Media reports have OU offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson accepting the head coaching job at Indiana.
Conventional wisdom says IU is a classic dead-end job, but it may be the case that Wilson just got tired of waiting. As Dr. Saturday points out, Wilson could become the next Dan Mullen just by winning more games than he loses in Bloomington.
The offensive coordinator is always a prime target for the frustrations of fans of any team. Message Board Lombardis among Sooner Nation have hurled plenty of rocks at Wilson in his five years running the OU attack, just like Chuck Long before him and Mark Mangino before him. Wilson has taken heat for playing too fast, playing too slow, running too often, throwing too much, and on and on.
Whatever the complaints may be on the micro level, the macro results indicate that this is a huge loss for the Sooners. OU won four conference championships with Wilson overseeing the offense, and he served as the architect for one of the most prolific offenses in college football history. He’s widely considered one of the top minds in college football at the coordinator level, meshing a “pro-style” mentality with a no-huddle, spread scheme.
Of course, OU head coach Bob Stoops has shown a pretty good ability to bounce back from staff attrition in the past. Few college football bosses have as keen of an eye for coaching talent as OU’s head man.
Stoops’ protocol typically calls for elevating from within, so conventional wisdom holds that Jay Norvell and Josh Heupel will act as co-coordinators. If so Norvell would be a little less “co” and take over play-calling responsibilities.
It ain’t sexy, but history suggests the Sooners will come out okay.