Tyrone Wheatley goes home to Michigan as RB coach

By Phil Watson | Jan 17, 2015

Aug 29, 2013; Orchard Park, NY, USA; Buffalo Bills offensive coordinator Nathaniel Hackett (left) and running backs coach Tyrone Wheatley talk before a game against the Detroit Lions at Ralph Wilson Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Timothy T. Ludwig-USA TODAY Sports /

Jim Harbaugh isn’t the only former Michigan Wolverine returning to Ann Arbor to coach. Former star Tyrone Wheatley is coming back to coach the running backs.

Homecoming in Ann Arbor started early.

After former Michigan Wolverines quarterback Jim Harbaugh returned to his alma mater as head coach, he has recruited another former U-M great to do the same as Tyrone Wheatley—the fifth-leading rusher in the history of the program—will be the team’s new running backs coach.

“Michigan holds a special place in my heart and the chance to return here and help guide this program is truly a dream homecoming,” Wheatley said in a press release. “Michigan helped make me the man, husband and father I am today and I am passionate about passing those lessons on to the next generation of young men in Maize and Blue. I look forward to getting to work and thank Coach Harbaugh for the opportunity.”

Wheatley gained 4,178 yards for Michigan from 1991-94, a total that was second at the time he left and is now fifth in school history. He is third in the history of the program with a 6.1 yard per carry average.

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He was running backs coach for the Buffalo Bills the last two seasons after serving three years in that position at Syracuse. He made his coaching debut at his high school alma matter, Robichaud High School in Dearborn Heights, Mich., after earning his degree in kinesiology from U-M in 2006.

Wheatley was the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year as a sophomore in 1992, gaining 1,357 yards and scoring 17 total touchdowns.

He was the 17th overall pick by the New York Giants in the 1995 NFL Draft and played 10 years in the league, including rushing for 1,046 yards and nine touchdowns for the Oakland Raiders in 2000, helping the team reach the AFC Championship.

In 10 seasons with the Giants and Raiders, he rushed for 4,962 yards and 40 touchdowns.

Wheatley was the running backs coach at Ohio Northern in 2008 and at Eastern Michigan in 2009 before joining Doug Marrone’s staff at Syracuse in 2010 and following Marrone back to the NFL in Buffalo.

Wheatley is certainly another throwback, like Harbaugh, to a time when the Michigan program was nationally relevant; in his fourth years at Michigan, the team ranked sixth, fifth, 21st and 12th in the final poll by The Associated Press and compiled a record of 35-10-3.

As long as the new coaching staff doesn’t bore the new generation to death with countless tales of “like it usta was” in Ann Arbor, Harbaugh might (finally) be the right guy to bring the Wolverines back—at least to where they were before the impatient boosters ran Lloyd Carr off.

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