Report: Temple expected to hire away Big Ten, Pac-12 coaches

New Temple head coach Stan Drayton is building his staff in Philadelphia, and he has reportedly landed a couple of experienced Power Five coordinators to help out the Owls.

According to Bruce Feldman of The Athletic and Fox, Temple is likely hiring Colorado quarterbacks coach Danny Langsdorf for the same position and as the new offensive coordinator. Feldman reported the news on Monday evening. 

Langsdorf, 49, has been coaching since he stopped playing football in 1996, and he has had stops at several prominent programs. The North Dakota native has been an offensive coordinator at Oregon State and Nebraska and also spent time at Oregon and Fresno State on the offensive side of the ball prior to going to Boulder.

Langsdorf has multiple years of NFL experience, as he was an analyst and assistant wide receivers and special teams coach for the New Orleans Saints in the early 2000s, and he served as the quarterbacks coach for Eli Manning and the New York Giants in 2014. 

Temple lost their starting quarterback in November, Georgia transfer D’Wan Mathis. The redshirt freshman was dealing with a nagging ankle injury all season before departing the program on Nov. 18. True freshman Justin Lynch won his first gig as the starter, topping Akron in September when he stepped in for Mathis for the first time. He finished the season with 839 passing yards, four touchdowns and four interceptions. He also rushed for 295 yards and a score on 75 attempts.

Owls land special teams, tight ends coach

In addition to Langsdorf, Pete Thamel of Yahoo! Sports reported on Monday night that Drayton is expected to hire Rutgers special teams coordinator Adam Scheier as the special teams and tight ends coach in Philadelphia. Scheier has over 20 years of experience working with special teams units across the country, including stops at Ohio State, Texas Tech, Wake Forest, Bowling Green, Dartmouth, Columbia, Princeton and Lehigh. While at Texas Tech in 2018, he received a nomination for the Broyles Award, the honor given to the nation’s best assistant coach. Scheier played college football at Dartmouth.

There is a lot of room for improvement within the special teams unit at Temple. In 2021, they were No. 122 in the country in punt returns, averaging just 3.8 yards per return. Additionally, the Owls ranked No. 99 nationally in kickoff returns, posting 18 yards per attempt.

Drayton was named the head coach at Temple on Dec. 15, and he has ties to the Philadelphia area. He previously coached at Villanova and his alma mater, Allegheny College.

On Monday, Drayton formally made two staff additions: Everett Withers will be his chief of staff, and Tory Teykl will serve as director of football operations.