AUSTIN – Stan Drayton, who has had both collegiate national championship and NFL experience during his 24-year career, has been named associate head coach and run game coordinator at Texas, head coach Tom Herman announced Wednesday. Drayton will be responsible for coaching the running backs unit.
"Stan is a great final piece to a coaching staff I'm really excited about. He's a guy I was fortunate enough to coach with at Ohio State, and we won a National Championship together there. He also was part of a National Championship staff at Florida and has a resume filled with successes at the college and NFL levels. The list of great backs he's worked with is a long one including most recently Ezekiel Elliott and Carlos Hyde at Ohio State and Jordan Howard, who set the Bears rookie rushing record this year. We're so fortunate to have him, and I'm looking forward to getting all of us together and building something special."
"Anytime you have a chance to play or coach at a place like Texas, you have to jump on board," Drayton said. "From the time I started playing and coaching I've always known and been impressed by the pride and tradition of Longhorn football. It's always one of the premier jobs in the country and just an unbelievable opportunity. I'm looking forward to heading to Austin, embracing that great culture that UT has and getting to work."
Drayton previously worked on the same staff as Herman for three seasons at Ohio State from 2012-14 and has been part of national championships at both Florida and Ohio State as running backs coach under Urban Meyer. He spent the last two years (2015-16) with the Chicago Bears where he tutored a rookie to a successful season in both of those years.
"Working with Tom as a head coach makes it even more appealing," Drayton said. "I had the opportunity to work with him as an assistant coach, and I love him, I love his family, and I know he's a guy I can absolutely trust. He cares so much about the kids and the program and we as a staff will be totally aligned in that. Tom has a formula, he has a great plan and knows what it takes to establish a winning culture and sustain it. I'm extremely excited about joining the staff and working at Texas.
"I've recruited Texas over the years and had the opportunity to work with some great players from the state. I understand how important football is to the kids, the families, the fans and the culture of Texas. It's just one of those bucket list places we all dream of one day being a part of."
This past season under Drayton, Jordan Howard, a fifth-round pick out of Indiana, set the Bears single-season rookie rushing record with 1,313 yards, breaking the previous mark held by Matt Forte despite only having 12 carries in the team's first three games. It was also the second-best rushing total of any player in the NFL regular season, trailing only Ezekiel Elliott (1,631), who was coached by Drayton at Ohio State. Another of Drayton's Buckeye protégés, Carlos Hyde finished 14th in the league with 988 rushing yards. After working with Drayton, Elliott went on to be the fourth overall pick of the 2016 NFL Draft by the Dallas Cowboys, while Hyde was a second-round selection by the San Francisco 49ers in 2014.
In 2015, the Bears rushing offense was 11th in the NFL averaging 115.9 yards per game, a 16-spot improvement from their ranking of 27th (90.1 ypg) a year prior to his arrival. Drayton helped running back Jeremy Langford, a fourth-round draft pick, finish fifth among all NFL rookies with seven touchdowns and ninth among rookies with 816 yards from scrimmage. Langford joined Pro Football Hall of Famers Walter Payton and Gale Sayers as the only Bears rookies since at least 1960 with a rushing touchdown in four-straight contests and, along with Payton and Sayers, the only rookies in franchise history to have 100 receiving yards, one rushing touchdown and one receiving touchdown in a single game.
Drayton spent the previous four seasons (2011-14) at Ohio State, including the last two as assistant head coach on offense and running backs coach. He worked three years with the Buckeye running backs after working with the wide receivers in 2011. In 2014, Drayton helped the Buckeyes win the National Championship as Elliott, who was a sophomore, finished third in the nation and second in single-season school history with 1,878 rushing yards.
Under Drayton's guidance, Elliott capped the 2014 season with three-straight 200-yard rushing games (tied for the most in single-season school history with Eddie George, 1995). Drayton's work with Elliott helped him to be named College Football Playoff National Championship Offensive MVP with 246 rushing yards (tied for third most in single-game school history) and four touchdowns on 36 carries against Oregon. Elliott was also named Offensive MVP of the Sugar Bowl (230 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 20 carries) versus Alabama.
In 2013, Drayton helped senior running back Carlos Hyde finish eighth in the nation with an average of 126.8 rushing yards per game (1,521 yards and 15 touchdowns on 208 carries in 12 contests). Hyde was named the Big Ten's Ameche-Dayne Running Back of the Year as his 1,521 rushing yards were eighth most in school history and his 7.3 yards per carry was the highest in single-season average in school history. Hyde's 246 yards at Illinois that season are tied for third most in single-game school history.
In his first season as Ohio State's running backs coach in 2012, Drayton guided the Buckeyes running backs to 1,536 yards, 21 touchdowns and an average of 5.44 yards per carry during the team's 12-0 campaign. He came to Ohio State in 2011 as the team's wide receivers coach.
Prior to his time at Ohio State, Drayton spent the 2010 season as the running backs coach/recruiting coordinator at the University of Florida, his second stint at the school after serving as the Gators running backs coach from 2005-07. In 2006, Florida won the BCS National Championship as the Gators averaged 160 rushing yards per game. That season, running backs DeShawn Wynn and Kestahn Moore combined for 981 yards and an average of 5.0 yards per carry while losing only two fumbles. Wynn scored his 25th career rushing touchdown, which was the second-most in school history, against Ohio State in the title game. He went on to become a seventh-round draft pick by the Green Bay Packers in 2007.
During his coaching career, Drayton has also served as running backs coach at Syracuse (2009), Tennessee (2008), Mississippi State (2004), Bowling Green (2000, also serving as special teams coach), Villanova (1996-99), Pennsylvania (1995, assistant running backs/director of football operations) and his alma mater Allegheny (Pa.) College (1993). He has also served as a graduate assistant at Eastern Michigan (1994) and offensive quality control coach/special teams of the Green Bay Packers (2001-03).
At Mississippi State, Drayton helped guide Jerious Norwood to a 1,000-yard rushing season in 2004 before he went on be chosen in the third round of the 2006 draft by the Atlanta Falcons. Another prominent pupil was Villanova two-time All-American Brian Westbrook, who became the first collegiate player on any level to record more than 1,000 yards both rushing and receiving in the same season. He was the winner of the 2001 Walter Payton Award as the Offensive Player of the Year in NCAA Division I-AA and was a third-round pick by the Philadelphia Eagles in the 2002 draft.
A three-time first-team All-America selection as a running back at Allegheny, Drayton is second in the school's record book for rushing (3,272 yards), rushing touchdowns (54) and scoring (336 points) and was a part of the 1990 Division III national championship team. He was also a two-time All-American in track, competing in the 100 and 200 meter dashes. A 1993 graduate with a bachelor's degree in English, Drayton was inducted into the Allegheny College Athletic Hall of Fame in 2005.
A native of Cleveland, Ohio, he and his wife Monique, have two daughters, Amari and Anaya.
