Replacing his defensive coordinator was Tom Allen’s priority in early January, but a text from a familiar number grabbed his attention.
It was Deland McCullough, whose last year as Indiana’s running backs coach overlapped with Allen’s first season as defensive coordinator in 2016. McCullough didn’t need a job, not as an assistant for the reigning Super Bowl champion and soon-to-be AFC champion Kansas City Chiefs, but when he saw Allen needed a new running backs coach, he was curious whether there might be any interest in a reunion.
So McCullough, in the middle of compiling a game plan for the Chiefs’ offense, stopped what he was doing, picked up his phone and began drafting a message to his former colleague.