When IU makes the journey to Winston-Salem, North Carolina, to play Wake Forest on Saturday, Wilson will not be there to see his old buddies. He said they can come to Bloomington if they want to see him.
Wilson’s dad is already here with him, he said, so Wilson’s family is not his appeal either.
“I’m not going back home because my home is here,” he said.
The trip back to Wilson’s home state is even more relevant because of remarks made at an alumni event back in June. He was running through the IU football schedule and had direct words for Wake Forest.
“I’m a southern Baptist, but I don’t like the Deacons,” Wilson said in June. “We’re going to kick their ass.”
Wilson was raised in Maiden, North Carolina. The drive from Wilson’s hometown to the Wake Forest campus takes just longer than an hour. He remembers going to American Legion Boys State events at Wake Forest and was recruited to play football there out of high school.
Wilson played his college ball at North Carolina, and his first three coaching jobs were in the Tar Heel state at Winston-Salem State, North Carolina A&T and a North Carolina high school.
He knows the area well and is familiar with Wake Forest. He referred to it as a great place with tremendous players. He said he just doesn’t like them.
“When you grow up on Tobacco Road, it’s like growing up in this state — you either like somebody or not,” Wilson said. “It ain’t nothing personal.”
When talking about the Wake Forest comments, Wilson said they were made at an alumni event. At events like those, he said he wants to tell alumni IU will win every game. He was more annoyed that media is allowed at those events.
He doesn’t seem to have nostalgic feelings about home or his old days driving a bus at Maiden High School.
He said he had an opportunity to take a job at his alma mater, North Carolina, when he was at Northwestern coaching.
“I said, ‘No, my home is here with Coach Walker,’” he said. “‘These are my guys. This is my team.’”
But Wilson does have positive thoughts on his early days. He particularly speaks fondly of his first job as an offensive line coach at Winston-Salem State, saying he learned more in one year there than anywhere else in his career. Wilson smiled while looking back on recruiting, teaching classes and coaching football for the first time as a 26-year-old.
But 28 years later, Wilson is the head coach at IU. He is going into BB&T Field — instead of the old Groves Stadium — as an opponent, not a 5th grader on a trip with the Baptist church. He said he is excited to be back in the region and none of his comments about Wake Forest were meant to be insults.
“That was nothing slighting Wake Forest University or their football team,” he said. “It’s going to be a very good challenge.”
