Former Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer made several key moves to consistently produce results at Columbus. One of Meyer’s key hires was Tony Alford, a former Colorado State All-American RB, as his running backs coach. In no time, he became pivotal in developing elite RBs like Ezekiel Elliot, Mike Weber, and J.K. Dobbins. When Ryan Day became the head coach, he retained Alford. Not many knew, though, that after spending nine full seasons at Ohio State, he would move to the ‘team up north.’

For Tony Alford, that transition wasn’t easy, given the ‘hate’ between the two programs. Moreover, during his time at Ohio State, Alford became a staunch OSU fan and didn’t even have a single blue thing in his house. Not only that, but he also taught his sons the same thing and never even mentioned Michigan by name. Instead, it was always ‘the team up north.’ But once he moved to Michigan in 2024, he faced a different reality.

“We say, ‘Go Blue’; it took me a year before I could say that now,” Alford said on the August 5 episode of The Breakdown podcast. “It just goes to show you something that these jobs are very transient. And I understand the venom between the fan bases and the rivalry. And I believe [it’s] the biggest and best rivalry in all the sports. But I go back to again. What’s your why? Why do you do what you do?

“As coaches, as mentors of young men and young people, they didn’t say, ‘You’re a mentor of young men and young people, but only at these places.’ It wasn’t exclusive. Say, well, it has to be at Ohio State. Therefore, it can’t be just Michigan or vice versa. I think mentoring young men and growing people in friendships. I mean, true relationships are unconditional.”

Tony Alford was the backbone of OSU’s running game for a decade. Even under Ryan Day, he helped develop Trey Sermon, who broke the school’s single-season rushing record in the Big Ten title game against Northwestern. TreVeyon Henderson was also his product. Alford’s development guided him to become a freshman All-American in 2021. Beyond that, though, Alford’s development also happened off the field.

OSU’s legendary running back, J.K. Dobbins, had lost his father before he arrived in Columbus from high school. Without hesitation, Alford took him under his wing and became a father figure. “If I ever need help… I can just call him up, and he’ll be there,” Dobbins said about Alford. That bond was due to Alford’s support for Dobbins, which helped the RB set a record, passing Eddie George in the 2019 season. That’s precisely what drove Alford to Michigan.

Alford accepted that he had lost several friends because of his move to Michigan, but called them “conditional” friends. They didn’t understand his reasons for moving to Michigan. It was simply to take that “holistic” development that he did at OSU to Michigan.

His goal is to influence young players and change their lives. He is “fortunate” to have done that at Ohio State for nine years. Now, at Michigan under Kyle Whittingham, he continues that work.