NORMAN — Deland McCullough always planned to return to college coaching, but Oklahoma's new running backs coach didn't know it would be this soon.
Thirteen months ago, McCullough left Notre Dame to take a turn in the NFL as part of Pete Carroll's staff with the Las Vegas Raiders. McCullough was coming off a College Football Playoff title game appearance with the Fighting Irish, and he wanted to further expand his coaching acumen with Carroll and learn under a defensive-minded head coach at the highest level.
A day after the regular season ended, with the Raiders just 3-14 and set to pick first overall in this year's NFL Draft, the franchise fired Carroll. Suddenly, McCullough was a man without a country, his next step uncertain amid the coaching change.
"I always let everybody know, my whole thing with going to the NFL was to become a better college coach," McCullough said. "I was always coming back to college; it was just about gathering information and being a better college coach. Obviously, when the season ended, we went in a different direction as a head coach, and I was kind of in limbo."