Bohemia Manor alum making the most of coaching chance with Delaware football

In the spring of 2020, Tyler Ferguson worked as a part-time employee at Frog Hollow Golf Club in Middletown, Delaware to make some extra money. One day, the soon-to-be graduate of Salisbury University struck up a conversation with a patron who just finished a round on the course. That visitor was Jared Ambrose, then the offensive coordinator for the University of Delaware’s football team.

“I had no idea who he was,” Ferguson said. “He had just finished playing.”

Ferguson possessed a wealth of football experience. A 2016 graduate of Bohemia Manor High School, Ferguson led Bo’s offense at quarterback for three years. Following his playing days, he served as an assistant coach at Bo Manor and called plays for a season at Kent County High, all while pursuing a physical education degree at Salisbury.

As the pair continued talking, both brought up their ties to the gridiron. Ambrose noted the Hens were still looking to fill a volunteer quality control position. In the following weeks, Ferguson traveled to Newark to meet with the coaches. Soon after, Delaware brought Ferguson onto its staff.

“It moved pretty fast,” Ferguson said.

The Chesapeake City native is now in his fourth season on the Delaware coaching staff. The Hens are preparing for their final year in the Football Championship Subdivision and will move up to the Football Bowl Subdivision and Conference USA in 2025.

“I was working here for free,” Ferguson said of his arrival at Delaware. “Volunteering my time, doing anything I could to kind of just learn the game and be a part of the coaching staff.”

Ferguson waited close to a year to see his coaching responsibilities play out on the field. Rather than play in the middle of the pandemic during the fall of 2020, the FCS held a shortened season the following spring, which left the fall vacant of football. For Ferguson, that was the best thing that could have happened to him.

“We weren’t rushing to go through a regular season where I am trying to learn as we go,” Ferguson said. “I had that eight weeks or ten weeks to myself. I had time to kind of learn college football.”

Following the 2021 spring, Ferguson was brought onto the team in a full-time quality control role under head coach Danny Rocco. A 5-6 record in the fall of 2021 ultimately led to the firing of Rocco and hiring of current head coach Ryan Carty. Carty’s entrance meant the addition of a new offensive staff and at the time, Ferguson was on the outside looking in.

Eyeing an analyst job at Connecticut, Ferguson connected with Delaware’s new head coach and learned the Hens were in need of a similar role. Rather than heading north, Ferguson stayed close to home.

“They’ve taught me so much,” Ferguson said of his current coaching colleagues. “Whether it’s the game, the X’s and O’s, how to take care of student-athletes, how to take care of your business. They’ve helped me in more ways than one.”

In the middle of the season, Ferguson said his busiest day is Sunday. His role as an offensive analyst is to examine film and try to find tendencies in the opponent’s defense. He breaks down tape of the upcoming defensive unit, looking at a number of in-game situations to find exploitable trends. From there, Ferguson reports his findings to Carty to aid in the creation of an overarching game plan.

Once in mid-week preparation, Ferguson said he helps run the scout team and assists with the offensive line.

“From the pictures we get from watching film, we try to put that on a field and run that to the best of our ability to give everyone on the offense, especially the quarterback, the best look they can get,” Ferguson said.

Ferguson believes his first experiences in extensive preparation came from playing under center at Bohemia Manor. Acknowledging he was not the most physically gifted athlete, Ferguson understood the importance of being mentally ready. In between his junior and senior year, Ferguson said he watched “countless days” of film with then offensive coordinator Joe Graf to learn how to take tendencies seen on film and apply them to in-game calls.

“That summer really kicked it off for me in understanding how important everything was,” Ferguson said. “You’re not going to win the game dropping back and throwing over to whoever your best athlete is. You really got to understand what we are trying to do here on every play.”

Graf said Ferguson could diagnose a defense and knew what plays to run based off what an opponent presented. Graf added he was always willing to talk things over with the coaching staff.

“He’s just football smart,” Graf said of Ferguson.

Ferguson’s football knowledge ultimately landed him a job in Division I football. During his time at Delaware, he served on coaching staffs that reached the FCS Playoffs in three of the last four seasons, upset an FBS opponent and stood on the sidelines in front of 100,000 people at Penn State’s Beaver Stadium.

Ferguson might be the first to admit he did not expect this career path prior to his spur-of-the-moment meeting with a high-ranking Delaware coach.

“It was an opportunity I never thought I would have,” Ferguson said. “I graduated with a physical education degree, I thought I was going to be a teacher and coach high school football for the rest of my life.”