Kevin Wilson talks background, Sam Bradford, the NFL Draft, and building IU

Besides his role as the former Oklahoma offensive coordinator, who is IU football coach Kevin Wilson?

What makes him different than Bill Lynch? What sort of recruiting background does he have?

All of these questions were answered during an exclusive IDS interview with Wilson.

The recruiter

Wilson began his collegiate coaching career at Winston-Salem State University, a historically black college in North Carolina. As the offensive line coach in 1987, Wilson faced the challenge of recruiting for a program without facilities in unfamiliar territory.

“When I go back and look at the things I’ve done, it’s probably one of the best opportunities I’ve ever had,” Wilson said.

The early recruiting days of his career, spent at Winston-Salem and as a coordinator at North Carolina A&T, is what Wilson believes shaped him into the coach he is today.

“It makes me very comfortable in a lot of recruiting environments with that experience,” Wilson said. “As a recruiter and a coach, it was a blessing. At the time, I’m like ‘Wow, I didn’t expect this.’”

Developing a star

Wilson was the offensive guru behind 2010 No. 1 NFL Draft pick Sam Bradford at Oklahoma during the team’s run to a spot in the 2009 Bowl Championship Series National Championship. But what many people forget is that Bradford was not a polished Heisman Trophy winner when he came out of high school.

“Sam Bradford was a three-star recruit,” Wilson said. “I said to our team, ‘if you’re a three-star recruit, raise your hand’.”

Wilson credits Bradford’s work ethic and late development for his emergence and believes that the same results can translate to IU.

“I think it’s the aura of our place makes us seem a little bigger than we are,” Wilson said about Oklahoma. “For some reason, I think our thought process here is that our people here don’t think our guys are as talented as potentially we are.”

Helping Doss and Belcher

Much to the dismay of IU fans, Wilson is helping junior receivers Damarlo Belcher and Tandon Doss find out their NFL draft stock. Belcher said after the Purdue
game that he would be back at IU for his senior season but has put in the paperwork to learn of his NFL prospects.

“What’s best for them is that if they want to go pro, they need to make sure they know exactly their true dollar value,” Wilson said. “You better be comfortable with your value.”

Wilson has seen both sides of the NFL Draft spectrum at Oklahoma. All-Pro running back Adrian Peterson left early and was selected seventh overall in the 2007 Draft by the Minnesota Vikings.

Wilson also coached players such as Washington Redskins’ offensive tackle Trent Williams. Had Williams gone pro after his junior year, Wilson estimated he would have been selected in the late first or early second round.

But Williams came back to Oklahoma and was an All-American. Williams was drafted fourth overall in 2010 by the Redskins and ultimately made what Wilson estimates to be around $56 million for coming back to school.

“Not that that’s Tandon, but know where you’re at, take the money and run, spike your stock,” Wilson said. “It’s all a business.”  

Changing the Perception

Having coached for a team that will be playing in its fourth BCS bowl game in the last five years, Wilson has seen the inner-workings of what a successful program looks like.

He believes that all the pieces are in place to turn the program around.

“It’s got great players within the state. It’s got great players in this region that we should attract to,” Wilson said. “The reality is there’s the opportunity that we should have a chance to be a good football program.

“Can we do it? We’ll see if we can get through the perceptions of starting a foundation about how to be real and how to get it done. We’ll see where it goes.”