Tony Alford’s decision to leave Ohio State after spring practices had already started would have been a shock to the system no matter where he went. What makes the move really raise eyebrows in Columbus, however, is where he ended up.
After nine years of coaching at a school where nothing matters more than beating Michigan, Alford will now try to help lead Michigan to its fourth straight win over Ohio State. The Buckeyes’ running backs coach since 2015, Alford now holds the same position in Ann Arbor under new Michigan head coach Sherrone Moore.
Alford is the first full-time assistant coach to go directly from being an Ohio State football coach to a Michigan football coach. That said, there are several notable examples of former Buckeye assistant coaches and players going on to coach for the team up north.
That list includes none other than Michigan’s most famous coach, Bo Schembechler, who was an assistant coach for Woody Hayes at Ohio State from 1958-62. After a six-year stint at Miami (Ohio), Schembechler became the head coach at Michigan in 1969. He went on to lead the Wolverines to 13 Big Ten titles in 21 seasons as head coach, leading the Wolverines to an 11-9-1 record against the Buckeyes; his rivalry with Hayes from 1969-78, in which Michigan went 5-4-1, was known as The Ten Year War.
Bo Schembechler coached alongside Woody Hayes for five years before becoming his rival at Michigan. (Photo: Malcolm Emmons – USA TODAY Sports)
The most recent former Ohio State assistant coach before Alford to become an assistant coach at Michigan was Ed Warinner, an assistant coach for the Buckeyes from 2012-16. After his five-year stint at Ohio State, where he started as offensive line coach and finished as offensive coordinator, he was the offensive line coach at Minnesota for one year before becoming Michigan’s offensive line coach in 2018, a role he would hold for three years.
George Little was an assistant coach for the Buckeyes in 1912 and 1913, then later became an assistant coach for the Wolverines in 1922 and 1923 and their head coach in 1924 after stints at Cincinnati and Miami (Ohio).
Steve Szabo was Michigan’s linebackers coach in 2006 and 2007, 25 years after he coached the Buckeyes’ defensive line and kickers (1979-81). Szabo’s predecessor as Ohio State’s defensive line coach, Dave Adolph, became a defensive analyst at Michigan in 2015 and 2016; he served as the honorary captain for both teams before the 2016 edition of The Game in Columbus.
One of Schembechler’s former players at Ohio State, Gary Moeller, went on to become one of Schembechler’s assistants for 18 of his 21 seasons as Wolverines’ head coach; he eventually succeeded Schembechler as head coach from 1990-94.
Jim Young, who played one season for the Buckeyes in 1954 before transferring to Bowling Green, was Schembechler’s first defensive coordinator at Michigan from 1969-72.
J.T. White played for Ohio State’s national championship team in 1942; after serving in the military, White played at Michigan in 1946 and 1947, then spent six more years with the Wolverines as an assistant coach before going on to a lengthy tenure as an assistant coach at Penn State.
Ohio State coaches who previously coached/played at Michigan
Michigan’s move to poach Alford directly from Ohio State took a page out of the playbook from Ryan Day, who hired two assistant coaches from Michigan’s staff when he became OSU’s head coach in 2019.
Greg Mattison was an assistant coach at Michigan for 13 years across two different stints (1992-96, 2011-18) before becoming Ohio State’s co-defensive coordinator in 2019; he spent two years in that role before retiring after the 2020 season.
Al Washington was Michigan’s linebackers coach for one season in 2018 before joining Ohio State’s staff in the same role; he spent three years with the Buckeyes, then became Notre Dame’s defensive line coach – a role he remains in – when he was not retained following the 2021 season.
Chuck Stobart, who coached Ohio State’s wide receivers from 1995-99 and was the Buckeyes’ offensive coordinator in 2000, was previously an assistant coach for Schembechler at Michigan from 1969-76. Elliot Uzelac, Ohio State’s offensive coordinator for just one season in 1991, was previously the offensive line coach at Michigan from 1982-86.
The only head coach Ohio State has ever had who played or coached at Michigan was A.E. Herrnstein, who played for the Wolverines from 1899-1902 and became Ohio State’s head coach in 1906, leading the Buckeyes’ football program for four years after two years at Haskell and one year at Purdue.
Chuck Heater, a Michigan running back from 1972-74, is the only former Wolverine player to become an assistant coach for the Buckeyes. He was Ohio State’s secondary coach from 1985-87.
