Kirby Keyes Wilson (born August 24, 1961) is an

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

coach who has previously served as a

running backs coach In American football, a position coach is a team official in charge of coaching a specific position group. Position coaches have more specialized duties than the head coach, assistant coach, and the offensive and defensive coordinators. Common ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) for 23 seasons. He coached for the New England Patriots,

Washington Redskins The Washington Commanders are a professional American football team based in the Washington metropolitan area. The Commanders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) N ...

Tampa Bay Buccaneers The Tampa Bay Buccaneers are a professional American football team based in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The cl ...

, Pittsburgh Steelers,

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansi ...

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (A ...

, Arizona Cardinals and Oakland /

Las Vegas Raiders The Las Vegas Raiders are a professional American football team based in the Las Vegas metropolitan area. The Raiders compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West div ...

. He was previously the

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

for the Pittsburgh Maulers of the United States Football League (USFL).

Playing career

High school

Wilson prepped at

Dorsey High School Susan Miller Dorsey High School is a high school located in the Crenshaw District of Los Angeles, California. It is a part of the Los Angeles Unified School District. The school serves Baldwin Hills, Baldwin Village, Jefferson Park, West Adams a ...

in Los Angeles.

College

Wilson played at the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univer ...

after transferring from Pasadena City College. He obtained a bachelor of arts degree from Eastern Illinois University in 1989.

Canadian Football League

Wilson played two seasons in the

Canadian Football League The Canadian Football League (CFL; french: Ligue canadienne de football—LCF) is a professional sports league in Canada. The CFL is the highest level of competition in Canadian football. The league consists of nine teams, each located in a ci ...

as a defensive back and

kick returner A return specialist or kick returner is a player on the special teams unit of a gridiron football team who specializes in returning punts and kickoffs. There are few players who are exclusively return specialists; most also play another positio ...

for the

Winnipeg Blue Bombers The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are a professional Canadian football team based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The Blue Bombers compete in the Canadian Football League (CFL) as a member club of the league's West division. They play their home games at IG Fie ...

and

Toronto Argonauts The Toronto Argonauts (officially the Toronto Argonaut Football Club and colloquially known as the Argos) are a professional Canadian football team competing in the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL), based in Toronto, Ontario ...

between 1983 and 1984.

Coaching career

College

At the college level, Wilson has coached at Pasadena City College,

Los Angeles Southwest College Los Angeles Southwest College (LASC) is a public community college in the unincorporated area of West Athens, California in Los Angeles County, California. It is part of the Los Angeles Community College District and its service area includes In ...

Southern Illinois Southern Illinois, also known as Little Egypt, is the southern third of Illinois, principally along and south of Interstate 64. Although part of a Midwestern state, this region is aligned in culture more with that of the Upland South than the Mi ...

Wyoming Wyoming () is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the southwest, and Colorado to the s ...

, USC and Iowa State. Kirby is a member of Iota Phi Theta fraternity. Prior to making the jump to the NFL, he coached Iowa State running back

Troy Davis Troy Anthony Davis (October 9, 1968 – September 21, 2011) was a man convicted of and executed for the August 19, 1989 murder of police officer Mark MacPhail in Savannah, Georgia. MacPhail was working as a security guard at a Burger King re ...

to a year where he ran for over 2,000 yards in 1995 and over 2,100 yards in 1996.

New England Patriots

In 1997, Wilson was hired by the New England Patriots as their running backs coach.

Washington Redskins

In 2000, Wilson was hired by the

as their running backs coach.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

In 2002, Wilson was hired by the

as their running backs coach.

Arizona Cardinals

In 2004, Wilson was hired by the Arizona Cardinals as their running backs coach.

Pittsburgh Steelers

In January 2007, Wilson was hired by the Pittsburgh Steelers as their running backs coach, after the retirement of

Dick Hoak Richard John Hoak (born December 8, 1939) is an American former football player and coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college for Penn State, and was selected by the Steelers in the seventh round ...

. He was hired when

Mike Tomlin Michael Pettaway Tomlin (born March 15, 1972) is an American football coach who is the head coach for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League (NFL). Since joining the Steelers in 2007, he has led the team to ten playoff runs, s ...

took over the team, following

Bill Cowher William Laird Cowher (born May 8, 1957) is an American sports analyst, former football player and coach. Following a six-year playing career as a linebacker in the National Football League (NFL), he served as a head coach in the NFL for 15 se ...

's resignation.

Minnesota Vikings

In 2014, Wilson was hired by the

as their running backs coach.

Cleveland Browns

In 2016, Wilson was hired by the

as their running backs coach.

Return to Arizona

On February 14, 2018, Wilson returned to the Arizona Cardinals after they hired him as their running backs coach.

Oakland / Las Vegas Raiders

On February 15, 2019, Wilson was hired by the Oakland Raiders as their running backs coach. On July 16, 2021, Wilson announced his retirement.

Pittsburgh Maulers

On January 20, 2022, Wilson was named

Head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

of the Pittsburgh Maulers of the

United States Football League The United States Football League (USFL) was a professional American football league that played for three seasons, 1983 through 1985. The league played a spring/summer schedule in each of its active seasons. The 1986 season was scheduled to be ...

(USFL). Wilson cut running back

De'Veon Smith De'Veon Le'trell Smith (born November 8, 1994) is an American football running back for the Arlington Renegades of the XFL. He played college football at Michigan, and was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Miami Dolphins in 2017. He play ...

for violating team rules three times in a 24-hour period, notably disrespecting a cafeteria worker before the USFL season began, drawing major controversy over social media platforms from fans.

Head coaching record

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilson, Kirby 1961 births Living people Pittsburgh Steelers coaches USC Trojans football coaches Illinois Fighting Illini football players New England Patriots coaches Washington Redskins coaches Winnipeg Blue Bombers players Toronto Argonauts players Southern Illinois Salukis football coaches Wyoming Cowboys football coaches Iowa State Cyclones football coaches Tampa Bay Buccaneers coaches Arizona Cardinals coaches Pasadena City Lancers football players Pasadena City Lancers football coaches Eastern Illinois University alumni Minnesota Vikings coaches Cleveland Browns coaches Susan Miller Dorsey High School alumni Las Vegas Raiders coaches Oakland Raiders coaches Pittsburgh Maulers (2022) coaches