Arizona reportedly hiring DeMarco Murray as running backs coach
DeMarco Murray is headed back to the sidelines.
Murray, who spent this past year as a college football analyst for Fox Sports, will become the running backs coach at Arizona next season, according to the Arizona Daily Star and Rivals.com. The university is expected to officially announce the news in the coming days.
Murray, who has never been a coach, spent seven seasons in the NFL, and ran for nearly 7,200 yards and 49 touchdowns with three teams. In 2014 with the Dallas Cowboys, Murray ran for a league-high 1,845 yards on 392 carries and had 13 touchdowns. He retired in 2017 after spending one season with the Philadelphia Eagles and two with the Tennessee Titans.
The 30-year-old played in college at Oklahoma, where he ran for nearly 3,700 yards and 50 touchdowns for the Sooners. Now at Arizona, Murray will be reunited with head coach Kevin Sumlin, who was an assistant coach at Oklahoma from 2003-07 and initially helped recruit Murray to the Sooners in the first place.
Sumlin said last month that Murray was interested in entering the coaching world.
“I’ve known DeMarco since he was a senior at Bishop Gorman High School,” Sumlin said. “He’s a quality man, a class act. He has expressed some interest in getting into coaching, and because of that relationship he’s another guy that we’re talking to.”
Murray will be replacing Clarence McKinney, who left after last season to become the head coach at Texas Southern. Sumlin went 5-7 last season, his first with the Wildcats. McKinney was one of Arizona’s top recruiters.
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