Currently a volunteer advisor for the Charlotte 49ers football program, Wilks’ last coaching job was in 2023 as the defensive coordinator for the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers.
He was hired by the 49ers during the 2023 offseason, but after only one year of running the defense, the team decided to part ways with the longtime defensive coach.
Despite Wilks getting fired after just one season, San Francisco’s defense actually performed well during his lone year with the team.
With Wilks calling the plays in 2023, the 49ers defense ranked third in the NFL in points allowed per game, third in rushing yards allowed per matchup, fifth in net yards allowed per pass attempt, fifth in turnovers forced and eighth in total yards allowed per contest.
Without him running the defense this year, San Francisco currently ranks 26th in the league in points allowed per drive. So, looking back, the 49ers probably wish they would’ve given Wilks at least one more season before moving on from him.
Currently 55 years old, Wilks has been coaching football in college and the NFL for almost three decades, so he has an extensive amount of experience.
Wilks got his big break in 2017 when he served as the assistant head coach and defensive coordinator for the NFL’s Carolina Panthers. The Panthers had one of the best defenses in the league that season, and their success resulted in the Arizona Cardinals hiring Wilks to be their new head coach in 2018.
Unfortunately, the Cardinals finished the 2018 campaign with a disappointing 3-13 record, and they fired Wilks after only one season.
A few years later, he got another head-coaching opportunity when Carolina named him its interim head coach after firing head coach Matt Rhule midway through the 2022 season.
Wilks actually led the Panthers to a 6-6 record in his 12 games as the team’s interim head coach, but it turned out to still not be enough to convince Carolina to make him its permanent head coach in 2023.
So, if the Tar Heels are looking for an experienced coach with a strong defensive background, Wilks fits that description. However, while he did spend one year as Savannah State’s head coach in 1999, he’s never been the head coach of a major college football program.
But since North Carolina has also been interviewing Bill Belichick for its current head-coaching vacancy, maybe the school is actually looking to hire someone who has a significant amount of coaching experience in the NFL.
It still seems like Belichick is the front-runner to become the next Tar Heels head coach, but if that ends up falling through, Wilks would certainly be a fine consolation prize.
