Tony Alford Talks Leaving Ohio State For Michigan

You don't see it often, but when a coach or player leaves either Michigan or Ohio State to join the other side, it's newsworthy.

Running backs coach Tony Alford talks about leaving Ohio State for Michigan. / Brandon Brown

When a coach or player leaves a school only to pop up with a rival, it makes some waves. When someone does that between Ohio State and Michigan, it makes tsunamis. Right now Tony Alford is in the middle of that after spending nine seasons in Columbus only to join Sherrone Moore and Co. in Ann Arbor about a month ago. The veteran assistant has heard everything in the book since changing teams but knew in his heart that it was time for something new.

"You know, I just thought it was a great opportunity for my growth, professional growth, and things of that nature," Alford said. "It was great opportunity and I've had so much respect for Sherrone [Moore]
for quite a while. I just thought it was time, might have been time for both parties, but I thought it was time."

Obviously Alford is a professional, so he sees this move as a new opportunity and a new job, but he didn't gloss over the change like it was nothing either. It's a big deal to leave Ohio State only to take a job at Michigan and he knows it. He joked about how he now has to figure out what to do with nine years worth of OSU gear, but he also understands that a move like this is a serious one as well.

"It's all deeply ingrained on both sides," he said. "It takes time to adjust to that, mentally being on the other side. It was a little weird putting on this blue — that was a little weird. But yeah, you know what it is going into it and so I'm just hopefully able to add value here and then go from there."

It was cool to see Alford talk about both Ohio State and Michigan with a smile on his face and it was also cool to see him now as a Michigan Man. Michigan fans might not want to hear it from one of their new coaches, and certainly wouldn't agree with most of Alford's sentiments, but he had nothing but great things to say about OSU as a program and community after spending nearly a decade there.

"I have to say this, I've got so much respect for Ohio State and the Ohio State community, and what they represented to me and my family through the years," Alford said. "So it was not an easy decision, obviously. I think anytime someone is where I was for some nine years, there's some roots that have been set in, not just professionally, but personally, as well. So that was difficult.

"But like I said, at the end of the day, this is something that I thought I couldn't pass up. Everyone's asking why and what are the all the intimate details of it — the people that need to know, they know. But at the end of the day, you must do professionally what you feel is in your best interest. Whatever those reasons are, and that's what I did, so here we are."

Alford walked into a great situation at Michigan. Obviously the Wolverines want to run the ball and they have the backs and the O-line to do so. Granted, the O-line isn't as proven as last year's bunch, but there are some hungry, talented players ready to play after waiting behind stars for a couple seasons. As for the backs, Donovan Edwards and Kalel Mullings make for one of the better one-two punches in the country, and if the coaches end up throwing Alex Orji into the mix, the running game could be lethal. With Alfords' pedigree and the expecations at Michigan, expect the ground attack to be formidable yet again for the Wolverines.