How NFL Coach Deland McCullough Discovered His Football Mentor Is His Father

Deland McCullough is running back a milestone moment. 

Indeed, in 2017, the Las Vegas Raiders running back coach learned his longtime mentor and former college coach Sherman Smith had a special connection: They were biological father and son.

“He opened the door, and he just opened his arms," McCullough, 52, told Today in an Oct. 28 interview of the first time they met up after learning of their relation. "He said, 'My son.'"

Smith—who played for the Seattle Seahawks in the '70s and '80s and worked as the team's running backs coach between 2010 and 2017—and McCullough’s biological mom briefly dated as teens in 1972, with him previously sharing that he wasn’t aware she was pregnant with his son, whom she later gave up for adoption.

But ultimately Smith and McCullough’s paths did cross due to their shared passion for football. While a coach at Miami University in Ohio, Smith recruited the then-16-year-old McCullough to play college football. And the 70-year-old emphasized how his coaching philosophy was shaped by his role as a paternal figure for the student athletes.

“The statement that I would make to the players as I coached them,'" Smith—also a dad to two who also has two other adult children—told Today, "I would say, ‘You may not be looking for a father, but I treat you like you’re my son.'"

That bond continued even after Smith left the college after that season to be the tight ends coach at the University of Illinois.

His protégé went on to sign with the Cincinnati Bengals in 1996, ended his NFL playing career the following year after a knee injury, and went on to work as a coach for college teams, including at Miami, and later, the Kansas City Chiefs and the Raiders.

But during this time, McCullough, who was raised by a single mom, also began to seek out information about his biological parents. In November 2017, the dad of four received his adoption files and learned his birth mom’s her identity—and she was able to complete the missing piece of his family puzzle.

"So I said, ‘Well shoot, who's my dad, you know?" the 52-year-old told Today. "And she said, 'Your dad is a man named Sherman Smith.'”

Nowadays, the duo reflects on how McCullough inadvertently followed in his father’s footsteps. 

"Both of us had great careers at Miami," McCullough said. "Both of us (are) in the Hall of Fame at Miami. Both of us going to play professional. Both of our careers ended because of knee surgeries, multiple knee surgeries. Both of us, after playing football, getting an education."

He added, "Both of us go to the Super Bowl multiple times, and unfortunately, both of us lose to Tom Brady."

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(E! and Today are part of the NBCUniversal family.)