Quick Facts
Biography
Timothy Spencer (born December 10, 1960) is a former professional American football running back who played in the USFL and NFL from 1983 to 1990. Tim is currently at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as the running backs coach. His son Evan Spencer is currently on the same team.
Playing career
Spencer was drafted by the Chicago Blitz of the United States Football League in 1983 after a college football career at Ohio State where he ran for 1371 yards in his senior season. He closed out his career with 3,553 yards rushing and still ranks third on OSU's all-time rushing list, trailing only Heisman Trophy winners Archie Griffin (5,589) and Eddie George (3,768). Spencer shared the backfield with Kevin Long as the starting running back with Chicago and rushed for 1157 yards on 300 carries with 6 touchdowns in his rookie season.
In 1984, Spencer played for the Arizona Wranglers and rushed for 1212 yards on 227 carries for a 5.3 yards per carry average. He also ran for 17 touchdowns. The following season, he played for the Memphis Showboats and rushed for 789 yards on 198 carries with 3 touchdowns. Spencer finished as the 3rd leading rusher in USFL history.
In 1985, Spencer signed to play for the San Diego Chargers, the same NFL team that drafted him in the 11th round of the 1983 NFL Draft. He rushed for 478 yards on 124 carries with 10 touchdowns that season. His biggest NFL season was in 1989, when he rushed for 521 yards on 134 carries. He was a limited reserve for the rest of his career with the Chargers and retired after the 1990 season.
Coaching career
In 1994, Spencer returned to Ohio State to be their running backs coach, a position he held until 2003. Since January 27, 2004, he has been the running backs coach for the Chicago Bears. Spencer was not retained by the Bears in 2013 after the hiring of Marc Trestman.
He joined Lovie Smith's staff at Tampa Bay for the 2014 Season.