Oklahoma RB Coach Demarco Murray Receives 1-Game Suspension For NCAA Recruiting Violations

Oklahoma running backs coach DeMarco Murray will be suspended for one game this season after making 65 impermissible phone calls and 36 impermissible text messages involving 17 prospects over a 16-month span, according to a decision released Tuesday by the NCAA Division I Committee on Infractions. Murray and Oklahoma agreed on the scope of the allegations, which are classified as Level II NCAA violations.

In addition to the suspension for Murray, the Sooners have been fined $5,000 and will be on probation for a year. Other penalties, included recruiting restrictions, have already been self-imposed by Oklahoma.

Murray indicated he was unaware that a waiver of recruiting rules in place during the COVID-19 pandemic had expired, according to the NCAA's announcement. But the NCAA enforcement staff found that Oklahoma did properly educate football staffers on the timing of changes in the recruiting calendar.

The NCAA also found that third-year Oklahoma coach Brent Venables "violated head coach responsibility rules" in the case, even though he was "not personally involved in the violations."

Murray is a former star Oklahoma running back who played in the NFL from 2011-17 before entering coaching as Arizona's running backs coach in 2019. He's held the same position with the Sooners since 2020, spanning the tenures of Venables and predecessor Lincoln Riley. In that time, he's worked with 1,000-yard rushers Kennedy Brooks and Eric Gray.

The No. 16 Sooners open the 2024 season — their first as members of the SEC — on Friday against Temple.