We hosted our inaugural Diamond Dreams: Investing in Women’s Sports event at Temple prior to our women's basketball game against USF on February 10. Over 30 former Temple female student-athletes were in attendance for the event which featured a panel discussion with current female student-athletes in Alter Hall, and a tour of campus prior to taking in our win over the Bulls.

“Our first event was a success," said Executive Senior Associate Athletics Director/Senior Women’s Administrator Jessica Reo. "Our goal was to create awareness about the fantastic women’s athletic teams that we sponsor at Temple University, highlighting our women’s rowing program in this inaugural (and recurring yearly) event – and the women’s rowers present were fantastic ambassadors for our women’s teams. A special thank you must be extended to both Kathleen Stengel and Cherifa Howarth for taking the lead on the event and reaching out to their former teammates and friends to get involved.” Stengel (Rowing) and Howarth (Field Hockey) are former student-athletes.

We celebrated Hooter’s birthday last Sunday and what a day it was. Mascots from around the area stopped by to join in the festivities as did Philadelphia’s Mayor Cherelle L. Parker. Our Owls did not let his fellow mascots down as we posted an 83-77 win over visiting UTSA.

Last week Executive Senior Associate Athletics Directors Kristy Bannon and Justin Miller presented Temple Athletics Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) program to the University’s Institutional Advancement team. NIL has quickly become an important component in the fabric of an NCAA Division I institution and I am happy we have two of our knowledgeable and committed administrators spearheading our efforts to ensure we provide education and opportunities for our student-athletes and supporters in this new arena. Thanks to Vice President of Institutional Advancement Mary Burke for inviting Kristy and Justin to educate her team.

Members of the Temple Owls Spirit Squad recently visited Shriners Children's Philadelphia to drop off toys for children. The toys were collected at Temple Men's and Women's Basketball games throughout the season. It always great to see Temple Owls engage with our community.

I am pleased to announce that we have partnered with the City of Philadelphia, the Wells Fargo Center and Subaru Park to support bids as the host to bring future NCAA Championships to Philadelphia. Bids have been submitted to the NCAA to host the Men’s Basketball First and Second Rounds and Regionals at the Wells Fargo Center during the following years: 2027, 2028 and 2029. In addition, we submitted a bid to the NCAA to host the Women’s Lacrosse National Championship at Subaru Park in 2027 and/or 2028. We have a history of successfully hosting NCAA Championships, most recently serving as host for the 2023 Women's Rowing Championship on the Cooper River in Collingswood, N.J. Temple has also served as the host institution for the 2013 First and Second Round Men's Basketball Championship at the Wells Fargo Center, the 2011 and 2005 Women's Basketball Regionals, and the 2003 Men's Gymnastics Championships. I would like to thank theWells Fargo Center, Subaru Park and PHL Sports Executive Director Larry Needle for their leadership and support during this process.

Join me in welcoming Cairo, our newest member of our Temple Men’s Basketball team. Cairo is a Team IMPACT addition to the program and marks the 13th Team IMPACT signee with a Temple varsity team over the last nine years. He will participate in many activities with the Owls, including games, practices, and other team events over the course of the next two years.

I am pleased to announce that we promoted one of our employees, Aly Hinton, to Assistant Athletic Director for Business Operations. Aly has done tremendous work over the past five years and has been instrumental in the inner working of our athletics department.

Temple celebrated the 25th anniversary of it 1999 Men’s Basketball Elite Eight team at our game against Charlotte on Feb. 11. It was a great day with a dozen team members honored at halftime of the game. in attendance for the event as well as members of the head coach John Chaney’s family representing our late Hall of Fame coach.

Men’s Basketball celebrated our beloved mascot, Hooter the Owl’s birthday with an 83-77 win over visiting UTSA Sunday. Coach Fisher’s team has the week off before playing at Wichita State Sunday on ESPN (4 pm).

Women’s Basketball has won three straight and is now tied with North Texas for first place in the American Athletic Conference standings with a 9-4 league mark, 15-10 overall. Coach Richardson’s squad travels to Texas this week for games against UTSA and Rice.

Fencing is currently 24-12 following an impressive 7-2 weekend in North Carolina (Feb. 10-11). The Owls return to dual meet competition this Sunday with the six-team Temple Invitational at McGonigle Hall. The Temple Invitational will feature five of the NCAAs Top 12 teams in #4 Princeton, #6 Penn, #9 Temple, #11 St. John’s and #12 Penn State.

Golf is coming off a ninth-place showing at the Wexford Intercollegiate and returns to competition on March 4 at the Cleveland Golf Palmetto Intercollegiate in Aiken, S.C. on March 4-5.

Gymnastics is coming off a 3-0 showing at its own Ken Anderson Invitational with senior Brooke Donabedian winning two individual events and junior Sarah Stallings posting one event win. The Owls next travel to EAGL rival Towson for a Friday meet.

Women’s Lacrosse defeated Delaware today, 13-8, for its fourth straight win. That matches the best win streak to open a season since 2013. The Owls continue their season-opening seven-game homestand Saturday against #21 Yale (noon).

Men’s Tennis, coming off a 4-3 win over Brown on Feb. 18, returns to action on Mar. 5 against FDU.

After a two-week break, Women’s Tennis returns to the courts this weekend with matches against Norfolk State (Feb. 23) and Howard (Feb. 24) at Penn’s Hecht Center.

Women’s Track, off since Feb. 9-10, travels to Birmingham, Ala. To compete in the 2024 AAC Indoor Track Championships (Feb. 23-25).

Special shoutout to our Athlete of the Weeks since our last edition of From The Nest: Women’s Gymnastics – Brooke Donabedian named OwlSports.com Athlete of the Week (2/19); Women’s Lacrosse – Katie Shallow twice named AAC Defensive Player of the Week (2/12, 2/19); OwlSport.com Athlete of the Week (2/12)

As we approach the start of Spring Football, do not forget to renew your Temple Football season tickets for the 2024 campaign. Our home schedule for the 2024 season includes American Athletic Conference foes: Army, Florida Atlantic, North Texas, and Tulsa. We will also play host to Coastal Carolina and Utah State to round out our full home schedule. We hope you share in our optimism for the coming year and with the support from you and fellow Owls, Lincoln Financial Field will be a great home field environment.

Temple Talk with Adam Fisher debuted on Nov. 2 (6-7 pm) at Maxi’s Pizza, Subs and Bar which is located on the Temple University main campus. (1926 Liacouras Walk). The 12-episode show airs live on The Varsity Network App and is tape-delayed on 1210 AM WPHT, the home of Temple Basketball. Temple Women’s Basketball will be featured on each show with second-year head coach Diane Richardson and players talking about their season.

Reminder that ESPN+ is the home of Temple Athletics. Watch Temple athletics events via an ESPN+ subscription.

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

March Madness is right around the corner and this past weekend I met with my fellow members of the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Committee in preparation for Selection Sunday. It is an honor to represent Temple University and the American Athletic Conference on this prestigious committee. The amount of work and diligence that goes into ensuring the best teams are selected for the NCAA Tournament is daunting, but the committee is up for the challenge.

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