Temple Names New Head Coach To Fill Last Opening at the FBS Level

December 16, 2021 by Staff

Stan Drayton was introduced as the new head coach at Temple on Thursday (December 16), filling the last open slot on the coaching carousel. 28 of the 130 FBS teams are now led by a new head coach. The ride opened September 13 with the firing of Clay Helton from USC. Less than two months later, Helton also became the first head coach to be hired in this cycle when Georgia Southern officially announced the move on November 2.

Drayton held the titles of associated head coach and running backs coach at Texas since 2017, working under both Steve Sarkisian and Tom Herman. He was also the running game coordinator. Pruior to his stint with the Longhorns, Drayton coached running backs for the Chicago Bears (2015-2016) after logging four years at Ohio State for Luke Fickell and Urban Meyer. Over-all, he has spent 29 years as an assistant, almost exclusively coaching running backs. Though the Temple post is his first as a head coach, the Owls may well have knocked this one out of the park.

Georgia 's DC Dan Lanning was named on Saturday, December11 as the new head coach at Oregon. Lanning spent the last four seasons on Kirby Smart's staff, beginning as outside linebackers coach in 2018. He had the defensive coordinator role added in 2019. Lanning replaces Mario Cristobal who left on December 6 to take the same position with the Miami Hurricanes after Miami fired Manny Diaz that same day. 

Cristobal played offensive tackle for Jimmy Johnson and Dennis Erickson 1989-1992, and coached under Butch Davis (1998-2000) and Larry Coker (2004-2006). He then became head coach at FIU from 2007-2012, replacing Don Strock, and went 27-47 before being fired. Assistant positions followed at Alabama at Oregon, where he became head coach in 2018 after Willie Taggart left for Florida State. Cristobal's team was 10-3 in 2021 with two blowout losses to Utah within a 3-week span that dropped Oregon from No. 3 in the college football playoff committee rankings to a season-ending rank of 14. The latter loss was a 38-10 setback to the Utes in the PAC-12 Championship game. In four seasons with the Ducks, Cristobal was 35-13 over-all and 23-9 in conference games with a 2-2 bowl record. WR coach Bryan McClendon was named interim head coach for the Alamo Bowl game.

Diaz led Miami to a 5-1 finish in 2021 to end the season at 7-5 and in 2nd-place in the ACC's Coastal division. He was 21-15 in 3 seasons without much to work with as the program was hampered by Covid in 2020 and consistently riddled with injuries. He was 16-9 in the ACC, but 0-2 in bowl games.

SEE: Coaching Changes