Temple quickly began looking for its next head coach.
The Owls announced on Sunday that Sam Houston head coach KC Keeler would be their next coach. Sam Houston went 9-3 in 2024 in just his second season at the highest level of college football.
“Coach Keeler has a track record of evaluating, recruiting and developing student-athletes into championship-level young men,” athletics director Arthur Johnson said in a statement. “His leadership, experience and the culture he creates within programs are exactly what Temple Football needs as we look to return to prominence in the competitive college football landscape.”
Keeler, 65, is a native of Pennsylvania and one of the most successful college football coaches of the 2000s. He is the winningest coach in FCS history with 171 career wins and his teams have two second-tier national titles college football.
Keeler got his coaching start at Division III Rowan before being hired by Delaware prior to the 2002 season. The Blue Hens went 15-1 in his second season in 2003 and won a league 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 prior to the 2014 season and the Bearkats won at least 11 games in each of his first four seasons. Sam Houston finally broke past the semifinals in 2021 when they went 10-0 in the spring season and won the school’s first national title.
The Bearkats were just 3-9 in their first season at the FBS level in 2023, but jumped from six wins this season and narrowly missed the opportunity to play for the Conference USA title. The Bearkats finished tied for second with Western Kentucky, but lost to the Hilltoppers in the regular season and lost the tiebreaker.
Temple has been looking for a new coach since firing Stan Drayton with two weeks left in the season. Drayton’s firing came after an overtime win over FAU, which was 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, finishing the season at 3–9. It was the fourth straight year Temple finished with a 3-9 record as the program has not made a bowl game since the 2019 season.
