Temple hires Texas' Stan Drayton as head coach

Temple University has hired Stan Drayton as the school’s next head coach.

Drayton was the running backs coach and run game coordinator at Texas. He brings a pair of national titles during a prolific collegiate coaching career and extensive NFL experience.

Drayton, 50, also has roots in Philadelphia, which was an important part of the decision making process at Temple. He served as the running backs coach at Penn (1995) and Villanova (1996-99).

Ties to the area were a critical part of new Temple athletic director Arthur Johnson’s search criteria. Johnson just arrived from Texas in October and made the expensive decision to fire coach Rod Carey, the former Northern Illinois coach who went 4-15 the past two seasons and struggled to resonate in Philadelphia.

Drayton brings with him an array of experience in all corners of the sport. He worked on Urban Meyer’s staff for national titles at Ohio State (2014) and Florida (2006). He’s also worked in the NFL with the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears.

Drayton’s college experience includes coaching high-end tailbacks Brian Westbrook (Villanova), Carlos Hyde (Ohio State), Ezekiel Elliott (Ohio State) and Bijan Robinson (Texas).

(When Drayton got hired on Tom Herman’s staff at Texas, Elliott called him “the biggest reason why I’m here today.”)

Drayton’s stops in college football as an assistant coach also include Mississippi State, Tennessee, Syracuse, Bowling Green and Eastern Michigan.

He’ll take over a Temple program that has considerably slipped since Matt Rhule led the Owls to the AAC title in 2016. After two winning seasons, Geoff Collins exited to Georgia Tech and Temple's downward spiral soon began.

Carey went 8-5 in his first year and things deteriorated quickly, as Temple went 2-13 in AAC play the past two years.

Drayton faces a significant rebuild, and Temple officials are counting on him leaning on his significant program-building experience to revive the Owls to relevancy.

Drayton will debut next season at Duke against another first-time head coach, newly hired Mike Elko.