For the second time since the Big Ten Championship game, Oregon's assistant head coach and running backs coach Ra'Shaad Samples has been a major target for another program but this time, it was none other than the Dallas Cowboys.
However, Samples stayed true to the Ducks and head coach Dan Lanning. Samples turned down a job opportunity as the Cowboys' running backs coach after interviewing with Dallas in order to stay in Eugene for at least one more year.
Samples kept it simple when he seemingly shared his commitment to Oregon, posting "#ScoDucks" on social media.
— CoachSamp (@RashaadSamples) February 3, 2025
Samples joined Lanning's staff before the 2024 season and is expected to make around $700,000 over the next years. Before coming to Oregon, Samples spent a year as the Arizona State Sun Devils' wide receivers coach & passing game coordinator.
"That's what I came here to do to be able to sign some of these guys, bring a different landscape, bringing in guys from Texas, and winning recruiting battles," Samples said before the season started. "It's a part of the job at this level and it's an expectation for me, it's the standard for me, it's the standard that Dan [Lanning] expects from me, it's why he brought me here."
Samples' coaching career started in 2016 with the Houston Cougars as a student assistant. He then headed a few hours west to spend a season with the Texas Longhorns before working with the SMU Mustangs from 2019 through 2021.
In 2022, Samples actually spent a season in the NFL as the Los Angeles Rams' running backs coach before heading to Arizona State.
Lanning brought Samples to Eugene in April of 2024 and following Oregon's impressive performance in the Big Ten Championship at the beginning of December, the Ducks' running backs coach was a frontrunner for the Sam Houston State head coaching job.
However, Lanning and the Ducks were able to ensure that Samples would come back for at least one more year and did the same thing, once again, after the Cowboys were interested in him.