Wilbert Montgomery (born September 16, 1954) is an American former professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

player who was a

running back A running back (RB) is a member of the offensive backfield in gridiron football. The primary roles of a running back are to receive American football plays#Offensive terminology, handoffs from the quarterback to Rush (American football)#Offen ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) for nine years with the

Philadelphia Eagles The Philadelphia Eagles are a professional American football team based in Philadelphia. The Eagles compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. The team plays ...

and

Detroit Lions The Detroit Lions are a professional American football team based in Detroit. The Lions compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) North Division. The team play their home games at Ford ...

. He was also the running backs and

tight end The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Like ...

s coach for

St. Louis Rams The St. Louis Rams were a professional American football team of the National Football League (NFL). They played in St. Louis from 1995 to the 2015 season, before moving back to Los Angeles, where the team had played from 1946 to 1994. The arr ...

(1997–2005), the running backs coach for the Lions (2006–2007), the running backs coach for the

Baltimore Ravens The Baltimore Ravens are a professional American football team based in Baltimore, Maryland. The Ravens compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. The team plays its ...

(2008–2013), and the running backs coach for the

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference ( ...

(2014–2015).

Playing career

College

An outstanding athlete at

Abilene Christian University Abilene Christian University (ACU) is a Private university, private Churches of Christ, Christian university in Abilene, Texas. It was founded in 1906 as ''Childers Classical Institute''. ACU is one of the largest private universities in the Sout ...

, Montgomery was a four-year starter at running back and set the all-time

National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) established in 1940, is a college athletics association for colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic scholarships to its stu ...

record for touchdowns with 76. He broke the record for touchdowns by a freshman with 37, and helped lead the Wildcats to the NAIA Division I National Championship in 1973. That same year, he was featured in " Faces in the Crowd" in the November 12 issue of ''

Sports Illustrated ''Sports Illustrated'' (''SI'') is an American sports magazine first published in August 1954. Founded by Stuart Scheftel, it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twic ...

''.

NFL

Montgomery was drafted by the

in the sixth round of the 1977 NFL Draft. Wearing number 31, Montgomery played eight seasons with Philadelphia, shattering most Eagles' rushing records and leading the club in rushing six times. He concluded his NFL career with the

in 1985, and still holds or previously held seven Philadelphia rushing records, including: career attempts (1,465), rushing yards (6,538, broken by

LeSean McCoy LeSean Kamel McCoy (born July 12, 1988), nicknamed "Shady", is an American former football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Pittsburgh and was drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles in the ...

in 2014), attempts in a season (338 in 1979), rushing yards in a season (1,512 in 1979, since broken by LeSean McCoy in 2013), career 100-yard rushing games (26), 100-yard rushing games in a season (8 in 1981), and touchdowns in a game (4). In the 1980 NFC championship game, Montgomery rushed for a franchise postseason record 194 yards, leading the team to

Super Bowl XV Super Bowl XV was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Oakland Raiders and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Philadelphia Eagles to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for ...

, the first Super Bowl in team history. In 1979, Montgomery led the NFL with 2,012 all-purpose yards (rushing, receiving, returns). Over his NFL career, he accumulated 6,789 yards rushing, 2,502 receiving, 814 kickoff return yards, 57 touchdowns (45 rushing, 12 receiving, 1 kickoff return), and two

Pro Bowl The National Football League All-Star Game (1939–1942), Pro Bowl (1951–2022), or Pro Bowl Games (starting in 2023) is an annual event held by the National Football League (NFL) featuring the league's star players. The format has changed thro ...

invitations (1978–79).

Coaching career

NFL

Montgomery joined the

' coaching staff as running backs coach in 1997, coaching

running backs

Marshall Faulk Marshall William Faulk (born February 26, 1973) is an American former football running back who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 13 seasons with the Indianapolis Colts and St. Louis Rams. He is widely regarded as one of the grea ...

and Steven Jackson. Under Montgomery's leadership, Faulk moved into 12th place on the NFL's rushing yardage list, and Jackson finished third in the NFL among rookie running backs. At the 2002

NFC NFC may refer to: Psychology * Need for cognition, in psychology * Need for closure, social psychological term Sports * NFC Championship Game, the National Football Conference Championship Game * NCAA Football Championship (Philippines) * Nati ...

Championship game between the

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South divisio ...

and

Veterans Stadium Veterans Stadium was a multi-purpose stadium in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, at the northeast corner of Broad Street and Pattison Avenue, part of the South Philadelphia Sports Complex. The seating capacities were 65,358 for footb ...

, Montgomery was the Eagles’ honorary captain, and introduced to a thunderous ovation prior to the game. He joined the Ravens in 2008 and was running backs coach through the 2013 season. Montgomery was hired as Running backs coach of the Cleveland Browns on Feb 6th 2014. He was not retained after Head Coach Mike Pettine was fired.

Personal life

Montgomery is a native of

Greenville, Mississippi Greenville is a city in and the county seat of Washington County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 34,400 at the 2010 census. It is located in the area of historic cotton plantations and culture known as the Mississippi Delta. Hi ...

, and one of four brothers (Fred, Cleotha Montgomery, and Tyrone) who played in the NFL. Montgomery earned the

Alumni Citation Award in 1979, was inducted onto the inaugural

Honor Roll in 1987, and was inducted into the

College Football Hall of Fame The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and interactive attraction devoted to college football. The National Football Foundation (NFF) founded the Hall in 1951 to immortalize the players and coaches of college football that were vote ...

in 1996. Montgomery and his wife Patti have three children, twins Briana and Brendan, and a son, Tavian. Montgomery also has a daughter, Sherrita, and a son Derron, who was a wide receiver for the Iowa State Cyclones and a Graduate Assistant and Assistant wide receiver coach for the Miami Hurricanes. Derron was a wide receiver coach for the Michigan Wolverines, tight ends coach for his father's alma mater

and is now the Offensive Quality Control - Assistant RB’s coach for the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansion ...

. Tavian is a current college sophomore, playing cornerback for Northern Arizona University.

References

External links

Ravens coaching bio

Wilbert Montgomery Then and Now
{{DEFAULTSORT:Montgomery, Wilbert 1954 births Living people Sportspeople from Greenville, Mississippi Abilene Christian University alumni Abilene Christian Wildcats football players American football running backs American members of the Churches of Christ Cleveland Browns coaches College Football Hall of Fame inductees Detroit Lions coaches Detroit Lions players National Conference Pro Bowl players Sportspeople from Abilene, Texas Philadelphia Eagles players St. Louis Rams coaches Baltimore Ravens coaches Players of American football from Mississippi Players of American football from Texas