The Temple Owls confirmed the hiring of Rod Carey as their new head football coach. Carey has spent the past six years as the head coach at Northern Illinois.

Carey replaces Geoff Collins who left in early December to take the Georgia Tech job. “We are very happy to announce that Rod Carey will take over as the next Temple head football coach,” said athletic director Dr. Patrick Kraft in a statement. “Rod is a proven winner with a history of success as a head coach at the FBS level.”

In Carey’s six seasons at NIU, the Huskies won four MAC West titles (2013, 2015, 2015, 2018) and two conference championships (2014 & 2018). Rod Carey’s record at the school was 52-30 overall. With Carey’s hiring, Temple has a chance to sustain its winning ways but it also leaves one of the MAC’s powerhouse teams significantly weakened heading into the 2019 season.