Former Ohio State Assistants Tony Alford, Kerry Coombs Retained on Michigan’s Staff By Kyle Whittingham

By Dan Hope on January 2, 2026 at 8:35 pm
Tony Alford
Junfu Han/USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images
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Kyle Whittingham’s first coaching staff at Michigan will include two former Ohio State assistants.

Whittingham announced Friday that he is retaining Tony Alford as Michigan’s running backs coach and Kerry Coombs as Michigan’s special teams coordinator.

Alford became Michigan’s running backs coach in 2024, leaving Ohio State directly for its rival after nine years as the Buckeyes’ running backs coach. Alford’s younger brother, Aaron, previously worked for Whittingham as an assistant coach at Utah.

“Tony Alford, tremendous football coach,” Whitingham said at his introductory press conference. “I’ve got a ton of respect for him.”

Coombs was hired as Michigan’s new special teams coordinator in December, just four days before former coach Sherrone Moore was fired for cause for an inappropriate relationship with a staffer. That raised the possibility that Coombs’ tenure at Michigan would be very brief, but Whittingham chose to retain Coombs, who signed a two-year, $1.2 million contract with the school.

Coombs was Ohio State’s cornerbacks coach from 2012-17, also serving as special teams coordinator for the last five of those yards, then returned to OSU for two years as the Buckeyes’ defensive coordinator in 2020 and 2021. He was an assistant coach at Cincinnati from 2022-24, then spent a year out of coaching before he was hired by Michigan in December.

Whittingham’s confirmation of his new coaching staff came during Michigan’s men’s basketball home game vs. USC on Friday night. Whittingham, who became Michigan’s coach last week after 21 years as the head coach at Utah, addressed the crowd during the game, telling them that the Wolverines’ goal will be to “go 1-0” every Saturday.


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