After taking over as Temple Owls head coach from Rod Carey, Stan Drayton leads the team into AAC action for his second season at the helm of an FBS team. Who else makes up the Temple coaching staff for the 2023 college football season?
Temple Owls Coaching Staff
Head Coach, Stan Drayton
After several disappointing seasons, Temple turned to Drayton to lead their coaching staff in Dec. 2021. Despite being a first-time head coach, Drayton has a sustained history of success at every stop of his career — both as a player and as a coach. During his first season in charge of the Owls, he led the program to a 3-9 record that included an AAC win over the South Florida Bulls.
Drayton landed in Philadelphia from Texas, where he served as the running back coach and run game coordinator under two different Longhorns head coaches. He has a long history of working with running backs, spending time coaching the position at a laundry list of college programs, including Ohio State, Florida, Syracuse, Tennessee, and Mississippi State.
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Drayton also spent two years coaching running backs in the NFL with the Chicago Bears. He’s seen success developing backs such as Bijan Robinson, Ezekiel Elliott, and Carlos Hyde. His ability to get the best out of the backs under his stewardship is unsurprising, given his own success at the position. The Temple head coach was a three-time All-American at Allegheny as a player.
In addition to his success as a running back player and coach, Drayton has been a standout recruiter at multiple programs. He’s credited with bringing Robinson to Texas, Cam Newton to Florida, and 2001 Walton Payton Award winner Brian Westbrook to Villanova. He helped bring 19 three-star recruits to the Owls in the 2023 recruiting cycle.
Offensive Coordinator, Danny Langsdorf
An experienced coach with a varied background, Danny Langsdorf joined the Temple coaching staff as offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach in Jan. 2022. In his first season with the program, Langsdorf helped engineer a record-breaking season for true freshman quarterback E.J. Warner.
Helping establish record-breaking quarterbacks has become the hallmark of Langsdorf’s coaching career. He was the offensive coordinator and QBs coach at Nebraska when Tommy Armstrong Jr. become the Cornhuskers’ all-time leading quarterback, and he helped Sean Mannion achieve the same accolade at Oregon State.
There are few coaches with the same level of variety on their résumé as Langdorf, who has coached at the college level, NFL — working with Eli Manning and the New York Giants — CFL, and he even spent time in Germany with the Deggendorf Blackhawks. His full coaching résumé can be found below.
- California Lutheran (QBs coach, 1997)
- Oregon State (general assistant, TEs coach, 1997-1998)
- Edmonton (WR coach, 1999; OC/QBs coach 2000-2001)
- New Orleans Saints (offensive quality control, WRs coach, 2002-2004)
- Oregon State (OC/QBs coach, 2005-2013)
- New York Giants (QBs coach, 2014)
- Nebraska (OC/QBs coach, 2015-2017)
- Oregon (offensive analyst, 2018)
- Fresno State (QBs coach, passing game coordinator, 2019)
- UNLV (QBs coach, passing game coordinator, 2020)
- Colorado (QBs coach, passing game coordinator, 2020-2021)
Defensive Coordinator, Everett Withers
A two-time Broyles Award dominant defensive coordinator who filled that role at multiple college football programs, Everett Withers joins the Temple coaching staff as defensive coordinator for the 2023 college football campaign. He previously served under Drayton as the Temple chief of staff for the 2022 campaign. Additionally, the duo worked together at Texas in 2020.
Withers’ football journey has been spent on the defensive side of the ball. A standout defensive back and team caption for Mack Brown at Appalachian State in 1984, he’s led defenses as the coordinator at Ohio State, North Carolina, Minnesota, and Louisville.
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Meanwhile, he boasts NFL coaching experience, having spent time with the Giants (2019), Tennessee Titans (2001-2006), and the New Orleans Saints (1994). His coaching résumé, which can be found below, also includes spells as a head coach at both the FBS and FCS levels.
- Austin Peay (assistant coach, 1988-1990)
- Tulane (assistant coach, 1991)
- Southern Miss (assistant coach, 1992-1993)
- New Orleans Saints (defensive quality control coach, 1994)
- Louisville (defensive coordinator, 1995-1997)
- Texas (assistant coach, 1998-2000)
- Tennessee Titans (DBs coach, 2002-2006)
- Minnesota (defensive coordinator, 2007)
- North Carolina (defensive coordinator, 2008-2010)
- North Carolina (interim head coach, 2011)
- Ohio State (defensive coordinator, 2012-2013)
- James Madison (head coach, 2014-2015)
- Texas State (head coach, 2016-2018)
- New York Giants (DBs coach, 2019)
- Texas (offensive analyst, 2020)
- Florida International (assistant head coach, 2021)
Special Teams Coordinator, Adam Scheier
A long-time standout special teams coordinator, Adam Scheier joined the Temple coaching staff ahead of the 2022 college football season. Prior to his appointment, he’d worked with 2023 NFL Draft punting prospect Adam Korsak in the same role at Rutgers. In addition to his role as special teams coordinator, Scheier also coaches the Owls’ tight ends.
Cornerbacks Coach, Dominique Bowman
An all-conference defensive back for Hugh Freeze at Lambuth University, Dominique Bowman took his expertise into the college coaching arena at Arkansas-Monticello in 2016. He’s coached cornerbacks and DBs at multiple levels and joins the Temple coaching staff after stints with Arkansas and Marshall in the last two seasons — both resulting in bowl appearances.
Safeties Coach, Marvin Clecidor
Marvin Clecidor joined the Temple coaching staff as the safeties coach ahead of the 2022 college football season. As a three-year starting DB at Lafayette, he was involved in consecutive Patriot League-winning teams. Earning his first coaching gig at Wilkes University in 2009, he’s worked with DBs at Wagner, Rutgers, Monmouth, William & Mary, Princeton, and Western Michigan.
Running Backs Coach, Tyree Foreman
After an almost 10-year absence, Tyree Foreman returns to the Temple coaching staff as the running backs coach for the 2023 college football season. The former Virginia RB began his coaching career at Army in 2004 and worked with the Owls’ RBs between 2007 and 2014. Foreman has also worked at Tennessee Tech (2015-2016) and Towson (2018-2022).
Defensive Line Coach, Antoine Smith
A three-year starter at defensive tackle for Maine, Antoine Smith joined the Temple coaching staff as defensive line coach ahead of the 2022 season. Smith got his first coaching gig at Minot State in 2002, returning to his alma mater as defensive line coach the following year. His FBS coaching experience includes Boston College, Colorado State, Texas State, and Miami (OH).
Offensive Line Coach, Chris Wiesehan
In addition to his role as offensive line coach, Chris Wiesehan serves as the run game coordinator on the Temple coaching staff. A three-season spell as special teams coordinator and TEs coach at Georgia Tech is sandwiched between two stints with the Owls (2014-2018, 2022-present).
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In addition to coaching roles across the country and in Canada, Wiesehan holds the DIII record for all-purpose yards per play from a four-year playing career at Wabash (Ind.) College. He was inducted into the school’s Hall of Fame in 2014.
Wide Receivers Coach, Jafar Williams
A former WR at Maryland, Jafar Williams joined the Temple coaching staff as WRs coach in 2022. He landed in Philadelphia after a successful three-year stint with Virginia Tech. Prior to that, he spent a year with his alma mater coaching the Terrapins running backs. Rutgers, Purdue, Kent State, Northwestern, Howard, Illinois State, and Moravian round out his résumé.
Inside Linebackers Coach, Chris Woods
Chris Woods joined the Temple coaching staff in 2022 as the LBs coach for the Owls. Woods began his career at Mansfield, where he was named AFCA Region II Coach of the Year in his second season. One of two HC roles on his résumé, he has also held DC roles (Columbia, Texas State, Dallas Renegades) and spent time in the Big 12 with Kansas and Oklahoma.
