Brent Venables turns to NFL for surprising Oklahoma hire

Once again, a position open at Oklahoma was filled by someone that no one expected.

After losing running backs coach DeMarco Murray to the Kansas City Chiefs, OU head coach Brent Venables went to the NFL level to find Murray's replacement in former Las Vegas Raiders running backs coach Deland McCullough as the Sooners' new running backs coach, according to ESPN's Pete Thamel on Wednesday morning.

Deland McCullough replacing DeMarco Murray for Sooners

McCullough spent just this past season with the Raiders as rookie Ashton Jeanty rushed for 975 yards and five touchdowns while averaging 3.7 yards on 266 carries, and was named All-Rookie. Although not much of a pass-catcher at Boise State, Jeanty had 55 receptions for 346 yards and five more scores in his first NFL season.

Before heading to Las Vegas, McCullough was Notre Dame's running backs coach for three years and also held the title of associate head coach in 2024, when the Fighting Irish made the College Football Playoff National Championship Game. He coached 2025 Doak Walker Award winner Jeremiyah Love for two of those seasons. Jeanty won the award in 2024.

McCullough also coached running backs for Indiana (twice), the Kansas City Chiefs and USC. Between all those stops, McCullough has directly coached the likes of Love, Jeanty, Audric Estime, Clyde Edwards-Helaire, Kareem Hunt and Tevin Coleman. He's also produced a 1,000-yard rusher 16 times while the Sooners haven't had one since 2022.

In 2014 at Indiana, with OU offensive analyst Kevin Wilson as the Hoosiers' head coach then, Coleman eclipsed 2,000 rushing yards in a season. That previous connection as Wilson's running backs coach for six years helped lure McCullough to Norman. McCullough also played running back at Miami (OH) while Wilson was the offensive coordinator.

Two of his sons also recently played for the Sooners before transferring elsewhere, most notably linebacker Dasan McCullough, as another quiet connection that eventually led McCullough to OU.

With a coaching change in Vegas, McCullough was actually another top target to be the Chiefs' next running backs coach before they ultimately hired Murray and opened up this new opportunity for McCullough after missing that one.

Venables has had two position coaches leave for the NFL this offseason. Neither eventual replacements were mentioned on any early hot boards after the position opened. Venables also hired NFL great Jason Witten to be the Sooners' new tight ends coach, and although there were rumors, that situation also seemed like just a dream. The same shock factor could also be said for new OU athletic director Roger Denny as Sooner fans have been blindsided by hires the last few months.