HENDERSON, Nev. — When Deland McCullough addressed the Las Vegas Raiders running back room this past offseason, he made sure to share his story from the jump.
McCullough, a former NFL player who was hired to lead the Raiders’ running backs in February 2025, grew up as an adoptive child, and eight years ago he found out who his biological parents were.
In November 2017, when McCullough was the running backs coach at USC, he discovered that the answer he had been longing for was right beside him for most of his life. Carol Briggs and Sherman Smith were his parents.
Smith and McCullough had a connection long before realizing they were tied together by blood. The two had known each other since McCullough was 17, when Smith helped recruit him to Miami University (OH) to play college football and served as a mentor throughout his playing and coaching career.
“I had a great relationship with [Smith] before. It’s just evolved from a mentor-mentee type situation to a father-son type of deal,” said McCullough, who will finish off his first season with the Raiders on Sunday against the Kansas City Chiefs (4:25 p.m. ET, CBS).
While McCullough’s discovery of his birth parents serves as the focus of his book, “Runs in the Family,” which was released in June and was co-written by Sarah Spain, his rocky upbringing and search for belonging, also detailed in the 306-page story, serve as an inspiration for his Raiders players.
Rookie running back Ashton Jeanty, Las Vegas’ No. 6 pick in last April’s draft, said there’s more to McCullough, 53, than just his coaching advice.
“He has been a mentor beyond just football, but on life and dealing with being a grown man,” Jeanty said.
IN DECEMBER 1972, Briggs gave birth to Jon Kenneth Briggs in Pittsburgh and eventually made the tough decision to put him up for adoption with the hope that he would find a stable, two-parent household.
McCullough was 6 weeks old when he was adopted by Adelle Comer and her husband, local radio host A.C. McCullough. He was then renamed Deland Scott McCullough. But nothing about his situation signaled stability. A.C. and Comer separated when McCullough was two years old.
Growing up, McCullough witnessed Comer get involved in abusive relationships while he dealt with the insecurities of being an adoptive child.
“There was so much going on in my surroundings,” McCullough said. “My adoptive mom was doing the best she [could]. The last thing I wanted to do was add to it by saying, ‘Hey, I know we can’t pay our light bill. We can’t pay our phone bill, but we need to go and do a search for my biological [parents].’ I didn’t care.
“It really hit me more as I started having children myself and having to answer four times what’s your family history. I [had] no answers.”
Football became McCullough’s haven. The sport also allowed him to find a mentor in Smith. McCullough was a senior running back at Campbell Memorial High School when Smith, the running backs coach at Miami University and an eight-year NFL veteran, visited him with the intention of recruiting him to the program.
Their relationship has been steadfast ever since.
Smith was supportive when McCullough had to face the harsh truth that his NFL dreams would be short-lived. Playing for the Cincinnati Bengals in 1996, McCullough suffered a season-ending injury during an exhibition game. He underwent several knee surgeries, played a couple of seasons in the Canadian Football League with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers, and had a stint in the XFL before retiring.
Smith also watched his playing career come to a halt because of knee injuries and told McCullough to figure out a way to turn his setback into a positive. By becoming a coach, McCullough did. McCullough was a communications teacher and a football coach at Harmony Community School in Cincinnati, then transitioned to being the school’s principal/executive director.
He spent one season at his alma mater, Miami (Ohio), as an offensive and special teams intern and running backs coach in 2010. He went on to become a running backs coach at Indiana (2011-2016), USC (2017), Notre Dame (2022-2023) and the Chiefs (2018-2020)
This season with the Raiders is McCullough’s second time working in the NFL.
“I told him that this may not work for you, but something else can,” Smith said. “I just knew he couldn’t allow this to be the end of his life. My dad told me that when I first got drafted into the NFL and got my first paycheck, ‘This is how you make your living. It’s not your life.’ I think [McCullough] is seeing that right now.”
In 2017, McCullough learned that Smith was more than just a mentor. He received his adoption records through the mail and learned that Carol Briggs was his mother. Right before Thanksgiving, McCullough messaged Briggs on Facebook and eventually talked on the phone. During the conversation, McCullough asked Briggs who his father was. She responded by saying his father is Smith.
The parallels between McCullough and Smith become more intriguing given that both grew up in Youngstown, Ohio, played at Miami (Ohio) and in the NFL, and both have worked under Raiders coach Pete Carroll.
Smith was the running backs coach for the Seattle Seahawks from 2010 to 2017.
“It’s just really outrageous, man,” McCullough said of his connection to Smith. “Both of us got Super Bowl rings. Both of us had a loss in the Super Bowl to [former Patriots quarterback and current Raiders minority owner] Tom Brady, which is kind of weird.
“You bring this next parallel [and] some of the comments were like ‘How did you guys not know?’ He didn’t know he had a child out here, and the last thing I’m thinking is coach Sherman Smith is my dad.”
Smith says, like McCullough, he’s going to share his story with people so they can learn from it.
“Deland is not going to let guilt, pride, or shame keep him from sharing his story,” said Smith, who was also a running backs coach for the Houston Oilers/Tennessee Titans and Washington.
During Smith’s years as a coach, he lived by the idea of “You may not be looking for a father, but I’m going to treat you like a son.” McCullough has carried that philosophy into his coaching career.
“It’s an opportunity for me just to kind of share not only the story, but those guys get to reap the benefit of it, because there’s wisdom in things that we talk about,” McCullough said. “Some of that I’ve learned through life can help these guys beyond football.”
McCULLOUGH, A FATHER of four sons, admitted at one point that he never pictured himself becoming a coach. But by overcoming the things he endured throughout his childhood and young adult years, it felt necessary for him to be an influence on others.
Paying it forward, as he would describe it.
McCullough sends a message to his Raiders players about being resilient and not allowing their environment or upbringing to dictate their futures. Last week, he shared his journey and gave copies of his book to the entire team.
“Getting to know his background and everything he stands for has been pretty cool,” running back Raheem Mostert said. “Just learning about how to raise a family, how to be a man, and how he has gone about his business… I think that’s the most inspiring thing. He has done a lot.”
“Redemption is a thing that’s real,” McCullough said. “How do you respond to, you know, negative situations, and then even once you’ve overcome them, what type of person are you? I wanted to make sure that you know that my sons grew up in a situation that was the complete opposite of mine.”
McCullough said the book was tough to write as he revisited certain aspects of his life. At the same time, the process was a form of therapy. McCullough learned to be tough and to express himself.
He wants people to understand that it’s OK to break those cycles and seek help when needed.
“You can do some things that may be different than how you were brought up,” McCullough said. “And not necessarily saying that those were bad things, but being able to express yourself, because when I grew up, you never questioned authority. Then I got to the point where I’m like, ‘Wait a minute. I should be allowed to ask questions.'”
McCullough said his story has the chance to be adapted into a movie. “There’s a lot of stuff going on in the background as it relates to that,” he added. “It’s headed in a positive direction, so we’ll see.”
Read more about McCullough’s story from Sarah Spain here.
