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He was no longer Anonymous Al as he vacationed at the beach or waited at the airport. He was ''Coach Golden!'' with maybe a shout of ''Temple!'' and a fist pump in his direction as he worked his way through the day.
Al Golden was getting recognized this summer as coach of the Temple Owls.
Yes, these days at the long rundown program, that's a good thing.
The Owls are surrounded by billboards and buzz entering a season where they've positioned themselves as a serious threat to win the Mid-American Conference and maybe - don't laugh - keep building toward Golden's goal of blossoming into the non-BCS powerhouse of the Northeast.
''One day, we want to be considered in the same breath as TCU and Utah and Boise State,'' Golden said.
One day.
This season, the Owls simply want to grow off a breakthrough 2009 season when they had their first winning record (9-4, 7-1 MAC) since 1990 and played in their first bowl game (a loss to UCLA in the EagleBank Bowl) since 1979.
As former Temple football player and comic Bill Cosby said last year: ''Our players catch balls now.''
The days of expecting the worst - from the number in the win column to the grades on exam sheets - appear extinct at Temple. Golden first razed the program, then raised the program to a level where top high school talent is taking an interest and major BCS programs are interested in prying away Temple's still youthful and exuberant coach.
''It's amazing how we've gone from, 'Coach, can you just make us competitive? Coach, can you graduate the players? Coach, can you make sure the kids stay out of trouble? To Coach, how come you didn't win 10 games last year? Or, can we go to a warmer bowl game?''' Golden said.
With winning comes lofty expectations. The Owls were picked in a poll of the league's media contingent to win the MAC's East division and they received votes in The Associated Press preseason poll. Put in perspective, Temple's nine wins last year were one more than Golden led them to in his first three seasons combined (10-26).
''It's amazing how the bar raises and we're OK with that,'' he said. ''It just means that we're relevant and it means that we have considerably more talent than we did the last three or four years.''
His players couldn't walk a few blocks around campus without hearing someone poke fun at them for all their losing. The Owls now face demand for bowl tickets and better seats for Friday's opener against Villanova in the Mayor's Cup.
When Golden left his job as defensive coordinator at Virginia, he assumed the Owls would have a few bowl berths by now. He envisioned a three-year plan when he took over a program that was nearly scrapped early last decade.
Instead, he found carnage.
''I had no idea to the extent of how bad it was,'' Golden said. ''The talent was really bad. We were losing scholarships. We had to devote so much time to academics that there really wasn't a balance.''
Temple's revival has made Golden one of the hottest prospects around.
He's talked in the past to UCLA and Notre Dame, among other schools, about coaching vacancies only to stay put in Philadelphia. Fans and critics have waiting for Golden to take the leap from a MAC program to one in the Big East or Pac-10 or wherever the next big high-profile gig might await.
What did he do instead? Golden signed a five-year contract extension with the Owls through the 2014 season.
''Hey, I'm going to the Jersey Shore,'' Golden said, laughing. ''You can get fresh mozzarella around here and the pizza tastes good.''
He's not done with the Owls, either.
Last year was a first step, not a culmination.
Golden is quick to note the Owls didn't win the MAC, didn't win a bowl game, didn't beat Penn State.
Of course, speculation is rampant that Golden has stuck around because the former Penn State captain might be in line to succeed Joe Paterno. Golden called his former coach ''an amazing man'' and wished him well this season, but otherwise sidestepped questions about JoePa for fear it might fuel the rumor boards.
This was the first summer that Golden and his staff were able to escape for a few weeks and take vacation. There's always work to be done, but there were no off-field distractions, academic obstacles or serious concerns about poor decision-making with what he calls his most mature team yet.
When Golden gathered the Owls for the start of training camp, he told them there was good news and bad news: The Owls started practice with a well-rested coaching staff.
Golden made news early in camp when he demoted running back Bernard Pierce to the second team. Pierce missed practice time with an injury and Matt Brown was promoted to the No. 1 back.
Pierce, though, is no ordinary running back. He had 1,361 yards rushing and 16 touchdowns last season to lead Temple's renaissance. The Owls spent nearly $100,000 on billboards and ads at bus and train stops around the city to promote Pierce as a Heisman Trophy candidate and launched www.pierce4heisman.com.
Pierce is still expected to start Friday's opener against the FCS champion Wildcats.
''I wouldn't say he's hard on us,'' Pierce said of Golden. ''He talks to you like a man. He doesn't belittle anybody. He doesn't yell unless he's on the field trying to get your attention.''
Like Los Angeles Lakers coach Phil Jackson, Golden is an avid reader who passes out motivational books to his players. Books written by or about President Barack Obama, W.E.B. Dubois and other black historic figures litter a table on the waiting room to the football office. On a recent visit, a post-it note was attached to a Sports Illustrated cover story on troubled Pittsburgh Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger that read: ''Here's how not to behave.''
Yup, Golden wants his players to learn how to steer clear of trouble, too.
If the Owls are going crack the AP poll for the first time since 1979 and earn a spot in a warmer bowl game, they need to survive a tricky start to the season. The Owls play a Wildcats team that beat them last season, then its back-to-back games vs. Connecticut (9/18) and at Penn State (9/25).
Temple officials say more than 25,000 tickets have already been sold to Friday's opener, a nice sign that the Owls are inching their way toward sports relevance in a crowded market.
The Owls believe they won't be a one-year wonder.
''People are actually looking at Temple now as a good school for football,'' Pierce said.
