David Culley was familiar with the Houston area when he decided to take the job as the Texans’ fourth full-time coach in team history.
Culley at one time was the receivers coach for Texas A&M from 1991-93 under College Football Hall of Fame coach R.C. Slocum.
Joining the Aggies was when Culley’s career “actually took off.”
“When I came there, it’s really ironic how I was at UTEP at the time as the offensive coordinator and there was a couple of guys on that staff that R.C. had that kind of knew me, and they knew our defensive coordinator Charlie Bailey at the time,” Culley told reporters Friday. “They made a phone call and asked if I would be interested in coming down there to talk. Obviously, the reason I did, I left there as a coordinator to be a position coach at A&M was simply because of the university and R.C. Slocum. It was one of the top ten programs in the country at that time.”
Slocum’s staff during Culley’s tenure featured Gary Kubiak as running backs coach and Mike Sherman, who would later coach the Green Bay Packers from 2000-05, as tight ends coach.
“A bunch of guys on that staff that ended up going on and coaching in the NFL as head coaches and assistant coaches,” said Culley.
Another part of Culley’s job on Slocum’s staff was as the pro liaison with the NFL scouts. It was after working with the NFL scouts that Slocum encouraged Culley to go higher.
Said Culley: “He just said, ‘Someday, your next move should be in the NFL, and if it happens, I’d do everything possible to help you get there.’ He actually did that for me and actually had a lot to do with me getting in the NFL, being a part of his program and being a part of what he was all about.”
Culley left Texas A&M to be the receivers coach for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers from 1994-95 under Sam Wyche. From 1996-98, Culley was on Bill Cowher’s staff with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Culley’s longest gig was with the Philadelphia Eagles on Andy Reid’s staff from 1999-2012, and he followed Reid to the Kansas Chiefs to continue as receivers coach from 2013-16. Culley’s only job as a quarterbacks coach was from 2017-18 with the Buffalo Bills, and he was the Baltimore Ravens’ receivers coach from 2019-20 before coming to Houston.