Nate Dreiling targeted by Oklahoma Sooners for defensive staff
The Oklahoma Sooners may be close to filling out their coaching staff. According to George Stoia of SoonerScoop.com, the Sooners are targeting the recently hired Arkansas State defensive coordinator Nate Dreiling to join the staff.
According to Stoia, Dreiling would take on the linebacker coach role left vacant by Zac Alley’s departure for West Virginia. There’s also the possibility of Dreiling taking on a co-defensive coordinator title with the Sooners.
Dreiling was hired to be Arkansas State’s defensive coordinator back at the beginning of January after spending 2024 as the defensive coordinator and then interim head coach at Utah State. In 2022 and 2023, Dreiling led New Mexico State’s defense, which held Auburn to 10 points in a huge upset of the Tigers back in 2023. Dreiling’s buyout with Arkansas State is $500,000, according to Stoia’s report.
Prior to his time at New Mexico State, Dreiling was the run game coordinator and linebackers coach for Southeast Missouri State. In 2020, he was on Mario Cristobal’s staff as a defensive analyst for Oregon. From 2017 to 2019, Dreiling was a defensive assistant on his alma mater, Pittsburg State’s staff, spending 2018 and 2019 as the defensive coordinator.
According to Stoia, Dreiling was a target for the Sooners in the wake of Alley’s departure before Jim Knowles became a possibility at defensive coordinator. With Knowles now at Penn State, the Sooners are moving forward with Dreiling.
The Lions’ coaching staff was decimated this offseason, but they are starting to fill in holes.
The team agreed to terms on a multiyear deal with former Stanford head coach David Shaw on Thursday, Tom Pelissero of NFL Media reports. Shaw will serve as the Lions’ passing game coordinator.
Shaw, 52, worked with new offensive coordinator John Morton at three previous stops. The two were together with the Raiders (1998-2001) and the Broncos (2024).
Shaw, who was a Broncos’ senior personnel executive last season, interviewed for the Bears’ head coaching job that went to former Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson.
Shaw was Stanford’s head coach from 2011-22, compiling a 96-54 record with the Cardinal and three Pac-12 conference titles. Before returning to his alma mater to coach in 2007, he was an NFL assistant with the Eagles, Raiders, and Ravens.
