TCU and the word defense are synonomous of each other. For years, TCU boasted a strong defense that was what made the Horned Frogs a tough team to play both at home and the road. However, that changed in 2023, when TCU struggled ranking 92nd in points given up per game and 104th in yards given up per game. The defense could be blamed as the reason why TCU wasn’t able to even get close to duplicating their 2022 success.
That may be about to change with the hiring of former Nevada Head Coach Ken Wilson as the linebackers coach. The announcement was made Monday evening.
NEWS: #TCU has hired former Nevada head coach Ken Wilson as linebacker coach.
READ | https://t.co/1RlBwyaXEv pic.twitter.com/xNdFkmWTXU
— Jamie Plunkett (@FrogPreacher) January 16, 2024
Ken Wilson is Very Experienced
You may be asking, why bring on a G5 coach who went 2-10 overall this past season and 4-20 overall? Well because he isn’t going to be the head coach. Wilson has worked as a linebackers coach for nearly his entire career in coaching, and has found quite a bit of success.
Before being a head coach with Wolf Pack, Wilson was the linebackers coach at Washington State under Mike Leach and in 2020 was hired in the same position at Oregon, while also being named the co-defensive coordinator.
It is difficult to rank or quantify how good a position group coach performs on a team that has multiple positions, but it is worth mentioning that Wilson was part of 2018 Washington State team that went 11-2 overall record capped off with an Alamo Bowl win and a final No. 8 ranking. He also was at Oregon when the Ducks played in the Pac 12 Championship in 2021, falling just short to Utah.
In other words, Ken Wilson has been part of some really good teams.
TCU is Loading Up the Defense
As referenced earlier, TCU’s defense did not perform up to the standard that the team is used to playing at. The Horned Frogs have already gotten 19 transfers to commit for next year, with 11 coming on the defensive side the ball. Additionally, the team signed seven high school recruits who the team hopes will make an impact as soon as possible.
The addition of Ken Wilson shows that the team is committed to improving the defense. Yes, he struggled at Nevada, but anytime a head coach accepts a position coach position, they are getting paid quite a bit of money, regardless of their record at the prior school.
TCU may not have the same dominant nation leading defense that they had a decade ago, but with the athleticism of their offense, an improved defense should be more than enough to get back into the postseason next season.
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