Stan Drayton leaves Texas assignment to become head football coach at Temple

Temple has hired Texas coach Stan Drayton as the next head coach.

Drayton, 50, has spent the past five seasons in Texas under coaches Tom Herman and Steve Sarkisian. During his time there, he worked alongside Temple athletic director Arthur Johnson as Texas administrator from 2011 until he was hired at Temple on October 6.

“I had the opportunity to know Stan when we worked together at the University of Texas,” Johnson said in a press release about the school hiring. “He’s an excellent football coach and an even better person.”

Drayton replaces Rod Carey, who was fired in November after going 12-20 in three years with the Owls. Carey took over Temple after Manny Diaz abruptly left the show shortly after becoming head coach to return to Miami with the same title.

Drayton coached backtracking at six Power 5 schools, made two stops in Florida and worked under Urban Meyer’s direction throughout Florida in Ohio State. He spent a total of five seasons as an NFL assistant with Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears, and stopped twice in and around the Philadelphia area while running with coaches of Penn (1995) and Villanova (1996 to 1999).

“He knows what success looks like at the highest levels of football,” Johnson said. “He also knows what it takes to be successful in this city having spent six years of his career here.”

Drayton’s hiring fills the last FBS head coach vacancy in a historic active cycle. Rutgers high school coach Fran Brown, who spent two stints as an assistant to Temple, is also a strong candidate for the position, sources told ESPN.

“This is truly a dream come true for me,” Drayton said in the statement. “Philadelphia will always hold a special place in my heart because my wife, Monique, and I were married while we lived here.”

Drayton, along with Ron Dickerson, is the only black head coach in the history of pagoda football.

Temple is counting on Drayton to bring it back to the bowling game. The Owls played in five bad games between 2015 and 2019.

The show will feature Drayton in a press conference on Thursday.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.