‘I know what he’s about.’ How new USC RB coach’s hire was years in the making
Shane Beamer arrived in Columbia as South Carolina’s newest head football coach in December 2020 and began building his first staff. One name was at the top of his list for a running backs coach: Stan Drayton.
Beamer went five seasons at USC without Drayton as an assistant. After a 4-8 season in 2025 and the firing of assistant coach Marquel Blackwell on Dec. 4, Beamer was able to make good on his initial wish.
Drayton was named the Gamecocks’ new running backs coach Dec. 12 and signed a three-year contract worth $750,000 annually. He’s Beamer’s third RBs coach at USC after firing Montario Hardesty following the 2023 season and Blackwell after 2025.
“Stan’s what I’ve been looking for at the running back position since I got hired in December of 2020,” Beamer said. “When I made the change at running back, there was one running backs coach that I thought of, there was one running backs coach that I called, there was one running backs coach that I offered a job to, and no one else. And it was this guy right here, because I know what he’s about.”
Drayton has 33 seasons of coaching experience and a proven track record, including seven 1,000-yard rushers under his tutelage. He and Beamer go back to 2004, when the two were position coaches at Mississippi State under head coach Sylvester Croom.
“I think Coach Croom was probably looking for young coaches that he could hire cheap, and Stan and I fit the bill on that one,” Beamer said. “It was a powerful year for me to be able to learn to see (Drayton’s) work ethic, what he’s about as a running back coach, what he’s about as a person.”
Drayton and Beamer later faced off while they were associate head coaches at rivals Texas and Oklahoma, respectively, from 2018-2020. Beamer went on to take the USC job after the 2020 season. Drayton left Texas after the 2021 season for the Temple head coach job, before he returned to his post as running backs coach with Penn State last season.
Beamer’s admiration of Drayton begs the question: Had he and Drayton ever discussed the job before this offseason?
“No,” Beamer said. “I didn’t think he was going to leave Temple to come be the running backs coach here. He was at Texas and whatnot. He’s somebody that I’ve certainly kept in touch with over the years because of how I feel about him, but he was the only person that I reached out to.”
Drayton, who’s held 18 different jobs in his career before landing at USC, feels now was the right time and Columbia was the right place, he said.
“I did a lot of praying with my wife about this situation, and I just kept coming down to the geniality of Coach Beamer and his vision for this program, and it just happens to fit who I am as a person and as a coach at this time of my career,” Drayton said. “So it is the perfect fit for me right now, and I’m ready to embark in every piece of it.”
He’ll be tasked with revitalizing a Gamecock running backs room that averaged the second-fewest rushing yards per game in the SEC last season and didn’t sign a high school recruit to the 2026 class. Drayton also had to balance his first days at USC with his choice to continue coaching Penn State through the Pinstripe Bowl against Clemson.
“I’ve just got to do right by those guys and make sure that we’re preparing to the fullest, giving those guys an opportunity to win that game against Clemson,” Drayton said. “They’re going to get every essence of what I need to be for them, and this place has nothing to worry about. I know I have a job assignment that I need to embark on, and it doesn’t start tomorrow. It starts today.”
This story was originally published December 29, 2025 at 7:00 AM.
