It has been long reported and despite pursuit by the New York Giants, Notre Dame has officially landed their new running backs coach, Deland McCullough. McCullough comes with a recent Super Bowl ring and quite the resume of former running backs at Indiana, USC, and with the Kansas City Chiefs.
Related: 2022 Notre Dame football coaching staff tracker
The following is Notre Dame’s official release on the McCullough hiring:
NOTRE DAME, Ind. — Notre Dame continues to add proven successful coaches to its football staff as Dick Corbett Head Coach Marcus Freeman announced Deland McCullough has joined the program as the running backs coach. McCullough, who won a Super Bowl title with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2020, joins the Irish after spending the 2021 season at Indiana as its associate head coach and running backs coach, his second stint at IU.
“Deland is as dynamic as you will find in our game when it comes to helping players reach, and at times even exceed, their potential,” said Freeman. “I have admired his work from a distance for several years, and I am so excited for our running backs to be able to bring in a coach who is going to get the most out of them on the field and also help them achieve their goals off of the field.”
In his lone season back at Indiana, McCullough coached running back Stephen Carr to a career year, as he gained 600 yards and scored six touchdowns in nine games for the Hoosiers.
Prior to his second stint with the Hoosiers, McCullough spent three seasons with the Chiefs where they won Super Bowl LIV, played in back-to-back Super Bowls and advanced to three-straight AFC Championship Games, the only AFC team to ever host three in a row.
McCullough was recognized as the NFL’s running backs coach of the year at the 2020 Combine. During his time with the Chiefs, his rushers consistently ranked among the league’s leaders in yards after catch, yards after contact and fewest sacks allowed. McCullough’s group surrendered just four sacks in his three campaigns, including zero in 2020. He guided Anthony Sherman to the 2018 Pro Bowl, and rookie Clyde Edwards-Helaire surpassed 1,000 yards from scrimmage in 2020. McCullough also coached standouts Kareem Hunt, Damien Williams, LeSean McCoy and Le’Veon Bell.
Before the jump to the NFL, McCullough spent the 2017 season as the run game coordinator and running backs coach for USC. In his one season with the Trojans, they won the Pac-12 championship and clinched a Cotton Bowl berth. Under his tutelage, Ronald Jones and Stephen Carr each carded All-Pac-12 accolades, while Jones garnered All-America honors. Jones was later selected in the second round of the 2018 NFL Draft by Tampa Bay.
During his first run in Bloomington, the Hoosiers set 19 different program rushing records and McCullough was named the 2014 BTN.com running backs coach of the year. With McCullough coaching them, Tevin Coleman (2015) and Jordan Howard (2016) became the first Indiana running backs to be drafted in consecutive years since 1990-92.
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