Matt Kartozian-USA TODAY Sports

Giants interview Missouri DC Steve Wilks for same role

By Victor Barbosa | Last updated 2/6/22

Despite New York Giants head coach Brian Daboll's hopes, the team wasn't able to convince defensive coordinator Patrick Graham to stay with "Big Blue", as the 43-year-old recently took a job with the Las Vegas Raiders. New York is looking for a replacement, and they just talked with a man who has nearly 30 years of coaching experience combined between the college game and NFL.

#Mizzou defensive coordinator Steve Wilks has interviewed for the defensive coordinator job with the @Giants, a person familiar with the discussion tells @247Sports. https://t.co/g8JoeQo9Qi #Giants #NYGiants pic.twitter.com/ftn7oHsnMD
— Brandon Marcello (@bmarcello) February 6, 2022

Wilks' coaching days began in 1995 at the Division II level with a pair of years as the defensive coordinator at Johnson C. Smith University, before he was Savannah State's defensive coordinator for two seasons and their head coach for the 1999 campaign. Wilks then spent 2000 to 2005 with five different Division I programs (Illinois State, Appalachian State, East Tennessee State, Bowling Green, Notre Dame), four of them as a defensive backs coach and one as a defensive coordinator.

His first NFL job came as Washington's secondary coach in 2005, before he served as the Chicago Bears' defensive backs coach from 2006 to 2008. Wilks was the then-San Diego Chargers defensive backs coach from 2009 to 2011, and had the same job with the Carolina Panthers during the 2012, 2013 and 2014 seasons.

Wilks was the Panthers' assistant head coach/defensive backs coach the next two years and had his lone head-coaching gig in 2018 with the Arizona Cardinals, leading the team to a 3-13 record. In 2019 he was the Cleveland Browns defensive coordinator before working with the Tigers in 2021.

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