Earlier this month, the Kansas City Chiefs hired DeMarco Murray as running backs coach. The former first-team All-Pro and 2014’s NFL rushing yards leader previously held the same position at Oklahoma, his alma mater.
Head coach Andy Reid discussed the new coaching staff addition when he spoke to reporters on Friday. He sees Murray’s six-year tenure as Oklahoma’s running backs coach speaking for itself.
“We know DeMarco as the football player,” remarked Reid, “the great football player that he was.
DeMarco has been at the University of Oklahoma. He did a nice job there for six years and had some good running backs. I just thought him coming in, in that position, there would be a strength to that. Not only from an experience standpoint, but also the way he goes about teaching things.”
Reid revealed that Murray wanted to jump from the college to the pro sidelines. The opportunity to work under offensive coordinator Eric Bieniemy, who cut his coaching teeth as a running backs coach at Colorado and UCLA, should prove a great fit for Murray’s introduction to the NFL.
“[Murray] was doing well there [at Oklahoma],” observed Reid. “He could’ve stayed there, he was a legend there, so he could’ve stayed there forever probably. He wanted to get in the National Football League, he wanted to be here and learn. Hiring Eric Bieniemy, I think is a big thing because if Eric’s coaching the running backs, he is the best running backs coach in the NFL. He had an opportunity to go back and do that again last year, and so we hire him here as the offensive coordinator. Well, if I’m a running backs coach, what a great opportunity to learn, there’s nobody better to learn from than Eric for that particular spot.”
With no previous history with Reid, Murray could be considered a surprise hire. While there were no obvious connections with Kansas City’s staff, Reid revealed the history with Bieniemy dates to the early 2000s — when Murray was a senior at Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas. Bieniemy was then UCLA’s recruiting coordinator (on top of his running backs coach duties) and hoped to make the star running back a Bruin. Ultimately, Murray committed to Oklahoma.
With the Chiefs choosing Murray over other candidates, the two have a new chance for success together.
“Eric recruited him out of high school,” Reid noted, “so they’ve known each other for a number of years. That was another piece of it. I always look to see who works well together and anticipate who I think will work well together. I wanted to bring a young guy in that was ambitious to learn, and I thought DeMarco did a heck of a job. We talked to a lot of running backs coaches, and I just thought this was a pretty good fit.”
