The first real name to fill the void left by former running backs and special teams coach Jay Boulware has emerged.
Former star Oklahoma running back DeMarco Murray dipped into the coaching ranks prior to the 2019 football season for Kevin Sumlin at Arizona. According to a report from Michael Lev of the Arizona Daily Star and Tuscon.com, the Sooners have “at the very least has reached out to Arizona in regard to Murray”.
According to Lev, Murray was out on the road recruiting with the rest of the Arizona football staff and that it was unclear if contact from Oklahoma was anything more than exploratory, but Arizona is “preparing for that possibility” of losing him.
Murray played at Oklahoma under current inside wide receivers coach Cale Gundy from 2007-10. A Las Vegas, Nevada, native, Murray was a major piece to the Sooners’ 2008 team that went to the national championship game and the 2010 team that won the Big 12 Championship and Fiesta Bowl. He accounted for 5,256 yards from scrimmage in his Oklahoma career and 63 touchdowns.
Murray would go on to be drafted by the Dallas Cowboys in the third round of the 2011 NFL Draft. In 2014, he was named the NFL AP Offensive Player of the Year after rushing for 1,845 yards and 13 touchdowns. Murray finished his NFL career with the Tennessee Titans in 2017.
Boulware was making $470,000 a year as Oklahoma’s running back and special teams coach in 2019. Murray was making $235,000 as Arizona’s running back coach in 2019.
He is the first true name to have any traction to Oklahoma’s running back coach opening.