According to a report from OUInsider, the Oklahoma Sooners have agreed to a deal with Nate Dreiling, adding him to the program’s coaching staff ahead of the 2025 season.
Dreiling spent one season as Utah State’s defensive coordinator and served as their interim head coach in 2024, but was hired to serve as the DC at Arkansas State earlier this month. Now, the 34-year-old is set to become the co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Oklahoma.
The hire finally brings an end to Oklahoma’s search for a defensive coordinator, a position that’s been open since Zac Alley left to take the same position at West Virginia on December 27.
Dreiling began his coaching career as a grad assistant at Kansas, but returned to his alma mater, Pittsburgh State, and spent three seasons there coaching safeties and eventually becoming the defensive coordinator.
Dreiling also spent a short time as a defensive analyst at Oregon (2020) before becoming the defensive coordinator at New Mexico State in 2022-23.
After inheriting one of the worst defenses in the country at Utah State, Dreiling’s unit struggled again in 2024, ranking 128th in scoring defense (37.8 ppg), 130th in total defense (470.1 ypg), 128th in rushing defense (214.5 ypg and 118th in passing defense (255.6 ypg).
However, his two-year stint at New Mexico State gives plenty of reason for optimism. In the 2021 season, prior to Dreiling’s arrival, the Aggies ranked 128th in scoring defense (40.4 ppg), 127th in total defense (486.8 ypg), 112th in rushing defense (195.6 ypg), and 128th in passing defense (291.1 ypg).
In his second and final year with NMSU, the Aggies ranked 44th in scoring defense (22.8 ppg), 85th in total defense (392.4), 50th in rushing defense (143.7 ypg), and 106th in passing defense (248.7 ypg).
Where they really excelled, though, was in the Red Zone, as New Mexico State ranked fifth nationally, allowing scores on just 72.6% of their opponent’s opportunities and touchdowns just 48.4% of the time.
It’s not the big name that Sooner fans were hoping for, but it certainly adds another name to the room that should garner attention nonetheless.
