Kevin Wilson: Don’t Make Him Mad

Kevin Wilson has never lacked for words.

Good to know that hasn’t changed.

The former Oklahoma offensive coordinator turned Indiana head coach sparred with a pair of sports talk radio hosts Thursday morning, and it was classic Kevin Wilson. He was a guest on the Zakk and Jack Show, a national show on FOX Sports that originates out of Indianapolis, and in introducing Wilson, the show’s hosts had some not-all-that-witty banter about how bad Indiana football has been.

Kevin Wilson, outgoing offensive coordinator of Oklahoma, is the new college football head coach of Indiana University, press conference at Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, Tuesday, December 07, 2010. Robert Scheer/The Star

And let’s be honest — it has been bad.

But when you’ve got the head coach of the program on hold and said head coach has bristled quite a bit at talk of past Hoosier woes, making light of those struggles isn’t exactly the best idea.

At one point in the intro, Jack Trudeau, the Jack part of the show and the former Illinois quarterback who played in the NFL, poked fun at the Indiana fight song playing in the background. He said he didn’t get to hear it much when the Illini played the Hoosiers because Indiana didn’t score very much.

Is it any wonder that the first few moments of the interview went something like this?

Dominic Zaccagnini a.k.a. Zakk: “Kevin, congratulations, and thanks for joining us. How are ya?”

Wilson: “Not doing as good as you guys. You guys gotta bunch of jokes this morning. What’s happening?”

(Uncomfortable laughter from the hosts)

Zakk: “You sound like you’ve been doing some screaming at practice, coach. Yelling at the players already?

Wilson: “No, we’re yelling at media guys because they don’t have a clue. But anyway, it’s cool. What’s up, guys?”

Jack: “You’re not referring to us, are ya coach?”

Zakk: “No, lemme ask, though, I gotta know … ”

Wilson: “That fight song, I remember putting 61 on the Illini a few years back too when I was at Northwestern and they kinda stunk at the time, too. Anyway, I got some things to do, guys. Waddya guys need?”

Zakk: “You already to get rid of us, coach?”

Wilson: “Very much so.”

Indiana head coach Kevin Wilson talks with the media during Big Ten Football Media Day in Chicago, Thursday, July 28, 2011. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)

If it’s possible, it only got worse from there.

Zakk and Jack hung up on Wilson, then proceeded to skewer him. Trudeau called Wilson an ass, said he was going to be around a lot of Indiana people today and planned to tell them how bad their coach had been, said he planned to call Illinois coach Ron Zook and tell him to run the score up on Illinois.

Hey, I don’t have a dog in the Illinois-Indiana fight, but all of a sudden, I’m hoping Indiana throttles them.

There’s no doubt that Wilson could’ve played nicer with these guys, but he has never been a guy who cowered to anyone. He didn’t do it at Northwestern. He didn’t do it at OU. He wasn’t about to do it this morning. And when Zakk and Jack decided to hang up on him, then tear him down, it turned them from unknowing buffoons to shady bullies.