Ohio State football has made some headline-grabbing moves on its coaching staff in the last few weeks and much of that domino effect was started by defensive coordinator, Jim Knowles departing to Big Ten rival, Penn State for the same position. It appeared all of the coaching carousel dust has settled, but the Nittany Lions have made one more surprising move, snagging former OSU assistant, Stan Drayton to become their new running backs coach.
Drayton was most recently the head coach of the Temple Owls, but after three seasons running the show could only muster a 9-25 record. The Ohio native was fired from Temple with two games in the season remaining after going an abysmal 3-7. PSU is filling a void left by its former running backs coach, Ja’Juan Seider, who went to Notre Dame.
The former Buckeye positional coach has a stellar resume, which includes stops with the Texas Longhorns as its assistant head coach/running back coach/run game coordinator from 2017-2021 and the Chicago Bears of the NFL as their running backs coach from 2015-2016.
He has been coaching at a high level since his own playing career ended in 1992 and has spent time with Alleghany in 1993, Eastern Michigan in 1994, Penn in 1995, Villanova from 1996-1999 and Bowling Green in 2000 as a running backs coach and then took a stop with the Green Bay Packers as offensive quality control from 2001-2003. He then went back to being a running back coach with Mississippi State in 20024, Florida from 2005-2007 and again in 2010, Tennessee in 2008, Syracuse in 2009 and finally landed in Columbus, Ohio from 2011-2014.
He started at Ohio State as its receiver coach in 2011 before making the move to its running backs coach in 2012 and finally leaving the Buckeyes after the 2014 season.
Sources: Stan Drayton has signed a multi-year deal to become the next running backs coach at Penn State. He’s the former head coach at Temple and is a veteran NFL and college running back coach. pic.twitter.com/cyIwxiueqk
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) February 14, 2025
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This article originally appeared on Buckeyes Wire: Former Ohio State football coach, Stan Drayton hired by Penn State
