By Staff
NOTRE DAME, Ind. – Tony Alford, former running backs coach at the University of Louisville, has been named running backs coach at the University of Notre Dame, Irish head coach Charlie Weis announced Monday.
"I'm very happy to add Tony Alford to our staff," Weis said. "In talking with several sources at the college and NFL levels for suggestions the first name that came up was Tony's. He came highly recommended because of his tremendous reputation as both a running backs coach and as a recruiter and is a great addition to our program.
"For the past 22 years, Tony has either played running back or coached running backs and the experience and knowledge gained over that time will definitely benefit our current and future ball carriers.
"We look forward to a smooth transition and welcome Tony and his family to the Notre Dame family."
Alford has spent his entire 14-year coaching career with running backs at five different schools and has produced a 1,000-yard rusher seven times. His stops include Louisville (2007-08), Iowa State (2002-06 and 1997-2000), Washington (2001), Kent State (1996) and Mount Union (1995). His assigned recruiting areas during his coaching career have included California, Florida, Georgia, Ohio and Texas as well as Arizona, Colorado, Iowa and Michigan.
"Notre Dame is the epitome of college football," Alford said. "To join a place with the tradition and history of Notre Dame is very exciting and I'm grateful to Coach Weis for extending me this tremendous opportunity.
"I have several people in my life that I greatly respect and use as sounding boards for important life decisions such as changing jobs. When this position opened, I counseled with those individuals and they were as enthusiastic about this opportunity as I am. I am very flattered that Coach Weis considered me for this post and my family and I are thrilled to join the Notre Dame family."
This past season, one of Alford's pupils, redshirt freshman Victor Anderson, rushed for 1,047 yards with eight touchdowns and became the first Louisville running back to eclipse 1,000 rushing yards since 2005. Anderson was rewarded for his efforts as he was named the BIG EAST Conference Rookie of the Year and second-team all-BIG EAST. Anderson averaged 5.7 yard per carry and 87.2 yards per game and was the first Cardinal to earn BIG EAST Rookie-of-the-Year honors. He was also placed on Sporting News' Freshman All-America squad.
Louisville averaged 164.5 yards rushing in 2008 and scored 18 rushing TDs. Brock Bolen gained 505 yards and added seven rushing TDs while Bilal Powell tallied an addition 354 rushing yards with two TDs.
Alford spent a total of nine years during two stints as the running backs coach at Iowa State where he developed three of the school's top six career rushing leaders (the last five years at Iowa State he also held the title of assistant head coach). Darren Davis, Ennis Haywood and Stevie Hicks combined to total five 1,000-yard seasons with Alford as their position coach. Four of the 10 best single-game rushing totals in Cyclone history occurred during Alford's tenure and Iowa State had a 200-yard rushing effort by one of Alford's running backs eight times during his nine-year stint in Ames.
Hicks became the third Cyclone rusher under Alford to surpass 1,000 rushing yards in a season as he led Iowa State with 1,062 yards in 2004. As a team, the Cyclones averaged 141.8 rushing yards during the '04 campaign that concluded with an appearance in the Independence Bowl.
Iowa State was one of only three FBS (Football Bowl Subdivision) schools that produced a 1,000-yard rusher annually from 1995-2001. Haywood continued the tradition in 2000 as he led the Big 12 Conference and ranked 10th nationally with 1,237 rushing yards. Alford helped make Haywood a first-team all-Big 12 running back as the Cyclones' rushing attack averaged 209.0 yards per game and totaled 27 rushing TDs.
Sandwiched between Alford's stints at Iowa State was a year as Washington's running backs coach in 2001. Under Alford, Husky tailback Willie Hurst became the ninth back in school history to rush for more than 2,000 career yards. Washington finished 9-4 and played in the Holiday Bowl.
Alford started his collegiate coaching career with stops at Kent State in 1996 and Mount Union in 1995. With the Golden Flashes, he helped make Astron Whatley a first-team all-Mid-American Conference player as he rushed for a career-best 1,132 yards, fifth-most in school history. In Alford's first college job, Mount Union rushed for 214.5 yards per game as the Purple Raiders made it to the '95 Division III semifinals and finished with a 12-1 record.
A native of Colorado Springs, Colo., Anthony J. Alford was born Nov. 27, 1968, in Akron, Ohio. He was raised in Akron and moved to Colorado Springs while in high school and graduated from Doherty H.S. in 1987. Alford and his wife, Trina, have three sons: Rylan, Kyler and Braydon.