Former Temple assistant Ed Foley hired as Carolina Panthers assistant special teams coach

Foley will be joining former Temple coach Matt Rhule's staff, after working for him this past season at Baylor.

Ed foley, Interim head coach, works with the players during Temple Football practice, in Philadelphia, Monday, December 17, 2018. JESSICA GRIFFIN / Staff PhotographerRead moreJESSICA GRIFFIN / Staff Photographer

Published Jan. 29, 2020, 8:10 p.m. ET

Ed Foley, who spent 11 seasons as an assistant football coach at Temple before leaving for Baylor in July, is moving to the NFL.

On Wednesday, Foley became the assistant special-teams coach for the Carolina Panthers.

A Cherry Hill East graduate, Foley will be reunited with Carolina Panthers head coach Matt Rhule. Foley was an assistant coach during Rhule’s four years as head coach at Temple and then joined Rhule in the fall at Baylor as an off-the-field analyst who worked with special teams.

“I am thrilled to be in the NFL,” Foley said in a phone interview with The Inquirer on Wednesday. “To be in the NFL is a dream come true.”

The 52-year-old Foley, is the brother of Glenn Foley, a former East star who was an NFL quarterback for six years with the New York Jets and Seattle Seahawks.

Foley said he thoroughly enjoyed his season at Baylor, where the Bears went 11-3 and lost to Oklahoma, 30-23 in overtime, in the Big 12 championship game.

“Baylor was awesome, and I would have loved to have stayed there, but this was too good of an opportunity to pass up,” Foley said.

Three times during his tenure at Temple, Foley served as interim head coach, including when Rhule departed for Baylor. Foley coached Temple in two bowl games, the 2016 Military Bowl and the 2018 Independence Bowl.

He left Temple in July, when then-first-year coach Rod Carey moved him from special-teams coordinator to an off-the-field position.

Under Rhule and his successor, Geoff Collins, Temple had one of the top special-teams programs in the country, with Foley guiding the units. He was also the tight ends coach for Rhule and Collins.

Rhule was considered one of the rising coaches in college football before joining the Panthers in January.

“The great thing about Matt is, he is a friend that I trust, and he has pushed me to be great, pushed our units to be great,” Foley said. “You love working for somebody who pushes you to be your best every day.”

Foley will be working with Chase Blackburn, who will be in his his third season as Carolina’s special-teams coordinator.

“There are so many great coaches in the NFL,” Foley said. “I am so happy to be part of it.”