Alford on navigating job uncertainty: 'Am I even going to be here?'

Ann Arbor — While Michigan fans dissected the fallout from December’s Sherrone Moore saga, running backs coach Tony Alford was living a parallel existence: preparing the Wolverines for a bowl game without knowing whether he would still have a job once the postseason ended.

Alford, the lone holdover from the previous staff after Utah’s Kyle Whittingham was hired, told Jon Jansen on the In the Trenches podcast that the limbo stretched nearly a month and forced him to balance professional duty with personal uncertainty.

“You live in parallel lives,” Alford said. “Half the day is spent thinking, ‘Am I even going to be here? Should I be looking for a job?’ The other half, you’re here, responsible for getting a team ready to play.”

Whittingham ultimately retained two coaches; Lou Esposito later left to join Jesse Minter with the Baltimore Ravens, leaving Alford as the only coach who remained in place from the prior regime. Throughout the transition, Alford said he adopted a simple mantra: “Put both feet in the water where you’re at.”

“I’m a firm believer that if you’ve got one foot out and one foot in, you’re never going to be good for anybody,” he said. “So I dove into what I was doing. We asked our players to do the same—put blinders on and do the job you’re charged with doing.”

That job included retaining five-star 2026 signee Savion Hiter, the nation’s top-rated running back in his class. Alford’s pitch to current players and recruits alike was stripped of salesmanship.

“I tell kids, ‘I’m going to treat you like my sons,’” he said. “That means I’m going to be transparent. When they ask, ‘Coach, what are you doing?’ I say, ‘I don’t know what I’m doing. I’d like to be here, but I don’t know. In the meantime, we’re going to prepare you to be the best player you can be.’”

Alford emphasized that the pillars that brought athletes to Michigan—academics, networking, championship football, NFL preparation—“still exist regardless of who’s coaching the room.” His message, repeated to every player: control what you can control and continue pursuing the goals that made Ann Arbor the destination in the first place.