Thomas Wilcher

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Thomas Wilcher
Career information
Position(s):	RB
Height:	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Weight:	185 lb (84 kg)
Jersey №:	27
College:	Michigan (Football, Indoor & Outdoor Track)
Career highlights and Awards
Awards:	NCAA Indoor 55 meter hurdles Champion (1986) Big Ten Outdoor 110 m hurdles Champion (1987) Big Ten football Championship team (1986) Junior Olympics 110 m hurdles Champion (1981) Ten-time MHSAA Champion athlete (1980–1982) Three-time MHSAA Champion coach (1994–1996)
Honors:	Outdoor Track All-American (1985, 1986) Indoor Track All-American (1986) Michigan High School Track and Cross Country Athlete of the Year (1981, 1982)
Records:	Michigan All-time Records 60-meter High Hurdles (1986–) 110 m hurdles (1985–) Home Building Record 60-meter High Hurdles (1986–) MHSAA All-time Records 110 m hurdles (1981–1986) 110 m hurdles (Championship meet) (1982–)

Thomas Wilcher was a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I track & field national champion in the indoor 55 m hurdles and a three-time NCAA All-American in track & 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 two-time Michigan High School Track and Cross Country Athlete of the Year award winner.^[1] He was also a Junior Olympics champion in the 110 m hurdles.^[1]

He is the current 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.^[2] In his role as a football coach, he convinced Vernon Gholston, the 2007 Big Ten Conference Defensive lineman of the year and 2008 NFL Draft sixth overall pick,^[3] to try playing football and to return to the sport after quitting.

[edit] 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.^[1] He led Detroit Central to three consecutive state MHSAA Class A championships as a team from 1980–1982.^[2] As a sophomore in 1980, he was the anchor of the Class A state champion 4x440 yard relay race team. As a junior in 1981, he won the MHSAA Class A 120 yard high hurdles, as well as participated on the 4x440 and 4x110 MHSAA champions. As a senior, he won both the low hurdles (300 meter) and high hurdles (110 meter) as well as participated on the state champion 4x100 meter MHSAA champions.^[4] 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.^[5] His 1982 time of 13.6 seconds continues to be the fastest 110 meter hurdles time ever run at the MHSAA state championship meet.^[6] Although not officially recognized as a record due to metric conversions from yards to meters, the 1982 time of 41.7 in the 4x100 is considered indistinguishable from the official record and is described as a notable performance according to state records.^[6]

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. As a senior, he won the International Prep and Golden West low hurdle races. He was timed as fast as 13.48 and 13.28 (wind-aided)^[1]

[edit] 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.^[7] In 1986, he won the NCAA indoor 55 meter hurdles Championship,^[8] and he placed fifth in the NCAA outdoor 110 m hurdles 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.^[8] 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.^[9] 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.^[10]

Wilcher, who wore #27 as a 6-foot (1.8 m) 185-pound (84 kg/13.2 st) Wolverine,^[11] redshirted as a true freshman in 1982 and played sparringly in his second and third seasons. He earned varsity letters in football as a redshirt junior and redshirt senior for coach Bo Schembechler.^[11] He totaled 758 yards rushing and eight touchdowns as a tailback in a the same backfield as Jamie Morris. However, he never caught a pass. In his final season, he totaled 397 rushing yards and six touchdowns.^[12] 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.^[12][13] He also started one game in 1985.^[14] In his best games, he rushed for 104 yards and a touchdown on 16 carries in a 34–3 win against the South Carolina Gamecocks football team on September 21, 1985,^[15] and he rushed for two touchdowns and 74 yards in Morris' absence in a 34–17 win against the Wisconsin Badgers football team on October 4, 1986.^[16]

[edit] Coaching

Wilcher is the current football head coach at Cass Technical High School in Detroit. His football program has gone 13–7 over the last two seasons after a 2005 season in which they went 2–7 without a home field.^[17][18] At Cass, some of his athletes have included Vernon Gholston,^[19][20] and Marko Cooper, who was 1999 All-USA second team.^[21] 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.^[22] His 2007 team had three players committed to Big Ten Conference football teams and was the preseason #2 ranked school in the Detroit Public School League.^[23] In 2007, Boubacar Cissoko, who has committed to Michigan,^[23] won the award for the best player at the U.S. Army National Combine for high school football players and he has several other promising prospects such as William Campbell and Teric Jones.^[24] Cortez Smith signed with Indiana.^[25] The 2007 team is also sending a trio of players to play for Indiana State University.^[18] He also coached Bubba Paris' son William, who was a highly touted prospect.^[26]

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.^[2] Among the track athletes he has trained are NCAA All-American Pierre Vinson, and current Michigan Wolverine redshirt freshman, Nick McCampbell.

[edit] Vernon Gholston

The story of recruiting Vernon Gholston, who did not play football at Cass until his sophomore year and did not play on defense (at linebacker) until his senior year,^[27][28] for football is interesting because Gholston did not even see himself as a football player when he was in high school. Gholston has gone on to become an Ohio State Buckeyes football defensive end and the 2007 Big Ten Conference Defensive lineman of the year.^[3] 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."^[20]

A similar, although more indepth, story 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."^[27]

[edit] Notes