Temple moved quickly to find its next head coach.
The Owls are set to hire Sam Houston head coach KC Keeler, according to multiple reports, including Rivals’ OwlScoop.com. Sam Houston finished 9-3 in 2024 in just his second season at college football’s highest level.
Keeler, 65, is a Pennsylvania native and one of the most successful college football coaches of the 2000s. He is the winningest coach in FCS history with 171 career victories and his teams have two national titles at the second level of college football.
Keeler began coaching at Division III Rowan before being hired at Delaware prior to the 2002 season. The Blue Hens went 15-1 in his second season in 2003 and won the national title. Delaware went to two more FCS title games during Keeler’s tenure before being fired after a 5-6 season in 2012.
Sam Houston hired Keeler before the 2014 season, and the Bearkats won at least 11 games in each of his first four seasons. Sam Houston finally made it past the semifinals in 2021, going 10-0 in the spring season to capture the school’s first national title.
The Bearkats went just 3-9 in their first season at the FBS level in 2023, but have posted six wins this season and narrowly missed a chance to play for the Conference USA title. The Bearkats finished runner-up to Western Kentucky, but lost to the Hilltoppers in the regular season, losing the tiebreaker.
Temple has been searching for a new coach since Stan Drayton was fired with two weeks left in the season. Drayton’s sack came after an overtime win over FAU, just the ninth win in 34 games of Drayton’s tenure.
The Owls lost their final two games of the season under interim coach Everett Withers and finished the season 3-9. It was the fourth straight year Temple finished 3-9 as the program hasn’t bowled since the 2019 season.