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Sources: Kevin Wilson bringing highly regarded Ohio State staffer to run Tulsa defense
Matt Guerrieri had a long run at Duke, reunited in 2022 at Ohio State with Jim Knowles
Back as a
head coach for the first time in six years, Kevin Wilson is working to assemble a strong first staff
at Tulsa, and he's got his defensive coordinator in a key move.
Multiple sources tell
FootballScoop that Matt
Guerrieri has agreed to become Wilson's first defensive coordinator for the
Golden Hurricane.
It's a quick return to play-calling
duties for Guerrieri, who spent the 2022 season as a senior defensive analyst for
Jim Knowles's Ohio State defense after Guerrieri's final four years at Duke saw
him as the Blue Devils' co-defensive coordinator.
An Ohio native who starred in college
at Football Championship Subdivision program Davidson, Guerrieri turned in
elite work at Duke, where he was an AFCA Assistant Coach of the Year finalist
for his work with the Blue Devils' defense in 2020.
Wilson
and Guerrieri were colleagues the past year at Ohio State, and sources told
FootballScoop that Guerrieri
had made an immediate impression on Wilson -- and the entire Buckeyes' staff.
Tulsa
parted with Philip Montgomery following a 5-7 2022 season. Wilson previously
served as head coach six seasons at Indiana University, where Wilson gradually
carved a competitive program that made back-to-back postseason appearances in
Wilson's final two seasons at the helm.
Wilson is set to be
greeted with a daunting non-conference schedule in 2023; the Golden Hurricane
open with FCS-program Arkansas-Pine Bluff and also has a September home date
against soon-to-be-SEC-resident Oklahoma, as well as non-conference road trips
to Washington and Northern Illinois all within the season's first month.
