By Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – Bobby Wilder lifted up the whistle Tennessee Tech Director of Athletics Mark Wilson handed him before he was introduced on Wednesday as the Golden Eagles' new head football coach.
He looked at it and grinned, a wash of relief coming across his face.
"I've missed this," Wilder told the assembly at the Hooper Eblen Center's Eagles' Nest.
How could he not? After a short time away from coaching – but not too far away from the game – standing in front of some of Tennessee Tech's most loyal supporters laying out his vision for the Golden Eagles' future success, it truly felt like home.
When he made the decision on Sunday to become the program's 13th head coach since it began varsity play in 1922, he had plenty of reasons to accept.
"A lot of you might not know this, but the majority of my family is here," Wilder said. "I've got 10 of my family members in the area and within an hour away. A lot of them are watching right now. This is really home for me. This is where I want to be. I want to my feet to be in Cookeville."
Wilder's mantra for the team is simple. He started by having the congregation raise their right hands way above their heads.
"This means 'Aim High,'" he said. "That's what we're going to be all about as a football program. We're going to recruit and develop the best people, the best students and the best athletes that we can find. I'm a big PMA guy – positive mental attitude – every single day from the moment my feet hit the floor until my head hits the pillow, it's positive, it's move, it's go, it's excitement and that's what our team is going to be about and do that with great people, great students and great players."
It was a whirlwind week for the veteran coach as the entire process took less than a week, but it started with connections that had been built a long time ago. Wilder revealed that he was in conversations with Wilson back in 2006 when Watson Brown was hired for the head coach position and he had maintained a rapport with the Tech AD for years to come. From there, the process picked up speed.
"I've always believed no matter what happens in life, you keep good relationships," Wilder said. "You can't be bitter and get better. I kept a good relationship with Mark and Drew Turner at Collegiate Sports Associates and that's how it all started. This search firm called me Tuesday. Wednesday, I was on a Zoom call with these people. Thursday, I was told to get a flight. Friday, I was on an airplane. The problem when you're trying to book a flight from Norfolk to Atlanta to Nashville on Thursday to go Friday, you end up in seat 45-F in the back of the plane by the bathroom. That was me – I really wanted this job. I could tell the love, the passion for Tennessee Tech is there. My job is to bring a winning football team to that passion."
After the flight process repeated, Wilder made his way into Cookeville Tuesday and was already hard at work, talking to coaches, players and staff to get the ball rolling.
"If you're wondering why I'm here, I've told this to every player I've met with so far – I didn't break it, but I got hired to fix it," Wilder said. "That's what I'm going to do. There's a lot of things that need to happen. When you have a losing program that's coming off of 4-7, that's having a hard time winning, there's a lot of things that need to change. People need to change, attitudes need to change, people need to be challenged. I'm going to challenge everybody and ask them a simple question – what is your value to the organization? Every player, every coach – and it starts with me. I'm a 24/7 guy. I'm not married, my kids are grown, this is my passion. I just got my whistle, so I'm good."
With every transition, there are, of course, some hard decisions to make.
"I've met with the staff and I've made some decisions," Wilder said. "There are some good men with the staff that will no longer be here. That happens – it's part of the profession. The majority of the defensive staff will be back because we had a championship-level defense here this past year. I've already laid out my plan to them and what I want to happen. Those guys are already in the office working hard recruiting and retaining current players.
"We've got some players in the transfer portal right now and that was because it was an unknown as to who would be the head coach. I hope they're watching – I want you back. We'll keep working on that and the current players will keep working on those guys to make sure we have the top players on this football team back."
Wilder has experience building from scratch like he did with Old Dominion as he restarted its program after a nearly 70-year hiatus, taking them 9-2 in his first season and 46-14 in the Division I Football Championship Subdivision.
"Where do we go from here?" Wilder posed. "When I was hired at Old Dominion, they didn't have anything. There was nothing there. I got hired to build it. This is pretty much a ground-up type of operation in terms of what we need to do to build to a championship. I've already been meeting with a lot of the players. I know they want to win. I'm really impressed with they're doing academically. I've met with more kids yesterday with 4.0 GPAs than I did in 13 years at Old Dominion.
"I have two sons of my own and 112 new sons, so I'm the proud father of 114 boys. I'm really excited to meet these guys. I have more to meet today. Some have already gone home for finals, so I'll Zoom with them. I want every player to personally feel my energy and passion."
For his style of play, Wilder's offensive is high-energy – like him – and can put up a lot of numbers, something that seemed to spark excited responses as he talked about his resume with the Monarchs.
"Every good coach has good players," he explained. "I was a really good coach at Old Dominion when Taylor Heinicke, the current quarterback of the Atlanta Falcons, was my quarterback. I had Mark share with the team with the quarterbacks standing back there that he was 55-of-79 for 730 yards and five touchdowns to set an NCAA record. I like to throw the ball around a little bit. That's my background, I'm an offensive coordinator/quarterback. Now, I will remind you guys that I'm not going to throw it 79 times every game – the defensive coordinator would have a heart attack.
"Whatever it takes to win, I've won games 64-61 and I've won games 14-7. All that matters is score one more point than the other team. That's it – nothing else matters. The bottom line is we need to win more football games here and that's going to be the goal."
The new coach was honest to the crowd – the renovation to Tucker Stadium and the proposed Football Operations Center are must-haves, appealing to potential donors and supporters how much those projects are vital to the program and its future success.
"We've got a project coming with the stadium," Wilder said. "We need that desperately. We've got another project that we're going to need a lot of help with immediately with the Football Operations Center. We need that.
"Teams like East Tennessee State, Chattanooga, Austin Peay and UT Martin, facilities-wise, we're not with them. That's where we need to be. The competition isn't necessarily Eastern Illinois or Western Illinois when it comes to recruiting. It's those Tennessee schools that I'm battling right now. They're the ones trying to steal some of my players right now. We need to get to work on this. We need to keep our best players and beat them in recruiting. I need to add value to the roster, add competition to the roster so my players can get better, so they can see this vision and get excited about what we're going to do as a program."
Wilder also emphasized that he wasn't afraid to get out into the community and do everything he can to drum up support and get the community to buy in.
"When I first got hired at Old Dominion, in my first 365 days, I did 300 speaking engagements or meetings," he said. "I will be out there selling the vision for this program, but I'm going to need your help. It's not going to happen overnight. He got me to sign a five-year contract, but, in my mind, I've got a day-to-day contract. I've got a one-year plan to win, not a five-year plan."
Wilder joked about the prospect of seeing his youngest son, Drew, across the way playing against him as the starting center at Eastern Illinois.
"I'm trying to wrap my mind around the fact that I'm going to see my son running towards me to snap the football," he said with a grin. "That's going to be a little unusual. I surprised him and asked him the other day, 'What are you going to do when you see me?'"
Matching the competitive spirit of his father, the response was pretty obvious – "Well, I'm just going to kick your butt."
Wilder shrugged and smiled: "So much for family."
As he scanned the crowd, he held up the whistle. It was obvious that Wilder was indeed back in his element.
"I've missed this," he said. "I mean that sincerely. This is what I love to do. I'm appreciative to be back. We're going to do some 'Wings Up' in the Big South-OVC and I'm really fired up about that."
Photo | Thomas Corhern, TTU Sports Information
