Seayracuse University running backs coach Tyrone Wheatley. Nice Read.

Frank Ordoñez / The Post-StandardSyracuse University running backs coach Tyrone Wheatley brings a wealth of experience, including an all-star career at the University of Michigan and 10 seasons in the NFL, to his new job.
Syracuse, NY -- As an All-Big Ten running back at Michigan, Tyrone Wheatley had plenty of thrills in a college career that included two Rose Bowl appearances and a 2-1-1 record against archrival Ohio State.

But the 38-year-old, who went on to play 10 NFL seasons, still had to stop and look around in early February when he arrived for his new job coaching running backs at Syracuse University.

“Coming from the school I come from, you think about your tradition,” Wheatley said of his arrival at SU’s football complex, where reminders of running backs such as Jim Brown, Ernie Davis, Larry Csonka and Floyd Little are plentiful. “And all of a sudden you start walking down this hallway, and then you just say, ‘Wow.’ The tradition here is just unbelievable.”

Wheatley, about to begin a second year as running backs coach at Eastern Michigan University, was summoned to Syracuse after newly-hired Roger Harriott decided he didn’t want to leave Florida just 10 days after his Jan. 29 hiring by head coach Doug Marrone.

Tyrone Wheatley, by the numbers

• At Michigan – Three-time All-Big Ten selection at tailback who ran for 4,178 yards on 688 carries from 1991-94. He scored 47 rushing TDs (second all-time at UM) and his 7.34 yards per carry in 1992 is a school record.

• In the NFL – The 6-0, 235-pound back gained 4,962 yards on 1,270 carries and scored 40 rushing TDs in 10 seasons with the New York Giants and Oakland Raiders. Wheatley also caught 125 passes for another 900 yards and 7 TDs.

• Did you know – Wheatley is one of the most storied track and field athletes in Michigan high school history, winning state titles in the 100 and 200 meters, long jump and hurdles. In college, he was an All-American in the 110-meter hurdles and also ran sprints for the Wolverines.


Harriott said goodbye on Feb. 8, and Marrone announced the hiring of Wheatley the next evening.

Marrone had heard good things about Wheatley from two people he trusted – assistant head coach Bob Casullo and new quarterbacks coach Nathaniel Hackett. Both worked with Wheatley – Casullo as a special teams coach in Oakland during the running back’s NFL career, and Hackett when Wheatley did an internship with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

“When I started to do my own research, I just didn’t hear anything negative, which is hard to do nowadays,” Marrone said.

While Wheatley has just one year working with running backs at Eastern Michigan, to go along with two years as a high school coach in Michigan, his college and pro experience made hiring him easy, Marrone said.

“There are a lot of good football coaches, meaning X’s and O’s,” he said. “I think what separates coaches is the way they handle players.”

Wheatley said he felt an immediate connection with Marrone.

“He’s just a real down-to-earth person you can talk to. He just opened up, which made me feel real comfortable,” Wheatley said.

“What he wanted taught, I was really able to see it and visualize it. He articulated what he wanted so well, to the point I could actually see it as he was speaking.”

Wheatley said he has played in systems very similar to what Marrone will run at SU. He added that his experience in the NFL, where players might have a different position coach every year, is helping him adapt.

“You get used to picking up new systems quickly, he said. “That’s part of your job. I’m not a player anymore. Now it’s teaching it.”

While he’s anxious to work with a veteran group of tailbacks, in Delone Carter, Antwon Bailey and Averin 
Collier, the new coach said he wants them to retain their individual styles.

“The reads and the technical aspect of the play, there’s only one way to do that,” he said. “But after that, customize the play and make it your own.”

Wheatley explained that while Bailey is “a quick-twitch, shifty type of guy” with great feet, he wouldn’t want Carter, a power back, to emulate that style. Should the chiseled Carter try something out of Bailey’s book, Wheatley will jump in.

“And I’ll say, no, no, no, no. Your strength is your strength. This guy is a strong man. He is a man,” he said of Carter.

Carter, a 1,000-yard rusher in 2009 and a team leader as a redshirt senior this year, said all of the Orange ball carriers will benefit from Wheatley’s presence.

“When you look at somebody of his caliber, and where he’s been, we just want to learn from him and gain that wisdom from him,” Carter said.