Former Miami University running back Deland McCullough thanked Marcus Freeman and the Notre Dame football coaching staff and community for embracing him and his family for the past three years, in a tweet Saturday.
McCullough is expected to be introduced as the new running backs coach of the Las Vegas Raiders. New head coach Pete Carroll hired Chip Kelly as offensive coordinator.
Last February, McCullough added associate head coach to his title as Notre Dame’s running backs coach. McCullough’s 4,368 rushing yards rank second in MU history behind Travis Prentice.
McCullough was the Kansas City Chiefs‘ running backs coach from 2018 to 2020.
McCullough played for the Bengals for parts of two seasons and briefly played for the Philadelphia Eagles, the CFL’s Winnipeg Blue Bombers and the XFL’s Chicago Enforcers.
McCullough was the head football coach at Harmony Community School and an offensive and special teams intern and RBs coach for the RedHawks in 2010 and 2011 before leaving for the Indiana Hoosiers.
In 2018, Deland’s search for his biological parents was the subject of an “E:60” episode in which he discovered that his father was Sherman Smith, then MU’s running backs coach and McCullough’s mentor.
McCullough’s son, Deland II, joined Notre Dame’s football staff last April as a recruiting analyst.
Freeman, University of Cincinnati’s defensive coordinator from 2017 to 2020, became Notre Dame’s defensive coordinator in January 2021, and head coach later the same year when Brian Kelly became LSU’s head coach.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Deland McCullough: Ex-Miami University RB leaves Notre Dame for Vegas
