Oklahoma assistant DeMarco Murray suspended over recruiting violations

DeMarco Murray, Oklahoma’s running backs coach and a former Dallas Cowboys star, was handed a one-game suspension by the NCAA after they ruled that he was entangled in recruiting violations.

The NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions found that Murray had gotten in touch with prospects and their families before it was permissible to.

There wasn’t any dispute over what had taken place and the school, coach and committee all concurred that over a 16-month period, Murray had contacted 17 prospects, which included 65 phone calls and 36 text messages all of which were impermissible to do, according to ESPN.

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Murray claimed during the investigation that he wasn’t aware that a COVID-19 waiver of recruiting contact rules had expired, but the NCAA staff believed Oklahoma had properly educated its coaches on the rules and the changes to them.

It’s unclear when Murray will serve his suspension.

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The investigation also found that there had been violations in the track and field program and that former head coach Tim Langford had instructed a female student-athlete to give some of her scholarship money to two members of the men’s track and field team.

“The University discovered the violations through its monitoring systems and investigated, reported, and addressed the matters promptly and appropriately,” a spokesperson for OU’s athletic department said in a statement. “The violations in question were limited to the actions of a coach who is no longer employed by the University and a current assistant coach. OU worked with the NCAA to manage the review and reach a conclusion, and penalties imposed by the University are already in effect.”

Oklahoma was handed one year of probation and will pay a $5,000 fine.

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The football program was given a three-week ban on recruiting phone and electronic correspondence between Dec. 8, 2024, and March 31, 2025.

Murray has been a member of the football staff for four seasons and is entering his fifth with his alma mater after playing seven seasons in the NFL from 2011 to 2017.

He was a three-time Pro Bowler and played four seasons for the Cowboys, one with the Eagles and two with the Titans.

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