Ted Gilmore - Football Coach - Michigan State University Athletics

Ted Gilmore

Title:
Tight Ends Coach
Email:
football@msu.edu
Phone Number:
355-1647

A 28-year coaching veteran with experience at the FBS and NFL ranks, Ted Gilmore is in his fourth season as the tight ends coach at Michigan State.

Gilmore has developed numerous NFL players, draft picks and All-Americans during his coaching career. He was named the 2011 FootballScoop Wide Receivers Coach of the Year after mentoring consensus All-American Robert Woods and 2011 Freshman All-American Marqise Lee at USC.

Gilmore has also coached on the game’s biggest stages with 14 trips to bowl games, including the Rose Bowl, Orange Bowl, Peach Bowl and multiple trips to the Cotton and Holiday Bowls.

Gilmore, 55, joined Mel Tucker’s staff at Michigan State in 2020.

Three Spartan tight ends – Daniel Barker, Maliq Carr and Tyler Hunt – combined to catch 52 passes for 546 yards and four touchdowns in 2022. All three Spartan tight ends posted career highs in receptions, including Barker, who had 21 receptions for 239 yards and two TDs to earn an invite to the 2023 East-West Shrine Game.

During his second season in East Lansing in 2021, Gilmore helped develop former running back Connor Heyward, who made the transition to a tight end during preseason camp and blossomed into a starter and NFL Draft pick his senior year. Heyward led the Spartan tight ends with 35 receptions for 326 yards and two touchdowns, including a leaping grab in the end zone in the fourth quarter of MSU’s 31-21 win over No. 12 Pitt in the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. Heyward was selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers in the sixth round of the 2022 NFL Draft and played in all 17 regular-season games with the team as a rookie.

Before arriving in East Lansing, Gilmore spent five seasons (2015-19) as the wide receivers coach at Wisconsin; he was also the offensive pass game coordinator his last three years in Madison. The Badgers posted a 52-16 record during his five seasons at UW, including three Big Ten West Division titles, a trip to the Rose Bowl, and wins in the Cotton, Orange and Pinstripe Bowls.

Under Gilmore's tutelage, Wisconsin's Quintez Cephus became of the one best receivers in the Big Ten, earning second-team all-conference honors from Pro Football Focus in 2019 after ranking among the league leaders in receiving yards (seventh with 901), receptions (seventh with 59) and touchdown catches (tied for seventh with seven). Cephus, a fifth-round pick in the 2020 NFL Draft by the Detroit Lions, finished his Badger career with 93 catches for 1,496 yards and 13 TDs.

In his first season at UW in 2015, Gilmore mentored senior Alex Erickson to first-team All-Big Ten honors for a season in which he caught 77 passes for 978 yards. Gilmore also guided the emergence of receivers Rob Wheelwright and Jazz Peavy. Peavy went on to earn honorable mention All-Big Ten laurels as a junior in 2016, leading the Badgers with 635 receiving yards and five touchdown catches. Wheelwright enjoyed a strong senior campaign, logging 448 receiving yards and a touchdown, before being selected for the 2017 NFLPA Collegiate Bowl and earning a free agent deal with the New York Giants.

Gilmore re-entered the college coaching ranks with Wisconsin in 2015 after spending three seasons as the wide receivers coach for the Oakland Raiders (2012-14).

Before moving to the NFL, Gilmore spent 18 years at the collegiate level. He coached at USC in 2011 and was named FootballScoop Wide Receivers Coach of the Year for helping to mold one of the top receiving corps in the country, led by 2011 Biletnikoff Award finalist and consensus All-American Robert Woods and 2011 Freshman All-American Marqise Lee. Both went on to be selected in the second round of the NFL draft.

Prior to USC, Gilmore spent six seasons as the wide receivers coach at Nebraska (2005-10), adding the title of assistant head coach in his final three seasons while also serving as the Huskers’ recruiting coordinator. He coached in five bowls at Nebraska (2005 Alamo, 2007 Cotton, 2009 Gator, 2009 Holiday, 2010 Holiday) and helped lead the Huskers to three AP Top-25 finishes (No. 24 in 2005; No. 14 in 2009; No. 20 in 2010).

Husker receivers posted record-setting numbers under Gilmore’s direction, helping the NU passing game rank among the nation’s top 15 in passing and total offense in both 2007 and 2008. Overall, Gilmore coached three of the top six all-time receptions leaders in Nebraska history at the time of his tenure.

In 2008, Nate Swift capped a record-setting career, breaking 1972 Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Rodgers’ school record for career receptions (166), while ranking second with 2,476 career receiving yards. Swift also caught a wide receiver-record 63 passes as a senior.

Todd Peterson also excelled under Gilmore, ranking among the NU top five in career receptions and receiving yards. His 62 catches in 2008 rank third in Husker history. Peterson also earned second-team CoSIDA Academic All-America honors in 2008.

In 2007, the NU receivers were the catalyst behind an offense that ranked seventh nationally in passing and ninth in total offense, while producing the top three passing days in school history. Terrence Nunn and Maurice Purify finished their eligibility as the No. 2 and No. 5 career receivers at Nebraska. Nunn finished with 136 career catches, and finished third in career receiving yardage. Purify caught 57 passes as a senior, and finished with 16 touchdowns to rank No. 3 on the career list.

Gilmore also coached wide receivers at Colorado (2003-04), Purdue (2001-02) and Houston (2000). He was the tight ends coach at Kansas in 1999 and coached wide receivers at his alma mater, Wyoming, the previous two seasons.

In 2003, while at Colorado, Gilmore coached D.J. Hackett, who set the Buffaloes' single-season receptions record (78), earned first-team All-Big 12 honors and was drafted in the fifth round by the NFL's Seattle Seahawks.

At Purdue, Gilmore mentored future NFL players Taylor Stubblefield and John Standeford. Stubblefield went on to become a consensus All-American and Biletnikoff Award finalist in 2004 while setting the NCAA career receptions record with 316.

A native of Wichita, Kansas, Gilmore entered the coaching ranks as a graduate assistant at his alma mater, Wyoming, under head coach Joe Tiller from 1994-96. During that time, Marcus Harris, the 1996 Biletnikoff Award winner who was a two-time first-team All-American (1995-96) and three-time All-Western Athletic Conference first teamer, set NCAA records for most career receiving yards (4,518 yards) and consecutive seasons with 1,400 receiving yards (3) and twice led the nation (1994 and 1996) in receiving yards per game before being chosen in the seventh round by the Detroit Lions.

After beginning his playing career by spending two years as a receiver at Butler Community College, Gilmore lettered at Wyoming from 1988-89. He caught 40 passes for a team-best 594 yards and three touchdowns as a junior to help the Cowboys to the 1988 Holiday Bowl and he added 32 receptions for 445 yards and two TDs as a senior to earn second-team All-WAC honors.

Born on March 21, 1967, Gilmore earned his bachelor's degree in sociology from Wyoming in 1991. He and his wife, Jennifer, have a daughter, Taylor, and a son, T.J.

THE GILMORE FILE

FAMILY: Wife, Jennifer; daughter, Taylor; son, T.J.

YEARS AT MICHIGAN STATE: Fourth. Joined staff on Feb. 21, 2020, from Wisconsin.

PREVIOUS COACHING EXPERIENCE:
Graduate assistant at Wyoming (1994-96)
Wide receivers coach at Wyoming (1997-98)
Tight ends coach at Kansas (1999)
Wide receivers coach at Houston (2000)
Wide receivers coach at Purdue (2001-02)
Wide receivers coach at Colorado (2003-04)
Wide receivers coach at Nebraska (2005-07)
Assistant head coach/wide receivers coach/recruiting coordinator at Nebraska (2008-10)
Wide receivers coach at USC (2011)
Wide receivers coach with Oakland Raiders (2012-14)
Wide receivers coach at Wisconsin (2015-16)
Offensive pass game coordinator/wide receivers coach at Wisconsin (2017-19)
Tight ends coach at Michigan State (2020-)

EDUCATION: Bachelor’s degree in sociology from Wyoming in 1991.

PLAYING EXPERIENCE: College – Two-year letterwinner as a wide receiver at Wyoming from 1988-89. Played two seasons at Butler Community College in 1986-87.

POSTSEASON EXPERIENCE: Coach – 2001 Sun Bowl, 2002 Sun Bowl, 2004 Houston Bowl, 2005 Alamo Bowl, 2007 Cotton Bowl, 2009 Gator Bowl, 2009 Holiday Bowl, 2010 Holiday Bowl, 2015 Holiday Bowl, 2017 Cotton Bowl, 2018 Orange Bowl, 2018 Pinstripe Bowl, 2020 Rose Bowl, 2021 Peach Bowl.