Ex-UM star Tyrone Wheatley hired as Wayne State head football coach
Tyrone Wheatley’s 10th coaching stop just might be the most special yet.
Wheatley, the former Dearborn Heights Robichaud and University of Michigan standout, was named head football coach of Wayne State on Thursday. He was introduced to players and staff in a Zoom meeting Thursday morning and will be introduced in a campus press conference next Thursday.
Wheatley was most recently running-backs coach for the NFL’s Denver Broncos. This is his second college head-coaching job, after he was head coach of Morgan State of the Football Championship Subdivision from 2019-21.
“I am looking forward to coming home — as they always say, there is no place like home,” Wheatley said in a statement put out by the Division II university. “No matter where I have been, I’ve always tried to recruit the state of Michigan and the city of Detroit.
“I am pleased, honored and blessed to be back home and to coach at Wayne State University.”
Wheatley, 51, succeeds longtime head coach Paul Winters, who was fired in December after 19 seasons on the job.
Contract details for Wheatley weren’t immediately available Thursday. Winters made more than $200,000 a year.
This is the first major hire for interim athletic director Erika Wallace, who took over following Rob Fournier’s retirement in November. Fournier had been placed on administrative leave when Wallace took over.
“I am beyond excited to welcome Coach Wheatley and his family to the Wayne State community,” Wallace said in a statement Thursday. “Coach Wheatley has a passion for developing the student-athlete not only on the field, but off. His ability to mentor men, develop talent, and recruit will elevate our football program.
“I’m looking forward to watching his leadership as he guides our Warrior student-athletes into a new era.”
Wheatley brings a wealth of experience in his 16 years as a coach, including five in the NFL.
Prior to joining the Broncos last season, Wheatley was Morgan State’s head coach for three seasons. During his tenure, he led the program to five wins, despite the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference’s cancelation of the 2020 fall football season because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Wheatley spent the 2015-16 seasons as running-backs coach at Michigan. Wheatley was part of a coaching staff that guided the team to consecutive 10-3 seasons and back-to-back bowl appearances. In his first season at Michigan, the Wolverines ran for over 2,000 yards. The following year, Michigan rushed for 212.9 yards and registered 304 rushes for 2,768 yards (4.8 avg.) with 41 scores. Wheatley was also the running-backs coach at Eastern Michigan in 2009, before he spent three years (2010-12) at Syracuse before joining the Buffalo Bills staff. Wheatley began his coaching career at Robichaud High School, where he was head coach in 2007. That season, Robichaud went 9-2 in the regular season and was a perfect 6-0 in league play.
“I’ve coached a lot of great players, the difference was Tyrone was always searching for ways to get better on the football, and off the field as well,” former Michigan running-backs coach Fred Jackson said in a statement put out by Wayne State. “He just didn’t want to be great. He was always chasing greatness. He was always trying to put himself in a position to be a better player. I knew he would be a fantastic coach.”
As a star running back at Michigan, Wheatley earned three consecutive all-Big Ten awards (1992-94) after graduating from Robichaud. In his sophomore season in 1992, Wheatley was named Big Ten offensive player of the year and finished with 235 yards in the Rose Bowl, earning the game’s MVP award. He rushed for 1,357 yards and 13 touchdowns as a sophomore, while adding three receiving touchdowns and one on a kickoff return. Wheatley also ran track and field at Michigan, and was an All-American in the hurdles.
Wheatley was a first-round pick by the New York Giants in the 1995 NFL Draft, and played 10 seasons in the NFL, finishing his career with the Oakland Raiders.
tpaul@detroitnews.com
Twitter: @tonypaul1984
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