Ex-USC DL coach Chris Wilson has accepted same position at Missouri
Former USC defensive line coach Chris Wilson has accepted the same position under new Missouri coach Barry Odom, according to a source.
The highly regarded Wilson was unexpectedly let go earlier this month after spending the last two seasons with the Trojans. He had many suitors before deciding Friday to join Odom.
Earlier in the day, TCU co-defensive coordinator and linebackers coach DeMontie Cross agreed to become Missouri’s new defensive coordinator.
Prior to USC, Wilson was Georgia’s defensive line coach for a season.
A respected recruiter, he was at Mississippi State from 2010–12, first as defensive line and co-defensive coordinator before being promoted to defensive coordinator his last two seasons. He coached the defensive ends at his alma mater, Oklahoma, from 2005–09, which including being special teams coordinator his last three seasons.
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Before that, Wilson was Colorado’s defensive line coach for five seasons, spent 2000 coaching the same position at Army and also was defensive ends coach at Illinois State from 1998–99. He coached outside linebackers and was the recruiting coordinator at Indiana State in 1997, was defensive line coach at Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College in 1996 and outside linebackers coach at Northern Illinois in 1995.
Wilson got his start in coaching as a graduate assistant at Indiana State in 1993 and was promoted to linebackers coach a year later. A Richardson, Texas, product, he played at Oklahoma from 1988 through 1991.
Odom became Missouri’s coach earlier this month after serving this past season as the program’s defensive coordinator. One of the nation’s top young defensive minds, the 39-year-old Odom led an aggressive Tigers defense this season that ranks sixth in the FBS in points allowed (16.2 per game) and ninth in yards allowed (302 per game).
He succeeds Gary Pinkel, who cited non-Hodgkin lymphoma in announcing his retirement last month after 15 seasons at Missouri. Pinkel is the program’s winningest coach with a 118–73 record.
