Tyke Tolbert (born September 15, 1967) is an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

coach and former player who is the

wide receivers coach In American football, a position coach is a team official in charge of coaching a specific position group. Position coaches have more specialized duties than the head coach, associate and assistant coach, and the Offensive coordinator, offensive a ...

for the

Tennessee Titans The Tennessee Titans are a professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. The Titans compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC South, South division. They play the ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

(NFL). Tolbert previously served as wide receivers coach for the

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC West, West division. The ...

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East div ...

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC South, South division. The t ...

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football team based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the American Football Conference (AFC) AFC West, West division. The team is headquartered in E ...

and

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC East, East division. The ...

College playing career

Tyke attended

Louisiana State University Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

(LSU), where he played

wide receiver A wide receiver (WR), also referred to as a wideout, and historically known as a split end (SE) or flanker (FL), is an eligible receiver in gridiron football. A key skill position of the offense (American football), offense, WR gets its name ...

for the

LSU Tigers football The LSU Tigers football program, also known as the Fighting Tigers, represents Louisiana State University in college football. The LSU Tigers and Lady Tigers, Tigers compete in the Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of the National Collegiate Athle ...

team.Buffalo Bills
/ref>

Coaching career

College coaching

Tolbert started his coaching career as a

graduate assistant A graduate assistant serves in a support role at a university, usually while completing post-graduate education. The assistant typically helps professors with instructional responsibilities as teaching assistants or with academic research resp ...

LSU Louisiana State University and Agricultural and Mechanical College, commonly referred to as Louisiana State University (LSU), is an American Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Baton Rouge, Louis ...

in the spring of

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

and quickly transferred to Northeast Louisiana to also work as a graduate assistant in the fall. He would go on to coach wide receivers at

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

in the spring of 1995, before once again returning in the fall to Northeast Louisiana, where he assisted in coaching the team’s

tight end The tight end (TE) is an offense (sports), offensive position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football. It is a hybrid that combines the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a receiver (football), receiv ...

s for three seasons. He would then go on to coach tight ends at Auburn in the

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

season. Tyke would spend the next three years (1999-2001) as the wide receivers coach/recruiting coordinator at Louisiana-Lafayette, followed by a year serving as a tight ends coach/recruiting coordinator at

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

, before making the jump to the NFL the following season.

Start in the NFL

Tyke was a part of the NFL's Minority Internship Program with the

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) NFC North, North division. The team plays their home game ...

in training camp during

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

, and once again in

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

with the Cardinals.

Arizona Cardinals

Tyke’s first official position in the NFL was as the wide receivers coach for the Arizona Cardinals in 2003. He would go on to help rookie wide receiver Anquan Boldin earn offensive rookie of the year.

Buffalo Bills

Tolbert would spend 6 years coaching wide receivers for the Bills.

Carolina Panthers

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

Tolbert was the wide receivers coach for the

Denver Broncos

Tolbert was the

for the

from 2011 until the end of the 2017 season. On February 7, 2016, Tolbert was part of the Broncos coaching staff that won Super Bowl 50. In the game, the Broncos defeated the

by a score of 24–10.

New York Giants

On January 24, 2018, Tolbert joined the

to serve as wide receivers coach under new head coach

Pat Shurmur Patrick Carl Shurmur (born April 14, 1965) is an American football coach who serves as the offensive coordinator at the Colorado Buffaloes football team, University of Colorado. Prior to joining the staff at Colorado, he most recently served as ...

. Following the appointment of Joe Judge as head coach in January 2020, Tolbert was retained in his role.

Chicago Bears

On February 2, 2022, Tolbert joined the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. They are one of two remaining ...

to serve as the wide receiver coach & passing game coordinator under head coach Matt Eberflus. On January 10, 2024, Tolbert was fired by the Bears, along with offensive coordinator Luke Getsy and quarterbacks coach Andrew Janocko.

Tennessee Titans

On February 13, 2024, the

hired Tolbert as their wide receiver coach under new head coach Brian Callahan.

References

External links

Tennessee Titans coaching bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tolbert, Tyke 1967 births Living people African-American coaches of American football American football wide receivers Arizona Cardinals coaches Auburn Tigers football coaches Buffalo Bills coaches Carolina Panthers coaches Denver Broncos coaches Florida Gators football coaches Louisiana Ragin' Cajuns football coaches Louisiana–Monroe Warhawks football coaches LSU Tigers football players New York Giants coaches Ohio Bobcats football coaches Sportspeople from Conroe, Texas Players of American football from Montgomery County, Texas Conroe High School alumni 21st-century African-American sportsmen 20th-century African-American sportsmen Chicago Bears coaches Coaches of American football from Texas