Tony Alford Gets Honest About Ohio State, Michigan and Coaching

[How did it feel getting your first win against Ohio State? Oh, how much you really want me to tell you?

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Back to the episode. All right, what’s going on, Michigan fans?

Welcome back to another episode of The Breakdown. When I say I got a special guest this week, man, I mean we have a really special guest. A guy who I followed his career for a very long time. Probably more envious than anything, but you know, when I found out that he was going to be coming to Michigan, I was super excited about it because of his reputation, not just as a recruiter, but just as a human being.

And so, I’m really honored to have Coach Tony Alford on the podcast. Coach, how you doing, Chris?

Thanks, man. I’m doing great. Doing great. Getting ready to kick off another season, but I’m fantastic.

Appreciate you having me. Yeah, man. I’m excited about this podcast because it’s not often that you get to talk to someone with the experience and just the coaching pedigree that you’ve amassed over your coaching career. But before we get into that, I don’t know how many people know this, but coach played at Colorado State from 1987 to 1990.

I didn’t know that. A thousand-yard rusher and a Doak Walker Award nominee at Colorado State. You had over a thousand yards in 1989 as a junior and you were named first-team All-Western Athletic Conference that season and honorable mention All-American by USA Today. I didn’t know you had it like that, man.

I didn’t. Listen, man. I had to pay some people to put that stuff down. But no, no, I did okay.

The only people that care about that at this day and age is my mom. No one else cares. So I can Okay. I had a decent career.

I had a decent career there. Yeah. Let’s talk about that because before we get into Right. Tony Alford, the coach, I want to get to know Tony Alford, the man.

Talk to me about like your college career. The recruiting process. How did you get to Colorado State?

What was high school football like for you? Yeah, that’s a great question. So, I grew up in Kent, Ohio, Kent State. My dad, God rest his soul, was the first black captain all-American at Kent State back in the 50s.

So, as we moved forward, obviously ended up homesteading there. He became a high school coach. Obviously, I started playing football. I’ve been on the sideline.

My mom would tell the best, but I’ve been on the sideline all but one season since I was 5 years old and I’m 57, so you do the math, right? But my dad was a my dad was a coach. So I was I was a little ball boy running around picking up the tees and you know throwing tape in the trash can just that was my way to be around my dad every day. And if he was going to be at practice that was my way.

So my mom would drop me off there and so I kind of grew up in the locker room kind of a gym rat. And played at Kent Roosevelt High School. Going into my senior year, we moved from Colorado to or moved from Ohio to Colorado. Where I was a defensive back in Ohio, we moved to Colorado and they said, “Hey, we’re going to Oh, and a kicker, by the way.”

But they moved me. Yeah. So, they we moved to Colorado and they needed a running back. I was like, “Yeah, I’ll do that.”

And ended up having a great senior year. Got recruited. I almost went to Syracuse, but I wanted to stay a little closer to home. So, I went to Colorado State and I didn’t know much.

Again, I’d only been there for a year, my senior only. So, it’s not like I was invested in anything Colorado wise, but it was 2 hours away from home. It was going to allow my parents to be there. My younger brother, God rest his soul, passed away 13 years ago at a young age, but he was in seventh grade, so it allowed me to be still be close proximity to him, which was big for me.

Went to Colorado State. Played played my true freshman year, ended up having some injuries, tore my shoulder up, sat out my most sat out most of my most of my sophomore year. And then my junior year, Earle Bruce, so we had new staff, Earle Bruce came in, who I had known from Ohio State days because he would recruit my dad’s school. And then he talked me into staying because I was quite frankly going to transfer and I think I was going to go to Nebraska if I remember right.

And but ended up staying. Had a I was an honorable mention all-American my junior year, I averaged, I don’t know, like six and a half yards a carry something like that broke some school records and then going into my senior year had some injuries broke a foot but played on it and then I went to Denver I went to the Denver Broncos as a free agent rebroke my foot you know how that deal is there right ended up ended up getting cut late in into that deal and then played a little bit in the World League And I listen, Chris, I thought I was a good player, but I was just an average guy. I mean, there were so many players much better than me. And to come to that realization was hard because you had to really take a deep dive and look at yourself and say, “Okay, am I really that guy?”

And I mean, I thought I was a decent player, but really looking back, I was going to be a journeyman at best. That’s what I would have been, which is which is fine, but you know, I had a dream of playing in the NFL and so I had those opportunities and it is what it is. But then I got into coaching and did two years of high school ball. One year in Colorado, one year in Florida, then I got into college and I was at Mount Union College in Ohio, division 3 school, which is one of the biggest biggest and best football powerhouses, if you will, in all divisions quite frankly because they won so many so many games throughout the course of that school.

Obviously, I’m married got three sons that are 25, 21, and then my youngest is 21. They’re they’re five and a half months apart, but and my youngest sister my youngest obviously just transferred here to Michigan is playing here. We’ve moved everywhere under the sun. So, we’ve been to quite a few places, but I’ve been very fortunate in my career.

You know, the last 18 years has been between Notre Dame, Ohio State, and Michigan. And so, I’m beyond blessed to be able to say that I’ve worked at three of the blue blood programs, if you will, and had a had a had a wonderful career for me. You know, some people may say, “Well, this was that and it,” but for me, I’ve had a I’ve had a wonderful career and I’m very fortunate for the people I’ve been around and that have afforded me the opportunity to coach them and coaches that have poured into me. But yeah, I in a nutshell, that’s kind of I’m pretty I’m pretty pretty boring dude, man.

I just, you know, just kind of go about my way. But I enjoyed my time at Colorado State and then I’ve been able to, you know, met some people there. I think it’s like we’ve always talked about a lot of networking has happened, right?

And a lot of my networking started in my college and started in my college days and with Earle Bruce and Urban Meyer was a coach of mine and Steve Looney and those guys kind of helped move me and propel me into my professional career and into the coaching world. So those those things matter and man, I’m just trying to put it in every day like everybody else, trying to get it in and stay out of the way. Hey, I can I can attest to that, man. It’s funny when I’m listening to you talk about kind of like that transition and coming to that realization of you know what I’m just a guy at this level, right?

You know, into the in football. Because kind of the same thing happened with me. Like it’s so crazy. So I got drafted to the Denver Broncos.

That was the Terrell Davis years. Yeah. And I ended up getting cut, but they wanted to bring me back on practice squad, but my agent at the time was like, “No, you know, I want you to go down to Jacksonville.” I think Fred Taylor had been kind of struggling a little bit, but then they also had Tavian Banks.

Probably the worst decision I could have made to go down to Jacksonville because Denver ended up winning the Super Bowl that year. So that sucked. But you know, I you know, I was very fortunate because, you know, even though I was happy that I made it to the NFL, when you get to that level, you see the difference, right?

And for me, I saw the difference early on because we had guys like Jonathan Stewart, Fred Taylor, Tavian Banks, you know, very elite athletes and then there was me and it be I realized really quick. I was like, “Yeah, I understand why they said the NFL stands for not belong.” Because, you know, I knew I had already peaked. I knew I’d already kind of met my limitations in this in this league.

And so for me it was like, okay, I need to start figuring out what’s the next step after this because like you I knew I was going to be a journeyman and I didn’t want to be floating around for the next 7 10 years from city to city, you know, trying to figure out where I’m going to fit in. And so for me it was it was an easy decision to walk away from football. But I’d be lying if I said I was prepared for to make that decision because, right, we all think that we know that day is coming, but not a lot of us are actually prepared for what the next step is. For you, did you know coaching was going to be the next step?

Well, first of all, man, give yourself a little more credit, brother. You were more than just a guy. So, I remember I remember you well, right?

Because you know, you know, I was out I was coaching by that time. What was that 97ish?

Yeah, 97. Yeah. So I mean I was I already started my coaching career by then and so I remember you well and u but coached against Tavian and things like that.

But yeah, you know I think it’s very humbling, right? And because you know I think as quote unquote elite athletes, we’ve never been told no, right?

And I had never as far as football went, I had never been told no. I had never been told I wasn’t good enough. Right. And then when I was it was like wait a minute that you know I want to do things on my terms on my time and where you’re kind of they kind of forced your hand but go back to I remember we you know all through high school college if I got to the edge on a toss sweep and if I got to the edge I was like oh this is easy.

I got at least 10 yards. I’m good. And I remember I took a pitch and I got tackled and I was right on the sideline and I rolled over. I got up and Mike Croel, former first round draft pick out of out of Nebraska.

Great dude. He had tracked me down and tapped me for like a yard gain. And I was like I was like, damn. I was like, these dudes are moving.

Right. So I kind of knew what it was and but still had to come to that realization. Quite frankly, I didn’t know what I wanted to do. You know, and coach Earle Bruce was like, “Well, hey, you know, come back be around.

You should coach.” And I’m like, “Why the hell I don’t want to coach?” I was like, “I don’t want to do that.” You know, I was like, “You guys got on my nerves, right?”

So he was like, “No.” And Earl was like a second father to me. He’s like, “No, here’s what you’re going to do. You’re going to hang out with us in the spring and just kind of be around.”

So, I was I was around all spring. Todd Fitch had taken the job as a running back coach because my our guy had left to go to Illinois. And so, I was just kind of moving around with him. But they were all my former teammates, so I knew all these dudes.

And I was just kind of hanging around. And I remember I said to my dad, I was like, damn, this was fun. I was like, I like I had a blast. And I and I just said, you know, I think this is what I want to do.

And I ended up getting a degree in education. So I had my teacher certificate and things like that. So I did that for, like I said, in high school for two years. Quite frankly, my first year in the teaching community, I was a mentor.

We had started a we had started a program for adjudicated youth. Me and these three ladies in the district. So we had started a program and we’re taking at the time gangs were really big and so we were taking basically gang kids and getting and trying to mainstream them back into the into the regular school system. We had an intake took could take 15 at a time.

So that’s where I started and it started as kind of a mentorship deal. And then it matriculated and I went down to Florida and got into was in the actually in the high school teaching in class. But every day at 3:00 I was like itching like a kid in play in playground to run outside and go play ball. And that’s I was like, man, I want to do this college thing.

I was like, because I don’t like this sitting around in the classroom all day and you know, and so that’s and that’s kind of where it started. And I got hired on. But I kind of just fell into it because some people pushed me again. I had some coaches of mine who I completely trusted with in with everything.

They said, “We’re going to steer you this way.” And a lot of times, you know, you just have to be open-minded to let to let the Lord come in and let people steer you where you don’t even know you’re you’re you’re you’re going and let them guide you a little bit and be humble enough to allow yourself to be guided and to be humble enough to follow. And so I did and here I am 30 some odd years later and still doing it and blessed to be where I’m at, man. But I got to be honest, I know a lot of people love their jobs and God bless them.

I have the best job in the world. I mean, other than maybe being retired, right, doing nothing, but I have the best job in the world and to help I hope my goals are to help young men grow and prosper and we get to do it in the name of football because I have you captive audience because you love football. So, you’re going to so I’ve got you. So now what message am I going to deliver now that I have you captive audience because you like what I’m doing and there some things that interest you and so you know and it’s and it’s wild and it’s professional so many coaches you probably said it as a former player these coaches meant so much in my life and they and they helped me grow as this helped me grow as that and that’s all flattering but I also got to be honest man I don’t know I probably gained way more from my players than they’ve ever gained from me because they’ve helped me grow they’ve helped me grow as man.

They helped me grow as a coach from the up, you know, guys come behind them and they’ve helped me grow as a father and as my kids were young and growing up and I’d come back and I’d be like, “Yeah.” Then they like, “Yeah, oh, coach, think about it from their perspective. Think about it this way.” So, there’s a there’s, you know, I’m indebted to my players, man, and the guys that I that I’ve been able to coach and befriend and their families and so again, this is this has been a good run.

I know that was a lot. So, that’s awesome, Co. Yeah. It’s funny because you know my wife, she’s always like you should get into coaching.

I’m like hell no I am not getting into coaching. She’s like why?

I don’t understand. You’re so good with kids. I was like I was like yes I’m good with kids at a certain level but beyond that I’m like the coaching life it you know it’s you know because you know back then like coaches were I mean I’m sure you guys still are but they just never went home and yeah there’s long It’s and you don’t start out at the highest level. You know, my wife is looking at these coaches contracts.

That’s probably why she wants me to get into coaching. But I’m like, you don’t start there. Start there. Like, you are a bottom level guy.

You probably going coffee and donuts. It is scraping and scrapping you know, to get there. And you have to have a certain love and passion for not just the game, but to your point, to really want to steer young men and help them grow, right?

I feel like I could do that without having to travel across the country and being people. Well, you got to find your calling, right?

You got to find your calling. And I got to be honest, I don’t I’ve said this before to people that I don’t think I don’t think we picked coaching. I think coaching picked us, if that makes sense. Because no one listen, no one.

So, no one graduates from college and says, “Man, I’m a I’mma sign up to not be at home. I’m going to sign up to work 85, 90 hours a week. I’m going to miss kids’ birthdays and games and recital and this, that, and the third. I’m not I’m going to sign up to never be around on the on the holidays.

No one signs up for that. They kind of picked you and I got to be honest, you know, and I, you know, I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately because my kids are getting older now. Like, you know, I need to thank my sons, right?

And thank my wife for because they’ve allowed they’ve shared their father with so many other people. And honestly, I couldn’t I couldn’t do what I do if I didn’t have the support of your family because again, you’re gone so much and you got so many other things going on and you’re you’re you’re never off your phone because you’re always recruiting or you’re always doing something because you’re not you know, you’re a parent 24/7. Well, same thing when you recruit a kid and he comes and plays for you become the parent away from home and you can’t just I don’t believe you can just turn that off, right?

Because if I send my son, if I send my son to Atlanta under your tutelage and all of a sudden it’s 2:00 in the morning and my son needs something. Well, Chris, he better be able to call you as his coach. He better be able to call you until I can get there to help. You are taking the place of a parent figure until the parent can actually get there in person.

That’s how I look at it. And so you’re never off. There’s no time off. It’s just and so I’ve been very blessed.

Again, you know, my family’s allowed me the opportunity and afforded me the opportunity to be shared with so many others. And but this a different profession now. This is kind of his own little ecosystem, if you will. It’s this is a little different.

And but I love it. I love it. Yeah. Now you coach at the you coach at a small university first.

Then your next step is Notre Dame, right? So I was at So I went from Mount Union Division III. For one season and then I went to Kent State. Okay.

Down at Kent, Ohio in the MAC for one season and then I went to Iowa State in Ames, Iowa. Well they hired me and Dan McCarney was great. I was there for four years. And then I went to University of Washington for one and then came with Rick Neuheisel, came back to Iowa State a year later, came back for five, and then went to Louisville for two, and then I then I hit Notre Dame, and I was at Notre Dame for six years, Ohio State for nine, and now I’m here going on my third.

Wow. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that’s an extensive career.

What would you say has been like especially at when you get to Notre Dame, right? Because now that’s big brand football, right?

Yeah. That is that’s the Golden Dome, Touchdown Jesus, Rocket Ismail, you know what I mean?

Like you’ve now reached that level. When you look back at that moment, what was that moment like for you to be like I like I’m at Notre Dame, you know what I mean?

Like Yeah. Yeah. You figure it out real quick, right?

That is different and people can tell you I remember Ron English who had been at Michigan before and then he was the head coach at Eastern. Well, he and I worked together at Louisville and for a couple years and I remember Notre Dame came knocking. I remember him saying, “Well, you know, they’re kind of struggling right now and they if they don’t win next year, they’re getting fired with Charlie Weis.” And Ron said, “Yeah, I know, but you still need to go.”

And I was like, “Well, why would I do that if we’re going to get fired maybe?” He said, “Because it’s Notre Dame.” And he goes, “And have that interlocking ND on your on your chest is way different than having Louisville on your chest on that logo on your shirt, right?” And I was like, “Yeah.”

And he goes, “You’ll see.” He goes, “You’ll see when you get there. There’s” He goes, “There’s everybody and then there’s a few at the top of the food chain and then they just move different.” And he was and he and he was right.

And I never forgot that conversation when I got to Notre Dame. I was like, “Yeah, this is a whole different animal.” The expectations, everyone has high expectations, right?

But then all of a sudden, you get to certain was like, “Yeah, well, we have expectations, but and guess what? Those expectations are it’s not expectations or demands. Like, this is what you’re going to do and here’s what we’re going to reach and we’re going to reach these pinnacles. We’re going to chase this, but we’re going to give you every resource known to man to do it.

So, we’re not going to ask you to do something without the right tools, right? And so they gave you every resource known to man to get there. And that’s when I said, “Yeah, this is a little bit different than the other places I’ve been.” And then I’ve been very blessed and fortunate, as I say, to be able to have been to be able to stay at that level of it.

And but the expectation of certain schools are they’re just different. And that doesn’t mean the other ones are bad. They’re just different. They’re just different, right?

Yeah. And yeah, when we talk about that level of expectation you know, when you talk about storied programs like Notre Dame, like Ohio State, like like Michigan, the you’re right, the expectation is more of a demand and you are literally on the clock to meet those demands. Talk to me about, so you go from one story program to the next story program, which is Ohio State. Talk to me about that transition.

Where was Ohio State at in terms of not necessarily expectations, but what was kind of like the state of the program like when you got there? Had they already kind of gotten over the hump, right, the war with Michigan?

Where were they at when you got there? Yeah, so when I got there, they had just won a national championship. Oh. You know, so they yeah, they won it in 2014.

I happened to have a previous relationship with Urban Meyer. He again, he was our receiver coach. He coached under Earle Bruce, who was our head coach, who was a father figure to me. So, they had gotten connected way back when at Ohio State.

Earl then finds his way out to Colorado. He’s at Colorado State. Skip Holtz, Lon Skip Holtz is our receiver coach at the time. Skip took a job, left and went back to Notre Dame, who when he went to Notre Dame, Earl hired Urban.

Okay. And that’s how I met Urban going to my senior year. And so we befriended one another and yeah, he Urban was great to me. Now again, I was not his position group.

So maybe maybe I got maybe I was okay because I wasn’t his actual position group. But Urban was great to me. And then that’s how we got connected. And then years later, you know, they win the championship.

He calls and says, “Well, I had interviewed for Colorado State job, the head coaching job.” And didn’t get it obviously, and they said, “Well, you know, you need to, you know, build your resume, get some titles, this that and the third.” Well, Urban was like, “Well, listen, man. Come over here and I’m going to help the best way I can to help you to continue to grow.”

And I and I had felt like my six years at Notre Dame, I kind of felt like I probably tapped out my growth on this staff. And I’ve reached my ceiling on this staff. That was my feeling in any way. And so I said, “All right, we’re going to we’re going to we’re going to take a leap of faith and make this move.”

Quite frankly, I wasn’t going to do it. And the story goes real quick. Earle Bruce calls. Okay.

Now, my father had since passed away. He was my biggest advocate and mentor in life. And I would call him and talk to him about anything, any major moves. Well, since he had passed away, you know, the next person I would draw to was Coach Bruce.

And so, Urban calls, offers me the job. I think it was on a Wednesday or something like that. And maybe I actually was on a Thursday night. Earl calls on Friday morning, goes, “Hey, did” and he true story now.

He says, “Did Urban call you?” And I said, “Yes, sir, he did.” He goes, “So, what are you doing?” I said, “What do you mean?

What am I doing?” He goes, “What are you doing?” Damn it. I didn’t stutter.

I said, I said, “Well, coach, I’m” I said, “Well, I’m thinking it over.” And he goes, and he I remember there was a long pause on the phone. And he goes, “Thinking it over?” He goes, “Oh, you dumbass.”

He goes, “That was Earl, right?” He said, “Tony Alford, we’re family and you get your ass to Columbus. Do you hear me, son?

And I didn’t answer. And he goes, “Do you hear me?” And I can imagine if I had been here, he probably stuck me in the chest like he did with his family. Right.

And he said, “Did you hear me?” And I said, “Yes, sir, I heard you.” He said, “All right, I’ll see you. I’ll see you Sunday.”

And this was on a Friday. He said, “I’ll see you Sunday.” And Trina was on the other She was on. We’re on speaker phone and he knew she was there.

So he had been cussing and screaming at me. And he gets done and he says, “All right, Trina. All right, honey. Nice.

It’s nice to talk to you. Have a good day. Right. And so we finished the conversation and I hang the phone up and I swear Trina looked at me.

She goes, “So I guess we’re moving.” And I said, and that was it. And I said, “Yeah.” I said, “Call a real out.”

And two days later I left. But the state of the program was they were very healthy and have been ever since. You know, they had won it. You know, Urban Urban’s a hard a hard driving dude.

You know, the reputation precedes him obviously and all of those things are real. But there was there was a method behind his madness, if you will. He wanted he wanted everyone to be on edge. That fourth-and-one all day, every-day mentality, that was what he wanted because his belief system was that you that you work better and more efficiently when you’re on edge.

So he so his deal was he put everybody on edge all the time. And he and he was good at it. So yeah, that was the that was the deal. And for nine years later and then obviously he left and Ryan came in and nine nine years later you know a lot of people say why’d you leave and it was just time.

I think you just know when it’s time. I think it was good. It was time for me definitely and it was and I believe it was time for them. And that doesn’t mean it is what it is, right?

And there’s there’s there’s a lot and maybe me and you off camera sometime we’ll talk about everything that went down but it turned venomous at the end and it didn’t need to be but it did and I think everyone’s culpable in that. But nonetheless it was just time and so the moves were made. I think that coming here made it a little bit harder. It’s one thing to leave Ohio State.

It’s another thing to leave Ohio State and come here of all places. Right. Right. You can leave.

You This is You can leave, but don’t go there. Right. And I believe that’s where the I think that’s where the angst really hit. But again, I’m happy.

Hidden. You know, when I came here, again, it was time and I had some other opportunities. I won’t say where because I don’t put those schools out there, but I had two or three other opportunities to go, one in the South, one out west. And but I chose here.

We chose here, Trina and I. And a lot of it had to do with the fact that we’re still in the Midwest. Our kids are here. The contracts are out of contract, so I was going to be fine either way.

Where I could have stayed at Ohio State, that would have been fine, too. But you know Sherrone Moore was just gotten the job, right?

And I and one of the things he requested of me and Warde had talked to him about it, but he requested me like, “Listen, man, you know, you’ve been around the game a long time. Come in here as an older guy, kind of help with the with the staff who was still still kind of young. Help with him in any capacity that he wanted me to help him.” And what in request, but that’s kind of what I was brought in brought in to do, I believe.

Sorry about that. Yeah, this thing fell off here. But I think that was part of the thing that I was brought in to do and at least what I wanted to do, I should say. And it was hard now to come here.

It I’m not going to lie to you know, it was hard because you went nine years and listen, Notre Dame isn’t listen, Notre Dame’s not real big fans of Michigan either. Right. Right. There’s no love lost in between.

There’s not a whole lot of love either. So you’re talking, you know, I was going on I was going on 15 years of just bait beating the drum of Michigan’s not this, Michigan’s not that. And you know, and it’s like the antichrist, if you will, right?

Right. So you know, after a while, you start believing like, well, yeah, they that’s who they must be, right?

And then when I got here, I said it to you when we were when we were talking on the phone, what you don’t know what you don’t know. And don’t believe everything you read and don’t believe everything you hear is I guess is the main is the is the main theme here. This place has been nothing short of amazing. The people I believe the people here are what makes it.

Yeah, we all got big brands. We all have big apparel deals and stadiums and the shiny helmets and trophies and all. We all have that there. Listen, everybody has that.

But the people here and I can say that because I’m in it, but I would challenge anybody who doesn’t to come just come come figure it out for yourself. But the people here are different. And not to say the other people places were bad, but the way these the Michigan faithful and the and the university as a whole has embraced me coming, especially where I come from, has been nothing short of amazing for me and I can’t speak for others. And so it’s that’s kind of been my journey.

I’ve had opportunities to leave here, but you know, my son just transferred here. My nephew’s also transferred in here. I love I love where we’re at, you know, and I love where I’m at in the space that I’m at. And you know, I have a you know, I talked about that fourth and fourth-and-one mentality all the time, which is fine.

I like that competitive nature. But I also tell you I am as far as my peace of mind has never been better and where I’m at and you know at 57 years old I’m you know I’m good. My peace of mind is good. I’m not chasing anything or anybody, right?

You know I know where I fit and so yeah, man. I’m in a really good I’m in a really good space for me, man. That’s awesome. Yeah.

I want to and part of the my kind of a two-part question and I have to ask this probably out of order because otherwise I’ll forget. You know, once you hit 50, man, you start forgetting how has that peace of mind help or change how you recruit if you’re kind of coaching style is, you know, fourth-and-one on edge, right?

And that level of intensity. How has that changed now on the recruiting side?

How does that affect Tony Alford the recruiting the recruiter I should say? Yeah. You know you have to go after the right guy and for me when you I believe when you have some peace of mind where you’re at you don’t become desperate like I got to get this guy or I’m going to lose my job. And I got to get that guy or I’m not going to get a raise or whatever it is for me when I got a peace of mind like man I’m just going to go recruit the way I recruit and I’m not because I believe when you get desperate you start throwing stuff against to see what sticks meaning I’m going to bash this program I’m going to bash the coach who’s who I’m recruiting against and I’m going to and I’m going to start talking negatively about others and you need to start doing I’ve been on staffs where people start cutting their own coaches on their staff.

Right. Right. Where I’m just don’t move that way. And I’m not going to sit up here and say somebody that does because there’s plenty of guys that do.

Anybody listen, they going to know exactly who the hell I’m talking about. But I just don’t move that way. And so I believe when you have a peace of mind of what you’re doing and you’re truly in your heart believe that this is what’s best, I can just speak for my truth and here’s and for Michigan. Here’s what Michigan I believe Michigan present to you and your children and your son.

Here’s what I as your coach will present to you. Here’s my expectations of you coming back to play for us. And I’ll say to kids, then if that doesn’t fit, then you probably shouldn’t come here. And that doesn’t make it good or bad.

It just means it doesn’t fit for you. And so I think just being it allows you to have great transparency without fear of getting blown up on the back end. Like this is what it is. And so for me, and again I’m speaking for me, that peace of mind allows me to go to work every day and truly in my heart know if I’ve given everything I’ve got, then that’s all I can do.

And you can only worry about the things that you can control. And I’m not going to and it allows me not to worry about, you know, what’s what’s John Doe saying over here across the street or down the street?

What’s, you know, what’s Ohio State saying? What’s Notre Dame?

I don’t really care what you’re saying. Here’s what we’re doing. So I don’t have to try to degrade anybody and demean anybody else. Here’s what we got.

Here’s what we’re doing. Here’s how we’re doing. Here’s our plan. Does it fit you?

Don’t really care what they’re doing. Here’s what we’re doing. Right. And that peace of mind allows me to move that way, if that makes sense.

Yeah. It changes perspective when you when you kind of believe in not just what the football program means, but what everything means, right?

Whether it’s the education, whether it’s the alumni, whether it’s the opportunities, you know, after after football, it kind of changes the message, right? And I and I think and I think that I think that age helps with that, too, you know, and I think because now there’s there’s like you said, you know, you’re seasoned a little bit and you and you’ve got some years of experience and you start to kind of gauge what’s really important and what’s not because what was important to me 25 years ago is really not that important to me now. Not some maybe some things, but overall I’m like, man, I’m chasing this, I’m chasing this, I’m chasing this. Well, you have to be careful what you chase and be careful how you chase it.

And I’ve gained that perspective over the years, you know, when my younger brother who actually coached for with Whit out University of Utah 2007 to 10, you know, he passed away 13 years ago at 39 years old unexpectedly. That changed my perspective on a lot of things and really made me sit back and say now, okay, what are you really doing here?

And made me really do a great job of self-evaluating. And in return, what’s done is I think that I try the best I can to really self-evaluate daily. Are my intentions really being met?

You know, with my sons, with in my personal relationships, my professional relationships, I may intend for this, but are those intentions being met? Because if they’re not, well, then you better change your message or change your delivery. And really made you think back like, what are you really trying to do in this profession?

You know, and I mean, I got to be honest, for a long time, I was like, I want to be a head coach. I want to be a head coach. I want to be a head coach. Okay, but why?

Right. And I don’t know if I could have really articulated why for me to be able to say, well, because I’m a head coach. I is it ego generated?

Did I want to be able to say I’m the boss? And that’s why you remember I said to you, I’m not I’m not chasing that anymore. And maybe it’s, you know, people may say, “Yeah, you’re not chasing because you can’t get it.” Okay, well, whatever.

Maybe I can, but I’m not chasing it because that’s not going to define me, right? And I’ve been able to figure out what I want to be able to say, this is what defines Tony Alford and his coaching career. Some people can’t, some people don’t know what it is, and that doesn’t make it bad. I’ve been fortunate.

I figured out what my why is. I figured out why I’m here. And I figured out what I want it to look like at the end of at the end of it. And so that so when that gives me the peace of mind to just go to work and I’m not again, I’m not trying to prove anything to anybody.

I’m really not. I’m Look, man. I’m I’m going about my business every day. And if you don’t like it, we can all as men agree to disagree.

And if somebody can show me it needs to be better in this way and I agree with them, then I’ll make the changes. Otherwise, you know, I’m gonna try to stay on track and stay with blinders and keep doing what I do and try to not get distracted. Yeah. Yeah.

I mean, that’s you know, that is definitely the maturity, right? Because like you said, you talked about earlier, you know, we’re in our younger days, we’re always chasing something. We’re looking for something that kind of defines us and we get to a point to where you realize what’s important and what’s not important. I’m curious, you know, you made the decision to come to Michigan.

What you and your wife made the decision to come to Michigan, right? Because I remember you told me that it needed to really be a family decision, right?

Because, you’ve coached in a lot of different places and so you wanted to stay in the Midwest. What was it like walking in Schembechler Hall for that first time?

Yeah, it was wild, you know. So I would go back 48 hours before so I decide I decide on Sherrone offers me the job of course and so Wednesday I finally fully accept the job knew told Ryan and all hell broke loose as you can imagine right social media the whole nine and so for well that was on Wednesday afternoon. So, Thursday I never I don’t leave the house. I’m in Columbus.

I don’t leave the house. So, we order out. I mean, whole bit like I did not leave the house. And so Sherrone said, “Be here by noon on Friday.”

So, I drive up the two and a half hours up the road. And I remember when I pull up, there’s like six coaches standing out on the curb right outside Schem. And I’m thinking, “Okay, it is noon. These cats must be getting ready to go to lunch.”

They trying to figure it out, but they were waiting on me, which I was like, “Wow, I’ve never had that type reception.” So, I show up, I walk in, and Sherrone standing right there at the top of the stairs and says, “Hey, come up here.” And I mean, people are coming out of everywhere, secretaries and administrative help. And so it’s like like, man, this is what it feels like to feel wanted.

Right. Right. And so met all these people and just walking around the halls there and the facility and you know all the Heisman trophies and like saying Ohio State had the same type of thing as does Notre Dame. You got all this stuff and but it was it was it was it was kind of surreal.

It was cool, right? And I’m walking around. I’m meeting everyone. I don’t think it really the enormity of it really hit me until about 10:00 that night.

You know, as everybody knows, I’m a big cigar guy. And so I got here at noon. I think we left the office at like 4, whatever it was. I kind of bounced around.

Well, I don’t know anybody in town. I find a local cigar shop and that’s so that’s the first place I went, right?

I left the office and went right to the cigar shop and hadn’t even been to the hotel yet. And this guy recognized me. It was I know who you are. Nice guy.

His name is David Malcolm. Great dude. Any event, the 10:00 that night, I’m sitting in the hotel room and that’s when it hit me. I remember I gotten something to eat and I remember saying, “Damn, you did it.”

I like you actually did this And it was like like like that’s when it really hit me of like this place is in the way that I was received. I was like, “Okay, I’m I’m home. I’m in a place I need to be.” But that yeah our facilities are great as you know the facilities are great you know we have everything that we could possibly need to win and be successful you know we not just facility wise but resources wise it’s all here and so when I got I guess it was about what I thought it would be as far as that goes but again I said it earlier one of the things that really struck me is just the people in the kindness and generosity and the transparency of the people and what I thought they were when I first met them.

That’s what they’ve been for now two and a half almost three years. Just I can’t imagine just because of the Ohio State and Michigan rivalries. Just it’s still still crazy to me. Talk to me.

It’s crazy to me someday. It’s still crazy to me some days, too. I mean, it’s got I mean, it’s got to be to like wake up and all of a sudden you’re like, I got a damn Michigan shirt on. Like, you know, I’m actually wearing blue.

I couldn’t wear blue for the last 10 years. And it took Listen, you know, everybody say go blue. It took me about a year before I could say that now. I’m like, go blue.

I didn’t not only that, we used to say team up north. I My sons didn’t even know how to say Michigan. I was like, we talk about, right?

You know, but and we didn’t have any blue in our in we didn’t have any type of blue in the house, you know, and but it just goes to show you know, something these jobs are very transient. Yeah. And I understand the venom be between the fan bases and the rivalry and it’s I believe the biggest and best rivalry in all the sports. But I go back to again, what’s your why?

Why do you do what you do? I believe as coaches, as mentors of young men and young people, they didn’t say, “You’re a mentor of young men and young people, but only at these places.” Right. You’re either going to do it holistically or you’re not.

Right. And it wasn’t it wasn’t exclusive to say, “Well, it has to be at Ohio State, so therefore it can’t be at Michigan or vice versa.” I think mentoring young men and growing people in friendships, I mean, true relationships are unconditional, right?

They’re unconditional. I’ve lost a lot of people who I thought were friends when I made the move here. Wow. And what I found out, what we found out as a family is they were many of them were very conditional.

And that’s okay. It is what it is. At least now we know what it is and then we can figure out we can figure out how we want to navigate it from there on out, right?

But you find out you find out who you who who the people are and there’s now conversely there’s a lot of people like man you my guy we tied up don’t matter where you work right you know and u because these are transient jobs that we have they’re very transient jobs that we have I just happen to make a move across the you know across the border across the street but it doesn’t change the fact of what your job duties are and you’re still dealing with young people I think the people who probably receive that the best were actually some of the players. As you think about, you know, we talk about this rivalry, you know, you were in it, you were in it. I mean, my goodness, right?

There’s great respect. There’s great great great respect from player the players in those locker rooms. They respect each other because you know what the grind is. You know who those guys are.

And I believe when you have really highly competitive people, highly competitive and highly skilled, there’s a mutual respect. It didn’t mean I have to like you or like the color on your shirt, but I do respect you because I know who you are and I know what you do. Yeah. And so in a lot of ways there’s great respect and Urban used to say it to say it all the time.

You know, how do you how do you respect this rivalry? How do you respect this game?

By working it and working your balls off to win it and working tirelessly to be at your best when you do play. That’s how you respect it. You respect it by how much work you put into it. And I and I firmly believe that.

But I say all that to say again like man, I’m where I need to be and I was fortunate for 9 years to be able to mentor and hopefully help a lot of young people down in Columbus and now I’m doing it here and it hasn’t changed what I do. It just changed shirts. I mean I don’t think you could have said that any better. It’s funny because I have a friend of mine Jonathan Wells who played at Yeah.

Beanie. Yeah. No, not Bean. Not Beanie.

Jonathan. Yeah. John. Okay.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. I don’t really know him. I know Beanie. I know Beanie.

I don’t really know. I’ve met him before, but I don’t really know him like that. Yeah. Jonathan and I went to the same high school, and I’m actually a couple years older than him.

And when he was being recruited, he said, “Man,” he said, “You know, Michigan wants me to come on a visit.” He’s like, “But Ohio State is recruiting me really hard.” And he was a big Eddie George fan even in high school when he was young. And I said, “Man, listen, like go where you want to go.

Like, you know, you want to go to Ohio State, like that’s where you want to be.” I didn’t want to influence his decision, you know, either way, but I knew where his passion was. I knew where he wanted to be. I was like, “Dude, go to Ohio State, man.

You ain’t got you don’t have to follow me or anything like that. Do your own thing. Go to Ohio State.” And he had a really good he had a really good career.

And for he sure did for 10 years I had to listen to him talk on online so it’s been great now that it’s kind of balanced out a little bit I can I can now talk my he’s a great talk you know you recruited against Michigan now you’re recruiting against Ohio State you landed Savion Hiter who you know I watched that kid’s film and I was like I remember texting a friend of mine I said listen I’m going to tell you I’m like this kid is the real like I’m like he’s ready right now. Just based off of what I was watching. You know, you come to Michigan and now you’re you’ve taken, you know, kind of ownership of this running back room. Talk to me about has anything changed as far as, you know, your philosophy as a running back coach now that you’re over at Michigan?

Has everything just pretty much stayed the same. Yeah, philosophically hasn’t really changed. I got to be honest with you. I think, you know, I think it changes year, not philosophically, but how you interact changes year to year because of who you have in your room.

You know, as personalities change, you’ve got to adjust to how you move. And because you can’t treat everybody the same, right?

You know, and it’s funny when you hear coach say, “Well, I treat everybody the same.” Well, hell, I don’t treat my three sons the same, right?

I mean, I don’t I Now here’s the deal. The expectations of where we’re going are all the same, right?

But how I get you there is different, right? You know, I look at my middle son, Kyler, who’s be a senior at Butler University, and he’s on the dance team, wants to go to medical or dental school. How I talk to him varies greatly how I talk to my oldest son. I mean, I just got to ask Kyler to do this.

Okay, Dad, I got you. My oldest son at that same age, I had to like had to damn hit him with a 2×4, right?

It’s like hitting him with a brick every day, but that’s but that’s what he needed. Where my youngest is a lot like me. Which I kind of hate, but he’s kind of an in between. Like you got to get at him a little bit, but you know, he’s kind of got a little different grit about him.

And so how you talk to them, how you motivate them is different because what motivates one may demotivate the other. But philosophically, what we’re trying to do and how I’m trying to do it’s all the same. I look at Savion, like you said, he is the real deal. He is special in every sense of the word.

But extremely humble kid. Yeah. I think one of the things that’s good for him and he and I have discussed this is that he’s got Jordan Marshall and Bryson Kuzdzal already here that he can grow and learn from them and he doesn’t feel like he’s got the weight on his shoulders because here’s what we got to be careful every time you turn on any publication you or anything that’s talked about Savion all you hear is he’s the next the best thing since sliced bread right same thing they said about Bryce and exactly so if you don’t meet these astronomical, sometimes unrealistic expectations. All of a sudden, that kid could just crumble underneath it all.

And so, I’m very quick to say, and he knows I’m doing it because I told him I was going to do it, you know, because I’m very transparent with my players. You know, I said to him, I said, you know, you’re hitting all this stuff because he I could tell this summer, there was a moment in time this summer that he just wasn’t in a good place mentally. And you know, you often times when you look at your kids, you know, you can tell something’s going on not by what they say, but sometimes what they don’t say. And so I said, “Hey man, this me and you go to lunch.”

So he and I went to Brown Jug, as you know, with Perry, you know, we went over and then we had lunch together and I just talked to him and he finally said, “Yeah, there’s a lot going on in my head.” And I said, “Well, what?” And he’s like, “Man, that these expectations I’m getting nervous. I can kind of feel myself getting ant, you know, antsy.

And he said, “How do you, coach? How do I how do I deal with this?” And so, we talked for a long time about just how to manage those expectations. And really, it came down to came down to know who you are, know what you’re trying to do, and you have this sphere of influence.

These people that are intimately close to you that don’t care if you ever played another snap football. All they want is what’s best for you. That’s who you consult with. You don’t consult with social media.

They’re not the determination of or determiner of how you do and what you do. And I was like and but you also have to be humble enough and open enough to seek out help and when you start getting answers for him as he does for himself as any any competitor, but at the same time he’s still young. Yeah. And as you know, you played this game at such such a high level.

There’s there’s there’s a maturation of the growth process that has to happen. Yeah. You know, and so he’s going to go through some ups and downs and hopefully more more ups than downs, right?

But I’m going to tell you, I think he’s got a chance to be Yeah. I he has a chance to be probably one of the better ones I’ve ever coached at the if if I’m just looking him at the same stage. Yeah. Of his development as a as a fresh going into his freshman year, been through one spring.

He’s as good a player as I’ve ever been around. Now we got to develop and stay healthy and all the other stuff that comes along with it and, you know, locked in on the game and study and all this stuff, but man, but the best thing I love about him, he’s humble. He’s so humble and unassuming and he’s not seeking out attention. And he just wants to be one of the guys and just going about his business, you know.

He’s the same he’s a kid that I think got like a 3.8 this semester, his first semester in school and yeah, so the kid is locked in, man. He’s just a great kid and but Jordan Marshall and those guys have helped him and I believe that’s a sign of the Michigan room in the running back room is the young guys have throughout the years. Freddie J. Is still with me and he’s told me about it.

The young guys always the old guys help the young guys and pretty soon those young guys became the old guy helping the new young guy and that’s been that’s been passed down through the years. So there’s an amazing culture of that. And we’re just trying to continue to stay in fold. Yeah.

I can only imagine the pressure, you know, kind of like even like when I played and when you played, you know, we didn’t have all these publications. We didn’t have all these blogs and these bloggers and podcasts and now you factor in NIL into the picture. All we had to worry about was being eligible, you know, when we were eligible and not being overweight on Monday when we got on the scale. That was the limit of our stress.

But now when you factor in NIL expectations and everything else that kind of comes with it almost like it doesn’t it’s like it’s not playing football anymore, right? It truly is a professional sport at this point. And that’s a lot for a 17, 18 year old kid to kind of have to think about because you’re thinking about this is almost not I don’t want to say generational wealth, but it does put you on to the right path to get to generational wealth, right?

So I think it’s important for, you know, a guy like that to really find his tribe, right? His people of people that he trusts. And so, and that comes down to having a good coach, right?

That’s what Freddie J. Was for me. And to your point, when you have guys that are older guys that kind of pass it down, that’s what Tyrone Wheatley was for me. That’s what Tim Biakabutuka was for me.

And then that’s what I was for A-Train, you know, and so you kind of have to have that perspective in order for you to kind of to get through. I want to ask you one more question, coach. How did it feel getting your first win against Ohio State?

Oh, how much do you really want me to tell you? Hey. Hey. No.

So, man, that goes down as the best victory I’ve ever had in sports as a player or a coach. And I think it’s because we caught my family and I caught so much heat and venom that we had to call the police a couple times, you know. I mean the social media backlash was I mean off the hinges not just for me but for my children. People were saying stuff about my mom, my nephew said you heard stuff.

I mean it yeah it was some of the most runchy mean-spirited. And my thing is if listen if you’re mad that I went to a certain place okay I got it. But the personal shots in the in of people that don’t even know you, which gets back to what I saying about Savion, listen, you know, they don’t dictate anything, but it’s still the human element sets in, right?

You still hear that stuff and your family hears that stuff and yeah, so that win man was unbelievable. So they presented me the game ball in the locker room afterwards and there were some very choice things that I said that we’ll that I’ll share with you at some point in time. That I won’t share on a public forum, but I’ll let you see it. But yeah, man, that was a great win and really just for the program.

It was good for those kids, you know. I was happy for the kids, you know, Kalel Mullings, the way he finished that thing off and that’s one of the things, you know, you that legends are born, right?

And in games like that’s where, you know, you become a legendary status person. Yeah. And when you when you perform your best when your best is needed and to do it against your rival the way he did and to perform the way he did individually that one last run was ridiculous. I mean ridiculous in every facet.

And that will go down as one of the best runs, you know, in recent history of this school. Among many others obviously the guys have had but yeah I mean that was a great win for us and but the you got to keep doing it again right we got to go back down there again and try to figure out a way to beat them they got a hell of a football team and program as they always do and but we’ll be okay we got to play them but they got to play us too that’s right and now you guys are getting ri you’re what we go to camp on what Monday well players players report Tuesday. First practice is Wednesday. So, we got just over just over what, 96 hours, man.

Not that I’m counting. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Not that you’re counting. What do you what do you want to see out of this running back room coming out of camp?

Like, where do you want to where do you want these guys to be coming out of camp? Yeah, that’s a great question. I want consistency, right?

But I want guys that everybody in the room can feel good about when he goes in, when they tap him on your shoulder and that you’re ready to perform, right? And you’re at your best and call it competitive excellence. And you know, when I tap you on your shoulder, are you ready to go?

I want everybody in the room to feel like I don’t care when we tap you, that guy’s coach put him in because he’s ready. I want our guys to come out of that come out of that thing feeling really confident in who they are as men and who they are as players and how they can help the football team. And I and I believe right now we have three guys that I’m really comfortable with going in at any time in the game between Jordan between Jordan Marshall, obviously Savion Hiter and Bryson Kuzdzal. I feel confident I could throw them in the game at any point in time and I’m good.

I have to get a fourth from my comfort level. This is the way I’m this the way I function. In my OCD ways, you know, I have to we—not I—we have to develop a fourth. That we feel just as comfortable with going in the game and playing playing championship winning level football.

And but that’s what camp’s going to be about. These guys had they come out of the spring had a really good spring. Especially the top three guys as I said I think Savion’s going to take another step and climb because that’s generally what happens. You go through the spring and kind of at the end of spring you kind of plateau and then now training camp you start all over.

Well now this won’t be his first time experiencing this stuff. Won’t be his first time hearing this stuff. So now this should be an astroconomical jump again in a in a leap. And then from there just continue to championship to champion each other’s efforts.

What we cannot have is do is have adversity in the room and jealousy in the room. We cannot will not have that. But I think that goes back to the leadership from the top that Jordan and Kuz present and bring. And then just help each other be the best we can be and hold each other accountable and hold me accountable as their coach.

You know, as I have to hold them accountable, they got to hold me accountable. And this is not my room. I’m just the guy that stands in front of as the coach, but this is our room. And so we have to do this together.

A as a as a unit, as a unified unit, if you will. But I but I’m looking forward to I believe our guys are in position in our room to be able to lead and I want them to and I want them to provide that leadership. You know, Jordan’s played a lot of football and Kuz, for me, has played enough football and he has the respect of his teammates. Savion has gained the respect of his teammates in a very short term and short time.

So with that, I think that, you got the trust of everybody in the building. So now, how do you use it?

You use it to go lead because if you sit on it and don’t use the trust that you have, then why the hell you go what the hell you doing with it, right? So I say is that now you got to go lead. And in leadership is hard. You got to bring people with you.

And if and if we are as good if this room is as good as we say we are and we propose to be then now your duty is to go bring other people with us and lift other and lift other players freshman junior senior whatever register doesn’t matter we have to continue to lift help lift this football team the best way that we can right now last question coach this is kind of a an out of order question because I totally forgot to ask this. So obviously everything goes down with Sherrone Moore. Kyle Whittingham comes in. You know, he’s he’s the new coach, which in my opinion, Michigan could not have fallen into a better position than to get Kyle Whittingham to come in along with his staff.

How have you guys benefited from Jason Beck and his offensive scheme? Because when I go and watch Utah football, it seems so suited for what Michigan’s personnel. Yeah. Right.

Play action, all that stuff. Like, how have you guys benefited from that?

Yeah. I think, you know, we were, you know, Michigan has been just pounding or pounded and pounded and pounded and we’re still doing that. We’re just doing it differently. You know, before it was like basically you’re trying to have a team meeting in between the hashes, right?

We bring 22 guys and then we’re all gonna meet right here, right? And so we were consistently running into loaded boxes, which is kudos to the offensive line, the running backs of the past that they could dig people out and move people and move bodies against their will. And then, you know, guys like yourself and guys would run downhill and, you know, and run a guy over, make one guy miss, bang off of him, drag a guy around, six yards, eight yards, and eight eight yards becomes 12 yards, and then 12 yards becomes 30 yards, and so on and so forth, and but just continue to w and pound guys out. So, this offense is going to give us, I believe, gives us the opportunity to put really dynamic players.

Savion Hiter, Jordan Marshall from the running back perspective, Kuz, it allows to put players in space instantaneously puts you in space. Bryce Underwood can run the football. Highly, highly gifted athlete. Now, if he has the opportunity to read it and pull it, that just becomes trying to equate the numbers for the defense.

Right now, you got to now you got to you got to respect the fact that hey, he could pull that thing and run it. Right. So, you got to be very careful defensively of how your defense is structured. Who are you committing into this box?

Because if he pulls one and off on the perimeter, if he pulls one and the safety drop down and you can drop a ball in behind it right now, those are big plays. And so I just think it affords us the opportunity to get players in space. Where everything doesn’t have to be dialed in just right at 100%. Right.

That if if somebody’s if if they misfit it at all, they could be in trouble, you know, from that perspective. So I think that’s what this offense gives us the ability to do. And we do have some dynamic players that allow us to do that. And so I think it fits right into, like you said, fits right into the personnel that we have.

Yeah. It kind of reminded me of old Ohio State football, right?

Like pick your poison. Are you going to take the running back?

Are you going to take the quarterback? Are you going to let the fast wide receiver outun the safety who’s who’s mismatched?

It really reminded me of what you guys used to run back in the day at Ohio State. So that made it such a problem to deal with because you made you made defenses had to guard the entire field. And that was the one thing that kind of drove me crazy over the last couple years like like why are we running into loaded boxes?

Why are we spreading guys out? And when I saw what Jason Beck brought to, you know, to Michigan from his philosophy, I was like, man, we couldn’t we could not have asked for a better system for the athletes that we have. So that’s because you got to cover like you said, you know, you got to cover us horizontally and vertically. Yeah.

And because you can you can you can get rung up real quick if you don’t. Yeah. And so you like you said, pick your poison. How you how do you want this to go?

Now we got to go do it, right? You know, it sounds good in theory. But now you got we got to go do it. And that’s what training camp’s about to kind of trying to perfect it and hone it all in, but the players are really excited about what’s going on.

They that’s really cool. The players are complete buy in. They’re bigger, they’re faster, they’re stronger than they’ve been in previous years that I’ve been here at least. And so we’re I think we’re in a good place.

So, we just got to stay healthy through camp and go in camp with high energy and come out with high energy and be ready to go one game at a time. There you go, man. Coach Alford, I really appreciate you coming on the podcast, man. This has been an awesome conversation.

I’m sure we’re going to have more conversations. I hope so. On and off camera. And wish you guys nothing but success.

I’ll be up there for the first game of the year. So, looking forward to coming, sitting down, meeting with you. Maybe we could share a stogy and I would love that. Or two or three or Yeah.

You know, two or three. Hopefully they got Charles Woodson’s bourbon or whiskey somewhere. That’s right. And we can we can throw back.

One of the things I want to do with you, man. Again, I preface it with saying thank you for having me. You know, I’ I’ve done a poor job my past two years. I kind of said this.

I think it’s imperative guys like yourself, you know, Tim, that you guys all come back and get to know Savions of the World and Kuz and I have failed in that and I have I have I have personally failed in that endeavor and so I want to be more diligent and purposeful and intentional about bringing you guys back and because you guys are what’s made this program. Yeah. You know, you guys are the history of this program and you know, everybody says the Block M and you know, The Team, The Team, The Team and go blue and all this stuff. Well, this was way before any of us got here, right?

Right. You know, and so I think it’s imperative that our players, they know who came before and why this running back tradition is so big and so great is because all of them came before. So, I believe we got to do a better job. I got to do a better job of inviting you guys back.

So, when you’re in town, man, please, I’m begging you to come in, spend time, sit down in the meetings with us, sit down with the players. They need to know who you are. I need to be do a better job of knowing who you are and continuing to fulfill the things that we want to fulfill here. Well, listen, it’s a it’s a two-way street, coach, and I’ve talked to a lot of the guys.

We’re coming back. A lot of us are going to come back for that first game for an event and we’ll definitely come by and talk to the guys. But again, I appreciate you coming on, coach. I know you got a busy day ahead of you or you might just be relaxing before before it kicks off.

But again, I thank you so much for coming on the podcast and looking forward to this season. Thanks, man. I appreciate you having me and go blue. Go Blue.

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