After reports surfaced Thursday that Wisconsin had concluded its search for a replacement for Dave Aranda, UW officially announced Friday that Justin Wilcox was hired as the team’s new defensive coordinator.
The University of Wisconsin Board of Regents still needs to formally approve the hiring, but in all likelihood it will be Wilcox taking over the defense, after Aranda left for the same position at LSU Jan. 1. Per a release from the UW Athletic Department, Wilcox, formerly the defensive coordinator at USC, is eager to pick up where Aranda left off.
“The biggest draws to the program were the opportunity to work for [head coach Paul Chryst] and with the rest of the staff as well as the student-athletes that Wisconsin has in the program,” Wilcox said in the release. “Everything about the culture and tradition of the program, from recruiting, to style of play, to development of players, was appealing to me. This is a special opportunity and I am excited to get started.”
This is the first time as Wisconsin head coach that Chryst has hired a defensive coordinator, as Aranda was the lone coaching holdover from former head coach Gary Andersen’s staff. While it took nearly one month to hire a replacement, which is an eternity in the perennial college coaching scramble, Chryst was pleased that his search brought him to Wilcox.
“During my many conversations with numerous football people that I trusted, one name kept surfacing, Justin Wilcox,” Chryst said in the release. “I am very happy that we were able to get a quality coach like Justin to join our staff. I think he’s a great fit for Wisconsin and this program is a great fit for him.”
Wilcox’s salary at USC is not available, but he earned $800,004 in 2013 as Washington’s defensive coordinator, per USA Today’s assistant coach salary database. Aranda earned $522,220 at Wisconsin in 2015.
Wilcox was most recently the defensive coordinator at USC for two seasons, where he worked under then-head coach Steve Sarkisian. The Trojans were fourth in scoring and total defense and fifth in rushing and passing defense in the Pac-12 last season, decent figures in a conference headlined by offensive juggernauts Stanford, California, Arizona and Oregon.
The Trojans finished the season 8-6 overall and 6-4 in the Pac-12, but their defense was torched in losses to Stanford (41 points, 6.49 yards per play), Notre Dame (41, 7.93) and Oregon (48, 9.17). The last straw for Wilcox came after USC’s conference championship loss to Stanford Dec. 5, when the defense was gashed for 41 points and 262 rushing yards. Wilcox was fired the next day.
While Wilcox’s two seasons in Los Angeles were shaky, the lower portion of his resume certainly bolsters his stock. Wilcox spent two seasons as the defensive coordinator at Washington prior to joining USC and held the same position at Tennessee in 2010 and 2011. The Huskies improved from allowing 35.9 points per game in 2011 to 24.2 in 2012, Wilcox’s first at Washington. The defense further improved the following season, allowing 22.8 points per game en route to a 9-4 finish.
Wilcox’s most impressive years were at Boise State, where he was defensive coordinator from 2006-’09. While he was there, Boise State led the Western Athletic Conference in total and scoring defense every year while accumulating a 49-4 record.
His time at Boise State speaks to his ability to work with players who may not be the most highly talented and prolific forces on defense. That skill will be put to the test at Wisconsin, where player development is an integral piece of the program, given its average recruiting abilities.
Aranda left behind a blueprint for nurturing raw talent and fitting players into positions that highlight their strengths while covering for their deficiencies, but he was able to achieve that through thoughtful guidance and his close relationships among the defense. It will take time for Wilcox to build that rapport, which could temporarily slow down Wisconsin’s recent defensive resurgence.
The pieces are definitely there for Wilcox - Wisconsin graduates four senior starters, not a devastating number but still considerable - but the onus will be on him to level with the holdovers from a season ago and stimulate development among the younger guys.
