Tyrone Wheatley Tyrone Anthony Wheatley ( born January 19 , 1972 ) is the running back s coach of the Buffalo Bills and a former professional American football player who played 10 seasons in the National Football League ( NFL ) and was one of the most successful high school and collegiate athletes in Metropolitan Detroit history . In high school , he was a member of state - champion teams in both track and field and football , and he was named Michigan ' s track and field athlete of the year and football athlete of the year in the same academic year . He earned All - America track honors in both high school and college . Following his graduation as one of Michigan ' s best high school athletes , he attended the University of Michigan on an athletic scholarship and earned first - team All - Big Ten Conference honors on Big Ten Champion football and track teams . At the University of Michigan , Wheatley earned the Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year Award during the 1992 football season . In the Michigan Wolverines ' post - season bowl game , he was named the Most Valuable Player for his performance in the team ' s Rose Bowl victory . Wheatley continued his track success as well , earning first - team All - Big Ten Conference and All - American honors . He ranks among the Wolverines ' all - time rushing leaders in numerous categories , and his name appears in several places in the Big Ten football record book . He was named to All - Big Ten teams in football and track and field a total of four times , and he earned portions of seven Big Ten championships ( two team awards for football , one team award for indoor track , one award for 110 meter hurdles , and three awards for individual football statistical performances ) . Following his graduation from the University of Michigan , Wheatley was selected by the New York Giants of the NFL in the first round of the 1995 NFL Draft . As a running back for the Giants , he was the team ' s all - purpose yards leader in 1996 and their leading ballcarrier in 1997 . Despite his success on the field , he developed a reputation as a tardy r . He was traded to the Miami Dolphins , but cut before the 1999 season began . He signed with the Oakland Raiders and flourished , leading the team in rushing three times and twice finishing among the NFL ' s top ten players in rushing touchdown s . With Wheatley , the Raiders went to the playoffs three years in a row , including one Super Bowl appearance . During his NFL career ( 1995 – 2004 ) , he totaled over 6 , 500 all - purpose yards as a running back and kickoff returner . After retiring from the NFL , Wheatley returned to his hometown to coach his high school alma mater , Dearborn Heights ' Hamilton J . Robichaud High School , where he had previously made a name for himself as a nine - time Michigan High School Athletic Association ( MHSAA ) state champion athlete . As a player , he had led the school to its only state football championship . In 2007 , during his first year as head football coach , his team rebounded from an 0 – 9 record to compile a 9 – 2 record , reaching the playoffs for the first time since 1994 . He coached at in 2008 , and in 2009 he became an assistant coach for Eastern Michigan University . He served as the running backs coach for the Syracuse Orange football team from 2010 to 2012 . He was hired by the Buffalo Bills to coach the running backs in 2013 . Early life . Wheatley was born in Inkster , Michigan . Inkster is located in Metropolitan Detroit , east of both Ann Arbor and University of Michigan . Wheatley ' s father ( also named Tyrone ) suffered a mortal gunshot wound to the head in 1974 when Wheatley was two years old . Wheatley ' s stepfather died of a heart attack when he was 13 , leaving behind Wheatley , his sister , and half - brother , two - year - old Leslie Mongo . Shortly afterward , Wheatley ' s mother , Patricia , was laid off and became an alcoholic . With the effective loss of his two parents , Wheatley and his sister were forced to move in with an aunt , where he lived through the rest of his childhood . Due to family difficulties , Wheatley acts as the guardian of two cousins and his half brother . Mongo was ten years younger than Wheatley , and graduated from high school in New Jersey in 2004 — thirteen years after Wheatley had graduated from high school . Wheatley was involved in competitive athletics from an early age : In his youth , he ran competitively with the Penn Park track team , where , as an eight - year - old , he stood out for his discipline and promptness . Because of his family trouble , he assumed a family leadership role at a relatively young age . Wheatley made it clear to his brothers and sisters that when chaos came to their lives , they should to turn to him because he would be there and he would never fall . When he was in high school , he would take his younger siblings to basketball games , mapping out emergency plans for shooting outbreaks or brawls . Wheatley ' s guardianship continued throughout his career at the University of Michigan and while he was a professional athlete . While playing in the NFL , he realized that leaving Mongo — the youngest of his siblings — in Inkster and merely providing financial support was not a solution because Mongo was still exposed to gang shootings . As Mongo ' s guardian , Wheatley moved Mongo to New Jersey for school . Mongo later earned outstanding freshman athlete honors during the Bergen County , New Jersey outdoor track championships while living with Wheatley , who was playing for the Giants at the time . In 2004 , with his graduation from high school imminent , Mongo signed a letter of intent with Utah State as a defensive back . Athletics . High school . Wheatley attended Hamilton J . Robichaud High School in Dearborn Heights , Michigan , a neighboring municipality of Inkster . During his time at Robichaud High School , he became a nine - time MHSAA state champion ( seven - time individual in track and field , one - time team each in track and field and football ) . He is among the highest - scoring football players in Michigan high school history , and he led his high school to the state football championships while playing eight different positions and being named the Michigan Football Player of the year . In the 1990 MHSAA Championship game against upper peninsula powerhouse Kingsford High School at the Pontiac Silverdome , Wheatley ran for 165 yards and a touchdown in a 21 – 7 victory . That season he led the Bulldogs to a 12 – 1 record . He has been described as the greatest football player in Michigan High School history . In track and field , he won the Michigan High School Track and Cross Country Athlete of the Year award in 1991 . However , at one point Wheatley had quit the track team because the coach refused to let him run four individual events as a sprinter , jumper and hurdler . The coach relented , and Wheatley became a seven - time MHSAA Class B individual state champion by winning the long jump , 100 meters , 110 - meter hurdles both his junior and senior seasons and winning the 200 meters as junior . In his junior year he led his school to the state Class B track championships . Through the 2007 MHSAA season he was the MHSAA All class long jump record holder with a 1991 leap of , his high school 100 meters time ( 10 . 59 seconds , 1990 ) continues to rank third in MHSAA history , and his 110 meter hurdles time ( 13 . 87 sec . , 1991 ) ranked seventh in MHSAA history . In addition , through the 2007 track season his hurdle time continued to be a MHSAA lower peninsula Class B state record . Wheatley became a high school All - America n in track , and he was also a member of successful relay teams in high school . His athleticism and jumping abilities were further exhibited in basketball ; Wheatley played for his high school basketball team and was able to slam dunk . He claims that against his high school rival , Inkster High School , he performed a dunk from the foul line , which is a difficult dunk made famous in slam dunk competitions by Julius Erving ( Dr . J . ) and later revived by Michael Jordan . Yet , despite his versatility and promise , Wheatley considered turning down athletic scholarships in hopes of obtaining an academic scholarship . College . Wheatley chose to remain in metropolitan Detroit and attend the University of Michigan on an athletic scholarship . He played running back for the football team for four years and ran on the track team for three years . As both a football player and track athlete he was highly decorated ; he earned first - team All - Big Ten honors on teams that won Big Ten Championships in both sports and All - American Honors in track . In football , he set and retains numerous school records and in track he achieved some of the fastest times in school history . Offensive coordinator Fred Jackson recalled that Wheatley was always prompt , never overweight , played while injured , and even babysat for Jackson ' s children . Wheatley was described in the press as a football player who put his team ahead of himself . Wheatley wore # 6 for the Michigan Wolverines football program from 1991 to 1994 . As of the end of the 2007 season , he ranks third in Michigan football history in career points and second in career touchdown s ( behind Anthony Thomas ) with forty - seven rushing touchdowns , six receiving touchdowns and one kickoff return for a touchdown . His 47 rushing touchdowns , which ranked third in Big Ten history at the end of his career , ranked fifth behind Ron Dayne ( 71 ) , Anthony Thompson ( 68 ) , Pete Johnson ( 56 ) and Thomas through the 2006 season . His 17 touchdowns in 1992 ranks as the fifth most productive offensive season in Michigan history . In 1992 , he was the Big Ten rushing and scoring champion in an offense where Michigan quarterback Elvis Grbac was also a statistical Big Ten champion . He earned Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year honors that season and capped the season off by earning the MVP of the 1993 Rose Bowl on a 235 - yard , 15 - carry performance against Washington Huskies , which included touchdown runs of 88 , 56 and 24 yards . Through the 2012 season , he ranks fifth on the Michigan career rushing yards list ( behind Mike Hart , Denard Robinson , Anthony Thomas , and Jamie Morris ) with 4 , 178 yards . His 1992 sophomore season 7 . 3 yards per carry is a Michigan single - season record ( minimum 75 attempts ) , and his freshman yards per carry average ranks fourth at Michigan since 1949 ( and it is a Michigan Freshman record ) . He has both the best and second - best single - game ( minimum 15 carries ) yards per carry performances in Michigan history . He was a three - time All Big Ten selection . As a freshman for the 1991 Wolverines , Wheatley set the Michigan freshman yards per attempt record with 555 yards on 86 carries for a 6 . 4 yards per attempt . In his sophomore year , he broke through with his first of three consecutive first team All - Big Ten selections . He rushed for 1 , 357 yards and 13 rushing touchdowns in addition to 3 receiving touchdowns and recording a kickoff return touchdown while subbing for the injured Ricky Powers . Wheatley had amassed the most touchdowns by a running back in Michigan history by the end of his junior year and was a professional prospect . In 1993 at the end of his junior season 1993 Wolverines , he earned the MVP award of the 1994 Hall of Fame Bowl . Wheatley had finished 8th in the 1993 Heisman Trophy race . Before LeShon Johnson ' s 306 yard effort in November of that season against Iowa team that Wheatley had rushed for 113 yards against , Wheatley had been mentioned as the best running back in the nation , but Johnson ' s effort and Bam Morris ' final three games of 223 , 222 and 223 yards led to Bam Morris winning the Doak Walker Award . Most who finished ahead of him in the Heisman voting either were seniors ( Ward , Glenn Foley , Johnson ) or gave up their amateur eligibility and declared early for the draft ( Heath Shuler , David Palmer , Marshall Faulk ) , which made Wheatley one of the favorites for the award if he stayed in college for one more year . He stayed at Michigan for another year with the stated intent of obtaining his degree , but stayed without receiving the degree . However , the preseason 1994 Heisman Trophy favorite ( along with 7th place finisher J . J . Stokes ) , missed the beginning of the season with an injury to the same shoulder that had caused him to miss two games in 1993 . His return to the lineup on September 24 , 1994 was overshadowed by The Miracle at Michigan . His senior season return to the 1994 Wolverines had been a surprise , but injuries allowed Tshimanga Biakabutuka and Ed Davis to get some playing time . He only finished 12th in the Heisman balloting as a senior . Nonetheless , he thought that his senior - year experience broadened his horizons . In college , Wheatley also competed in track and earned varsity letter s in 1993 – 1995 . In 1994 , he was the Big Ten outdoor 110 metre hurdles champion , was selected first team All - Big Ten , and was a member of the men ' s indoor track and field team that won the indoor Big Ten team championship . He placed eighth at the 1995 NCAA outdoor championships in the 110 meter hurdles , which earned him All - American honors . At the end of his Michigan track career , he owned the third fastest indoor 60m time in Michigan history at 6 . 80 seconds as well as the second fastest outdoor 110 metre hurdles time at 13 . 77 seconds and third fastest outdoor 100 meters at 10 . 46 seconds . Gradually , succeeding athletes have surpassed his times , and after the 2007 season the 110 meter hurdle time ranked fourth best and the 100 meter dash time was fifth . New York Giants . Dan Reeves era ( 1995 – 1996 ) . Wheatley was drafted by the New York Giants in the first round of the 1995 NFL Draft with the seventeenth overall selection . He held out for 17 days before signing a five - year contract with the team . The terms included a $ 2 . 3 million signing bonus and escalating base salaries totaling over $ 2 . 9 million . The negotiations were prolonged in part because of extensive family involvement . Wheatley set no goals for himself and lived by his grandmother ' s motto on preparing oneself : " You can set your sails , but you can ' t set the wind " . The Giants viewed Wheatley as their running back of the future , since Rodney Hampton was in the final year of his contract . Despite the original visions , Wheatley was used sparingly and started only eight games over the course of four seasons with the Giants . Off the field , Wheatley moved his half - brother with him to New Jersey to keep him out of the tumultuous environment and to provide him a strong learning environment . In 1995 and 1996 , under Dan Reeves the Giants had losing seasons and relied heavily on Rodney Hampton who received the bulk of the carries on rushing plays . In 1995 , running back Herschel Walker received more passing downs and in 1996 fullback Charles Way was a main weapon . Wheatley returned kickoffs for the 1995 and 1996 , with 10 returns for 18 . 6 yards per return in 1995 and 23 returns for 21 . 9 yards per return in 1996 . While Hampton led the team in rushing with 827 yards to Wheatley ' s 400 yards in 1996 , Wheatley ' s 503 return yards and 51 yards receiving gave him the team all - purpose yards leadership . However , Wheatley had 6 fumble s on only 147 touches ( 112 rushes , 12 receptions , and 23 kickoff returns ) . The drafting of Wheatley had been hotly contested . Some Giant draft war - room personnel had wanted to select Korey Stringer and others had an interest in Rashaan Salaam when the Giants ' selection came . After Wheatley was selected with the seventeenth pick , running backs Napoleon Kaufman , James Stewart and Rashaan Salaam were chosen with the eighteenth , nineteenth and twenty - first selections , respectively . Reeves made it no secret that he would have selected Salaam over Wheatley in the draft . Wheatley ' s introduction to the Giants was a contract squabble that kept him from getting to training camp on time . Then , in rookie season training camp , he had the misfortune of pulling a hamstring while running sprints on the first day . Speculation had been that the injury had occurred in a stumble in a June track meet . Reeves held the prompt injury against the running back he never wanted . Wheatley later fell asleep in a meeting which drew a fine from Reeves . Although he only actually fell asleep in one meeting , he also had mental concentration issues in practice . He was not known for living erratically so his falling asleep and loss of concentration was enough of a problem that the Giants had Wheatley evaluated . On top of this , Wheatley was fined several times for tardiness to team meetings . Jim Fassel era ( 1997 – 1998 ) . In 1997 , by the end of training camp , Rodney Hampton ' s knees had given out , and although Wheatley had a great camp , Tiki Barber was named the starting tailback . That season , Jim Fassel ' s first , the Giants went to the playoffs with a 10 – 5 – 1 record . Wheatley led the team in carries that season despite missing two games and shared the ballcarrying responsibilities with Way and Barber . On October 12 , Wheatley had his first 100 - yard game with 102 yards on 22 carries against the Arizona Cardinals in a 27 – 13 victory on the road . While Wheatley and Way divided the rushing load , Barber and Way divided most of the responsibility for the running backs ' role in the passing attack , while Wheatley had less than half as many receptions and reception yards as either of them . An ankle injury caused Wheatley to miss the final two regular season games and the wild card playoff game . By 1998 , Wheatley was the only four - year veteran in the Giants backfield and although he developed another good relationship with an offensive coordinator , he was becoming accustomed to being described as an enigma . The Giants fell to 8 – 8 while relying on Barber , Way and Gary Brown . During the season , Wheatley often performed scout team duties and was inactive for some games . Fassel was not sympathetic to Wheatley ' s desire for playing time and thought that Wheatley was overweight . Over the course of the season , there was controversy about a season long weight limit of that had been placed on Wheatley . Wheatley ' s playing weight limit had been set at in training camp and had been raised to 235 on Wheatley ' s request . He had played at in the final game of his college career . By week 11 , Wheatley had only dressed in five games and played in four and was relegated to a role as an alternate when he played . Wheatley thought he was treated unfairly in New York although two different coaching staffs had issues with him . He points out double standard s that gave him bad feelings in retrospect . In situations where he was not the only Giant who was overweight or stuck in traffic , he was punished while others were not and those with worse problems such as showing up at practice drunk or being cited for D . U . I . were not vilified . Wheatley had the responsibility of driving his brother , Leslie Mongo , to his school that opened at 8 : 15 and thought he was the victim of New Jersey traffic in relation to occasionally being late for 9 : 00 a . m . team meetings . Charles Way , by contrast , Wheatley ' s closest friend on the team and roommate on the road , was nicknamed " Teacher ' s Pet . " According to " The New York Times " , there was a misperception of Wheatley as a " cancer " in the locker room by most accounts . Although he had some issues , his teammates remembered him for his personality and mannerly nature . The general opinion of Wheatley was that he was blessed with enormous talent , but as a package he was an enigma . According to Michael Strahan , Wheatley " . . . could outrun the wide receiver s , outlift the linemen and outdebate anyone . " Thus , his off - season workout pattern of sloughing the weights for discussion of politics and current affairs was troubling , but not challenged because he could outlift most . However , in addition to the enigmatic issues , Wheatley had physical problems in New York . He was injured and unable to perform for parts of all four of the training camps . After the 1998 season Wheatley was traded to Jimmy Johnson ' s Miami Dolphins . In the February trade , the Giants were satisfied receiving a seventh round draft pick in return . Oakland Raiders . The Dolphins hoped that Wheatley would compete for the starting tailback position with Abdul - Karim al - Jabbar , who had rushed for a league - leading 15 touchdowns in 1997 but whose production had fallen off to only 6 in 1998 . However , Wheatley was cut from the Miami Dolphins training camp roster . He had only gone through one week of Dolphins training camp before being released , making him available to the Raiders . The Raiders signed Wheatley on August 4 , 1999 to help make up for the loss of Zack Crockett who suffered a broken foot . Ironically , Wheatley , the seventeenth overall selection in the 1995 NFL Draft , earned his 1999 roster spot in a battle with Rashaan Salaam , the twenty - first overall selection in the 1995 NFL Draft , who had been Dan Reeves ' preferred draft choice in 1995 . Wheatley was paired in the Raiders backfield with Napoleon Kaufman , the eighteenth overall selection in the 1995 NFL Draft . While in Oakland , Wheatley would achieve much greater success than he had in New York . Wheatley rushed for 1 , 000 yards in a season , led the Raiders in rushing three times , appeared in three consecutive playoffs ( including one Super Bowl ) and finished in the top - 10 in the NFL for rushing touchdowns twice . Through the 2007 NFL season , Wheatley was the seventh leading rusher in Oakland Raider history with 3 , 682 yards as a Raider . In his role as a Raider , Wheatley was able to contribute to some of the greatest memories in the history of the franchise . Seven of his eight career 100 - yard rushing games came as a Raider . Five of these games were at the Oakland Coliseum and two were on the road against the Seattle Seahawks . None of these games came in the playoffs where his highest rushing total was 56 yards . Jon Gruden era ( 1999 – 2001 ) . How well Wheatley complemented Napoleon Kaufman in Oakland was quickly evident to the New York media , and his newfound success was noticed when the Giants had an impotent running game in his absence . In his early years with the Raiders , Wheatley quickly made good on the promise of his potential with a combination of the power to run inside and the speed to run outside . Wheatley was quite popular in Oakland . The players liked him and his coach , Jon Gruden , even joked with him during his interviews . On the field , Wheatley became an important part of a surprisingly efficient West Coast offense run by Jon Gruden . In 1999 , Wheatley was the Raiders ' leading rusher and their only running back to have more than one touchdown reception . For the first time , Wheatley had multiple 100 - yard games in the same season : 100 yards on 20 rushes on October 3 against the Seattle Seahawks and 111 yards on 19 rushes on December 19 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers . The players gelled as a unit and not only did Wheatley have his best seasons in Oakland , but also long time NFL veterans on the Raiders amassed their best season upon his arrival . For example , Rich Gannon , an NFL veteran quarterback since 1987 , made his first four Pro Bowl appearances with Wheatley as a weapon . The team only compiled an 8 – 8 record , however . Wheatley had the best season of his career in the 2000 as Raiders went 12 – 4 and reached the American Football Conference championship game of the 2000 – 01 NFL playoffs . Wheatley amassed 1 , 046 yards rushing and 9 touchdowns on 232 carries and added 20 receptions for 156 yards . Wheatley combined effectively with Kaufman to form an inside and outside attacking combination in these first two years . Wheatley ’ s 4 . 5 yards per carry ranked ninth in the NFL . Not only did Wheatley amass a career - high three 100 - yard rushing games that season , but he also had his three highest career single - game performances : 156 yards on only 15 carries on October 22 at home against the Seattle Seahawks , 146 yards on December 16 at Seattle and 112 yards on November 5 against the Kansas City Chiefs . The 100 - yard performances against Seattle were his second and third in his first four games against them as a Raider . In the playoffs , Wheatley only posted a total of 63 yards rushing on 31 carries and one reception for four yards in two home playoff games . On January 6 , 2001 , Wheatley posted what would turn out to be his career ( seven career games ) playoff high 56 yards rushing and his only playoff touchdown . In the January 14 conference championship against the Baltimore Ravens he only rushed for 7 yards on 12 carries . In 2001 , with the arrival of Jerry Rice and Charlie Garner , the offense focused on the passing game , running five more pass attempts per game than the year before . The team produced two 1 , 000 - yard receivers with Rice amassing 1 , 139 yards and Tim Brown totaling 1 , 165 yards . Garner led the team in rushing and accumulated 72 receptions . Meanwhile , Wheatley only started three games and accumulated only 12 receptions over the course of the season . For the first time as a Raider , Wheatley went an entire season without a 100 - yard rushing game . The team went 10 – 6 and returned to the 2001 – 02 NFL playoffs , but Wheatley only had 88 carries during the regular season despite tying Zack Crockett for the running back leadership with 6 touchdowns . In the first round wild card game , Wheatley posted his second highest playoff total of 37 yards . In Wheatley ' s first and only career road playoff game , he only posted five yards rushing on four carries . Bill Callahan era ( 2002 – 2003 ) . Under new coach Bill Callahan , the 2002 Raiders became more reliant on Garner as the primary running back . Again , Rice and Brown were primary targets for Gannon who , while having his best season with 4 , 689 yards , did not use Wheatley as a receiver as much as other players . Wheatley had more carries than in 2001 , but did not start a single game and did not see the end zone often . Again , Wheatley went an entire season without a 100 - yard rushing game . However , as a role player he was able to play in three 2002 – 03 playoff games including the 2003 Super Bowl against former coach Gruden . As in his previous seasons , Wheatley posted his best playoff numbers in his first game , this time 30 yards on only four carries . A week later on January 19 , 2003 , Wheatley had his final post - season carry , a 5 - yard run on his only carry of the game . In Super Bowl XXXVII on January 26 , Wheatley ' s only touch came on a seven - yard reception . Although the Raiders did not win the Super Bowl , Tyrone Wheatley was re - signed . In 2003 , Wheatley reclaimed his role as the Raiders ' leading rusher although Garner , the second leading rusher , continued to be the target of more passes and Crockett made it to the end zone as a rusher as often as Wheatley and Garner combined . Wheatley became the sixth person to lead the Raiders franchise in rushing yards three times ( Clem Daniels , Marv Hubbard , Mark van Eeghen , Marcus Allen , Napoleon Kaufman ) . The 2003 Raiders fell to 4 – 12 and had no 1 , 000 - yard receivers or runners . Wheatley ’ s only 100 - yard rushing game came on November 16 at home against the Minnesota Vikings . Wheatley ' s name and those of several of his teammates were found on the list of clients of the Bay Area Laboratory Co - operative ( BALCO ) that had given performance - enhancing drugs to Marion Jones and others . As a result he , and teammates Chris Hetherington , Dana Stubblefield , and Chris Cooper were called to testify before a 2003 federal grand jury investigating a laboratory that produces nutritional supplements . Johnnie Morton was called before the same jury . Wheatley , Stubblefield , and Morton all declined to comment . This court appearance in the BALCO hearings was notable for Wheatley ' s assault of a freelance photographer who attempted to take Wheatley ' s photo outside the Philip Burton Federal Building just after Wheatley had informed the KNTV cameraman that he would sue anyone who took his picture . Norv Turner era ( 2004 ) . Although Wheatley ' s 2003 performance had been modest compared with the other seasons that he led the Raiders in rushing ( 1999 , 2000 ) , it was sufficient to convince the Raiders that they did not need to re - sign the pass catching running back Charlie Garner for the 2004 season with the new coach Norv Turner . The 2004 Raiders used a platoon of five runners ( Wheatley , Crockett , Justin Fargas , J . R . Redmond and Amos Zereoue ) who all rushed for between 100 and 500 yards and caught between 10 and 40 passes . Wheatley compiled his final 100 - yard rushing game on September 26 in week 3 of the season at home against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with 102 yards on 18 carries . This was the earliest point in the season Wheatley had rushed for 100 yards in a game as a professional . Wheatley ' s career ended in week 12 of the season on November 28 , 2004 in a 25 – 24 win over the Denver Broncos with an injury that was first described as an injured hamstring . The hamstring tear turned out to be acute . Wheatley had been under contract until 2009 with a 2005 base salary of $ 800 , 000 and a 2006 base salary of $ 2 million . Coaching . Unable to adequately rehabilitate his hamstring , Wheatley retired from the NFL and returned to Ann Arbor , Michigan . At the University of Michigan , in 2005 , he volunteered as a track coach while finishing his Bachelor ' s degree in sport management . In November 2006 , Wheatley was hired at his alma mater , Robichaud High School , as the track coach . After taking Robichaud to their first conference title he was also hired as the football coach . To prepare for his coaching duties he partook in Jon Gruden ' s NFL minority coaching internship by working with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as a NFL Minority coaching fellow during the 2006 training camp . As football coach in 2007 , Wheatley started with a 6 – 1 record before facing the team ' s rival , the undefeated Inkster High School . Despite losing on the field to Inkster , the team was credited with a forfeit victory and compiled an 8 – 1 regular season record . The team achieved its first berth in 13 years in the MHSAA Class B playoffs , one year after going 0 – 9 . The team won its first round playoff match against Dearborn Heights Annapolis High School and lost its second to Milan High School to finish with a 9 – 2 record . The team last won the MHSAA title in 1990 during Wheatley ' s senior season with a 12 – 1 record . During Wheatley ' s absence the team was a state semifinalist in 1991 with a 10 – 2 record and made a playoff appearance in 1994 . In addition to coaching , Wheatley has worked as an athletic trainer to about 30 clients . In 2008 , he joined John Fontes ' coaching staff as an assistant coach for Team Michigan in the All American Football League . He was to serve as the running backs coach for the team in the league that planned to begin play in April 2008 . However , the league never materialized . Wheatley interned as an NFL Minority coaching fellow with the Pittsburgh Steelers during the summer of 2008 training camp . He also served at the Rising Stars Football Camp as an assistant instructor . In late August 2008 , he became the assistant coach at Ohio Northern University , with responsibility for the team ' s running backs . After the end of Wheatley ' s coaching internship at the conclusion of the season , he was hired by Ron English as a running backs coach at Eastern Michigan University for the 2009 season . In February 2010 , he was hired to replace Roger Harriott on Doug Marrone ' s staff at Syracuse University . In 2013 , he left Syracuse , along with Marrone , to join the Buffalo Bills , Wheatley ' s first NFL coaching position . Personal life . In addition to his guardianships , Wheatley and Kimberly have three sons and two daughters as of February 2010 . Wheatley and his wife Kimberly , had their first child , Tyrone Jr . , in 1997 , and their second in late 1998 . In 2012 , Wheatley was selected for induction into the Michigan Sports Hall of Fame . Statistics . College . , Wheatley ranked fifth in career rushing at Michigan : N . B . : Home team is in bold .