Former Syracuse running backs coach Mike Hart will be IU’s next running backs coach, a source confirmed to the Indiana Daily Student on Thursday morning.
Hart will replace former IU running backs coach Deland McCullough, who accepted the same position at USC in mid-February.
Hart is most known for his time at Michigan as a running back. He set the Wolverines' career rushing record with 5,040 yards from 2004 to 2007.
During Hart’s playing career, current IU offensive coordinator Mike DeBord was the run-game coordinator and offensive coordinator at Michigan, and current IU quarterbacks coach Nick Sheridan was a quarterback.
In 2006, Hart finished with 1,562 yards and 14 touchdowns and placed fifth in the Heisman Trophy vote.
The Indianapolis Colts drafter Hart in the fifth round of the 2008 NFL Draft, and he played three seasons for the Colts before retiring from the NFL.
Hart got his coaching start in quality control at Eastern Michigan before being named EMU’s running backs coach and mentoring Bronson Hill, now with the Jacksonville Jaguars, to a 1,000-yard season.
Western Michigan head coach P.J. Fleck recognized Hart and hired him as running backs coach in 2014, and the Broncos proceeded to make back-to-back bowl games for the first time in program history.
Hart spent one season on staff at Syracuse, in 2016. Running backs Dontae Strickland and Eric Dungey combined for 1,061 yards and 10 touchdowns under his tutelage.
The new IU running backs coach joins a program that has featured three NFL running backs in the last five years — Stephen Houston, Tevin Coleman and Jordan Howard. Former Hoosier running back Devine Redding will also be performing in the NFL Combine and entering the 2017 NFL Draft.
