Steve Wilks‘ nomadic 2020s will continue with a move back to the college level. Fired in his first year as Jets defensive coordinator, the veteran NFL staffer is heading back to his home state.
The North Carolina native is joining the Appalachian State staff as a special athletics assistant, the school announced. Wilks played at Appalachian State from 1987-91, moving into the coaching ranks not long after that tenure. Wilks, 56, last worked for his alma mater in 2001, when he served as the Mountaineers’ DBs coach. Appalachian State is a Division I-FBS school that currently plays in the Sun Belt Conference.
Wilks has yoyoed between the NFL and college ranks over the past decade and has not been in the same job for two consecutive seasons since his Panthers DC tenure ended after the 2017 campaign. Wilks moved from Charlotte to Arizona in 2018, becoming the Cardinals’ HC, going 3-13; he then served as Browns DC under Freddie Kitchens in 2019. After spending the 2020 season out of football, Wilks was Missouri’s DC in 2021.
The 2022 and ’23 seasons brought increased Wilks relevance, with the veteran staffer returning to the league. He served as the Panthers’ interim HC that season, righting the ship with a 6-6 record after the team started 1-4 under Matt Rhule. The 49ers hired Wilks as DC in 2023 and played even with the Chiefs for five quarters, but after holding up for most of the game, San Francisco’s defense caved to allow a game-tying Kansas City field goal and overtime walk-off touchdown. The 49ers fired Wilks soon after, and he served as an advisor at Charlotte — an AAC school — in 2024.
The Jets’ defense tumbled far from its Robert Saleh-Jeff Ulbrich place under Wilks and Aaron Glenn last year, and the first-year HC dismissed him in December. No team interviewed the four-time NFL DC, whose class-action discrimination lawsuit (along with Brian Flores and Ray Horton) is close to proceeding to open court, this offseason. The book may not be closed for Wilks in the NFL, but he is heading back to the college ranks for the third time this decade.