Weist Joins Harbaugh's Staff as Senior Offensive Analyst
2/5/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football
Feb. 5, 2015
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- University of Michigan head football coach Jim Harbaugh announced today (Thursday, Feb. 5) the hiring of T.J. Weist as the team's Senior Offensive Analyst. Weist, a 25-year veteran of the coaching profession, most recently served as offensive coordinator and interim head coach at the University of Connecticut.
Weist, who has mentored more than 19 NFL wide receivers during his collegiate coaching career, returns to Ann Arbor, where he mentored wide receivers for the Wolverines from 1990-93. U-M reached four postseason bowl games during his tenure, including two Rose Bowl appearances. Weist coached Desmond Howard during the 1991 season on his way to winning the Heisman Trophy.
"T.J. has a wealth of coaching experience and will be an excellent addition to our staff," said Harbaugh, the J. Ira and Nicki Harris Family Head Football Coach. "He has shown the ability to develop countless NFL caliber wide receivers over his career and has immense knowledge of the collegiate game. He will be a great asset to our program."
"I am honored to return to Michigan and work with Coach Harbaugh, his staff and the Michigan team," said Weist." My family and I are excited to be a part of the greatest program in college football history and look forward to doing our part in winning the Big Ten championship."
Weist was elevated to interim head football coach at UConn four games into the 2013 season. He continued to serve as offensive coordinator and also had position responsibilities with the wide receivers while serving as head coach. Under Weist's tutelage, the Huskies finished the regular season with three consecutive wins, scoring 28 or more points in each of those contests, including a season-high 45 points in the team's victory over Memphis in the season finale. In that contest, Huskies quarterback Casey Cochran set a school single-game record with 461 passing yards, and wide receiver Geremy Davis notched a program-record 15 catches for a career-high 207 yards. Davis finished the season with 1,085 receiving yards, becoming the first wide receiver 1,000-yard receiver for UConn in 15 years.
Prior to his tenure with the Huskies, Weist served as wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator at the University of Cincinnati. During his time with the Bearcats, Cincinnati won two Big East championships.
Weist helped lead the Bearcats to a 10-3 record in 2012 and a 48-34 victory over Duke in the Belk Bowl. Weist served as Cincinnati's offensive coordinator in the Belk Bowl as the Bearcats gained 554 yards of total offense on 53 plays and did not have a turnover.
In 2011, Cincinnati averaged 385 yards of total offense per game and scored an average of 33.3 points per game on the way to a Big East Conference championship and a win in the AutoZone Liberty Bowl over Vanderbilt.
In 2010, Weist coached a pair of All-Big East Conference selections in Armon Binns (first team) and D.J. Woods (second team), as the duo were the No. 1 and 2 ranked receivers in the Big East. The Bearcats were the only NCAA FBS school to have two wide receivers with 15 or more 20-yard receptions in 2010. The Bearcats led the conference in scoring offense (27.1 ppg), total offense (417.3 ypg) and passing offense (260.7 ypg).
Weist joined the Bearcats after eight years at Western Kentucky mentoring the receivers. He also served as the team's assistant head coach (2007-09) and offensive coordinator (2003-06). As offensive coordinator in 2006, WKU ranked 23rd in the country in total offense, also finishing 17th in pass-efficiency rating while posting more than 4,000 total yards for the fifth consecutive season. Weist helped direct an offense that averaged 405.73 yards per game in 2005 while scoring more than 30 points a game. The Hilltoppers ranked in the top 30 nationally in four different categories.
In Weist's first season at Western Kentucky, the Hilltoppers won the Division 1-AA national championship under head coach Jack Harbaugh.
Weist came to WKU from Indiana, where he served as wide receivers coach from 1997-2001.While with the Hoosiers, he also carried special teams responsibilities with the return units and also served as the Hoosiers' recruiting coordinator his first two years.
Weist was also on the staffs at Tulsa (1996), Southern Illinois (1994-95), Michigan (1990-93) and Alabama (1988-89).
A native of Bay City, Michigan, Weist was a wide receiver at Alabama from 1985-87, taking part in three postseason bowl games and received a letter as a senior. He earned a bachelor's degree in health and physical education in 1988 and then added an exercise physiology master's degree one year later.
Weist and his wife Karen have a son, James (6).
COACHING EXPERIENCE
| Year | Team | Position |
| 1988-89 | Alabama | Wide Receivers/Grad. Assistant |
| 1990-93 | Michigan | Wide Receivers/Vol.-Grad. Assistant |
| 1994-95 | Southern Illinois | Wide Receivers/Tight Ends |
| 1996 | Tulsa | Wide Receivers |
| 1997-2001 | Indiana | Wide Receivers |
| 2002-09 | Western Kentucky | WRs/RBS, OC (03-06), Assistant HC (07-09) |
| 2010-12 | Cincinnati | Wide Receivers |
| 2013 | Connecticut | Offensive Coordinator/WRs, Interim Head Coach |
