Stanley Drayton (born March 11, 1971) is an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

coach who is currently the running backs coach at

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with ca ...

. He previously served as the head football coach at

Temple A temple (from the Latin ) is a place of worship, a building used for spiritual rituals and activities such as prayer and sacrifice. By convention, the specially built places of worship of some religions are commonly called "temples" in Engli ...

. He formerly served as the associate head coach, running backs coach, and run game coordinator at

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, coached running backs at

Ohio State The Ohio State University (Ohio State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio, United States. A member of the University System of Ohio, it was founded in 1870. It is one of the largest universities by enrollme ...

and also coached running backs in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL) for the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...

Biography

Drayton was born on March 11, 1971, in

Cleveland, Ohio Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located along the southern shore of Lake Erie, it is situated across the Canada–United States border, Canada–U.S. maritime border ...

. He attended

Allegheny College Allegheny College is a private liberal arts college in Meadville, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1815, Allegheny is the oldest college in continuous existence under the same name west of the Allegheny Mountains. It is a member of the G ...

, where he played

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offense ...

on the football team. As a sophomore, Drayton helped lead the Gators to the 1990

NCAA Division III NCAA Division III (D-III) is the lowest division of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States. D-III consists of athletic programs at colleges and universities that do not offer athletic scholarships to student- ...

national championship and ended his career as the top rusher in Division III history (a record later broken). He also competed in track and field, winning numerous NCAC titles, and earned all-conference honors in both sports. Drayton is married to Monique Fuller and has two children. Drayton's uncle was a gold medal-winning Olympic track athlete, Paul Drayton.

Career

Early career

Drayton held running back coaching positions with the

Eastern Michigan Eagles The Eastern Michigan Eagles, formerly known as the Normalites and the Hurons, are the athletic teams for Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, Michigan, United States. The Eagles compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) ...

(1994),

Penn Quakers The Penn Quakers are the athletic teams of the University of Pennsylvania. The school sponsors 33 varsity sports. The school has won three NCAA national championships in men's fencing and one in women's fencing. Sponsored teams Men's varsit ...

(1995),

Villanova Wildcats The Villanova Wildcats are the athletic teams of Villanova University. They compete in the Big East (NCAA Division I) for every sport; except football and women's rowing where they compete in the Coastal Athletic Association (Football Champions ...

(1996–1999), and

Bowling Green Falcons The Bowling Green Falcons are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Bowling Green State University (BGSU), in Bowling Green, Ohio, United States. The Falcons compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Divi ...

(2000), before being hired by the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They ar ...

as Assistant Offensive Quality Control and Special Teams Coach from 2001 to 2003. Following his time with the Packers he worked as a running backs coach with the

Mississippi State Bulldogs Mississippi State Bulldogs is the name given to the college athletics, athletic teams of Mississippi State University, in Mississippi State, Mississippi. The university is a founding member of the Southeastern Conference and competes in NCAA D ...

(2004),

Florida Gators The Florida Gators are the College sports in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Florida, located in Gainesville, Florida, Gainesville. The University of Florida, its athletic program, its alumni an ...

(2005–2007),

Tennessee Volunteers The Tennessee Volunteers and Lady Volunteers are the 20 male and female varsity intercollegiate athletics programs that represent the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, Tennessee. The Volunteers compete in Division I of the National Colleg ...

(2008), and

Syracuse Orange The Syracuse Orange are the college athletics in the United States, athletic teams that represent Syracuse University. The school is a member of NCAA Division I and the Atlantic Coast Conference. Until 2013, Syracuse was a member of the Big East ...

(2009). He returned to the Gators for the 2010 campaign. In January 2011, Drayton was hired as a wide receivers coach by the

Ohio State Buckeyes The Ohio State Buckeyes are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Ohio State University, located in Columbus, Ohio. The athletic programs are named after the colloquial term for people from the state of Ohio and after the state tree, ...

. Following the 2011 season, he was reassigned to the role of running backs coach, under new head coach

Urban Meyer Urban Frank Meyer III (born July 10, 1964) is an American Sports commentator, sportscaster and former college football coach. He spent most of his coaching career at the collegiate level, having served as the head coach of the Bowling Green F ...

(his former boss and mentor at Florida). He also served as assistant head coach in 2013 and 2014. Under Drayton's tutelage, Buckeye running back

Carlos Hyde Carlos Hyde (born September 20, 1990) is an American former professional American football, football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Ohio State Buckeyes football, Ohio Stat ...

recorded 1,521 yards and 15 touchdowns, while also recording the eighth-highest yardage per game in the nation with 126.8. In 2014, Drayton guided

Ezekiel Elliott Ezekiel Elijah Elliott (born July 22, 1995), nicknamed "Zeke", is an American professional American football, football running back. He played college football for the Ohio State Buckeyes football, Ohio State Buckeyes, earning second-team College ...

to 1,878 yards, third-most in the country and the second-most in Ohio State history.

Chicago Bears

In February 2015, Drayton was hired as a running backs coach for the

. In Drayton's first year, the running back trio of Matt Forte, Jeremy Langford and

Ka'Deem Carey Ka'Deem Carey (born October 30, 1992) is an American professional gridiron football, football running back for the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He played college football for the Arizona Wildcats football, Ar ...

ended the 2015 season sixth in rushing attempts with 469 and 11th in total rushing yards with 1,851. The group also ranked 11th in the league in rushing yards per game with 115.7. Forte led the three in attempts (218), yards (898) and yards per attempt (4.1) despite not playing in three due to injury, while Langford had the most touchdowns with six. Playing in eleven games, Carey scored twice on 43 attempts. A year later, with Drayton, rookie Jordan Howard recorded 1,313 rushing yards in 2016, the second-highest in the NFL behind Elliott.

Texas

Drayton returned to the college ranks in 2017, joining the

Texas Longhorns The Texas Longhorns are the athletic teams representing the University of Texas at Austin. The teams are sometimes referred to as the Horns and take their name from Longhorn cattle that were an important part of the development of Texas, and ...

Temple

On December 15, 2021, Drayton and

agreed to terms for him to become the next head football coach of the Owls. On September 10, 2022, Drayton won his first game as the head coach of the Owls against the

Lafayette Leopards The Lafayette Leopards represent the 23 Division I varsity athletic teams of Lafayette College and compete in the Patriot League. There are 11 men's teams, 11 women's teams, and one co-ed team. The club teams also compete as the Leopards. Thou ...

. Temple fired Drayton on November 17, 2024, with two games remaining in the 2024 season. Drayton's record at Temple was 9–25, with no postseason appearances. Defensive coordinator Everett Withers succeeded Drayton as interim head coach.

Head coaching record

References

External links

Syracuse profile

Texas profile

Temple profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Drayton, Stan 1971 births Living people American football running backs Allegheny Gators football players Allegheny Gators football coaches Bowling Green Falcons football coaches Chicago Bears coaches Eastern Michigan Eagles football coaches Florida Gators football coaches Green Bay Packers coaches Mississippi State Bulldogs football coaches Ohio State Buckeyes football coaches Penn Quakers football coaches Syracuse Orange football coaches Temple Owls football coaches Tennessee Volunteers football coaches Texas Longhorns football coaches Villanova Wildcats football coaches Players of American football from Cleveland