For the second week in a row to start his tenure as Ohio State’s offensive coordinator, Kevin Wilson will be coaching against one of his former schools.
Last week, it was Indiana, where Wilson was the head coach before his resignation from that job last December. This week, it’s Oklahoma, where Wilson was an assistant coach from 2002-10 before leaving Norman to become the head coach at Indiana.
The second stop of Wilson’s reverse reunion tour brings back fond memories for the former Sooners offensive coordinator, as he still thinks highly of the university and his nine-season tenure there.
"It’s a great team. Great program. That’s a place that has a lot of history, tradition. A lot of pride in that fan base. It was an honor to coach there, great people," Wilson said Wednesday. "I loved my time there."
Coaching against Oklahoma isn’t nearly the same challenge for Wilson personally, however, as coaching against Indiana was.
Against Indiana, Wilson had to push aside the distraction that could have come with coaching against a team full of players who he previously coached and/or recruited. Against Oklahoma, he’ll be coaching against a team of players – and for the most part, coaches – who he has never been directly associated with.
"Last week was tough, because those were emotional ties to players. The players (at Oklahoma), I’ve always watched them, because I always like watching them as a fan and pulling for the coaches, and I always like watching great teams," Wilson said. "So I watch them a lot, I love the place but I’m not attached. Last week, I was attached to people, and that was hard for me."
Coaching against Oklahoma – the first time he will do so since leaving the Sooners – might be more emotional for Wilson if Bob Stoops, the head coach at Oklahoma throughout Wilson’s nine years there, hadn’t retired this past offseason.
"It was awesome working for Coach Stoops, he’s a great leader," Wilson said. "Coach Stoops is a special, special person."
Wilson says he "grew a lot as a coach" during his time at Oklahoma.
"As a younger coach … a lot of mistakes that kids made, I always thought it was their fault," Wilson said. "As a young coach, I always thought it was the kids. Then I went to Oklahoma, and I’ve said this several times, it made me a better coach, because I realized it was my responsibility to connect. I saw some of the same mistakes by kids that you thought had more talent. So it was a lot of reflection."
“I love the place, but I’m not attached. Last week, I was attached to people, and that was hard for me.”– Kevin Wilson
Wilson still has a couple connections to Oklahoma’s staff from his time there. Oklahoma co-offensive coordinator and inside receivers coach Cale Gundy and director of sports enhancement Jerry Schmidt have both been with the Sooners since 1999, so they were there for the entirety of Wilson’s time there.
Gundy, who worked directly with Wilson as the Sooners’ running backs coach at the time, told Oklahoma reporters on Monday that he remembers Wilson as a "great coach."
"I’ve been around here a long time, I’ve been around a lot of those guys who have moved on to been coordinators, to be head coaches and I’ve got tons of respect for him," Gundy said. "He was very sharp. He had a great memory. He could remember stuff that happened 5, 10, 15, 20 years ago. Plays, concepts. Got a lot of respect for him."
The one thing that remains the same from last week: Wilson wants to keep his focus not on his personal connections or history, but on helping the Ohio State offense execute to the best of its ability. He did that mostly successfully last week, as the Buckeyes scored 49 points and put up 596 total yards of offense, but he still believes he needs to do better this week.
"Early, we sputtered," Wilson said of the offense’s performance last week at Indiana. "I thought several times we called some plays that got us behind chains, and we left some points on the board. Several third-down and manageables, we didn’t manage. Got the ball inside the 10-yard line and kicked field goals, so left some points on the board."
