Michael Pitre was hired as the Atlanta Falcons running backs coach on Jan. 31, 2022.

In 2024, Atlanta boasted a top-10 rushing attack for the third consecutive season, averaging 130.5 rushing yards per game. Second-year running back Bijan Robinson had a breakout campaign, with a career-high 304 rushes for 1,456 yards and 14 rushing touchdowns, in addition to 61 receptions for 431 yards and one touchdown. His 14 rushing touchdowns in 2024 were the most by a Falcon since Michael Turner in 2008. Robinson also became the second-fastest Falcon (32 games) to reach 3,000 scrimmage yards in a career behind William Andrews (31 games). He was also the first Falcon to rush for two touchdowns in three consecutive games (Week 16-Week 18) since Jamal Anderson in 1998. He was the only player in the NFL to have rushed for multiple touchdowns in three consecutive games in 2024. Running back Tyler Allgeier finished the season with rushing for 644 yards on 137 carries and three touchdowns. Since entering the league in 2022, Allgeier is one of six players in the NFL to not have a fumble in their career with 533 carries.

In 2023, Pitre led a running backs group that helped the Falcons finish ninth in rushing offense, with the unit averaging 127.0 yards per game. Atlanta's offense recorded 11 games with at least 100 yards on the ground, tied for eighth-most in the NFL. Pitre was instrumental in Robinson's record-breaking start to the NFL. Robinson set the franchise record for the most yards from scrimmage by a rookie in franchise history with 1,463 yards on the season, surpassing Andrews (1,332 in 1979). He also set the franchise record for most receptions by a rookie running back with 58. With Robinson's 1,463 yards from scrimmage, the Falcons became the first team in NFL history to have a 1,000-yard rookie in three consecutive seasons with Tyler Allgeier in 2022 and Kyle Pitts in 2021. Allgeier also set a single-season career high of four rushing touchdowns in 2023.

In his first season as the Falcons running backs coach in 2022, Atlanta's offense led the NFL in fewest penalties, finished third in the NFL in rushing yards per game and 10th in third-down conversion rate. Atlanta also had the third-highest successful play rate on rushing attempts, based on EPA, at 45.1 percent. The Falcons rushing attack averaged 74.5 more rushing yards per game in 2022 than it did in 2021, resulting in the largest one-season improvement by any team since at least 2001.

With Cordarrelle Patterson (340), Allgeier (324), Marcus Mariota (280) and Caleb Huntley (265), the Falcons became the first team to have four players with at least 250 rushing yards through the first eight games of a season in NFL history. Additionally, Allgeier surpassed Andrews (1,023 in 1979) for the most rushing yards by a rookie in franchise history and became the sixth rookie selected in the fifth round-or-later to eclipse 1,000 rushing yards over the past 20 seasons. Patterson also set single-season career highs for rushing yards (695) and rushing touchdowns (eight).

Pitre arrived in Atlanta having most recently served as the running backs coach for the Chicago Bears. In 2021, the Bears' rushing attack averaged 118.7 rushing yards per game – the 14th highest in the NFL last season. Chicago's backs tallied 54 carries of 10-plus yards and 13 carries for 20-plus yards – tied for the seventh most in the league in 2021. Bears running back David Montgomery rushed for 849 yards on 225 carries (3.8 avg.) and seven touchdowns in 13 games last season.

Prior to his time in Chicago, Pitre spent three years (2018-20) at Oregon State where he served as the running backs coach and recruiting coordinator. In three seasons under Pitre, the Beavers' rushing attack averaged 165.8 yards per game, 4.5 yards per carry and 59 rushing touchdowns.

Under Pitre, Jermar Jefferson – the Associated Press' Co-Offensive Pac-12 Player of the Year in 2020 – earned the Beavers' rushing titles in both 2018 (1,380) and 2020 (858) while also leading the entire offense in touchdowns during both seasons (2018 - 12; 2020 - 7).

Prior to his arrival at Oregon State, Pitre coached running backs at Montana State from 2014-17. In his final season at MSU, the Bobcats led the Big Sky Conference and ranked seventh nationally in yards per game (249.5). Collectively, the Bobcats ranked among the Top 20 FCS rushing teams in each of Pitre's four seasons with the team, including a pair of Top 10 finishes.

Pitre received his start at the collegiate level working as a graduate assistant at the University of Colorado from 2012-13. The Buffs' rushing attack finished above 100.0 yards per game in each of Pitre's two years in Boulder. Primarily working with running backs and the offensive line, Pitre oversaw the development of NFL offensive lineman David Bakhtiari (2012) and running back Phillip Lindsay (2013).

Pitre played fullback at UCLA from 2003-07 where he was a three-year starter, appearing in 36 games and totaling 406 all-purpose yards on 58 touches (7.0 avg.) with four touchdowns. He was a team captain in 2006.