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There's plenty of justification for it, even if the usually reserved Temple football coach rarely cracks a grin. Golden believes he has assembled a group of players with the potential to change the lingering perceptions of his team.
Lest anyone forget, this is the same Temple program that hasn't posted a winning season since 1990; the same program that carried a 20-game losing streak deep into 2006.
Years of sub-.500 football (17 straight, to be exact) could get swept under the rug this season if Golden has his druthers.
Golden discussed his expectations for the Owls at their annual media day at Lincoln Financial Field.
Golden doesn't wish to paint himself as the Owls' hero. He wasn't wearing a cape or a uniform emblazoned with the letter 'S' on its chest Wednesday when he spoke with reporters. But there is little escaping how much Golden has meant to this program.
As he embarks on his third season at the helm, he acknowledged that his second year here was a season of firsts.
A three-game win streak late last year was the Owls' first since 1990, and they won four games for the first time since a 4-8 campaign in 2002.
As a result, Golden got his first interview for a head-coaching vacancy.
Last winter, Golden visited UCLA, where he was believed to be a top candidate for the position until Rick Neuheisel, a former Bruin, accepted the job.
The call surprised Golden and his players. But not Bill Bradshaw, Temple's athletic director.
When he hired Golden prior to the 2006 season, Bradshaw had a funny feeling that the coach who he thought would eventually turn around the Owls, who vigorously are attempting to shake their perennial doormat moniker within Division I, would punch his own ticket out of North Philadelphia.
"I remember saying to our board at the time, 'You know, if we hire someone who can get it done, he'll be the most coveted coach in America,'" Bradshaw said. "There was only one candidate who I knew could be responsible for such a turnaround and it was him - Al."
Bradshaw admitted the obvious Catch-22 surrounding Temple football. Success this year would present an anomaly. Should they win a number of games, the Owls' time in the national spotlight will increase greatly. Subsequently, so would the amount of attention paid to the coach who got them there.
The inherent problem intertwined with the Owls' rise in rank is keeping Golden firmly rooted along the Temple sidelines. Bradshaw said he and the athletic administration do not have a contingency plan for keeping Golden away from other schools seeking the up-and-coming coach's services.
"No matter how much money you have, there's always someone with more money than you," Bradshaw said. "I don't believe we'll ever be in the arms race, I mean the real arms race, where there are people who fill the stands at 110,000-seat stadiums.
"... I think we needed to hire a person like Al, who wants to be at Temple and believes he can be successful at Temple. We can't worry too much about the long-range stuff, only the here and now."
Golden did not address his offseason interview at UCLA, opting only to speak about the potential of this year's team. He thinks this is the team that will end the ongoing negative stigma surrounding Temple football.
"I struggle to talk about what transpired before I got here," he said. "There wasn't a lot of confidence in terms of football, but I think in our first two seasons, we gained a lot of confidence in how to prepare and how to comport ourselves within the community. We developed a lot of confidence even before we started to win games."
Several of the Owls who have been around throughout Golden's tenure view their coach in various lights.
Some players see at him as a role model. Others see him as a father figure, always implementing his open-door policy. Terrance Knighton sees him as the Owls' coach --- and nobody's else's.
"If something would have worked out otherwise and he would've been happy, fine. But we're happy to have him back here," the senior defensive tackle said. "I know I'm happy to have him back, especially for my senior year."
Kick returner/wide receiver Travis Shelton agreed.
"We never got worried about Coach Golden leaving because this is a tight-knit group, a family, and he's the head of our family," Shelton said.
Call them selfish or call them stuck in routine, but Knighton and Shelton want to graduate with the coach who has carried them through their happier times in cherry and white uniforms.
If that's selfish, than Knighton accepts that label.
"I got that mindset, too, of being all me, me, me and wanting him back," Knighton said. "But deep down, we know Coach Golden wanted to be here. This is home for him."
For how long, no one really knows.
To contact Christopher A. Vito, e-mail cvito@delcotimes.com.
