Stan Drayton, who has won college national championships and coached at the NFL level during his 28-year career, returns to Philadelphia as the 29th head football coach of Temple University.
"I am excited to bring Stan Drayton back to Philadelphia as the next head football coach of Temple University," said Arthur Johnson, Temple Vice President and Director of Athletics. "I had a chance to get to know Stan while we worked together at the University of Texas. He is an outstanding football coach and an even better person. He knows what success looks like at the highest levels of football. He also knows what it takes to be successful in this city having spent six years of his career here and learned from two of the city's legendary football coaches."
"This truly is a dream come true for me," said Drayton. "Philadelphia has always held a special place in my heart as my wife, Monique, and I got married while we lived here. I'm so thankful to [Temple University president] Dr. Wingard, Arthur Johnson, and the Temple community for this great opportunity."
Drayton comes to Temple from the University of Texas where he was the associate head coach and run game coordinator for both Tom Herman (2017-20) and Steve Sarkisian (2021). During his time with the Longhorns, Drayton guided the development of a trio of young running backs - Bijan Robinson, Roschon Johnson and Keaontay Ingram. All three made immediate impacts as true freshmen including the breakout performance of Robinson in 2020 when he set the school record averaging 8.2-yards per rush.
Prior to Texas, Drayton coached at Ohio State where he won a College Football Playoff National Championship in 2015. He joined OSU as a wide receivers coach in 2011, before leading the running backs for the next three seasons. He had previously won a BCS National Championship (2006) while coaching running backs at Florida (2005-07, 2010).
During his college coaching career, Drayton has also served as running backs coach at Syracuse (2009), Tennessee (2008), Mississippi State (2004), Bowling Green (2000, also serving as special teams coach), Villanova (1996-00), Pennsylvania (1995, assistant running backs/director of football operations) and his alma mater Allegheny (Pa.) College (1993). He has also served as a graduate assistant at Eastern Michigan (1994).
On the professional side, Drayton most recently served as running backs coach for the Chicago Bears from 2015-16. He also served as offensive quality control coach/special teams of the Green Bay Packers in 2001-03.
The list of head coaches Drayton has worked under is a who's who of coaching. From his early years in Philadelphia with Penn's Al Bagnoli and Villanova's Andy Talley to successful college coaches such as Urban Meyer, Jim Tressel, Luke Fickell, Tom Herman, and Phil Fulmer, to the NFL's Mike Sherman and John Fox.
Drayton has always been a strong recruiter both in evaluating talent and getting the best players to join him. Among his most high profile recruits, he is credited with bringing Cam Newton, Mike and Maurkice Pouncey to Florida, Bijan Robinson to Texas, and he was responsible for bringing Brian Westbrook to Villanova.
A three-time first-team All-America selection as a running back at Allegheny, Drayton is second in the school's record book for rushing (3,272 yards), rushing touchdowns (54) and scoring (336 points) and was a part of the 1990 Division III national championship team. He was also a two-time All-American in track, competing in the 100 and 200 meter dashes. A 1993 graduate with a bachelor's degree in English, Drayton was inducted into the Allegheny College Athletic Hall of Fame in 2005.
Drayton, a native of Cleveland, and his wife Monique, a native of Detroit, have two daughters, Amari and Anaya, who are both elite gymnasts. Amari is a member of the U.S. women's national gymnastics team.
