David Culley

David Wayne Culley (born September 17, 1955) is an American football coach. He was the head coach for the Houston Texans of the National Football League (NFL) in 2021.

Culley has 45 years of coaching experience in both collegiate and professional levels, including 27 years of NFL assistant coaching experience. He previously worked under Andy Reid with the Philadelphia Eagles, with whom he appeared in Super Bowl XXXIX, and the Kansas City Chiefs from 1999 to 2016. Culley assumed his first head coaching position with the Houston Texans in 2021; however, he was fired after only one season, finishing with a 4–13 record.

Early years

Culley was born and raised in Sparta, Tennessee. He attended White County High School, where he played point guard in basketball, pitcher in baseball and quarterback in football. Culley played quarterback at Vanderbilt, where he was the first African-American to play the position in school history.

Coaching career

Early career

Culley began his coaching career as a running backs coach at Austin Peay State University in 1978. In 1979, Culley joined Vanderbilt University, his alma mater, as their wide receivers coach. Culley then joined as the quarterbacks and running backs coach at Middle Tennessee State University in 1982. In 1983, Culley was hired by the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga as their wide receivers coach. Culley then served as the quarterbacks coach at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette in 1985. In 1989, Culley was hired by the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) as their offensive coordinator, running backs coach and wide receivers coach. In 1991, Culley then served as the wide receivers coach at Texas A&M University.