Tony Alford Position: Wide Receivers Alma Mater: Colorado State '92

Named running backs coach on Jan. 19, 2009, following a two-year stint in the same capacity at the University of Louisville.

Has spent his entire 14-year coaching career working 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.

During the 2008 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 named the BIG EAST Conference Rookie of the Year and second-team all-BIG EAST. He was also placed on Sporting News' Freshman All-America squad.

Louisville averaged 164.5 yards rushing per game in 2008 and scored 18 rushing TDs.

In 2007, Anthony Allen averaged 4.8 yards on 141 carries and Brock Bolen averaged 4.5 yards on 75 attempts for an offense that employed a 44/56 run/pass ratio.

Spent nine years during two stints as 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 for 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 his 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.

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. Haywood was a first-team all-Big 12 running back as the Cylcones' rushing attack averaged 209.0 yards per game and totaled 27 rushing TDs.

In 2000, he assisted the Cyclones in making school history by finishing their 9-3 season with the school's first bowl victory at the Insight.com Bowl (37-20 over Pittsburgh).

During his initial four years in Ames (1997-2000), Iowa State improved from 103rd to 17th nationally in rushing.

Under Alford's guidance, Davis produced three consecutive seasons over 1,000 yards en route to becoming the second-most prolific rusher in school history.

Davis gained 1,005 yards as a sophomore in 1997, 1,116 yards in 1998 and ranked ninth in the nation in 1999 with a Big 12-best 1,388 rushing yards.

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.

At Kent State, he helped make Astron Whatley a first-team all-Mid-American Conference player as Whatley rushed for a career-best 1,132 yards, which were the fifth most in school history.

In 1995, he helped Mount Union rush for 214.5 yards per game as the Purple Raiders made it to the '95 NCAA Division III semifinals and finished with a 12-1 record.

Alford was a first-team all-Western Athletic Conference running back as a player for Colorado State in 1989 and was an honorable mention selection on USA Today's All-America team. He played for the Rams from 1987-90 and was a 1989 Doak Walker Award nominee. Alford ran for a school-record 310 yards versus Utah during the 1989 season.

His brother, Aaron, is the running backs coach at the University of Utah.

A native of Colorado Springs, Colo., Alford was born Nov. 27, 1968, in Akron, Ohio, and moved to Colorado Springs in high school. He and his wife, Trina, have three sons: Rylan, Kyler and Braydon.