A photo of Ken Wilson on Friday posted on the Nevada Athletics Twitter account. (Photo: Nevada Athletics)
Ken Wilson insists he will not do what Jay Norvell did to the Nevada Wolf Pack.
“This is my home and this is where I want to be as long as they’ll have me,” said Wilson, who was named the Wolf Pack football team’s head coach Friday.
Norvell, who won 33-of-59 games as the Pack head coach the past five years, left the program last week to become Colorado State’s head coach. The 57-year-old Wilson said this week in an interview with Wolf Pack radio broadcaster John Ramey that he would like to end his coaching career at Nevada.
“We’re going to build this thing,” Wilson said. “This is a big deal for me, a silver and blue dream come true.”
Norvell’s sudden departure seemingly fueled Nevada’s quick decision to hire a coach with deep ties to the university.
“We got the right guy,” Wolf Pack athletic director Doug Knuth said.
Wilson, a long-time Wolf Pack assistant coach (1989-98, 2004-12) and administrator (1999-2003), agreed to become the Pack head coach roughly 48 hours after Colorado State announced Norvell as its new head coach.
Wilson’s wife Heather is a Reno native, Wolf Pack graduate and Nevada’s former cheerleader coach. Son Tyler graduated from Spanish Springs High and was a Wolf Pack long snapper from 2012-15. Daughter Baylie was also born in Reno.
“It feels like home,” said Wilson of Northern Nevada. “My family is going home. When we get cuts we bleed blue. We’re not leaving.”
STILL A DUCK: Wilson, the co-defensive coordinator and inside linebackers coach at Oregon this season, will coach in the Alamo Bowl when Oregon faces Oklahoma on Dec. 29 in San Antonio, Texas.
Vai Taua will be the Wolf Pack’s interim head coach in the Quick Lane Bowl in Detroit on Dec. 27 against Western Michigan.
Wilson, according to oregonlive.com, will receive a $15,000 bonus for coaching in the Alamo Bowl. He had a salary of $465,000 a year at Oregon and will earn just under $1 million a year at Nevada (with bonuses) over the next five years.
“I’m going to be their biggest fan,” said Wilson of the Pack’s appearance in its bowl game. “I’m going to be cheering myself crazy watching them try to get another win. They deserve that for each other.”
Wilson won’t be the only Oregon assistant coach making his Ducks farewell in the Alamo Bowl. Four other Ducks assistants have already accepted positions at other universities but will remain at Oregon through the bowl game. Offensive coordinator Joe Moorhead is the new Akron head coach, co-defensive coordinator Tim DeRuyter will be Texas Tech’s defensive coordinator next year, safeties coach Marcel Yates is going to Texas Tech with DeRuyter and offensive line coach Alex Mirabel is going to Miami to be on Mario Cristobal’s staff.
It was Cristobal’s move from Oregon to Miami as head coach this month that set off all of the movement on Oregon’s staff.
Oregon athletic director Rob Mullens said this week that all of his departing coaches except Cristobal will coach in the Ducks’ bowl game. “The staff is extremely committed to this season and the commitment they made to the student athletes,” Mullens said.
Mullens has already hired Georgia defensive coordinator Dan Lanning as Oregon’s next head coach. Lanning, though, will coach in Georgia’s College Football Playoff semifinal game against Michigan on Dec. 31.
Another former Wolf Pack assistant coach still at Oregon is Jim Mastro. Mastro, a Wolf Pack assistant from 2000-10, is Oregon’s running backs coach and run game coordinator and could also be coaching his last game with the Ducks. Mastro, at Oregon since 2018, has coached with Wilson at Nevada (2003-10), Washington State (2013-17) and Oregon (2019-21).
PACK PLAYERS LEAVING: More than a dozen Wolf Pack players have been reported by various media outlets as entering the transfer portal and will not play in the bowl game.
The group with the most experience leaving are wide receivers. Melquan Stoval, Justin Lockhart, Tory Horton and Elijah Cooks have all entered the transfer portal. Another Pack wide receiver, Romeo Doubs, has yet to announce whether he will play in the bowl game or concentrate on his workouts for NFL teams in preparation for the NFL draft next spring. Tight end Cole Turner has already announced he will not play in the bowl game and will instead focus on his professional career.
Other Pack players also entering the portal so far are defensive back A.J. King, linebackers Lamin Touray, Peter Montini, Brigden Craig and Daiyan Henley, quarterback Clay Millen, running back Avery Morrow, offensive linemen Trevyn Heil, Jacob Gardner and Gray Davis and defensive linemen Breylon Garcia and Teivis Tuioti.
Players can take their names out of the transfer portal at any time and remain with their previous school.
“Our focus right now is the players currently in the program,” Wilson said.
The Wolf Pack has also seen numerous assistant coaches leave for Norvell’s staff at Colorado State. Those joining Norvell are offensive coordinator Matt Mumme, wide receivers coach Timmy Chang, offensive line coach Bill Best, special teams coach Thomas Sheffield and tight ends coach Chad Savage. Pack defensive coordinator Brian Ward has also left to join Washington State in the same role, meaning that the Wolf Pack will be without their head coach and top two coordinators in their bowl game as well as a dozen or so players.
MOUNTAIN WEST COACHING MOVEMENT: Norvell isn’t the only head coach to leave a Mountain West school since the season ended two weeks ago.
Kalen DeBoer left Fresno State to become the head coach at Washington. DeBoer was at Fresno State as head coach just two seasons, compiling a 12-6 record (9-3 this year, including a 34-32 win over Nevada).
DeBoer was also Fresno State’s offensive coordinator under head coach Jeff Tedford in 2017 and 2018 before taking the same role with Indiana for a season in 2019 and replacing Tedford at Fresno State in 2020.
Tedford, Fresno State’s head coach from 2017-19 before resigning because of health reasons, is now the new Bulldogs’ head coach. Tedford, who was head coach at California from 2002-2012 (losing to the Pack in 2010 and 2012), has a 26-14 record at Fresno State and is a former Bulldogs quarterback.
WILSON TAKES JAB AT NORVELL: Announcing a commitment to Nevada was not the only way Wilson tried to separate himself from Norvell this week. Wilson also promised to not complain about any lack of resources or facilities at Nevada. Norvell cited Colorado State’s superior resources and facilities compared to Nevada as his main reason for leaving the Wolf Pack last week.
When asked what it means to be a part of the Wolf Pack program, Wilson answered, “It’s about attitude and toughness. It’s about the drive to be great. It’s about not worrying about facilities and not worrying about the weather. It’s about winning and working hard and being tougher than the teams you’re playing.”
WILSON SURVIVED HEART ATTACK: It has been 17 years since Wilson got the scare of his life.
Wilson suffered a heart attack just hours after the Pack’s 2004 season-ending 58-21 loss to Boise State at Mackay Stadium. The game completed his first season of his return to coaching after spending five years working under athletic director Chris Ault as an administrator. He underwent a one-hour operation after his heart attack and was back coaching the Pack during the spring of 2005.
“I wasn’t thinking, ‘Well, here’s a chance you could die,’” Wilson said in early 2005. “It was more like, ‘What did you forget to do?’ I remembered I didn’t kiss my kids or give them a hug. And then it was, ‘God, please let me live so I can kiss my kids again.’”
When asked what caused the heart attack, Wilson answered (in 2005), “My family has a history of heart disease but I’m still blaming it on our 5-7 season (in 2004),” he said.
There was never any doubt, Wilson said in 2005, that he would return to coaching as soon as possible.
“Ken is great at just about everything he does,” Wilson’s wife Heather said in 2005. “But he is best at being Coach Wilson.”
