Watson Chapel High School graduate Kris McCullough has been hired as Gardner-Webb University head football coach, weeks after leading the University of Texas Permian Basin into the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division II playoffs.
McCullough, 30, played football and baseball at Watson Chapel in the early 2010s, competing on teams that contended for state championships. He had coached UTPB the past three seasons, posting a 28-10 record including an 11-3 mark (7-2 Lone Star Conference) this season. UTPB defeated Colorado State University-Pueblo and Western Colorado University (in overtime) in the playoffs before dropping a 34-28 decision to eventual runner-up Harding University.
McCullough had signed a contract extension following the 2023 season that was to keep him in west Texas through 2026 and offer incentives that could have extended through 2029. But his move to Gardner-Webb, located in Boiling Springs, N.C., represents a move up to the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision after four years as a head coach in Division II.
He was the youngest head coach in the nation at age 26 when East Central University promoted him to the interim role in March 2022 and removed the interim tag from him the following October, not long before UTPB hired him. In all, McCullough has a 37-12 career record, and he’s one of just four coaches to win 30 games before age 30, according to Gardner-Webb.
His 2025 UTPB team was ranked third in the final American Football Coaches Association poll and placed 27 players on the All-Lone Star Conference teams. One of his linebackers, Tristan Exline, was a finalist for the Harlon Hill Trophy, honoring the top player in Division II.
McCullough has also been an assistant coach at Fairmont State University in West Virginia, Old Dominion University in Virginia and his alma mater Henderson State University, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in 2017. He completed a master’s degree from Arkansas State University in 2019.
McCullough succeeds Cris Reisert, who went 11-13 in two seasons at Gardner-Webb but posted a 7-5 record (5-3 in Big South-Ohio Valley) this year. Reisert succeeded new University of Arkansas at Monticello Coach Gary Goff at Tiffin University in Ohio, posting a 40-11 mark from 2019-23.