Fran Brown, who’s had two stints at Temple University and worked his way through the ranks in that program, has emerged as a top target in the Owls’ search for a new head coach, multiple sources have told FootballScoop.
Temple has quietly searched for a new direction atop its football program since the school fired third-year coach Rod Carey late last month as Carey’s Owls finished a 3-9 campaign. After Carey went 8-5 in his first season at Temple in 2019, the program registered just four wins against 15 losses in the 2020-21 seasons.
Per sources, Temple’s search in the past week heavily centered on the 39-year-old Brown, and Brown also was expected to meet with Temple University Dr. Jason Wingard as a key final element of the process, a source told FootballScoop on Monday.
Brown, meanwhile, has steadily risen through the coaching ranks after breaking into the collegiate game at Temple.
A native of the Philadelphia-area suburb of Camden, New Jersey, Brown first began his work at Temple in 2011 as the school’s director of internal operations, and Brown followed with work as a graduate assistant coach.
The former Western Carolina All-Southern Conference player then broke onto the field as the Owls’ defensive backs coach for a three-year stretch from 2013 through 2015; he added the associate head coach’s role in 2016.
Brown then followed Matt Rhule to Baylor prior to the 2017 season, where Brown spent two seasons as assistant head coach and cornerbacks coach.
He spent the past two seasons on Greg Schiano’s Rutgers staff as the Scarlet Knights’ secondary coach.
Veteran college football assistant coach Stan Drayton has also been connected to Temple’s search, multiple sources told FootballScoop. A Cleveland, Ohio, native, Drayton also broke into the collegiate coaching ranks in Pennsylvania, with early-career work at Allegheny College, Penn and Villanova.