Coach James Franklin and Penn State have found their man to succeed JaโJuan Seider as running backs coach.
Per ESPNโs Pete Thamel, that man is Stan Drayton, who most recently was the head coach at Temple.
Sources: Stan Drayton has signed a multi-year dealย ย to become the next running backs coach at Penn State. Heโs the former head coach at Temple and is a veteran NFL and college running back coach. pic.twitter.com/cyIwxiueqk
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) February 14, 2025
Drayton has been around a while.
He began his coaching career in 1993 at Allegheny Collegeโ where he played running back from 1989-92โ as the running backs coach, and since then, 25 of his 32 seasons in coaching have been as RB coach. In that time, heโs been a national champ twice, both working under Urban Meyer (2006 at Florida, 2014 at Ohio State). He also helped develop Ezekiel Elliot (OSU) and Bijan Robinson (Texas) into top 10 picks.
His work at Texas, where he was associate head coach, running backs coach and run game coordinator from 2017-21, helped land him the head coaching job at Temple.
ROUGH RUN IN PHILLY
Unfortunately for Drayton, his head coaching run wasnโt as successful as his previous stops. Over three seasons at Temple, he was 9-25, winning exactly three games each year. Drayton didnโt even make it through his third full season, getting fired with two games left.
Penn State has become somewhat of a โcoaching rehabโ in recent years. Manny Diaz was fired as Miamiโs head coach in December 2021 and hired as Penn Stateโs defensive coordinator. Tom Allen experienced something similar the next winter at Indiana. Weโll see if Drayton falls in that line.
THE DRAYTON FILE
Hereโs Draytonโs full resume (HC unless noted).
- 1993: Allegheny (RB)
- 1994: Eastern Michigan (RB)
- 1995: Penn (RB)
- 1996-99: Villanova (RB)
- 2000: Bowling Green (RB)
- 2001-03: Green Bay Packers (offensive quality control/special teams)
- 2004: Mississippi State (RB)
- 2005-07: Florida (RB)
- 2008: Tennessee (RB)
- 2009: Syracuse (RB)
- 2010: Florida (RB)
- 2011: Ohio State (WR)
- 2012-14: Ohio State (RB)
- 2015-16: Chicago Bears (RB)
- 2017-21: Texas (AHC/RB/RGC
- 2022-24: Temple
