Steven Bernard Wilks (born August 8, 1969) 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 with ...

coach and former player who is the interim head coach for the

Carolina Panthers The Carolina Panthers are a professional American football team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Panthers compete in the National Football League (NFL), as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. T ...

of 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). He previously served as 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

Arizona Cardinals The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in the Phoenix metropolitan area. The Cardinals compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division, and play t ...

for one season and was fired after a 3–13 record. He also spent time as defensive backs coach for the

Chicago Bears The Chicago Bears are a professional American football team based in Chicago. The Bears compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) North division. The Bears have won nine NF ...

and

San Diego Chargers The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team that played in San Diego from 1961 until the end of the 2016 season, before relocating to Los Angeles, where the franchise had played its inaugural 1960 season. The team is now ...

, and as defensive coordinator for the

and

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 ( ...

and

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

. Wilks is a two-time NFC Champion, winning with the Bears in

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

and with the Panthers in

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

, losing the

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual final playoff game of the National Football League (NFL) to determine the league champion. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966, replacing the NFL Championship Game. Since 2022, the game ...

Peyton Manning Peyton Williams Manning (born March 24, 1976) is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 18 seasons. Nicknamed "the Sheriff", he spent 14 seasons with the Indianapolis Colts and four with th ...

-led teams on both occasions.

Playing career

Wilks played

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

from 1987 to 1991 at

Appalachian State Appalachian State University (; Appalachian, App State, App, or ASU) is a public university in Boone, North Carolina. It was founded as a teachers college in 1899 by brothers B. B. and D. D. Dougherty and the latter's wife, Lillie Shull Dough ...

. Wilks played one year in the

AFL AFL may refer to: Sports * American Football League (AFL), a name shared by several separate and unrelated professional American football leagues: ** American Football League (1926) (a.k.a. "AFL I"), first rival of the National Football Leagu ...

for the

Charlotte Rage The Charlotte Rage were a professional arena football team based out of Charlotte, North Carolina. They were members of the Arena Football League from 1992 to 1996. They played their home games at the Charlotte Coliseum from 1992 to 1994 and ...

as a wide receiver,

, 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 position ...

Coaching career

College

Wilks served as Head Football Coach at

Savannah State College ) , established = , closed = , type = Public historically black university , parent = University System of Georgia , academic_affiliation = Space-grant , endowment ...

for one season (1999) and compiled a record of 5-6.

Chicago Bears

Wilks was hired by the

as defensive backs coach on February 16, 2006. The Bears announced on December 30, 2008, that they had fired Wilks.

San Diego Chargers

Wilks was not unemployed for long, however. He was hired as defensive backs coach of the

in 2009 when former Bears defensive coordinator

Ron Rivera Ronald Eugene Rivera (born January 7, 1962), nicknamed "Riverboat Ron", is an American football head coach for the Washington Commanders of the National Football League (NFL). He attended the University of California, Berkeley in the early 1980 ...

moved to the same position in San Diego.

Carolina Panthers

When Rivera became head coach of the Panthers, he hired Wilks as secondary coach on January 15, 2012. He was promoted to assistant head coach in 2015. He was

Pro Football Focus Pro Football Focus (also written as ProFootballFocus, and often referred to by its initials, PFF) is a sports analytics company that focuses on thorough analysis of the National Football League (NFL) and NCAA Division-I football in the United Sta ...

's second runner up to their Secondary Coach of the Year award. In the 2015 season, Wilks and the Panthers finished 15-1 and reached

Super Bowl 50 Super Bowl 50 was an American football game to determine the champion of the National Football League (NFL) for the 2015 season. The American Football Conference (AFC) champion Denver Broncos defeated the National Football Conference (NFC) cha ...

on February 7, 2016. The Panthers fell to the

Denver Broncos The Denver Broncos are a professional American football franchise based in Denver. The Broncos compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) West division. The team is headquart ...

by a score of 24–10. After defensive coordinator

Sean McDermott Sean Michael McDermott (born March 21, 1974) is an American football coach who is the head coach for the Buffalo Bills of the National Football League (NFL). He began his NFL coaching career as an assistant for the Philadelphia Eagles in 2001, ...

left to become head coach of the

Buffalo Bills The Buffalo Bills are a professional American football team based in the Buffalo metropolitan area. The Bills compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) East division. ...

, Wilks was promoted to McDermott's former position. After the 2017 season, Wilks was an extremely hot commodity for teams in need of new head coaches. According to

Ian Rapoport Ian Rapoport is an American sportswriter, pundit, and television analyst who primarily covers the National Football League (NFL). Career Rapoport started his career for the '' Jackson Clarion-Ledger'' in 2004 covering the Mississippi State Bulld ...

of the

NFL Network NFL Network (occasionally abbreviated on-air as NFLN) is an American sports-oriented pay television network owned by the National Football League (NFL) and is part of NFL Media, which also includes NFL.com, NFL Films, NFL Mobile, NFL Now and NFL ...

, teams were impressed by Wilks' interview with the

Los Angeles Rams The Los Angeles Rams are a professional American football team based in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Rams compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the National Football Conference (NFC) West division. The Rams play ...

in the previous offseason before they eventually hired

Sean McVay Sean McVay (born January 24, 1986) is an American football coach who is the head coach for the Los Angeles Rams of the National Football League (NFL). He became the youngest NFL head coach in the modern era when he was hired by the Rams in 2017 ...

. Wilks interviewed with the

New York Giants The New York Giants are a professional American football team based in the New York metropolitan area. The Giants compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division. ...

who had hired his former boss in Carolina, ex-Panthers general manager

David Gettleman David Alan Gettleman (born February 21, 1951) is a former American football executive in the National Football League (NFL) who was the senior vice president and general manager for the New York Giants from 2018 to 2021 and the Carolina Panther ...

Arizona Cardinals

On January 22, 2018, Wilks was hired as head coach of the

, replacing

Bruce Arians Bruce Charles Arians (born October 3, 1952) is an American football executive and former coach in the National Football League (NFL). Since 2022, he has been a senior football consultant for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Arians was previously the he ...

, who initially retired after the 2017 season before coming out of retirement in early 2019 to become the head coach of the

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) NFC South, South divisio ...

. In the 2018 season opener against the Washington Redskins, Wilks made his head coaching debut in the 24–6 loss. In Week 5, against the San Francisco 49ers, he recorded his first NFL victory as a head coach. He finished coaching the season with an NFL-worst 3–13 record and the worst record for the Cardinals since

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from ...

. On December 31, 2018, the Cardinals fired Wilks.

Cleveland Browns

On January 14, 2019, Wilks was hired by the

to be their defensive coordinator under head coach

Freddie Kitchens Charles Frederick Kitchens Jr. (born November 29, 1974) is an American football coach who is a senior analyst for South Carolina. He was the head coach of the Cleveland Browns and an assistant coach for the Arizona Cardinals, Dallas Cowboys, New ...

. He was not retained under new head coach

Kevin Stefanski Kevin Lawrence Stefanski (born May 8, 1982) is an American football coach who is the head coach for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL). He began his NFL career as an assistant coach for the Minnesota Vikings from 2006 to ...

Missouri

On January 21, 2021, Wilks was hired by the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Universit ...

as their defensive coordinator under head coach

Eliah Drinkwitz Eliah Drinkwitz (born April 12, 1983) is an American football coach who is the head coach at the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri. He previously served as the head coach at Appalachian State University in 2019 and as an assistant co ...

Carolina Panthers (second stint)

On February 9, 2022, the Panthers announced the hiring of Wilks as

Matt Rhule Matthew Kenneth Rhule (born January 31, 1975) is an American football coach and former player, who is the head coach of the Nebraska Cornhuskers. He was previously the head coach at Temple University, Baylor University, and for the Carolina Pant ...

's new defensive pass game coordinator and secondary coach. On October 10, 2022 after Rhule was fired, Wilks was named the Panthers' interim head coach for the remainder of the season.

Head coaching record

College

NFL

* – Interim head coach

Personal life

Wilks is a

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

. He is married to Marcia Wilks. They have two daughters and one son.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wilks, Steve 1969 births Living people American football defensive backs American football wide receivers Appalachian State Mountaineers football coaches Appalachian State Mountaineers football players Arizona Cardinals head coaches Bowling Green Falcons football coaches Carolina Panthers coaches Carolina Panthers head coaches Charlotte Rage players Chicago Bears coaches Cleveland Browns coaches East Tennessee State Buccaneers football coaches Illinois State Redbirds football coaches Johnson C. Smith Golden Bulls football coaches Missouri Tigers football coaches National Football League defensive coordinators Notre Dame Fighting Irish football coaches San Diego Chargers coaches Savannah State Tigers football coaches Washington Huskies football coaches Sportspeople from Charlotte, North Carolina Players of American football from Charlotte, North Carolina African-American coaches of American football African-American players of American football 21st-century African-American people 20th-century African-American sportspeople