Kris McCullough

McCullough started his coaching career as a student assistant coach for his alma mater, Henderson State University.[2] For three seasons from 2015 to 2017 he worked with the tight ends, running backs, wide receivers, and quarterbacks. With the team, he was apart of the 2015 Henderson State team that won their first-ever NCAA Division II playoff win after earning the Great American Conference (GAC) title along with coaching GAC Player of the Year, Jaquan Cole.[3][4]

In the spring of 2017, McCullough joined Division I FBS Old Dominion as an assistant quarterbacks coach and as an offensive quality control coach, but departed prior to the start of the season.[5]

In the fall of 2017, McCullough joined Fairmont State University as the team's assistant special teams coordinator and running backs coach. Alongside those duties he was also the video coordinator.[6][7]

In 2018, McCullough joined East Central University as the special teams coordinator and quarterbacks coach.[8] He held those positions until 2020 where he was promoted to offensive coordinator.[8] In 2021 he added the title of assistant head coach.[8] During his stint as offensive coordinator he helped lead the team to nine wins across the shortened 2020 COVID-19 season and 2021. In 2021, the team recorded a season-best, since 2015, 7–4 record.[9][10]

On March 10, 2022, McCullough was named interim head coach after the previous head coach, Al Johnson, was hired by Wisconsin.[11] With his appointment to head coach he became the youngest head coach in all of college football at the age of 26.[12] Despite losing his first two career games as head coach, he then led the team to a six-game winning streak which including six-straight 30-plus point games and two 40-plus games, including a season-high 44 against Southern Nazarene.[13]

On October 27, 2022, the interim tag was removed and he was hired as the full-time head coach.[14][15] He lead the team to a 6–2 record up until that point before losing to Ouachita Baptist. He finished out his inaugural season going 3–0,[13] beating Arkansas–Monticello, Southeastern Oklahoma State, and earned a bid to the Fun Town RV Heritage Bowl where they beat Texas A&M–Kingsville.[16] The team finished with a 9–3 record which was the team's best finish since 1993 when they ended 10–3 and won the NAIA Championship under Hank Walbrick.[17]

On December 23, 2022, McCullough announced that he was stepping down from his position.[18]

On December 22, 2022, less than two months after becoming full-time head coach for East Central, McCullough was hired by the University of Texas Permian Basin to be the team's second head coach all-time, replacing Justin Carrigan who left to take a role in the athletics department.[19] In McCullough's first game with the Falcons, he outscored NAIA opponent Texas College 96–0, a program record, and just four points away from the century mark.[20] The following week the team fell to non-conference opponent Western Colorado before once again scoring 80-plus and beating Southwest Baptist 86–7.[21][22][23] Following the loss to Western Colorado, the team went on a six-game winning streak.[24] They beat West Texas A&M; an upset against ranked Texas A&M–Kingsville,[25][26] the same team he beat a year prior in a bowl game; Midwestern State; Eastern New Mexico; and the team's second upset win of the season beating ranked Angelo State.[27] The Falcons were ranked No. 25 in the D2 Football poll released on October 16, marking the first time in program history that the Falcons were ranked in a national poll.[28] A week later, on October 23, the Falcons would be ranked in the AFCA poll for the first time, debuting at No. 22.[29] Alongside their first AFCA poll ranking in program history they also broke the previous D2 Football poll by earning the No. 19 rank.[30]