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Oklahoma expected to hire Deland McCullough as running backs coach
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- Oklahoma expected to hire Deland McCullough as running backs coach
Oklahoma is expected to hire former Las Vegas Raiders and Notre Dame running backs Deland McCullough on Wednesday, according to multiple reports.
McCullough replaces DeMarco Murray, who left his post with the Sooners earlier in February to take the same job with the Kansas City Chiefs .
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The Raiders finished last in the NFL in yards rushing per game in the 2025 season, averaging 77.5. The next lowest-ranked team averaged 93.1 yards. Still, McCullough was considered a hot commodity in large part because of his work at the collegiate level before that.
McCullough coached Indiana running backs from 2011-16 before joining Southern California in 2017. After one season with the Trojans, he joined the Chiefs on coach Andy Reid's staff and stayed through 2020. McCullough then spent back at Indiana before his best work at Notre Dame from 2022-24. While in South Bend, McCullough helped develop Jeremiyah Love, who finished third in Heisman Trophy voting this past season.
Murray had coached Oklahoma's running backs from 2020. The Sooners best rushing season under Murray's watch came in 2022 when they finished 10th in FBS in yards per game, averaging 219.4. In his playing days in Norman, Murray became only the fifth player at the time to finish his Big 12 career with more than 60 touchdowns. He then played in the NFL from 2011-2017, winning NFL Offensive Player of the honor with the Dallas Cowboys in 2014.
McCullough won Mid-American Conference Freshman of the Year honors at Miami (OH) in 1992. He played one season in the NFL with the Cincinnati Bengals and two seasons in the Canadian Football League with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers.
This article originally appeared on Sooners Wire: Oklahoma to hire McCullough as running backs coach, per reports
