Wilson stepping down as head football coach, will take role in new professional football league

The Defiance Athletic department has announced that Earnest Wilson is stepping down at the end of May from his role as head football coach and is taking an opportunity to be a head coach in a new professional football league.

Wilson became interim head coach prior to the 2021 fall season, and then was elevated to head coach in December 2021. He has been part of the Defiance football program since 2018 and coached the superbacks position.

Wilson will be heading to Major League Football, a new professional football league that will consist of 24 teams. The inaugural season is set to begin in the fall of 2022.

Major League Football (MLF) is a new professional football league that has 24 teams and most of the teams are in top 50 television markets. MLF is not a secondary or inferior league to any other professional football league, but instead, a professional football league consisting of the very best players, coaches and staff.

There are a few changes to the rules of MLF games as compared to other professional football leagues. One major difference will be more affordable tickets and concession prices. In addition, there are less penalties in order to speed up the pace and increase the excitement of the game.

Wilson has developed an extensive coaching resume, with experience on several different levels of football.

Wilson served as the head football coach for Elizabeth City State University (ECSU) from 2015-18, where he led the team to top-five finishes in the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association (CIAA). As the CIAA Coach of the Year, Wilson developed NCAA Division II All-Americans Victor Tabb and Malcolm Cherry, who helped guide the program to its best record in four seasons. Under Wilson's guidance, the team had two HBCU All-Americans, six all-conference players, and a Division II All-American. While at Elizabeth City State, Wilson also served as a professor in the Department of Sport Management, helping in the development, growth, and expansion of the program. 

Prior to ECSU, Wilson led Hampton University before spearheading the football operations at Savannah State University. While at Hampton, he acted as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, helping to lead the Pirates' offense to among the best in the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) in total offense and scoring. Wilson also coached All-MEAC player Jeremiah Schwartz, who rushed for more than 1,000 yards in 2012, becoming the first Hampton player to do so since 2009. 

Wilson's decorative background also included coaching stints at Jackson State University and New Mexico State University, where he served as the running backs coach. He led the running backs corps to 1,000-plus yards and 16 scores in just one season at NMSU. While at JSU he served as offensive coordinator for a team that led the nation in total offense averaging almost 500 yards a game and had the 9th highest-scoring offense in the nation and averaged 35 points per game.

Wilson has also held coaching positions at Alabama A&M, the University of Maine, and Allegheny College where he served on a staff that won the 1990 NCAA Division III national championship. 

Wilson played football while receiving both his graduate and undergraduate degrees from Texas Tech University. He earned a Bachelor of Science in recreation in 1989 and a Master of Education in sports administration a year later.

A national coaching search will begin soon to find the next head coach of the Defiance football program.

More information will soon follow.