After 14 years of coaching running backs in the National Football League, Tim Spencer joined the Forester coaching staff to work with the wide receivers in 2021 before switching to running backs in 2025.
Lake Forest posted an overall record of 10-1 and claimed the Midwest Conference title with perfect league mark of 9-0 in 2024. Wide receiver/running back A.J. Jackson was the MWC Offensive Skill MVP while wideouts Trevor Land amd Langston Metoyer earned Second Team All-MWC honors. The three players combined for nearly 2,000 receiving yards and caught 18 touchdown passes.
The Foresters are now 36-7 overall and 32-4 in MWC play with league titles and NCAA Playoff appearances in three of four seasons since Spencer joined the staff. The team's wide receivers have tallied 70 receiving touchdowns during that span.Â
Spencer spent his last five seasons at the NFL level with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He was named NFL Running Backs Coach of the Year by Pro Football Focus in 2015 after his top two backs (Charles Simms and Pro Bowl selection Doug Martin) combined for 2,566 yards from scrimmage, the most by any running back tandem in the league by more than 500 yards.
No stranger to the Chicago area, Spencer served as the running backs coach with the Chicago Bears from 2004-12. The Bears surpassed 2,000 rushing yards twice during his time with the team and came within 100 yards of the milestone in two additional seasons. Under his direction, Thomas Jones helped lead the team to Super Bowl XLI and rushed for 112 yards in the contest. In addition, Matt Forte set the franchise's rookie rushing record with 1,238 yards in 2008 and was selected to the Pro Bowl after the 2011 season.
Prior to his time in the NFL, Spencer was the running backs coach at Ohio State University, his alma mater, for 10 seasons. A Buckeye surpassed 1,000 rushing yards in six of those years, including Eddie George's 1995 season that earned him the Heisman Trophy, as well as the Doak Walker, Walter Camp, and Big Ten Player of the Year Awards. Ohio State captured three conference titles during Spencer's time of staff and won the national title in 2002.
Spencer's playing career was also extremely successful and included six seasons with the NFL's San Diego Chargers, for whom he rushed for 1,792 yards and 19 touchdowns from 1985-90. He also posted a pair of 1,000-yard seasons in the United States Football League, one with the Chicago Blitz and the other with the Arizona Wranglers, and finished as the third-leading rusher in USFL history. Spencer ranks fourth in program history at Ohio State with 3,553 career rushing yards, a total that trails only Archie Griffin, Ezekiel Elliott, and Eddie George in team annals. He graduated in 1993 with a bachelor's degree in economics.
Spencer resides in nearby Vernon Hills.
