Ohio State Football: Could an OSU assistant get poached by Big Ten rival?

The Ohio State football team and head coach Ryan Day look to avenge the 2017 loss to Iowa as they meet up Saturday afternoon in Ohio Stadium. But as the season moves along and other head coaches around the country start getting let go, talk always swirls around which Ohio State staff members could be sought after for head coaching opportunities.

This has me wondering about the open Nebraska job. There are a lot of similarities between Ohio State and Nebraska in terms of being the only major college football team in the state and in having a rich tradition. It would be only natural that the higher-ups at Nebraska would want to look at a member of the Ohio State coaching staff.

Offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson is a name that comes to mind for this job. While other candidates such as Kansas head coach Lance Leipold or Iowa State’s Matt Campbell would appear to be hotter names than Wilson, the chances of a down-and-out Nebraska program getting them are slim.

Wilson would absolutely jump at the opportunity to coach again, especially at a power five program.  This is what he said a few years back at the 2019 Fiesta Bowl, via Eleven Warriors:

"“I just always felt you do your job the best you can, and if opportunities are meant to be, the older I’ve gotten, it’s more about making sure, raising your family where it needs to be raised, and that’s kinda almost done.”"

So, it looks like Wilson would be open to it, as he was reported to be a finalist for the Colorado State job a few years back. And Nebraska makes a lot of sense for both parties. Wilson has experience in the plain states from his days as offensive coordinator at Oklahoma.

Wilson also took an awful Indiana program and made them respectable with a 26-47 record in six seasons from 2011-2016, but he had the Hoosiers in bowl games his last two seasons at the helm. His teams also led the Big Ten in passing three times during his tenure.

Furthermore, Wilson has spent the last six seasons at Ryan Day’s hip as his offensive coordinator. Wilson was one of the best play callers in America at Oklahoma and before that at Northwestern. And now he just took a six-season master class from Ryan Day to only add to his skills.

I know there are sexier names out there for the Cornhuskers to consider, maybe even another Ohio State football team assistant like Brian Hartline. But if Nebraska wants to get back to respectability then a coach like Kevin Wilson makes a lot of sense for them.