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Oklahoma Adds L'Damian Washington to Coaching Staff

The former Missouri wideout only recently got into coaching after his playing career ended and will join the Sooners' offense as an assistant receivers coach and analyst.
John E. Hoover|
Oklahoma Adds L'Damian Washington to Coaching Staff
Oklahoma Adds L'Damian Washington to Coaching Staff

Brent Venables has added another accomplished name to his growing staff of coaches.

L’Damian Washington, formerly a receiver at Missouri under Hall of Fame coach Gary Pinkel who only recently broke into the college football coaching industry, joins the Oklahoma staff as offensive analyst and assistant receivers coach.

Washington, 30, made the announcement Thursday on Twitter. OU hasn’t formally announced the hiring.

FBS teams are allowed 10 full-time assistant coaches, and Venables has already filled that roster. However, teams can add an unlimited number of analysts, quality control staff and assistant position coaches.

Washington played on the XFL’s St. Louis BattleHawks in 2020, but then got into coaching when he joined Mizzou coach Eli Drinkwitz’s staff director of player development. Last season, Washington was the wide receivers coach at Southern University.

The Shreveport, LA, native spent the first part of his post-playing career in Columbia, MO, working for various charities. He also served on the board of directors for Pinkel’s GP M.A.D.E. Foundation.

Last summer, Washington was selected for the Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship and worked with the Kansas City Chiefs at training camp.

As a player at Missouri, Washington caught 100 passes for 1,735 yards and 15 touchdowns. He was a captain on Mizzou’s 2013 SEC East champion and graduated in four years with a degree in psychology.

Washington even has a brief playing history against the Sooners at Owen Field: in OU’s 38-28 win over the Tigers in 2011, Washington caught just one pass — for a 45-yard touchdown.

The 6-foot-4, 216-pound Washington spent time with seven NFL teams (Dallas, San Francisco, NY Giants, Cleveland, Miami, Pittsburgh, Kansas City) between 2014-15, then was signed by two Canadian football League teams (Edmonton, Winnipeg) before joining the Birmingham Iron of the Alliance of American Football and St. Louis of the XFL.

At OU, it’s expected that Washington will assist receivers coach Cale Gundy. Gundy previously coached inside receivers under Lincoln Riley while Dennis Simmons was the outside receivers coach.

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John E. Hoover
JOHN E. HOOVER

John is an award-winning journalist whose work spans five decades in Oklahoma, with multiple state, regional and national awards as a sportswriter at various newspapers. During his newspaper career, John covered the Dallas Cowboys, the Kansas City Chiefs, the Oklahoma Sooners, the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the Arkansas Razorbacks and much more. In 2016, John changed careers, migrating into radio and launching a YouTube channel, and has built a successful independent media company, DanCam Media. From there, John has written under the banners of Sporting News, Sports Illustrated, Fan Nation and a handful of local and national magazines while hosting daily sports talk radio shows in Oklahoma City, Tulsa and statewide. John has also spoken on Capitol Hill in Oklahoma City in a successful effort to put more certified athletic trainers in Oklahoma public high schools. Among the dozens of awards he has won, John most cherishes his national "Beat Writer of the Year" from the Associated Press Sports Editors, Oklahoma's "Best Sports Column" from the Society of Professional Journalists, and Two "Excellence in Sports Medicine Reporting" Awards from the National Athletic Trainers Association. John holds a bachelor's degree in Mass Communications from East Central University in Ada, OK. Born and raised in North Pole, Alaska, John played football and wrote for the school paper at Ada High School in Ada, OK. He enjoys books, movies and travel, and lives in Broken Arrow, OK, with his wife and two kids.

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