The coaching carousel has started up in the land of X’s and O’s, with the Temple Owls becoming the latest team to fire their head coach. Stan Drayton received his pink slip after an abysmal 9-25 record in three seasons in the City of Brotherly Love.
The athletic administration at Temple didn’t take long to find a replacement, hiring K.C. Keeler away from Sam Houston. Under Keeler, the Bearkats posted a 9-3 record in 2024, after going 3-9 the previous season.
A 2-time national championship coach, Keeler won FCS titles at Delaware in 2003 with Joe Flacco as his quarterback and then again in 2020 at Sam Houston. Keeler posted an 86-52 record with the Blue Hens and a 97-39 record with the Bearkats.
#Report: Per .@FootballScoop, #Temple has “zeroed in on” former #Rowan head coach K.C. Keeler as their new head coach.
— Michael “Doc” Lipinski (@MLipinskiSports) December 1, 2024
He also spent 11 seasons at #Delaware, leading the #BlueHens to the ‘03 FCS title.
He’s been at #SamHouston since ‘14
#CFB #FCS #TempleTuff pic.twitter.com/udbjjGoM97
This will be a homecoming for Keeler, who is a native of Pennsylvania. Several people have praised Temple for this hire, including Flacco and Dan Lanning, head coach of the No. 1 Oregon Ducks. Lanning was Keeler’s defensive backs coach at Sam Houston in 2014.
Keeler makes a move to a much better conference, the American Athletic Conference. Temple has yet to have a winning record, both overall and in the AAC, since 2019.
The greatest coach in SHSU history, KC Keeler
— KatsOnTop (@KatsOnTop) December 1, 2024
-1x FCS National Champions
-3x Southland Champions
-1x WAC Champions
-93-37 overall record
-14-5 FCS Playoff Record
-9-0 record against rivals (TXST, SFA)
-1st Bowl Eligible Team
Go be great at temple, @CoachKCKeeler 🧡 pic.twitter.com/FqdrlAVrje
I interviewed Coach Keeler at 2024 Conference USA Media Days for College Football Dawgs back in July and I asked him how he built a championship roster at Delaware without the transfer portal, which was non-existent in 2003. Keeler said:
“Back then, you could transfer down, and we took a handful of transfers. And it was the right mix because I believe culture is so important and you need a strong locker room, especially when you go through those tough times. And I think if you take all those mercenaries, I really think it's hard to build a culture. And it is the same way at Sam Houston.
"We have the ability to take a lot of kids in the portal, but we are mainly focused on building it with high school players. And what we have found is, because of the transfer portal, there are better high school players for us. And so, when we take a transfer, our belief is you take a transfer because you have a need.
"If you are just stacking your locker room with players, when you have those hard times, which we all do through the course of the season, I think it is hard to keep them together. We have built this strategically with select transfers, but again our base is those high school guys we recruited like the two young men I have with us here today. Noah Smith out of the Houston area and KD out of Waco.
"Those guys are the fabric of the program guys. Noah is a super senior, been with us for six years. Those guys can handle a locker room because it is their team. I think when you bring in guys randomly, it becomes a struggle.”
Among active coaches, Keeler is behind only LSU’s Brian Kelly in total wins with 271.