New coach set to change face of IU football

With the words “Indiana University got our guy,” IU Athletics Director Fred Glass assured Hoosier fans that newly-hired football coach Kevin Wilson was at the top of his list.

“We honed in one guy pretty quickly, and I’m thrilled to death that we got him,” Glass said.

Just more than a week after Glass fired former IU football head coach Bill Lynch, he locked up “his guy” to a seven-year contract at $1.2 million per year. After Lynch was fired on Nov. 28, Glass took the reins to fill the vacancy.

Glass said he would contact the collegiate sports consulting group Neinas Sports Services and consultant Chuck Neinas. The connection with Neinas turned out to be the reason Glass was pointed in Wilson’s direction.

With no head coaching pedigree and no current connection to IU, Glass admitted that before Neinas’ guidance, Wilson was not on his radar.

“That’s the purpose of having a good guide,” Glass said. “When you go out in the river, you need a fisher guide to tell you where the good fishing holes are.”

Glass said Wilson was one of the first guys Neinas identified.

Dozens of phone calls were made to respected sources asking questions about Wilson, and Glass continued to hear positive things.

“As I called around, people would go, ‘oh yeah, that’s a good one,’” Glass said.
Glass hit the ground running, flying out to Norman, Okla., with IU Associate
Athletics Director Scott Dolson to interview Wilson.

“As soon as I met Kevin Wilson, I knew that everything I had heard about him was true,” Glass said. “As a matter of fact, Scott Dolson and I were dropped off by coach at the Norman Airport on Friday, and as soon as we shut the door, I turned to Scott and I said, ‘this is our guy.’”

Instead of going through a lengthy process during several weeks, Glass did not deem it necessary to wait when he had his ideal candidate in front of him.

“If I wasn’t focused on a good guy, we’d be out there floundering, and we couldn’t do that at Indiana University,” Glass said. “We had to identify the right guy and get him. And that’s what we did.”

Originally published in the IDS Dec. 7, 2010.