A newly-minted Oklahoma assistant coach is looking to expand his sports endeavors beyond football.
The New York Mets, you may have heard, are up for sale. Currently, the top bid for the baseball club is $2 billion by hedge-fund manager Steve Cohen. Another group has submitted an initial bid of $1.7 million. That latter group is headlined by Alex Rodriguez and Jennifer Lopez, the power couple that is putting up $300 million of their own money as part of the effort.
The Rodriguez-Lopez duo, though, has other former athletes as part of the prospective ownership group. Included in that are a pair of current NBA players (Bradley Beal of the Washington Wizards, Mason Plumlee of the Denver Nuggets) as well as former Cleveland Browns offensive lineman and future first-ballot Hall of Famer Joe Thomas. Also part of it? DeMarco Murray.
Murray was an All-American running back for Oklahoma football in the early aughts. In January of this year, it was confirmed that Murray was returning to Norman as the running backs coach for the Sooners.
“This is very surreal,” Murray said at the time. “Obviously I never thought I’d be back coaching at the place where it all started for me. Having the opportunity to come back and be among great coaches and be with some of the people I grew up with is exciting. I’m thankful for the opportunity Coach Riley is giving me and I’m looking forward to being back home.”
As for Murray’s chances to be a part of an ownership group that buys an MLB team? It’s being reported that “Mets COO Jeff Wilpon would prefer to sell to the Rodriguez-Lopez group if its offer is close to the best bid at the end of the auction.”