Mizzou defensive coordinator leaves for Carolina Panthers
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
The Mizzou football team will need to find a new defensive coordinator for the 2022 season, as former coordinator Steve Wilks accepted a job with the Carolina Panthers on Wednesday.
Wilks will serve as the Panthers' defensive pass game coordinator and secondary coach.
It will not be his first trip to Charlotte though, as Wilks has already worked in Carolina's facilities before. In 2012, he joined the Panthers as a defensive backs coach. In that stint, he also moved up to an assistant head coaching position, as well as eventually becoming the defensive coordinator in 2017.
Wilks served under MU head coach Eli Drinkwitz for one season, and he will leave Columbia with one year still left on his contract.
MU safety Martez Manuel posted on social media in support of his former coach.
Manuel said, "Steve Wilks is the greatest representation of a man that I have ever seen. This man taught me so much about how to persevere and block out the noise on the field. But also how to succeed as a black man in America. Truly a great coach, but an even better man. Congrats coach!!"
Coach Drinkwitz also wished his former defensive coordinator well on social media.
He said, Congrats to [Steve Wilks] @ScoreonD and the @Panthers organization! They hired a great football coach, & even better man!"
Drinkwitz released a formal statement as well.
“We wish Steve, Marci and their family the best as they return home to Charlotte,” head coach Eliah Drinkwitz said in a release. “Coach Wilks was a strong asset to our program and our staff. We thank him for his commitment to Mizzou football.”
