Penn State expected to hire ex-Temple HC as next RB coach

The Penn State Nittany Lions have been making moves this offseason. Head coach James Franklin has been adjusting his coaching staff after the team's loss in the College Football Playoff semifinals to the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

On Friday, it was reported that former Temple head coach Stan Drayton will be hired as the team's new running backs coach. Insider Pete Thamel broke the news:

"Sources: Stan Drayton has signed a multi-year deal to become the next running backs coach at Penn State. He’s the former head coach at Temple and is a veteran NFL and college running back coach."

Thamel continued:

"He’s worked at Ohio State, Texas, Florida, Tennessee, Syracuse and Mississippi State. He’s also coached for the Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears in the NFL. He’s developed myriad top college tailbacks, including Brian Westbrook, Arian Foster, Ezekiel Elliott, Bijan Robinson and Jerious Norwood while a college RB coach."

"Drayton inherits one of the best tailback rooms in the country with Nick Singleton and Kaytron Allen, who both rushed for more than 1,000 yards in 2024. Football Scoop ID’d him as a candidate yesterday."

Stan Drayton previously spent three seasons as the head coach of the Temple Owls. He struggled to find success with the team, only getting three wins in each of his three seasons as head coach. He was fired on Nov. 17.

Penn State hires Jim Knowles as its defensive coordinator

Stan Drayton is not the first coaching hire made by the Penn State Nittany Lions this offseason. After the Ohio State Buckeyes won the national championship, James Franklin was able to successfully lure away their defensive coordinator, Jim Knowles.

The hiring came only seven days after the Buckeyes were crowned as champions. James Franklin explained how he was able to bring Knowles into his program:

"What I think helped with this is, we spoke a couple years back when the [defensive coordinator] position was open [before Penn State hired Manny Diaz], so that helped. We already had a pretty good familiarity with each other.

"We were able to start conversations after the national championship game, obviously, and it went quickly."

Franklin went on to explain that he received a call at 5:40 a.m., two days after the national championship that Knowles might be interested in joining Penn State. This was good news for Franklin after DC Tom Allen departed for Clemson.