Temple Athletics held an introductory press conference for new football head coach K.C. Keeler Tuesday morning in the Fox-Gittis room of The Liacouras Center. Keeler was officially hired as the successor to former head coach Stan Drayton on Sunday, Dec. 1.
Keeler was introduced by Athletic Director Arthur Johnson and President John Fry to a room full of alumni, media, other coaches and members of the football team, including starting quarterback Evan Simon. Following the Owls’ final game, Simon gave a cryptic answer on whether he planned on returning to the program.
“There’s a lot of challenges right now with what’s going on with college football, but I’m excited because there’s a brand here,” Keeler said. “I saw how [Temple] played at the end of the season. They kept on hanging in there. I think there’s good players in that locker room and now it’s my opportunity and my job to take us to a championship sooner rather than later.”
Keeler brings 31 years of head coaching experience to Temple and had previously served as the head coach at Sam Houston State for the last 11 seasons. He led the Bearkats to an FCS national championship in 2020 and also led them through an FCS to FBS transition period in 2022.
During the search process, Johnson said he and the rest of the search team had three key criteria that he wanted a coach to meet. They were looking for a coach who was a proven winner, devoted to recruiting and developing young men and a coach with local ties.
“As we went through the coaching search process, it became clear that there was one person that checked all of the boxes,” Johnson said. “From coach Keeler’s resume, it really speaks for itself.”
Keeler grew up in Emmanus, Pennsylvania, and played football at the University of Delaware, where he competed against Temple multiple times. He became the head coach at Division III Rowan University in New Jersey from 1993-2001. He also led Delaware from 2002-12, including an FCS national championship in 2003. Keeler currently ranks third in wins among active FCS coaches with 271.
During his press conference, Keeler described himself as a “culture builder,” and that is something he plans on instituting at Temple. Keeler said he plans on continuing to build the culture and building on the already-existing Temple TUFF brand.
“I’m a culture builder,” Keeler said. “That’s what I told the team right now. We have a brand. We’re Temple TUFF. I love that. It used to be the 10th and Diamond guys. I love that and we’re absolutely bringing that back. They have a brand. Now they have to have a culture.”
Keeler is the second head football coach Johnson has hired in his time as athletic director. Johnson spoke about how the process was much easier for him this time around because of the experience he was able to accrue since he hired Drayton just six weeks into his tenure.
Both Keeler and Johnson spoke about the current NIL state within the program and the university. Temple has not been able to provide the same NIL resources as many of its peers in recent years, but Keeler showed the ability to win games without much NIL help at Sam Houston State. However, both Johnson and Keeler acknowledged that NIL is crucial to the success of the program.
“If you put your head to stand about NIL, you’re going to really fall behind,” Keeler said. “We have to catch up and we have to engage the alums.”
Keeler will be busy from day one of his tenure. Early National Signing Day for high school and JUCO recruits officially opens on Dec. 4 and the transfer portal opens for all players officially on Dec. 9.
Temple has not won more than three games or made a bowl game since 2019. Despite player turnover likely on the horizon, Keeler made it clear he did not come to Temple to rebuild. Instead, he wants to start winning right away.
“I told our team today, don’t think we’re going to rebuild here,” Keeler said. “We’re gonna get this done now. There’s no reason we can’t be fighting for conference championships. So that’s the expectation and if [my players] are realistic, they should not be playing for me.”
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