Reports: Temple hires Sam Houston coach KC Keeler

Temple quickly began searching for its next head coach.

According to multiple reports, including Rivals’ OwlScoop.com, the Owls are poised to hire Sam Houston head coach KC Keeler. Sam Houston went 9-3 in 2024 in just his second season at the highest level of college football.

Keeler, 65, is a Pennsylvania native 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 national titles at the No. 2 level of college football.

Keeler began his coaching career at Rowan in Division III before moving to Delaware prior to the 2002 season. The Blue Hens posted a 15-1 record and won a national title in his second season in 2003. Delaware went to two more FCS title games during Keeler’s tenure before he was fired in 2012 after a 5-6 season.

Sam Houston hired Keeler before the 2014 season and the Bearkats won at least 11 games in each of his first four seasons. Sam Houston finally made it to the semifinals in 2021 as 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 managed a six-win margin this season and narrowly missed a chance to play for the Conference USA title. The Bearkats tied for second place with Western Kentucky, but lost to the Hilltoppers in the regular season, losing the tiebreaker.

Temple has been looking for a new coach since firing Stan Drayton two weeks before the end of the season. Drayton’s firing came after an overtime win against 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 and finished the season 3-9. It was the fourth straight year Temple finished with a 3-9 record, as the program has not hosted a bowl game since the 2019 season.