UPDATED February 10, 2026
Ahmed (Ed) Saleh joined the Wayne State football coaching staff as a defensive and special teams assistant in the fall of 2024. He was elevated to linebackers coach and special teams coordinator in February of 2025.
During the 2025 campaign, Saleh coached six Academic All-GLIAC linebackers, including two (Quincy Salter and Gavin Troy), who earned spots on the GLIAC All-Academic Excellence Team. Linebacker CJ Gordon was selected as the squad's Special Teams Most Valuable Player.
In addition, three of his kicking specialists (Dove Eitzen, Anthony Markovski and Griffin Nowak) garnered Academic All-GLIAC recognition.
The Dearborn native graduated from Michigan State in 2016 with a bachelor's degree in Pyscholgy prior to earning a master's degree in Business Administration from Central Michigan in 2019.
During his undergrad years in East Lansing, Saleh spent two years as a defensive student assistant coach, before serving as the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Dearborn Fordson High School in both 2017 and 2022. In between, he spent two seasons (2018 and 2019) as a defensive graduate assistant coach at Colorado State University working with the defensive backs and linebackers. Saleh served as the special teams coordinator and defensive backs coach for two years (2020 and 2021) at Madonna University.
He has participated in two NFL Bill Walsh Coaching Fellowships (San Francisco 49ers in 2021 and Green Bay Packers in 2024). After his second stint at Fordson, Saleh spent the 2023 campaign as the safeties coach at Northern Michigan.
Saleh played football and basketball at Dearborn High School, and was given the Unsung Hero award by the football team in 2011-12.
Ahmed is the cousin of Robert Saleh, who orchestrated one of the top defenses in the NFL before serving as head coach of the New York Jets.
