PHILADELPHIA: Nearly fifty years after receiving a football recruitment offer to Temple University by head coach Wayne Hardin, only to find the Owls did not actually have space for him, K.C Keeler will finally get to participate in the football program of the school on North Broad. He has accepted the head coaching opening for the Owls.
After settling at the University of Delaware for his collegiate football career as a student athlete, he still has nightmare memories of his time playing Temple. In fact, in his three years of varsity (freshman were not eligible to play varsity at the time under head coach Harold “Tubby” Raymond), the Blue Hens lost only seven games, but two of them were against Temple.
“The lenses I look at Temple football through, it was a great football program at one time, and it has had periods of greatness,” Keeler said. “And that’s the goal. To get back there.”
Keeler has certainly put together an impressive career as a college football head coach. During his 31 years of coaching, Keeler has collected 271 wins, good enough to be 22nd all-time among head coaches in all divisions. He won two NCAA FCS National Championships, one in 2003 with Delaware and the second as recently as 2020 with Sam Houston State in Texas.
As Temple president John Fry and athletic director Arthur Johnson launched a formal search for a new head coach in November, there were three “priorities” that the new coach would have to meet.
“We wanted someone with the proven ability to develop student athletes for success both in the classroom and on the field,” Fry said. “Second, we wanted a coach with a track record of winning football games. And finally, we thought it was very important to find someone with strong ties to our region.”
Keeler checked off all the boxes.
Temple University announces new football coach K.C Keelers at a press conference on 12/3. (Photo by Kathy Leister for PSD)
Temple Athletic Director Arthur Johnson and newly elected President John Fry welcome Keeler as TU's head football coach. (Photo/ Kathy Leister)
His 88-22-1 record at Rowan University over nine years starting off his career earned him the head coaching spot at Delaware in 2002. In 11 seasons in Newark, he earned 86 wins, the equivalent of a .623 win percentage. After another promotion, this time going to Sam Houston, Keeler won 97 games out of 136, which equates to winning 71.3 percent of the games he coached in Texas.
Keeler can coach. He has experience. He has made a career of building three programs and winning at high rates everywhere he has been.
In his second season at Delaware, the Blue Hens finished 15-1, made the FCS Playoff and were finalists. Keeler’s Blue Hens in his second year finished first in the A-10 Atlantic conference for a second season in a row, eventually losing in the FCS Quarterfinals. After his first eight years at Sam Houston, Keller had the Bearkats at 53-11 in conference play, which saw four FCS playoff appearances.
“It really struck me, not only the way he [develops] student athletes and coaches, but also how he loves football, he loves building teams, and he understands everything about being a part of a university community,” Johnson said.
Keeler’s ability to build from the ground up might be his most impressive attribute as a head coach. Sam Houston transitioned to FBS in 2022. In their second year of conference play in FBS, the Bearkats went 6-2, and 9-3 overall. That record gave Sam Houston a third-place finish in Conference USA.
What could be most impressive was that Keeler had this success during the beginning of Name, Image and Likeness (NIL), when the largest percentage of athletes have entered the transfer portal in the history of collegiate athletics. Keeler weathered the storm and made Sam Houston a winner at the FBS level during turbulent times.
In 1993, his first year as a head coach at Rowan University, the Profs went 11-2 and finished first in the New Jersey Athletic Conference, while also earning a spot in the Division III Championship Game.
In the quick changing college athletics landscape, including the emergence of the Transfer Portal and NIL in recent years, Keeler, just like he had first at Rowan, and then Delaware and Sam Houston, has evolved and adjusted to the new surroundings.
“Recently, he has shown his ability to maneuver in this ever changing, modern-day college football, going 9-3 in his second season of FBS football competition,” Johnson said.
K.C Keeler stresses the importance of getting to know his players during press conference (video/ Kathy Leister for PSD)
K.C Keeler talks about the expectations for his team - PSD Video by Kathy Leister
And in his first year at Sam Houston in 2014? The team finished 11-5, 7-1 in the Southland Conference, which was also good enough to win the conference. The Bearkats also earned an FCS Semifinals appearance.
So, Keeler has made a quick mark at every new coaching stop. And that is what he intends to do at Temple.
“Don’t think we’re going to rebuild here,” Keeler said. “We’re going to get this thing done now. There is no reason this team can’t be fighting for conference championships.”
Temple football is looking to get back to winning ways. From 2015-19, the Owls were 43-24, including an American Conference title and several bowl game appearances. Since 2019, the Owls have gone 13-42, while finishing 3-9 for four years in a row.
From 2019-2024, Temple has seen two head coaches attempt to follow the footsteps that Al Golden, Matt Rule, and Geoff Collins helped build in establishing a winning brand of football for the Cherry and the White.
After Collins departed to Georgia Tech and Manny Diaz left for the head coaching job at Miami just 18 days after being hired by Temple, Temple hired Rod Carey in 2019. He finished 12-20 before being relieved of coaching duties less than three seasons in.
The Owls replaced Carey with Stan Drayton in 2022, but the veteran assistant coach would also not make it to finish a third year, going 9-25 before being fired in mid-November.
“I’m a culture builder,” Keeler said. “Right now, we have a brand; we’re Temple Tuff; I love that. Now we have to have a culture. Just talking about a brand isn’t a culture. You have to live the brand every day… are you doing all the right stuff every day?”
Even with Temple’s lack of success in football in recent years, Fry acknowledged how important the program is to the university. His comment also comes at an interesting time, during which many were questioning the program’s long-term role in the university.
“As all of you know, Temple has a rich history in athletics; athletics is a very core part of this university… always has been, always will be,” Fry said. “As I’ve said before, in many ways I see athletics as the gateway to this university and that is another reason why this is such an important and exciting day.”
For Keeler, he will begin to fill out his staff while also hitting the recruiting trail. He believes most of the 2025 team will come together closer to the spring.