Within two days of capping spring football drills in April, Temple’s Matt Rhule was in Blacksburg, Va., meeting with first-year Virginia Tech coach Justin Fuente, one of his closest friends in the coaching profession.
He wanted to follow the Hokies’ practice routine: “I think you get a lot from practice organization,” Rhule said. And he wanted to sit down with Fuente for a mutual meeting of the minds, in the sort of cooperative détente seen among would-be rivals — even if the Owls and Hokies play in different conferences and against different standards for success — during the offseason interlude between spring practice and fall camp.