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With Steve Wilks hire, the top three football teams in Arizona are headed by black men, and more to know
The former Panthers defensive coordinator got his coaching start at HBCUs
10:17 PMSteve Wilks has not been a head coach in almost 20 years since he took the helm at Savannah State in 1999. But early Monday afternoon, ESPN’s Josina Anderson broke the news that Wilks is getting a second chance to lead a football team.
With Bruce Arians’ retirement, the Arizona Cardinals concluded their coaching search by naming Wilks as his successor. The former Carolina Panthers defensive coordinator agreed to a four-year contract with the Cardinals, which includes a fifth-year option, bringing the number of black coaches in the NFL back to seven and coaches of color to eight, which ties the largest number the league has had (2017).
Wilks will be formally introduced as the team’s head coach during a news conference on Tuesday. Here’s a quick introduction of Arizona’s new lead man.
1. Wilks completes the black head coaches trifecta in Arizona
It’s been a good year for black coaches landing head coaching gigs in the Grand Canyon State. First, former ESPN analyst Herm Edwards secured the Arizona State job. Then former Texas A&M head honcho Kevin Sumlin took over at Arizona.
Bingo if you had Wilks winning the Cardinals job for Arizona’s three largest football teams going three-for-three with black coaching hires. Wilks also interviewed for the Tennessee Titans’ and New York Giants’ head coaching vacancies.
The Cardinals’ three-week coaching search took the longest of any team this offseason. This is the first minority hire, as the four other new coaches have been white. The Fritz Pollard Alliance recommended Wilks, 48, as one of the minority coaches whom NFL teams should consider.
2. He is a member of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc.
On the eve of Super Bowl 50, Omega Psi Phi Fraternity Inc.’s international headquarters released a statement congratulating seven of its members for reaching the marquee game. Wilks (a 1994 initiate) was one of five on the Carolina Panthers team. At the time, he was Ron Rivera’s assistant head coach and secondary coach.
3. HBCUs provided Wilks his first opportunities
After playing a year with the Arena Football League’s Charlotte Rage as a defensive back/wide receiver (1993), Wilks’ first job in coaching was as defensive coordinator for Johnson C. Smith in Charlotte, North Carolina, in 1995. Two years later, he took over as Savannah State’s defensive coordinator for two seasons before becoming the program’s head coach in 1999. As a coach with the Tigers, his 1998 defense led the nation in total defense (166.3 yards per game) in Division II. American Football Quarterly named him the Division II defensive coordinator of the year. Four players earned All-Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference honors, including linebacker Reginald Jackson, who was named Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Player of the Year.
4. Of the seven black head coaches in the NFL, Wilks is the fifth with a defensive background
When black coaches become head coaches, they overwhelmingly come from a defensive background. There have been 18 black head coaches in the NFL’s modern era, and only four of those — Art Shell, Dennis Green, Hue Jackson and Anthony Lynn — have been promoted after coaching the offensive side of the ball. Wilks continues the trend of defensive coaches moving up at a much higher rate than their offensive counterparts.