Ivy League Sports

Columbia University Coach Norries Wilson

To Norries Wilson, he is father to 105: his son and daughter, and the 103 members of the Columbia Football team. His personality is disarming and likable, but commands respect. He is quick-witted and jocular at times, and inspiring as an instructor of football and life. He is unfailingly supportive of each member of his team. To his student-athletes, it is even simpler. “He’s the man,” one returning player says.

And “the man” plans to win.

One of the top assistant coaches in the nation while at the University of Connecticut, Wilson became Columbia’s Patricia and Shepard Alexander Head Coach of Football in December 2005. He is the 18th head coach of Columbia Football.

Wilson, who served as offensive coordinator at UConn for the past four seasons, was one of five finalists for the Frank Broyles Award as the nation’s top assistant coach in 2004, a season in which the Huskies led the Big East in both total and scoring offense. In 2003, he guided UConn’s offense that posted 477.5 yards per game, which ranked eighth in the nation.

“Norries Wilson is a dynamic leader with a full complement of leadership, coaching, management and communication skills who will take this program where we want to go,” says Dr. M. Dianne Murphy, Columbia’s director of intercollegiate athletics and physical education. “We are proud to have Coach Wilson on board as the head coach of the Lions.”

In 2002, Wilson was promoted to the Huskies’ offensive coordinator after joining the UConn staff in 1999 as offensive line coach. He continued to work specifically with the Huskies’ centers and guards. In 2004, UConn defeated Toledo to win the Motor City Bowl. Three members of that team’s offense went on to sign National Football League contracts. Prior to the 2004 season, Wilson was one of 12 coaches selected to participate in the NCAA Expert Coaching Program. The program is designed to teach and reinforce various aspects of securing, managing and excelling in NCAA head coaching positions at the Division I-A level.

Before UConn, Wilson spent four seasons at Bucknell. He was the Bisons’ offensive line coach in 1995 and 1996 before a promotion to offensive coordinator in 1997 and 1998. He was also defensive coordinator at Livingstone College (1993), offensive line/tight ends coach at North Carolina Central (1991-92) and graduate assistant at his alma mater, the University of Minnesota (1989-90).

Wilson was a captain and two-year starter for the Gophers. In 1985, the team defeated Clemson to win the Independence Bowl and competed in the Liberty Bowl vs. Tennessee the following year. He was a three-year letterwinner in football, and earned two letters and qualified for the NCAA Championships as a heavyweight in wrestling. He graduated from Minnesota in 1989 with a degree in psychology.

In addition to his college coaching experience, Wilson has served minority coaching fellowships in the NFL with the Kansas City Chiefs (1992), the Jacksonville Jaguars (1995) and the Indianapolis Colts (2000).

A native of Markham Ill., where he attended Thornwood High School, Wilson is married to the former Brenda Marquis, who played forward on UConn’s first women’s basketball national championship team in 1995. The couple have two children: a son, Cecil, born February 17, 2005, and a daughter, Trinity, born October 9, 2006.