We’re used to coaches competing for just about everything in college football but we might soon be upon an age where everybody at the FBS level is going after... passport stamps?
Well, maybe not but at least head coaches are broadening the horizons for some of their players as overseas trips become more and more common for football programs like they are for numerous other NCAA sports who often tour abroad for a few weeks each offseason. Temple just recently returned from a trip to Tokyo, Japan as part of some clinics put on by the school and it sounds like everything went so well that head coach Geoff Collins told The Athletic’s Bruce Feldman and Stewart Mandel that he’s already planning for next year’s edition in a pretty cool locale.
“We’ve got a campus on Rome so we’re going to go to Italy next summer. It will be a blast,” said Collins. “We took eight (players) to Tokyo so I’m shooting for 12 the next time since it was such a success.”
The Owls’ excursions overseas are certainly scaled down from what we’ve seen from programs like Michigan, which just recently returned from France as part of their second big trip across the pond. Still, Collins will be the second major football coach to take his team to Rome and if he can wind up meeting the Pope like Jim Harbaugh did on his team’s trip two years ago, then it will be a rousing success for the school and will probably lead to even more teams doing the same.
If nothing else, it’s quite the carrot on the stick for Owls players letting the destination slip out. If you thought guys practiced hard before, imagine telling them a trip to Italy is on the line this fall...