Falcons tab Michael Pitre as new running backs coach

Pitre held the same role in Chicago last season.

After losing Desmond Kitchings to the University of Virginia, the Atlanta Falcons have a new running backs coach.

The team shared Monday it has hired Michael Pitre, the former running backs coach for the Chicago Bears.

Pitre is a 14-year coaching veteran who was in Chicago for a season after a prosperous stint with the Oregon State football program. He didn’t overlap with Falcons offensive coordinator Dave Ragone while the latter was in the Windy City, but as the Falcons note in their release, Pitre led the NFL’s second-best rushing attack last year.

Lead Bears back David Montgomery rushed for 849 yards and seven touchdowns last fall under Pitre’s watch.

Pitre entered the league as a scouting intern with New England in 2009, per the release from the team. Later in 2017, the team says he was a member of the Kansas City Chiefs’ Bill Walsh Minority Fellowship coaching program. Despite only one full season coaching in the league, Pitre had been coaching at the collegiate level for more than a decade prior to making the jump to the NFL, per a release.

Kitchings left after the 2021 season to join UVA as its new offensive coordinator.

Pitre will be tasked with helping keep Atlanta’s budding rushing attack afloat, with Cordarrelle Patterson, Mike Davis and Qadree Ollison the team’s main options last fall. Patterson is an unrestricted free agent, while Davis is on contract and Ollison is a restricted free agent. None are locks to return in 2022, though.

We welcome Pitre to the Falcons organization and hope he’s able to help build up the Falcons rushing attack like he did in Chicago last fall.