The Indianapolis Colts are moving toward the 2025 season in need of a new Defensive Coordinator. The Colts, for the last three years, were led by former Defensive Coordinator Gus Bradley who did a solid job in charge of the defense but could never seem to get a consistent showing from his defense over the three years he was in charge for. After another wildly inconsistent season from the defense it came time for the team to make a change at the position, and Bradley was ultimately fired and a new Defensive Coordinator will take charge.
In this series, we will look into each of the defensive coordinator candidates that the Colts interview for the job vacancy and look into each of their respective backgrounds.
Next up is former San Francisco 49ers Defensive Coordinator Steve Wilks.
Steve Wilks is a 18 year veteran NFL coach who has spent time working with six different teams during his career.
Wilks started his NFL coaching career in 2006 when he was named defensive backs coach for the Chicago Bears. He was fired in 2008 but swiftly found a new home when he joined Ron Rivera’s defensive staff in San Diego as the Chargers defensive backs coach. Wilks stayed in San Diego for two years.
When Rivera became the head coach for the Carolina Panthers he brought Wilks with him to become the secondary coach where he stayed until he was promoted to defensive coordinator in 2017. Wilks was in charge of a Panthers defense that helped the team go 15-1 and were runners up in the Super Bowl.
After an outstanding year Wilks was a big head coaching candidate interviewing with three teams. He was ultimately hired by the Arizona Cardinals as their new head coach in 2018. Wilks however only lasted a year in Arizona before being fired due to a league worst 3-13 record.
Wilks wasn’t out for work long as he was quickly hire by the Cleveland Browns just two weeks after being fired by the Cardinals. Wilks became the Browns defensive coordinator under new head coach Freddie Kitchen but was not retained after the team made a change of head coach at the end of the season.
Wilks went back to college for a year becoming the defensive coordinator at Missouri before returning to the. fl the year after at being hired by the Carolina Panthers for his second stint with the franchise. He joined new head coach Matt Rhule’s staff in 2022 as their pass game coordinator and secondary coach. His second stint as head coach becoming the Panthers interim head coach replacing the fired Matt Rhule. Wilks led Carolina to a 6–6 record over the last 12 weeks of the season, but was passed over for the permanent head coaching position in favor of a former Colts head coach Frank Reich.
Wilks again found work quickly landing in San Francisco as he was named the 49ers new defensive coordinator in 2023. The 49ers made it all the way to the Super Bowl but ended up losing to the Kansas City Chiefs and Wilks was fired following their loss due to a season of inconsistency on defense.
