Gardner-Webb coach suspended amid probe
Kris McCullough has been suspended, just one game into his tenure as Gardner-Webb’s head football coach.
The Cleveland County school issued a 34-word statement Monday evening, saying McCullough, 30, had been sidelined “pending the outcome of an ongoing investigation.”
Gardner-Webb officials
said they would have no additional comment “at this time.”
Pete Bennett, an assistant in his second year with the Runnin’ Bulldogs, has been named interim coach. His first game in that role will be Saturday, when Gardner-Webb visits Wofford.
McCullough was the youngest head football coach in the nation when he was named to lead East Central University in 2022. He was 26 at the time.
He coached East Central, of Ada, Ok., to a 9-3 record in 2022 and then took the head coaching job at UT Permian Basin. Mccullough guided UT Permian Basin to a 10-2 record and an NCAA Division 2 playoff berth in 2023.
After a 7-5 campaign in 2024, McCullough coached the west Texas school to an 11-3 record last fall. The Falcons reached the Division 2 quarterfinals.
Gardner-Webb hired McCullough, an Arkansas native, two days before last Christmas.
His team opened the season last Thursday with a 35-17 loss to Austin Peay.
McCullough is married with two children.
Bennett, the interim head coach, was hired by Gardner-Webb in 2024 as special teams coach. Before that, he served as an assistant at N.C. Central, Memphis, South Alabama, and Central Arkansas.
He played quarterback and wide receiver in college at N.C. Wesleyan.
