From Finland to Packers to Citadel for Drayton

Former Green Bay Packers special teams coordinator Maurice Drayton discusses his path to becoming the new head coach at The Citadel.

Author:
Bill Huber
Publish date:
Feb 8, 2023 3:54 PM EST

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Green Bay Packers

Citadel Bulldogs

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Maurice Drayton’s career has come full circle, with the former Green Bay Packers special teams coordinator taking over as the head coach at The Citadel.

Drayton, who spent this past season with the Las Vegas Raiders, was hired by The Citadel in December. Drayton has deep roots at the school. He played there from 1994 through 1998, then joined the coaching staff in 1999. He was on their staff from 1999 through 2005 and again in 2014 and 2015.

“I’ve always wanted to have this opportunity,” Drayton said in a recent phone interview. “It’s something that I’ve often thought about. The timing was right. I’m just looking forward to trying to take this thing to the next level.”

It’s been a hectic first few months on the job, with players to meet, a coaching staff to build and recruits to attract to a unique school and program.

“It’s not the easiest of environments,” he said. “We refer to it as the ‘road less traveled,’ because it is. We are a military school without a military commitment. With that comes certain things that you’re not able to do at a regular institution. We live a military lifestyle, so you’re going to wear a uniform every day. We pride ourselves on being a leadership laboratory.”

A first-year student is called a knob.

“You’re going to learn about yourself and you’re going to learn how to follow,” Drayton explained.

Freshman followers turn into junior and senior leaders.

“The corps runs the corps,” Drayton said. “The cadets actually run our campus through our leadership model.”

That road less traveled is one Drayton has successfully traveled.

“You have to have a burning desire, a starving desire to succeed, but not only succeed but be great,” he said. “It’s not about being great once in a while but every single day of your life. Every single day you get up winning the day and being the best that you can be.”

After a bit of a nomadic coaching journey that included stops in Finland – yes, Finland – as well as South Carolina State, Coastal Carolina and Southern Mississippi, Drayton returned to The Citadel for the 2014 and 2015 seasons as assistant head coach and defensive coordinator.

Maurice Drayton was with the Packers from 2018 through 2021. (Mark Hoffman/USA Today Sports)

He got his first NFL shot with the Indianapolis Colts as assistant special teams coordinator in 2016 and 2017. He moved onto Green Bay as assistant special teams coordinator from 2018 through 2020 before being promoted to special teams coordinator in 2021.

Drayton was let go after that season, a dismal one for Green Bay’s kicking units, then spent last year as assistant special teams coordinator with the Raiders in 2022. Drayton and Raiders coach Josh McDaniels were teammates at Canton (Ohio) McKinley High School.

“I had a lot of good times in Green Bay,” Drayton said. “Still very, very, very good friends with the current administration and current coaching staff, to the point where I talk with someone that I worked with daily via text message or social media.”

He said “The friendships, the bonds, the history” will last a lifetime. He still has a home in Green Bay and visits frequently.

“That is an extension of who I am,” he said. “I like to say I cut my teeth professionally in Green Bay, and it has been very enlightening. I learned a lot of things. Now, I plan on utilizing it in my daily walk as a head coach.”

What’s the main part of that walk?

“It started before then, but I really learned to appreciate being in the now, being where your feet are,” he said. “That’s very important. Sometimes when you’re going through the day-to-day activities of your job, you lose sight of what you truly have around you. That’s been very important to me since I left Green Bay is being where my feet are, enjoying the moment.”

One of the places where his feet were located was Finland. Through his various connections in the game, he was contacted about being a player/coach for the Seinajoki Crocodiles. Drayton took the plunge as defensive coordinator.

“I was at The Citadel from 1994 to 2006,” he recalled. “I didn’t necessarily appreciate where I was and I was tired of the day-to-day lifestyle that I was living. I had the opportunity to go to Finland and play football and coach.

“After a little deliberation, I talked to my loved ones and the people around me and thought, ‘What the heck? Let’s give it a whirl.’ I truly enjoyed it. It was one of the best experiences of my life. It actually prepared me for the weather in Green Bay, so that was never an issue.”

The weather won’t be an issue in Charleston, S.C. Turning around the Bulldogs will be. They haven’t reached the FCS playoffs since 2016, which was the last time they posted a winning record. They went 10-24 the past three seasons.

Drayton will use his NFL background as a recruiting tool for a team which hasn’t had a player drafted since cornerback Cortez Allen in 2011 and receiver Andre Roberts in 2010.

“It’s challenging,” he said, “but I tell people all the time I have a degree. I majored in hard times. We welcome this task at hand. We’re built for this task at hand. We’ll be successful. Success is not necessarily defined initially through wins and losses. Success will be defined in our graduation rates, success will be defined by how we play the game of football. I’m very confident that if we play the game in the manner in which our program is designed, we’ll come out on top more times than not.”