Less than 24 hours after reportedly finding a new cornerbacks coach in LaMar Morgan from Michigan, Brent Venables is on the hunt for a new position coach for the third time this offseason.
News broke on Wednesday that OU running backs coach DeMarco Murray is headed to the NFL to take the same role with the Kansas City Chiefs. It was the second time this offseason that Venables lost an assistant to the NFL after Jay Valai left to be the Buffalo Bills' defensive backs coach just last week. Venables also fired tight ends coach Joe Jon Finley and replaced him with NFL great Jason Witten.
After two hires already, who Venables gets has become unpredictable with both prior replacements having no previous connections to Venables or the Sooners. Regardless, who are five names to watch for during another coaching search in Oklahoma.
5 candidates to be Oklahoma Sooners' next running backs coach
Tashard Choice, Detroit Lions RB coach
After losing a former player to the NFL, the Sooners could do the reverse. Tashard Choice spent two years at OU before realizing he wasn't going to get carries over Adrian Peterson and transferred to Georgia Tech. He then had a six-year NFL career, during which he briefly shared a backfield with Murray in Dallas, before getting into coaching.
Choice was an intern for the Dallas Cowboys and a graduate assistant for North Texas before the Mean Green promoted him to running backs coach in 2018. He also coached running backs for Georgia Tech and Texas before joining the Lions last year.
Although this would be a solid hire, it's unlikely Venables can convince Choice to drop back down to the college ranks, but Witten actually joining the Sooners also seemed impossible.
DeShaun Foster, Former UCLA HC
This is the biggest and most popular name showing up on early hot boards to fill OU's vacancy.
DeShaun Foster was just fired less than two seasons in as the head coach of UCLA, which is where he was one of the best running backs the Bruins have ever had. He then played seven NFL seasons before getting into coaching. Although he failed in his first stint as HC, he's always been great coaching running backs between stops at Texas Tech and UCLA.
Foster would be an easy hire since he's already on the market, and he also has deep recruiting ties to California, where the Sooners have been hitting hard recently and already have 2027 running back Jaxsen Stokes committed from.
Cale Gundy, Former Oklahoma assistant
Former longtime OU assistant Cale Gundy, who also played for the Sooners, is the fan favorite to replace Murray. He spent 24 years on the Sooners' staff that included all of the Bob Stoops and Lincoln Riley eras. His roles included running backs coach, wide receivers coach, offensive coordinator and associate head coach. Great OU players he directly coached include Murray, Adrian Peterson, Joe Mixon, Dede Westbrook, Hollywood Brown, CeeDee Lamb, Sterling Shepard and Marvin Mims. Holy smokes, what a list.
However, Gundy resigned in 2022 right before Venables' first season after, according to Gundy's statement, he read aloud "a word that I should never -- under any circumstance -- have uttered" off the screen of a player's iPad during a film session. He has had a local radio show since leaving coaching, but after his brother, Mike, was fired as Oklahoma State's head coach, he said he would get back into coaching to follow Mike wherever he ended up next (which ended up being nowhere).
Tommie Robinson, UTSA RB coach
Tommie Robinson isn't a known name among fans, but he is among coaches. Currently at UTSA, he's also coached running backs for Texas A&M, LSU, USC, Texas, the Arizona Cardinals, Miami, Memphis, Oklahoma State and Utah State during his nearly 40 years in coaching. His former players include Devon Achane, Malcolm Brown, Clyde Edwards-Helaire, D’Onta Foreman, Johnathan Gray, Ronald Jones, Michael Irvin, LaDainian Tomlinson and Beanie Wells.
No other candidate has more proven experience than Robinson, and Venables could certainly lure him away from UTSA, where running back Robert Henry was third in the country with 6.92 yards a carry in 2025.
David Sims Jr., James Madison RB coach
There had to be at least one off-the-wall candidate considering Venables' recent track record.
David Sims Jr. has no ties to Venables or OU, but he continues to rise up the coaching ranks and should continue to after leading one of the best rushing attacks in the country in 2025 to help propel James Madison to the College Football Playoff.