Norries Wilson (born June 24, 1965) is an

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

coach and former player. Since 2017, he has been the director of player development at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota Twin Cities (historically known as University of Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint ...

. He was the first

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

head football coach in the

Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference of eight Private university, private Research university, research universities in the Northeastern United States. It participates in the National Collegia ...

when he began his tenure with the

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

team in 2006. He also has coached at

Rutgers University Rutgers University ( ), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of three campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's C ...

Bucknell University Bucknell University is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal-arts college in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1846 as the University at Lewisburg, it now consists of the College of Arts a ...

Livingstone College Livingstone College is a private historically black Christian college in Salisbury, North Carolina. It is affiliated with the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church. Livingstone College is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges ...

North Carolina Central University North Carolina Central University (NCCU or NC Central) is a Public university, public Historically black colleges and universities, historically black university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by James E. Shepard in affiliati ...

, was an offensive co-coordinator at

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

and was a graduate assistant at Minnesota. A 1989 graduate of the

, Wilson was a

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

, two-year starter and three-year letterwinner for the Gophers. He also earned two

letters Letter, letters, or literature may refer to: Characters typeface * Letter (alphabet), a character representing one or more of the sounds used in speech or none in the case of a silent letter; any of the symbols of an alphabet * Letterform, the g ...

wrestling Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves di ...

, and qualified for the NCAA Championships as a

heavyweight Heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and professional wrestling. Boxing Professional Male boxers who weigh over are considered heavyweights by 2 of the 4 major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation an ...

Coaching career

Columbia

Wilson was hired at Columbia following the 2005 season, during which the Lions finished 0–7 in the Ivy League, 2–8 overall. Wilson joined Columbia after four years as

offensive coordinator An offensive coordinator (OC) is a Coach (sport), coach responsible for a gridiron football team's offense (American football), offense. Generally, the offensive coordinator, defensive coordinator and special teams coordinator represent the second ...

at the

University of Connecticut The University of Connecticut (UConn) is a public land-grant research university system with its main campus in Storrs, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1881 as the Storrs Agricultural School, named after two benefactors. In 1893, ...

. In 2004, he was a finalist for the Frank Broyles Award as the nation's top assistant coach. With a victory over the

Fordham Rams The Fordham Rams are the varsity sports teams for Fordham University. Their colors are maroon and white. The Fordham Rams are members of NCAA Division I and compete in the Atlantic 10 Conference for most sports. In football, the Rams play in t ...

in the 2006 Liberty Cup, he became the first Columbia head football coach since Aldo T. "Buff" Donelli in 1957 to win his debut. When the Lions beat Georgetown the following week, he became the first since

Hall of Famer A hall, wall, or walk of fame is a list of individuals, achievements, or other entities, usually chosen by a group of electors, to mark their excellence or fame in their field. In some cases, these halls of fame consist of actual halls or muse ...

Lou Little Luigi "Lou Little" Piccirilli December 6, 1891 – May 28, 1979) was an American football player and coach. He served as the head coach at Georgetown College—now known as Georgetown University—from 1924 to 1929 and Columbia University from 193 ...

to start his career 2–0. During his first season, Columbia ended a 16-game Ivy League losing streak with a 21–14 victory over

Cornell Cornell University is a private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson White in 1865. Since ...

. A 22–21 season-ending win at

Brown Brown is a color. It can be considered a composite color, but it is mainly a darker shade of orange. In the CMYK color model used in printing and painting, brown is usually made by combining the colors Orange (colour), orange and black. In the ...

gave the Lions their first consecutive league victories since 2003. The Light Blue finished Wilson's inaugural campaign with those two league wins and a 5–5 record overall. It was the first time in a decade that the Lions had finished at .500, and it gave Wilson the highest career winning percentage among Columbia coaches since Charlie Crowley led the team to a 26–16–4 record from 1925 to 1929. Wilson finished his six seasons at Columbia with a record of 10–32 in Ivy League play and 17–43 overall. He was relieved of his position by Columbia Athletic Director Diane Murphy on Sunday, November 20, 2011, following a 1–9 season.

Rutgers

After departing Columbia in 2011, Wilson was hired as a running backs coach and associate head coach by the

. Rutgers had hired

Kyle Flood Kyle J. Flood (born January 20, 1971) is an American football coach and former player. He is currently the offensive coordinator and offensive line coach for the Texas Longhorns football team. He is also the former head football coach of the Ru ...

as head coach after the departure of

Greg Schiano Gregory Edward Schiano (born June 1, 1966) is an American football coach. He is currently the head football coach at Rutgers University, a position he held from 2001 to 2011 and resumed before the 2020 season. Schiano has the most wins in program ...

to the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers (colloquially known as the Bucs) are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC S ...

. In September 2015, Rutgers University officials suspended Flood for three games after an investigation into whether he improperly contacted a professor regarding a player's academic status and athletic eligibility. During Flood's suspension, Wilson filled in as interim head coach.Dan Bieler
"Rutgers football coach Kyle Flood suspended, fined for interventions with academic staff"
''The Washington Post'', September 16, 2015. Retrieved September 20, 2015.Saed Hindash

''New Jersey Advance Media (nj.com)'', September 16, 2015. Retrieved September 20, 2015. Playing in

State College, Pennsylvania State College is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough and Home rule municipality (Pennsylvania), home rule municipality in Centre County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is a college town, home to the University Park, Pennsylvania, University Park ...

, on September 19, Rutgers was trounced by the

Penn State Nittany Lions The Penn State Nittany Lions are the athletic teams of Pennsylvania State University, except for the women's basketball team, known as the Penn State Lady Lions basketball, Lady Lions. The school colors are navy blue and white. The school mascot ...

, losing by a score of 28–3. The following week, on September 26, Rutgers defeated the visiting

Kansas Jayhawks The Kansas Jayhawks, commonly referred to as simply KU or Kansas, are the athletic teams that represent the University of Kansas. KU is one of three schools List of college athletic programs in Kansas, in the state of Kansas that participate in ...

, 27–14. On October 10, Rutgers was defeated at home by

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the ...

, 31–24, in his final game as interim head coach. Wilson took responsibility for the quarterback spiking the ball on a fourth down play against Michigan State in 2015. Although he did not instruct the quarterback to do so.

Minnesota

During the 2020 season, Wilson stepped in as interim-Offensive Line coach for the Gopher's game against Purdue University. Minnesota went on to win the game 34-31.

Head coaching record

References

External links

Minnesota profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Norries 1965 births Living people American football offensive linemen Bucknell Bison football coaches Columbia Lions football coaches UConn Huskies football coaches Livingstone Blue Bears football coaches Minnesota Golden Gophers football coaches Minnesota Golden Gophers football players Minnesota Golden Gophers wrestlers North Carolina Central Eagles football coaches Rutgers Scarlet Knights football coaches People from Markham, Illinois African-American coaches of American football 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportsmen