Eastern lost a great coach yesterday while they are trying to rebuild their program.
-Michigan Sports Guy
Former Michigan standout Tyrone Wheatley is headed to Syracuse as running backs coach, the same position he held at Eastern Michigan last season.
Wheatley brings four years of coaching experience to the Orange. At EMU, he mentored the running backs, served as the recruiting coordinator and was responsible for the team's high school football camps. He also has coached at Ohio Northern University and Dearborn Heights Robichaud High.
The Inkster native was named the 1992 Big Ten Player of the Year and earned the 1994 Rose Bowl and the 1994 Hall of Fame Bowl Most Valuable Player awards. He earned his bachelor’s degree in kinesiology from U-M in 2008.
A three-time All-Big Ten running back, Wheatley enjoyed a 10-year career in the NFL with the Giants and the Raiders.
- Courtesy of Freep.com, written by JAMES JAHNKE
Here is an article from syracuse.com with their perspective
Former Michigan star Tyrone Wheatley fills opening on Syracuse football staff
By Dave Rahme / The Post-Standard
February 09, 2010, 10:29PM
Syracuse, NY -- Doug Marrone wasted little time in filling an unexpected opening on his staff, hiring former Michigan All-America tailback Tyrone Wheatley to coach running backs at Syracuse University. The hiring was announced earlier this evening, a day after Roger Harriott resigned following a change of heart.
Wheatley, who spent last season coaching running backs at Eastern Michigan, had relationships with two members of Marrone's staff. He was a player for the Oakland Raiders (1999-2004) when special-teams coordinator Bob Casullo coached there, and he did a coaching internship for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2006 when quarterbacks coach Nathaniel Hackett was there.
In addition, Wheatley’s credentials as a three-time All-Big Ten back and a 10-year NFL veteran with the New York Giants, who selected him in the first round, and Raiders should give him name recognition and respect with recruits.
"He’s played the position, been on the field at the highest level and seen in through the eyes of a player," Marrone said. "Plus, he played in a system I’m familiar with and believe in. His learning curve should be a lot easier."
That noted, Marrone said neither the endorsement of his assistants nor Wheatley’s playing pedigree was the main reason he joined the club.
"The first question I ask any candidate is, ‘What are you going to do for these players outside of football?’" Marrone said. "I’m interested in how a coach is going to help a kid become a better man, a better member of society. Tyrone has the same core values I have. That was the most important thing."
Those values were why Marrone took a chance on Harriott recently even though he lacked Division I college coaching experience. Harriott, a former back at Villanova and the father of four girls under 10 years of age, decided to step down from the post and return to a Florida less than a week after Marrone introduced him to the media during the team’s annual letter of intent signing day news conference.
Marrone, following a policy he set soon after arriving as head coach in December 2008 in which he refuses to comment on anyone no longer with the team, had nothing to say publicly regarding Harriott’s decision other than, "Everything happens for a reason." Instead, he focused on Wheatley and the future.
"He is the right fit," Marrone said. "God, family, school and football. Those things matter to me and to him."
In Wheatley, Marrone once again displayed a flair for the unconventional. The new assistant has only marginally more coaching experience than Harriott. Since retiring from the NFL in 2004 he has worked hard at getting into coaching, serving minority fellowships with the Bucs and Steelers, spending two years as a head football coach at a Michigan high school and finally coaching backs last season at Eastern Michigan. He also was the team’s recruiting coordinator and was responsible for running its high school camps.
The Michigan native was named the 1992 Big Ten Player of the Year and earned the Rose Bowl and Hall of Fame Bowl MVP awards. A three-time All-Big Ten selection (1992-94), Wheatley was also an All-Big Ten honoree in track and field from 1993-95. He ranks fourth on the Michigan career rushing yards record list (4,178 yards on 688 carries) and is second in career rushing touchdowns (47). He holds the Michigan single-season yards per carry record (7.34 in 1992) and averaged a school-record 15.7 yards per carry in the 1993 Rose Bowl victory over Washington.
Wheatley earned his bachelor’s degree in kinesiology from Michigan in 2008. He and his wife, Kimberly, have three sons and two daughters.
-Courtesy of syracuse.com, written By Dave Rahme
