UTPB Athletics

Kris McCullough, one of the young rising stars in the world of Division II football, was announced as the second head coach in UT Permian Basin Football history on Thursday, December 22, 2022. In four seasons as head coach at UTPB and East Central University, McCullough has a career record of 26-10.

In his first year as head coach (2023), McCullough led the Falcons to their first ever Lone Star Conference Championship, finishing the regular season with a program best 10-1 overall record - defeating all DII Texas schools in the conference, a first for the football program, and finishing with a perfect LSC record of 8-0, another first. The success he had in the regular season resulted in the Falcons hosting the first round of the NCAA Championships for the first time in program history. Three players earned six All-American honors - the most All-American honors earned in a single season in program history - while 19 players earned All-LSC honors and five Falcons, including Coach McCullough, earned major awards from the conference. McCullough was named LSC Coach of The Year, The College Football Network D2 Coach the Year and All-Texas Non-FBS Coach of The Year. Graduate student linebacker Hayden Kelly earned multiple awards as well: 2023 Don Hansen NCAA Division II All-America First Team, 2023 D2CCA All-America First Team and All-Super Region 4 First Team, Associated Press Division II All-American Second Team, LSC Linebacker of the Year and All-LSC First Team, D2Football.com Elite 100 Squad and All-Texas Non-FBS Squad. In addition, graduate student quarterback Kenny Hrncir earned the LSC and the All-Texas Non-FBS Offensive Player of the Year awards, junior Jeremiah Cooley was named LSC Receiver of the Year, and senior Dominique Varela was named LSC Defensive Lineman of the Year. Kelly (first-team), Hrncir (second-team) and Varela (second-team) were each named to the 2023 Division II Conference Commissioners Association (CCA) All-Super Region 4 football team. Success on the football isn’t the only thing that McCullough stressed in year one, as he had 50 student-athletes earn 3.0 GPA’s and had the only football player in the LSC to earn Scholar-Athlete honors (Kelly).

In McCullough's second season (2024), UTPB finished 7-5 overall and tied for third place in the Lone Star Conference at 6-3. In addition to improving to 8-0 on the road in LSC games under McCullough and having the second-winningest season in program history, the Falcons have now had back-to-back winning seasons for the first time in their history. UTPB made its second consecutive postseason appearance for the first time in program history and nearly defeated No. 25-ranked Central Missouri in the 2024 Heritage Bowl Powered by Riot. Junior running back Kory Harris became the Falcons' new all-time leading rusher against Texas A&M-Kingsville on September 21, broke the school record with 13 rushing touchdowns on the season, and became the first UTPB runner to surpass 200 rushing yards in a game and 1,000 yards in a season. Sophomore Tristan Exline was named the LSC Co-Linebacker of the Year and First-Team All-Conference. He also earned a spot on the D2Football.com Elite 100 Squad Team, the 2024 Dave Campbell's Texas Football All-Texas Non-FBS team, and the 2024 Don Hansen NCAA Division II Honorable Mention All-America team. For the second year in a row, senior Jeremiah Cooley was named the LSC Receiver of the Year and First-Team All-Conference. In all, UTPB had 22 All-Lone Star Conference selections, which was the most Falcons honored in one season by the LSC in program history. 

McCullough took over the Falcons after a season as head coach at East Central University (DII) in Ada, Oklahoma. McCullough led the Tigers to a 9-3 record in the difficult Great American Conference (GAC) that culminated in a victory over Texas A&M – Kingsville in the Fun Town RV Heritage Bowl. Three players would go on to earn All-Super Region Three honors while 16 were named to the All-GAC Team. Linebacker Devon Roush was named GAC Defensive Player of the Year on a defense that forced 28 turnovers and led the nation in turnover differential. 
 
"What Kris has done in a short amount of time in charge of a football program is quite remarkable," said Todd Dooley. "Throughout the entire search process Kris' charisma and vision stood out in a very competitive group of candidates. He checks all the boxes in what we are looking for in our pursuit of comprehensive excellence."
 
For his efforts in 2022, McCullough was named to the American Football Coaches Association 35 Under 35 Coaches Leadership Institute, recognizing him as one of the best young coaches in the game of football. He was the only Division II coach selected to the list that included coaches from Michigan, Texas, Auburn, Tennessee, and the NFL's Seattle Seahawks among others.
 
He started at East Central in 2018 as the team's Special Team Coordinator and Quarterbacks Coach before getting promoted to Offensive Coordinator in 2020 and Assistant Head Coach in 2021. His first two seasons in Ada saw the team go 3-8 before his promotion. Since then the Tigers went 19-7, including an upset of former Lone Star Conference rival and now Division I school Tarleton State. 
 
"First, I'd like to thank everyone at East Central," said McCullough. "I enjoyed every second spent in Ada and at East Central and want to thank them for believing in me and giving me a chance to be a head coach. We made history at that school in many ways, and no one can take that away from the student-athletes and coaches. I'm so excited for this opportunity!  My wife Hannah and I can't wait to arrive in the Permian Basin to get started and meet all the great folks in West Texas as we level up UTPB Football. Falcons Up!"
 
Prior to his success in Ada, McCullough was the Running Backs Coach and Assistant Special Teams Coordinator at Fairmont State from 2017-18. There he helped develop Terrell Charles, who finished top-10 in Fairmont State history in rushing yards and touchdowns. In the Spring and Summer of 2017, he was the Offensive Quality Control Analyst and Assistant Quarterbacks Coach at Old Dominion.
 
McCullough got his start in coaching at his alma mater, Henderson State, as a student assistant, working all over the offensive side for three seasons. In 2015, he helped Henderson State win its first NCAA Division II Playoff game after winning the GAC.

 

McCullough at UTPB
Year	Season at UTPB	Overall Record	Conference Record	Conference Finish/Accolades
2023	1st	10-2	8-0	1st LSC (LSC Champions) Advanced to NCAA Division II Playoffs Named LSC Coach of the Year Named The College Football Network D2 Coach the Year Named All-Texas Non-FBS Coach of The Year
2024	2nd	7-5	6-3	T-3rd LSC Played in 2024 Heritage Bowl
Overall		17-7 (.708 pct.)	14-3 (.824 pct.)	One-Time LSC Coach of the Year One LSC Championship One NCAA Division II Playoff Appearance