How Ohio State football's Kevin Wilson is handling dual role in College Football Playoff
ATLANTA — Kevin Wilson reached into his pants pockets to show a gaggle of reporters three cell phones.
It’s a setup that has kept him organized over the past weeks while juggling responsibilities with his new head-coaching job at Tulsa and continuing as the offensive coordinator at Ohio State through the College Football Playoff.
“I can compartmentalize,” Wilson said.
He counts the first for personal use, while the others are for his roles with the respective programs. They have corresponding logos on the home screens, one for the Buckeyes and the other for the Golden Hurricane.
As the playoff overlaps with the sport’s coaching carousel, it has become a common occurrence for coaches to be in the position of Wilson, handling a dual role for a bit in late December. Among others, the Buckeyes saw Jeff Hafley pull double duty as recently as 2019 when he remained as the defensive co-coordinator for their semifinal appearance after being hired as the coach at Boston College.
But each situation brings unique challenges, and the demands on head coaches continue to grow as roster management becomes increasingly unwieldy in the transfer portal era.
Wilson’s get-to-know-you phase with players at Tulsa might have been longer than any of his predecessors. The school hired him on Dec. 5, a date that marked the opening of a newly established 45-day window for players to put their names in the NCAA’s transfer database.
“You have to recruit your team so everybody doesn’t jump in the portal,” Wilson said. “That was the issue. Just trying to keep the guys on board.”
Wilson on Tuesday estimated he has dedicated about 70% of his time on preparation for the Buckeyes’ semifinal against Georgia on New Year’s Eve, a matchup with a defense as formidable as any OSU has faced all season. The top-seeded Bulldogs have surrendered only 17 touchdowns over 13 games.
“I’m very compartmentalized,” Wilson said. “These guys know this. When I’m in practice, it’s all practice and it’s full throttle. When we’re in meetings, it’s all meetings.”
He went on to add that he didn’t feel as if the time management had proven too difficult.
“It’s not been hard,” Wilson said. “It's been a lot of energy. And the total focus when it's been time to work would be so these guys have a chance to play well against a tremendous Georgia defense and we're ready to roll.”
Wilson’s remaining role at Ohio State has been limited to game prep. Keenan Bailey, who was promoted to tight ends coach earlier this month, replacing Wilson as a part of the on-field coaching staff for next season, has recruited in his place.
A lot of potential downtime for Wilson has been converted into planning for his next job.
“When you get a window of time, instead of totaling pressing pause, you’re thinking about the future down there,” Wilson said. “Typically where you might get an hour or two to veg, I’m probably an hour or two thinking about staffing or recruiting, that kind of stuff.”
Kevin Wilson was once the coach of Indiana
It won’t be Wilson’s first opportunity to be at the helm of a program as he spent six seasons as the coach at Indiana from 2011-16.
Taking over the dormant program, he led the Hoosiers to a 26-47 record and consecutive bowl berths in his final seasons before joining Urban Meyer’s coaching staff at Ohio State in 2017 to give a shot in the arm to an offense that had taken a dip.
Reflecting on his upcoming departure, the 61-year-old Wilson felt the timing was right.
“I just kind of looked at it as, at my age, another chance to lead a program,” Wilson said, “and four, five, six or seven years of maybe one more time to do it, maybe do it better. Not to prove that I could do it, because we actually had success at the losingest program in the history of college ball, so I’m proud of what we did over there, but I’m excited about the potential to do this.”
After a preseason practice in August, Wilson mentioned another of his remaining goals in coaching is to capture a national championship. He has appeared in four title games over stints as an assistant at both Ohio State and Oklahoma, but each time fallen short of lifting a trophy.
But his decision to remain with the Buckeyes for another shot was also the expressed preference of coach Ryan Day, who asked Wilson to remain as part of an obligation to the players.
“We’re in a world of where everybody jumps ship,” Wilson said. “It’s your job to finish.”
Joey Kaufman covers Ohio State football for The Columbus Dispatch. Contact him at jkaufman@dispatch.com or on Twitter @joeyrkaufman.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Kevin Wilson on dual role as Ohio State football OC and Tulsa coach
