Can Kevin Wilson turn around the worst football program in the Big 10? No one outside the Hoosier state appears to be concerned that Kevin Wilson has unleashed some sort of sleeping giant. Indiana has a history bereft of any gridiron success. Not even Illinois fans can empathize with how terrible Indiana football has been over the last century. Indiana has been to a grand total of 9 bowl games in their entire history. Since 1993, they have been to exactly 1 bowl game... in an era where all you have to do is schedule 4 awful teams in non-conference play and win 2 Big 10 games to make a bowl. Bill Mallory was the most effective Indiana football coach in recent history and he had a 38% winning percentage in the Big 10.
Kevin Wilson is a lot like his predecessor Bill Lynch. He understands the offensive side of the game and has run high powered offenses at Northwestern and Oklahoma. Wilson's issues are two fold. Can Wilson recruit at a school without a football history and without any natural recruiting base? And if he can recruit, will he be able to bring in the type of defensive coordinator he will need to run the defense? If Wilson is going to succeed at Indiana, he needs to be able to out recruit Zook and Ferentz in Chicago, and Indiana will need to be willing to pay for a talented defensive coordinator.
At the end of the day, if Kevin Wilson can bring some respectability to Indiana football, Wilson will move on to a bigger payday and Indiana football will take a step in the right direction.
I hope this Indiana-centered post is just Big Ten related and not related to your current state of residence. When's the next edition of Murphy's Pub?
ReplyDelete