Thomas Wilcher Thomas Wilcher is a high school athletic coach who was previously a National Collegiate Athletic Association ( NCAA ) Division I track and field national champion in the indoor 55 m hurdles and a three - time NCAA All - American in track and field for the University of Michigan . Wilcher was also a running back for the Michigan Wolverines football team from 1983 – 1986 . In his redshirt senior year , he was a member of the Big Ten Conference football champion team as well as a 110 m hurdles Big Ten individual champion . In high school , Wilcher was a Michigan High School Athletic Association ( MHSAA ) record - setting hurdler . As an athlete , he is a ten - time MHSAA track and field champion and a two - time Michigan High School Track and Cross Country Athlete of the Year award winner . He was also a Junior Olympics champion in the 110 m hurdles and an All - state tailback in football . , Wilcher is the head coach for the football team and the boy ' s track & field team at Cass Technical High School in Detroit . As a boy ' s track coach , he is a three time MHSAA team track and field champion , and his school has also twice been the MHSAA runner up . In his role as a football coach , he is the current MHSAA Division 1 champion and a former " Detroit Free Press " Coach of the Year , who once convinced Vernon Gholston , the 2007 Big Ten Conference Defensive lineman of the year and 2008 NFL Draft sixth overall pick , to try playing football and to return to the sport after quitting . His 2010 team advanced to the MHSAA semifinals and 2011 and 2012 teams won back - to - back Division 1 championship games . High school . At Detroit Central High School , he was a ten - time MHSAA champion ( three - time team , four - time relay , three - time individual ) and Michigan High School Track and Cross Country Athlete of the Year award winner in both 1981 and 1982 . He led Detroit Central to three consecutive state MHSAA Class A championships as a team from 1980 – 1982 . As a sophomore in 1980 , he was the anchor of the Class A state champion 4 × 440 yard relay race team . As a junior in 1981 , he won the MHSAA Class A high hurdles , as well as participated on the 4 × 440 and 4 × 110 MHSAA champions . As a senior , he won both the low hurdles ( 300 m ) and high hurdles ( 110 m ) as well as participated on the state champion 4 × 100 meter MHSAA champions . His time of 13 . 5 in the 110 metre hurdles was the state all class record from 1981 – 1986 and continues to be tied for the second fastest time in state high school history . His 1982 time of 13 . 6 seconds continues to be the fastest 110 meter hurdles time ever run at the MHSAA state championship meet . Although not officially recognized as a record due to metric conversions from yard s to meters , the 1982 time of 41 . 7 in the 4 × 100 is considered indistinguishable from the official record and is described as a notable performance according to state records . Nationally , he was the number one ranked scholastic high hurdler as a junior as well as the number one ranked long ( low ) hurdler as a senior and was undefeated by high school athletes in both years in the respective events . As a junior , he won the 1981 AAU Junior Olympic Games in the high hurdles ( By some accounts he was an AAU Junior champion in 1982 ) . As a senior , he won the International Prep and Golden West low hurdle races . He was timed as fast as 13 . 48 seconds and 13 . 28 ( wind - aided ) . In addition to his track accolades , he was an All - state tailback . College . Wilcher was recruited to the University of Michigan by Thomas E . Moss , Sr . , the former Deputy Chief of Police for the Detroit Police Department . In 1986 , he won the NCAA indoor 55 meter hurdles Championship , and he placed fifth in the NCAA outdoor 110 m hurdles with a time of 13 . 57 , earning both indoor and outdoor track & field All - American honors . He had also placed third in the outdoor 110m hurdles in 1985 earning All - American honors . In 1987 , he was the outdoor Big Ten Conference 110 meter hurdles champion and earned first team All - Big Ten honors . Wilcher holds numerous Michigan Wolverines records in the high hurdles including both the team indoor 60 meters ( converted ) , team outdoor 110 meters , and Michigan indoor track building records . Wilcher ' s personal best and team record time of 13 . 52 seconds in the 110 meter hurdles came at the 1985 Penn Relays where he was also the event champion . He was the Big Ten winter sports athlete of the week in January 1986 for his hurdling performance . In February 1985 , Wilcher was involved in an altercation stemming from an intramural basketball game . Thomas Wilcher incurred penalties of 72 hours of public service deferred sentence , US $ 429 court costs and restitution in Ann Arbor District Court . Wilcher , who wore # 27 as a Wolverine , redshirt ed as a true freshman in 1982 and played sparringly in his second and third seasons . He earned varsity letter s in football as a redshirt junior and redshirt senior for coach Bo Schembechler . He totaled rushing and eight touchdown s as a tailback in the same backfield as Jamie Morris . However , he never caught a pass . In his final season , he totaled 397 rushing yards and six touchdowns . That year , he was a member of the 1986 Big Ten Conference football champions who went on to the 1987 Rose Bowl , but accumulated no statistics in the Rose Bowl . He accumulated statistics in eleven of the thirteen games played and started twice . He had also started one game in 1985 . In his best games , he rushed for and a touchdown on 16 carries in a 34 – 3 win against the South Carolina Gamecocks football team on September 21 , 1985 , and he rushed for two touchdowns and in Morris ' absence in a 34 – 17 win against the Wisconsin Badgers football team on October 4 , 1986 . His touchdowns were the first two in what became Schembechler ' s 200th victory . On September 27 , 1986 , his seven - yard ( 6 m ) touchdown run cemented a homecoming victory against the Florida State Seminoles football team by putting the team up 20 – 10 with 1 : 27 remaining . After graduating , Wilcher competed for the University of Chicago Track Club while training for the United States Olympic Trials for the 1988 Summer Olympic Games . On May 8 , 1988 he won the Jesse Owens Classic with a 110 - meter high hurdles time of 13 . 70 . At the Olympic Trials on July 23 , 1988 at Indiana University Track and Field Stadium , his second - round heat included Arthur Blake , Jack Pierce , and Greg Foster who placed first , second and third respectively as well as Tony Dees . Coaching . Wilcher is the current football head coach at Cass Technical High School in Detroit , where entering the 2011 MHSAA semifinals , the team had compiled a 99 – 56 ( . 639 ) record and competed in the MHSAA Class - A playoffs ten times since he became head coach in 1997 . He was the 1998 " Detroit Free Press " High School Football Coach of the Year , with his Detroit City Class - A runner - up team . At Cass , some of his athletes have included Vernon Gholston , and Marko Cooper , who was 1999 All - USA second team . One of the first star players he coached ( as an assistant coach ) was future Michigan Wolverines - leading rusher and NFL - athlete Clarence Williams . In 2007 , Joseph Barksdale was the " Detroit News " ' No . 1 Blue Chip Prospect , Parade All - American , U . S . Army All - American Bowl Participant ( East Roster ) , USA Today All - USA High School First Team , The ESPN . com 150 , Rivals . com Top 100 for 2007 , Scout . com Hot 100 for 2007 , and SuperPrep All - American . The 2010 team went 12 – 1 and lost 24 – 21 in the MHSAA Division I semifinals , when they fumbled on the 6 - yard line on second - and - 4 with less than a minute remaining . The 2011 team won the state Division 1 championship by 49 – 13 margin against Detroit Catholic Central High School at Ford Field with a freshman quarterback , Jayru Campbell , who also plays basketball and runs track . The 2012 team won the third consecutive district championship and qualified for the state Division I championships . The 2012 team defended their championship by defeating Detroit Catholic Central High School 36 – 21 at Ford Field in a rematch of the prior year ' s state championship match . Wilcher is also the Cass boy ' s track and field coach . The team won the MHSAA Class A track and field championships in 1994 , 1995 , and 1996 under Wilcher . The team was state runner up in the MHSAA Lower Peninsula Division 1 Championships in 2001 and 2002 . Among the track athletes he has trained are NCAA All - American Pierre Vinson , and current Michigan Wolverine , Nick McCampbell . Vernon Gholston . Vernon Gholston did not play football at Cass until his sophomore year and did not play on defense ( at linebacker ) until his senior year . Gholston did not even see himself as a football player when he was in high school , yet he has gone on to become an Ohio State Buckeyes football defensive end , the 2007 Big Ten Conference Defensive lineman of the year and the sixth overall selection in the 2008 NFL Draft . According to Gholston , " It was between periods and I was going to my next class . . . . He thought I was actually somebody ’ s father walking down the hall . He asked me whom was I looking for . I was like , ' Nobody . I go here . ' He really couldn ' t believe it . He kind of grabbed me at that point and put me on the team . " A similar , although more indepth , story of the recruitment of Gholston has been told by Wilcher : " He was walking down the hall with a Bible in his hands , " Wilcher said . " He was already built like a grown man ; he was all cut up ( like a bodybuilder ) . I asked him , ' Can I help you sir ? ' He looked around to see who I was talking to . I said , ' Are you looking for a student ? ' He said , ' No , I go here . ' He said he was a freshman . I thought he was lying . " When the defensive coordinator kicked Gholston off the team for being too soft , Wilcher went to his house and dragged him back into the program : " I told him I didn ' t care if he wasn ' t tough enough , he was going to play football for me , " Wilcher said . " I knew that he had desire to play . My only regret is that I didn ' t put him at running back . I didn ' t know how fast he was . "