Former Oklahoma FB J.D. Runnels Lands Coaching Gig in New USFL

Runnels got into coaching only a few years ago and now will be reunited with former Sooners assistant coach Kevin Sumlin with the Houston Gamblers.

John E. Hoover | Mar 17, 2022

Former Oklahoma fullback J.D. Runnels hasn’t been in coaching long, but he’s quickly climbing the ranks.

Runnels has landed an assistant coaching gig with the Houston Gamblers of the new United States Football League, the league announced Thursday.

In Houston, Runnels will be reunited with Gamblers head coach and former Sooners assistant coach Kevin Sumlin. Sumlin was co-offensive coordinator at OU under Bob Stoops, and he went on to become head coach at Houston, Texas A&M and Arizona.

Tim Heitman-US Presswire-US Presswire

Runnels was a 3-star prospect at Carl Albert High School in Midwest City. At OU, he became a team captain, first-team All-Big 12 fullback and won the Don Key Award as OU’s most inspirational player. He played in 53 career games, caught 51 passes for 450 yards and five touchdowns, and rushed the football twice for five yards.

Runnels, a key member of the OU Rose Bowl champion and two-time BCS runner-up from 2002-05, was a sixth-round pick of the Chicago Bears in the 2006 NFL Draft. He spent time with the Tampa Buccaneers and the Cincinnati Bengals as well before stepping into private business as a broadcaster and sports performance trainer working with young athletes.

Last year, Runnels coached running backs at East Central University in Ada, OK. He previously was the head coach at West Junior High, spent four years as strength coach for the Harrah, OK, high school soccer program, and was an assistant at Choctaw High School in 2016.

Published Mar 17, 2022

JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.