Hiring K.C. Keeler will define Temple AD Arthur Johnson’s tenure

Minutes after new Temple football coach K.C. Keeler was officially introduced on the school’s campus, and just two weeks after the search for Stan Drayton’s successor began, athletic director Arthur Johnson was asked Tuesday if the process this time around was different from when he hired Drayton in 2021.

“Absolutely,” said Johnson, who was on the job only weeks before making his first football hire.

“This was on me,” he said. “Last time I had a committee. It took a whole lot more time. … This time I think I’ve been here long enough to answer questions. Also, I spent 15 years in rooms with head football coaches, two of them are in the Hall of Fame. I understand what it looks like. I know what it looks like. And I understand Temple better as well, so it was easier to maneuver and go on my own this time.”

Johnson left little room for doubt. Hiring the next Temple football coach was a job that new school president John Fry entrusted Johnson with. There was no committee. It was Johnson’s decision, he said, and one he’s smart enough to know will define his tenure as Temple’s athletic director. It’s rare for an athletic director to get the opportunity to test whether the third time really is a charm. If Keeler fails to turn Temple’s football program around, Johnson won’t likely have the opportunity to hire another football coach.

Keeler, a 65-year-old from Emmaus, Pa., has winning records in 27 of his 31 seasons as head coach, from Rowan to Delaware to Sam Houston State, where he ushered that program from the FCS to the FBS level of Division I. Keeler is a two-time national champion at the FCS level. Sam Houston State compiled a 9-3 record this season after going 3-9 in its debut FBS season in 2023.

There weren’t many candidates for Temple with that type of experience, and perhaps Keeler would have won the job during any search at any time for Temple. He is, however, undoubtedly the safest pick. There were other candidates, like Syracuse defensive coordinator Elijah Robinson, a 39-year-old known to be a good recruiter who previously worked at Temple under Matt Rhule. There was Charles Huff, who is 41 and just wrapped up his fourth season as the head coach at Marshall.

Neither Robinson nor Huff has the resumé and track record that Keeler does, and an athletic director on his second football hire in three years seemed unlikely to go back to the well of hiring a head coach with limited experience.

» READ MORE: New Temple football coach K.C. Keeler quickly improved his previous teams. Can he do it again on North Broad?

None of this is to say Keeler’s hiring is the wrong one. A safe hire can also be the best hire. But this time around, experience was almost a requirement. Drayton’s first head-coaching job resulted in nine wins and 25 losses. The Owls were on their way to a third consecutive 3-9 season since he was hired when Drayton was fired on Nov. 17, and their fourth overall including Rod Carey’s last season.

“It was important,” Johnson said of hiring a seasoned coach. “It was up there. If you understand the nuts and bolts of it to start with, it’s probably easier to adjust to everything else that’s happening, if you’ve got a core and a foundation.”

Johnson said Keeler has shown the ability to adapt to changes on the job during his 31 years as a head football coach.

“If you don’t evolve you’ll die,” Johnson said. “That’s like with anything.”

“I spent 15 years in rooms with head football coaches, two of them are in the Hall of Fame. I understand what it looks like. I know what it looks like.”

Temple needs expedited evolution. Keeler said he talked to his new team Tuesday morning and told the Owls he doesn’t plan on rebuilding. He believes Temple has the resources and the wherewithal to compete right away in the American Athletic Conference.

Drayton had been open about the need for more name, image, and likeness financial support for the program, and Johnson recently made some public comments about being a little bit late to the NIL party, although he sought to clarify those remarks Tuesday.

“When I said late to the process, remember I came in here after it had already started,” he said. “We had a great infrastructure in place and we were building on that infrastructure.

“I didn’t have those relationships, and that’s as honest as I can be about it. But, at the same time, I’ve supported it from the start, I’ve been open about it, and I’ve made sure, if people have asked, I’ve directed them to go support it.”

Johnson said he “absolutely” thinks the NIL infrastructure at Temple is where it needs to be to support winning right away. Outside of Memphis and maybe South Florida, Johnson said Temple is “in the same boat” with the rest of the AAC.

Why, then, hasn’t the football program been successful?

“We just haven’t gotten it done,” Johnson said. “I felt like our talent was better than our record this year, and I’m not telling you anything I didn’t say to the staff. That’s my opinion, and as the AD I get to give my opinion. But also, having 15 years in that room and being around college football since I was 18 years old, I can give that opinion.”

That opinion eventually led to Tuesday.

Johnson’s three years at Temple have been marked by coaching turnover, fundraising woes, and NIL concerns. But while Drayton’s hiring didn’t work out, Johnson has seemingly made the right choices of the two coaches leading the men’s and women’s basketball programs, Adam Fisher and Diane Richardson.

Still, if the university remains committed to football — and Fry, Johnson, and Keeler all reaffirmed that commitment Tuesday — neither of those hires will matter nearly as much as this one.

Temple’s football team has just 13 wins in its last 56 games.

“I take it personally when we don’t win,” Johnson said. “Every loss or win that happens, I’m a part of it.”

Now more than ever.