On Wednesday, the New York Jets became the latest NFL team to fill their head coaching vacancy.
After much speculation and a lengthy interview process, the team has hired Detroit Lions defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn.
Glenn has reportedly already started building his staff, reaching out to former NFL head coach and longtime defensive coordinator Steve Wilks.
SNY’s Connor Hughes reported Tuesday that Glenn may be looking to bring Wilks in should he take the Jets job.
If the #Jets hire Aaron Glenn as head coach, a name I’ve heard associated with him as a defensive coordinator candidate is Steve Wilks.
Long-time assistant with multiple stops as a DC who also has two stints as a head coach. That’s valuable experience for a first timer in…
— Connor Hughes (@Connor_J_Hughes) January 21, 2025
As Hughes notes, Wilks would be a very valuable asset for Glenn, who has never been a head coach in the NFL before.
Having a veteran on the staff to bounce ideas off of has proven successful plenty of times in the past.
Wilks has has success as a coordinator with multiple professional and collegiate teams throughout the past 25 years. After bouncing around college and NFL jobs, he spent 2006-08 as the defensive backs coach for the Chicago Bears. He then held the same role with the San Diego Chargers from 2009-2011.
When Ron Rivera was named head coach of the Carolina Panthers in 2012, he hired Wilks as defensive backs coach. Wilks coached with Rivera in Chicago and San Diego, and worked his way up the ranks in Carolina, he was promoted to team’s assistant head coach and he remained in that role through 2017, including being the assistant head coach for Carolina’s Super Bowl 50 loss to the Denver Broncos.
Wilks became a head coach for the first time in his NFL career in 2018, when he was hired by the Arizona Cardinals. Unfortunately, the Cardinals went 3-13 and he was fired after just one year.
After being fired by the Cardinals, Wilks spent 2019 as the defensive coordinator for the Cleveland Browns. He was fired when the team fired head coach Freddie Kitchens, and Wilks took 2020 off. He spent 2021 as the defensive coordinator of the Missouri Tigers. Then, in 2022, Wilks returned to Carolina to join Matt Rhule’s defensive staff.
Rhule was fired after six games, and Wilks was named the interim. Wilks went 6-6 in the 12 games he coached, but wasn’t retained. He spent 2023 as the defensive coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers, who lost to the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl LVIII.
